Here at FilePlanet we've got fond memories of the Desert Combat modification for Battlefield 1942. It remains one of the most popular files ever posted on the site, with over 1.5 million downloads. It became a fixture at our office LAN parties: a few hours of Battlefield 1942, followed by a few hours of Desert Combat. It came as no surprise when the mod developers (now collectively known as Kaos Studios) were tapped by EA to act as their research and development team for Battlefield 2. But their career was just getting started, and they soon struck out to form a new studio working with a new publisher...

This week FilePlanet readers have a chance to beta test one of the more ambitious first-person shooters in development today: Frontlines: Fuel of War. Featuring gigantic maps and epic 64-player battles with over 60 realistic vehicles and weapons, Frontlines has a unique frontline system where the battle lines move as resources and hardpoints are captured or destroyed. This focuses the action and keeps the matches packed with adrenaline. It's an ambitious title, an absolutely huge game. How did Kaos Studios go from mod team to triple-A developer, and what lessons did they learn along the way? FilePlanet aims to find out!

But first: Download the Frontlines: Fuel of War Beta!


Fargo: Take us all the way back to before Desert Combat. What made you want to start making mods? How did you put a team together?

Frank DeLise - Kaos Studios General Manager: After College I worked for a company called Autodesk. My job was to design a 3D app called 3DS Max which is used today by many game developers to create their 3D art. I spent 7 years working with game developers and film studios helping them with their workflow and even contributed to a few films and games. I was a huge gamer and one day it literally dawned on me. I know how to make art, I know all the tools, I know the workflow and I love games. Why not make one myself for fun? At that time there was no fast paced modern military games with vehicles and its something I really wanted to play. So I set out to create Desert Combat to fill that void. I actually started on the garage games engine first, but moved over to the BF engine once I saw its capabilities. After a few months I started asking people on gaming forums to join the cause as I formed Trauma Studios (operating hours from 5pm - 5am, since I had a day job). My goal was to work with other games and community members to build a game that we wanted to play and had everything we wished for in that modern day experience.

The team ranged from college students to hardcore 3D artists and programmers who just wanted to do something fun. So I formed a studio and managed it all online and only gathered people who where interested in the same gaming experience.

I have to say, it was one of the most enjoyable projects I have ever done. It was very rewarding and fun to play. In fact FilePlanet was huge contributor to its success as it was our main hub for distribution and forums.

Joe Halper - Kaos Studios Senior Producer: Years before Desert Combat I was involved in the design and creation of military and civilian training applications. I worked with every branch of the US military as well as some foreign including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Malaysia. Some programs were very simple familiarization courses while others were more serious and dealt with highly classified automated weapons systems, fighter jets and terrorism. I used games as an inspiration while designing the various programs and in doing so I became completed addicted to playing them… especially military based FPS and RTS titles.

When Battlefield 1942 was released I spent every waking hour playing. I hopped on a forum and saw the post from Frank DeLise saying he wanted to try and modify BF42 with vehicles from the "Desert Storm" era. I was interested so I got in touch with him via email. I was one of the original members of the DC team and I have been working with Frank ever since.

Fargo: Did you set out with the goal of someday developing games professionally, or were you just making mods as a hobby?

Kaos - Frank DeLise: It was definitely a hobby with an small sparkle that it might turn into something. As I already had a good day job and I wasn't looking for something new. However eventually DC took all my time and I quit my job to work on it full time and no pay. My wife loved that.. At that point I realized it was something I wanted to do for a living.

Kaos - Joe Halper: It was definitely a hobby at first but I found myself using every minute I had to work on the mod. Modelling, texturing, scripting… even providing some of the voice work for the communications in DC. The reaction to Desert Combat was incredible and our team was very passionate and committed to releasing solid updates that everyone would enjoy.

NEXT PAGE: Creating Games for the Big Studios