Arma 3 hails people of every flavor from all over the world. To get to know them a little better, we're hosting a series of mini-interviews with some of our amazing community members. These aim to give you a personal insight into their backgrounds, why they got into Arma, and how they typically experience the game. In this issue, we interview community leader and Savage Game Design Assistant Producer Barden.
BIO
Name: Noah Barden
Nickname: Barden
Age: 26
Location: Sydney, Australia
Occupation: Assistant Producer / Security
BASELINE
Can you provide us with one random fact about yourself?
I have a permanent scar from a bodyboarding accident that I got while trying to surf a car on land when I was young and dumb.
What's the first Arma game you played?
What is your current Arma 3 playtime?
10,090 hours
What is your favorite game of all time?
Red Orchestra 2 / Rising Storm
Outside of video games, what other hobbies do you enjoy?
I’m really into Dungeons & Dragons and other tabletop games such as the Alien RPG, but I also love to draw and do digital art (though I'm not very good yet)!
Can you show us your PC setup?
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
How and when did you get into Arma?
I was watching a YouTuber who was playing the DayZ mod for Arma 2 and really enjoyed watching it. I realised that my parents’ laptop was strong enough to run it, so I bought myself Arma 2 to initially play DayZ. I ended up discovering that I enjoyed the base game and the campaign a lot ,and then ended up looking for communities to play with.
How do you play or engage with Arma 3 nowadays?
I run the 3/5 Marines unit, which is a historical milsim portraying the US Marine Corps through history during conflicts such as WW2, the Korean War, and Vietnam War. This community has been my home for several years, founded by my good friend and USMC Veteran, Jon Toney, who has handed over leadership to me whilst he’s writing his own history book on a battle from the very unit we portray in-game. We house many other USMC and other combat veterans, and civilians of various countries - and we use the unit as a platform to educate people on the history we portray in-game. We all consider it more a re-enactment group than a milsim due to the amount of dedication a lot of our researchers, such as Zach Wood put into their work, and it has helped him build a basis for his own YouTube channel “Oral Histories With Combat Veterans of America” where he interviews a number of combat veterans.
What is your role as a member of Savage Game Design?
I am an Assistant Producer with Savage Game Design, and one of the main researchers and advisors for vehicles, weapons, gear, and equipment used during the Vietnam War.
Is there an interesting S.O.G. Prairie Fire behind-the-scenes story you can tell us about?
When I was working as a team lead for asset importing, we would always find our own fun way to leave our little mark on the things we worked on. A lot of this would be leaving small items hidden away for people to find such as bourbons hidden in filing cabinets with our team members' names written on them, or photos of us in the Kitty Bar. We got great personal enjoyment out of doing these things as we pushed through our sometimes monotonous work.
What is your favorite piece of Arma 3 user-created content (mod, addon, scenario, game mode, tool) and why?
ACRE 2 Radio addon. A lot of my time playing Arma 2 and 3 has been with ACRE, and it’s been the basis for milsim groups and PvPs that I’ve been a part of for all that time. The way the radios are all manually interactive and set up, and the different volume options for talking to one another without the radio really emphasizes its usage during historical conflicts - even if it lacks some of the period-correct radios for them.
Can you share your #1 pro tip for any Arma 3 player?
Always think about how much sound you and your team are making. I can think of countless times I’ve gotten the upper hand on enemies who gave themselves away by speaking too loudly. If you train enough with your team you can work on communicating non-verbally, which goes a long way on the battlefield.
With the release of Arma Reforger and modding tools for Enfusion Engine, what are you looking forward to with the franchise as we move along the road to Arma 4?
The ease of use for creators to bring in content into the game and really encourage entry-level modders to get involved in creating content., Also, I look forward to seeing how good looking the content will be, and being able to push the boundaries of what our current standards are with Arma 3, and how the intractability of the content will be going forward.
BONUS: What is your favorite military history book and why?
Black Dragon by Steven D. McCloud, which is the tale of a US Marine rifle company from its formation, including the many brutal battles of the Pacific culminating in the battle of Iwo Jima. The book covers the story of so many Marines and brings the Central Pacific drive to end the war into perspective through the eyes of the survivors. It goes into incredible detail about the battles and life between them, using much of the history that the author has collected over years with the veterans.
CLOSING
To finish the interview, do you have anything you'd like to share with the Arma community?
While Arma might be a military simulation sandbox used for various purposes, I feel its educational value as a teaching tool for a lot of the younger generation to show them the experiences of many combat veterans who are willing to share their stories is exponential. It’s part of the reason why I joined Savage Game Design to make SOG, and it’s amongst the chief reasons why I love Arma 3 and why I’ve put so many hours into it. The people here who share the same love and passion for history put in so much work to give back to those who served, and I would like to thank all those who helped me on my journey to get where I am today. McHellsten, Steel, Green, Cera, Horner, Justin, Simcardo, Toney, Wood, and so many others, some of whom I have fallen out of contact with, but all of which helped build me to become the person I am today.