Modeling Osama Bin Laden – though creepy – was relatively easy to do. Again, the more reference material there is, the more the model is going to look like the real person. Bin Laden’s beard did pose some technical challenges. It can be tough to model extreme facial hair like he has because it protrudes from the player model. We expected the flowing robes to be difficult too, but they turned out to be fairly uncomplicated. It was tough to stare Bin Laden in the face on our screens as we created him, but knowing we would be able to shoot at him once it was done made it easier to take in the development process.

We have been discussing an Osama-related mission for quite some time now. In the absence of a current known plan – and not wanting to model a speculative mission – we decided to give players the chance to carry out an actual plan put together by the CIA. It is not unlike our decision to model a commemorative Iran Hostage Rescue (Missions 7 and 8). The difference between making a mission based on an event that happened versus one that could have happened is that with the latter, we have a little more freedom to experiment with how we lay out objectives. There is a lot of envisioning what would have happened and working from there. We work with the facts and then move forward logically. In the case of the Tarnak Farm plot, The Washington Post article “A Secret Hunt Unravels in Afghanistan” featured in our News Coverage section gives excellent detail as to how the plot was formulated and why it was abandoned.

Modeling Tarnak Farm turned out to be one of the more straightforward development efforts. The layout of the buildings in the real world was repetitive, so this was not hard to duplicate. We had plenty of satellite images and photographs from which to recreate the flat, sprawling compound. The wide open nature of the map provides plenty of drivable areas so the player can hop in a truck and zip around the compound. Also, the Farm’s being in a remote area with little vegetation and sparse terrain allows us to add more enemies to the mission. Be aware that there are a lot of enemies in this map. More than usual. And finally, Osama Bin Laden’s bodyguard has a higher skill level than regular al Qaeda fighters. There are snipers in the map, so in addition to being prepared for large firefights, move cautiously as you approach the compound.