Battlefield Heroes was one of the more popular games at Electronic Arts' Spring Break event, held recently in downtown San Francisco.

EA DICE producer Aleksander Grondol was lording over a bank of the popular demo stations when I ran into him. The busy man was kind enough to step away from his duties, allowing me to pick his brain on Battlefield 1942 similarities, Team Fortress 2 comparisons, wing-riding, and more.

Shack: How long have you been with the Battlefield franchise?

Aleksander Grondol: Oh not that long. I came to DICE last summer. I've only been a Battlefield developer professionally for the last 10 months, but my mind has been with the Battlefield franchise since it was born.

Shack: Were you a big fan of 1942?

Aleksander Grondol: Yes. Very much so.

Shack: Me too.

Aleksander Grondol: In many ways, that was where my multiplayer experience started. At least with shooters. So I'm very happy to be with DICE, working on one of my favorite [game series].

Shack: It seems like you kept a lot of the 1942 flavor in Heroes, but with the hit-points streaming above player heads and third person perspective, it also seems like you're adding a little World of Warcraft-style presentation to the mix.

Aleksander Grondol: Yeah, I guess, yeah. You might say that. I guess the numbers thing, we wanted to give people more feedback. So basically, I don't kill the guy, but at least I get something. That's the idea with the numbers--you don't feel as bad when you don't kill him. Usually when someone else gets the last shot, you go, 'Oh man, he's kill-stealing.' But [in Battlefield Heroes], you got all the points when you did the first few hits on him.

Shack: So there will only be two maps initially, correct?

Aleksander Grondol: That's correct. Basically what we are trying to do with this game is we are providing a foundation.

Shack: A "live update" philosophy?

Aleksander Grondol: Yeah, we'll do live updates based on community feedback, and this will all be for free obviously. There will be no charging for maps and things. What we will charge for in this game is the possibility for you to buy new cosmetic items, and convenience items, which are the double-XP boosting items that will let you to level faster.

Shack: How does that experience booster item work, exactly?

Aleksander Grondol: Well it's actually an item that when you apply it, it applies to your character for a given time. Basically we will provide you with some different options for how long you want to keep this item. When it comes to these items, we won't be doing any items that are game-changing. I think it's really important to stress that. We don't want to have a nuclear weapon, or an "I Win" button. That's not what we are trying to do with this game.

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Shack: Do you know yet the sort of price range you'll be looking at for these items?

Aleksander Grondol: We are looking into some different options, but we don't have anything concrete right now.

Shack: Every time we cover this game, we get a number of comments from people remarking on how it reminds them of Team Fortress 2. How do you guys feel about these comparisons?

Aleksander Grondol: First of all, it's an honor to be compared to a great game like Team Fortress 2, and I think the art style in TF2 is awesome. If they want to keep comparing it to TF2, I think that's perfectly okay. I think once you actually start playing it and see the difference for yourself, then it becomes quite apparent that it's not TF2. We're obviously not trying to take anything from TF2 in terms of gameplay.