Just now at Tennocon, Digital Extremes revealed a gameplay demo for its next big update: Warframe 1999. This edgy, Y2K-themed demo was bleeding with a very particular grungy vibe. Not only that, but it brought Warframe somewhere totally unfamiliar – a retro European city filled with a modern military enemies and arcade machines rather than the galactic sci-fi we’re all used to.
To speak more on how the team arrived at this striking new slice of Warframe’s future, I spoke to creative director Rebecca Ford about the inspirations for the design. It turns out, one of the key cornerstones for Warframe 1999 came from one of Digital Extreme’s older titles: Dark Sector.
VG247: This new area! It’s very European. What were the inspirations for that world in terms of design and identity?
Rebecca Ford: Honestly, Dark Sector was and it’s a very interesting inspiration because I wasn’t actually ever involved in the Dark Sector. But some people on the Warframe team were of course. So we were looking at how we could make an outdoor, vaguely European feel, but for Warframe now. How do we use procedural levels, how do we get outside. Then all the streams converged on that fact we’d have motorcycles, and we’d have two factions out there. Let’s just build some streets and sewers and see what happens.
From there, we really needed to pick a reason for that world to exist. So it’s 1999, it’s the turn of the millennium, there’s technology everywhere! It’s obvious this other-earth so things are a little different. And ultimately, we settled on this moody, very Dark Sector inspired (but also uniquely Warframe) slice of earth in 1999.
VG247: Is that the only slice of Dark Sector we can expect? I know the years don’t quite match with Dark Sector being set at the end of the Cold War, but even so…
Ford: Yeah. I think there might be some nods, but for a lot of folks… If anyone is looking for a continuation of Dark Sector in any way, it’s not here. But of course, the elements that make this Warframe 1999 wouldn’t exist without Dark Sector.
VG247: I’d like to ask about that new enemy faction we just saw. Could you tell us a bit more about that?
Ford: “The Skaldra! Yes, they are the imposing force of military rule in 1999. In Hollvanian. They’re the anti-infested containment unit, but they’re also military. They’re led by the major: Major Rossuca who you got a good glimpse at. She kinda rules with the Skaldra at her side to keep the techrot and what she calls “the slugs” out of her city. Generally you’ll be seeing lots of chemical goo weapons and real weapons. Tanks, of course. The player will really have to outmaneuver this proto-military unit.
VG247: What was it like blending this 1999 tech with Warframe’s very unique aesthetic?
Ford: We’re always in our other-earth game world, and luckily for us Warframe has had a lot of people contribute to it over the years. When we first pitched 1999 around the art team, our original art director Minki who has since left the team but still stays in touch, presented some sketches for what a 1999 faction could look like. They were just paper sketches, and we were like ‘Ah! Of course!’. So we had two sheets of potential military units, we sent them around our team, and we built the faction out as a result of that.
Their key attribute is: what would people trying to keep out an infestation look like? Well, they’d probably use a lot of goo or gas, so that is really the key to them as far as visual identity goes. Taking some creative liberties, of course.
VG247: They look distinct, but also proto-grineer. Is there a link there?
Ford: There’s a huge link! Just in terms of how we approached it. Narrative no comment of course, but in terms of design we thought okay, the grineer are basically a military force with traditional guns and clone rot, what would a 1999 distant cousin of a military faction look like, and can we take it a little bit more literally with the military angle. So they’re totally a spiritual design partner to the Grineer.
This insight got you keen to see the update for youself? You won’t have to wait for long, as Warframe 1999 is set to release in fall 2024 across all platforms!
