Titanfall 2 was a truly great first person shooter that unfortunately flew under the radar when it first came out. It had it all with both a stellar campaign and a multiplayer mode that expanded upon its predecessor in every way imaginable. Yet, there is a lot of things about the game behind the scenes that many people might not know.
With the game receiving a sudden boom in popularity, people are curious about the game's development at Respawn Entertainment, especially when it comes to the quick-moving pilots and their mechs called titans. Here are eight details about what happened behind the scenes at Titanfall 2.
8 Apex Legends' Bloodhound Was Supposed To Be In It
Though the next Titanfall game is a long way off, the series lives on in a way with Apex Legends since it is set in the Titanfall universe. As it turns out though, a character in Apex was originally supposed to be in Titanfall 2 — the mysterious tracker Bloodhound.
An unfinished graphical model of Bloodhound can be spotted in the Titanfall 2 art book. The model is almost identical to the one in Apex Legends, with the biggest difference being the Titanfall Bloodhound having a rifle attached to them, as well as weilding a bow and arrow. The exact role they would have had in Titanfall 2 is unknown, but they likely were going to be a pilot.
7 Motion Capture Was Done For The Prowlers
Motion capturing was done for the characters of Titanfall 2, and that includes the predatorial animals the prowlers, as evidenced by the behind-the-scenes video for the mocap sessions.
It is definitely surprising that Respawn would go out of their way to try doing mocap for an alien animal. But it is all the reason to appreciate them more.
6 What BT's Name Stands For
Titanfall's 2 oddly short campaign focuses on the bond between titan pilot Jack Cooper and his trusty and reliable titan BT-7274. The two gradually become the best of friends as the campaign progresses and this becomes all the more clear when you find out what the BT in the titan's name stands for.
As revealed by the developers, BT actually stands for "Buddy Titan." It seems like people have taken that to heart, which has led to a number of funny memes about the bond between BT and Jack.
5 The Player Was Originally Able To Select Jack's Gender
Speaking of Jack Cooper — Respawn originally intended for players to be able to select the main character's gender. The male main character was Jack, as seen in the final game, whereas the female protagonist would have been known as Jill Cooper.
The reason this option was removed was due to both time constraints and in order to tell a more focused narrative. It makes you wonder just how different the game could have been if Jill was the main character instead of Jack.
4 The Jill Design Would Be Reused For Gates
Though Jill Cooper unfortunately never became a player option, she does live on, because her design ended up being reused for another female pilot known as Gates.
Gates plays a minor role in the campaign, serving as the leader of an elite group of mercenary pilots known as the 6-4. She's also a leader for the faction of the same name in the game's multiplayer, where she provides commentary if players elected to join her faction.
3 Respawn Had A Name For Its Level Structure
Players may notice a pattern when it comes to each campaign mission. As it turns out, the developers had their own name for this structure, which was dubbed 211.
This is because all of the missions in the game come down to being structured in basically the same way. Each mission has two parts with pilot combat, making the "2," one part involving solving puzzles and pilot movement which makes the first "1," and one part with titan combat taking center stage, which makes up the second "1."
2 A Documentary Served As The Inspiration For The Effect And Cause Mission
Effect and Cause is arguably the game's best mission as it sees Jack and BT come across an abandoned science facility that nature has reclaimed. In it, Jack finds a device that enables him to go back and forth at will between the present and the past when the facility was in its prime. As it turns out though, a documentary series served as the inspiration for this mission.
That documentary was Life After People. This series includes interviews with a bunch of mechanical engineers, scientists, and other experts about what would happen to Earth if humanity just disappeared one day. Basically, nature would reclaim everything, and infrastructure would begin to fall apart. This is exactly what happens to the facility in the mission, as a disaster in the past leaves it in its ruined state in the present.
1 The Low Engagement Of The First Game Led To The Campaign's Creation
While the first Titanfall was a good game, it could not maintain a large player base after its initial launch. One possible reason for this was the game's lack of a single-player campaign, and Respawn took this to heart.
The new campaign in the sequel not only provided players with a fantastic story, but also served as a way for players to get a feel for how the game handles — something the first game lacked. While Titanfall 2 would have gotten a campaign anyway, the low engagement of the first game made it a priority, ensuring its quality.