2015-10-06
EA Staff

Easter eggs are hidden messages, links between those building a game and those who end up experiencing it.

The moment you find one can make you wonder what else you’ve missed over the years.

Ever wonder about the easter eggs in EA games? We grabbed a few developers to talk about their favorites.

David Sirland, Producer, Battlefield 4

The John Romero head in Doom II. The Dopefish in Quake. I remember finding these easter eggs, and feeling a tiny connection to the people making these games. It was mind blowing at the time, and it’s still really cool today.

In Battlefield 4, we have a ton of them to find, some little (references in posters), some big (giant prehistoric sharks), and some really, really complicated. My personal favorite was the Phantom Program as a whole – one of the more complex Easter Eggs in Battlefield.

We added a breadcrumb trail to find clues and secrets, and it was so much fun from a dev standpoint to make and see the community work together solving the riddles. I was driving the project, and worked with a small team to make sure the backstory and theme fit with the expansions we were making.

We also managed to come up with a really cool reward – the Phantom Bow – for players that managed to complete it.

Andre Santos, senior artist, BioWare

It's pretty difficult to fill every nook in the game with interesting content or loot, so sometimes the best reward we can offer is a silly visual treat. Starting in Dragon Age II, the environment artists hid large numbers of cheese wheels and slices all over the game. Typically, we like to hide cheese in places that are off the beaten path, but sometimes it's just blatantly obvious.

In the Temple of Mythal, there's a Pac-Man reference made out of cheese wheels. It will take a keen eye to spot this one in the courtyard because it's mostly covered up by Ivy.

Additionally, there's a failed cheese-summoning ritual midway through the temple. It will be pretty dark, so make sure you bring someone who can cast a bit of light.

The Storm Coast had a cheese boat crash into one of the basalt columns in the water. You'll have to use some unorthodox means to get to this one, but you'll know it when you see it. While on your way to the boat, you might want to check out the three statues in the treasure room—they have some cheesy surprises.

Lastly, if you are in Crestwood, you shouldn't have too hard a time finding cheese in odd locations. Leave no stone unturned.

Brian Hayes, creative director, EA SPORTS UFC

Geoff Harrower, senior software engineer, EA SPORTS UFC

Easter eggs are often found in action adventure games where you explore an open world. But there are also easter eggs buried within some of our EA SPORTS games, like EA SPORTS UFC, which includes nearly a dozen situations that can trigger hidden easter eggs.

“All the easter eggs in EA SPORTS UFC are based off things that happened in real life that most hardcore fans would remember,” says creative director Brian Hayes.

Lead gameplay designer Geoff Harrower broke down all the easter eggs in EA SPORTS UFC on our forums.

“I'm a bit of an old school gamer,” says Harrower. “I have fond memories of the days when there were hidden features in games that gamers had to find on their own. And finding one was a big deal because it wasn't easy to do. “

The team building EA SPORTS UFC knew they had to give fans a heads up. “Geoff threw down some crumbs and essentially got the easter egg hunt started,” says Hayes. “Once he planted the seed, our fans made pretty quick work of things.”

It’s that feeling of discovering a secret that resonated with Harrower. “Mortal Kombat is probably the one I have the fondest memories of.  There was so much hidden stuff in that game you got the sense that there was always another secret to uncover. Back in the original game, fatalaties weren’t something everyone knew how to do, or even knew existed. The first time I saw one I was blown away.”

You can see the full list of easter eggs in EA SPORTS UFC here.

What’s your favorite video game easter egg of all time? Tell us @EA on Twitter.

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