Wardogs, the much-anticipated FPS from Bulkhead, is a complex game. Beneath the surface-level gameplay — 100 players duking it out for zone control on a massive map — there’s a cash-focused metagame, skill levels, seasonal resets, gold bars, and more. And while die-hard players will be heavily rewarded for investing a lot of time into the game, CEO Joe Brammer is acutely aware that for Wardogs to succeed, it needs to also be approachable for those who can only play casually.

In a remote interview, Brammer explained to Polygon that even though Wardogs has plenty in common with Escape From Tarkov, he didn’t play loads of it. That’s because the regular wipes, where players lose all their gear to ensure everyone starts again on a level playing field, weren’t his thing. Instead, he played competitive shooters such as Valorant, because the pick-up-and-play aspect is important to him.

“You can’t not progress your account [in Wardogs],” Brammer explained, because “progression is cash.” At the end of each season, your cash gets converted into gold bars, which can be spent on cosmetic skins, which cannot be bought with real cash. “So you only see skins that people have built up gold bars to earn. Which is pretty cool, because it rewards the skill-based side of it.” It also rewards those who may not be as adept at the game, but dedicate a lot of time to it.

While your bank balance is reset to zero in these moments, your character progression is not. Progression and XP are earned by performing actions, in a similar manner to how RuneScape grants XP. And while Wardogs won’t let you reach 99 woodcutting, you’ll slowly become more proficient in roles like medic, sniper, and pilot. “Someone who’s been playing as a sniper for three years is going to hold their breath longer and be more accurate quicker when holding their breath,” Brammer explained.

“The changes are small, we’re talking minor percentages. But when you’re playing as a complete newbie, it means the person that has played for years and learned the game is a veteran. We like to call it the ‘war dog to war lord’ journey.” He’s keen to stress that this isn’t so major that “a new player couldn’t beat an experienced player,” though. “Ultimately, they’re reviving marginally faster, but it does have an impact.”

This ethos and design approach comes from the Bulkhead team’s experience developing Battalion 1944, a once-successful arena shooter, somewhat like a World War 2-themed Counter-Strike. After that game grew wildly popular, moreso than Brammer and the team expected, they couldn’t keep up with the demand.

“We released a game, people like it, this is amazing,” Brammer recalled about his feelings at the time. “We’ve gone above and beyond what we thought we could ever do, we’re all on minimum wage having the best time of our lives… and then someone says kill yourself and we’re like wait, what? I’m on your side! We realised players were giving us their money and time, and we’ve got to respect that.”

As a result, Brammer explains, “Wardogs is all about respecting people’s time and rewarding persistence. When you come back, it’s not like you forget the fact you’ve put loads of time into this. So you don’t get Wardogs without Battalion, because those learnings came from a very indie, amateur place.”

The team has previously spoken at length about how the Wardogs metagame will work, especially for those who do dedicate a lot of time to the game, letting players become arms dealers and day traders. Wardogs is currently in a pre-alpha testing phase, and will be released into early access later this year.