How does the art department work with the design department in the creation of a unit? In this case, what specific design elements were taken in to account for the creation of both units?
Like all our units and structures, these two started with a brief from unit and structure Designer Greg Black. The Bullfrog was originally two separate but similar looking anti-air units, one on the ground and one in the water. The design of Red Alert 3 eventually called for one amphibious anti-air unit. Luckily, these two were easy to combine into an amphibious design.
The Sickle seems to be a throwback to a recent Red Alert 2 concept art piece for the Soviets? Are you taking some inspiration from past Red Alert 2 units and concepts to bring back an air of nostalgia to Red Alert 3, while also modernizing it for today? Can you shed some light on this?
The Soviet faction had some history with quadruped units like the Terror Drone in Red Alert 2. The Sickle is basically a larger version of the Terror Drone chassis, armed by machine gunners. We’re definitely looking back to the previous Red Alert games for some visual inspiration. We try to be true to the art style of Red Alert and its sequel while also going someplace new and fun visually.
Red Alert is all about over-the-top, humorous unit interactions. What kind of cool and fun attacks and interactions will the Sickle and Bullfrog bring to the table? It’s been heard, but not seen that the Bullfrog can shoot parachuting Bears out of it, care to shed some more light on this and the other fun things these two units can do?
The Sickle has a terrific jump ability which allows it to go places other units can’t. I haven’t used this ability in multiplayer testing yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing it in action. Yes, I can confirm that the Bullfrog has the ability to deploy parachuting bears (aka “bear-a-chutes”) from water onto land. It’s really fun to see and feels very true to the less-than-serious tone of the Red Alert series. The development of this game has been more fun than any of my previous projects thanks to this over-the-top tone and attitude.
Why did you name these units the Sickle and the Bullfrog?
The Sickle is an obvious piece of Soviet imagery pulled from their flag. This unit is all about cutting down infantry like a scythe so the name seems like a perfect fit. The Soviet faction was conceived from the ground up as having a heavy rounded shape vector across the faction. We originally borrowed this shape cue from the real Soviet Hind helicopter, the shape of which has always seemed very toad-like to me. he Bullfrog is one of our clearest expressions of this idea, and I think one can see a lot of the Hind in its shape.
What do you think fans will enjoy most about these two Soviet units?
Visually, these units are both really fun to play with. One is a mechanical bug armed with machine guns while the other is a shark-faced toad which shoots down enemy aircraft and launches bears on parachutes. What’s more fun than that?
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