The idea that we should read Helldivers 2's Galactic War as a brief story about humanity's noble defense against alien bugs and robots is too forgetful to warrant a serious discussion - Super Earth has a ministry of truth!- But in the endless churn of social media discourse, interpretations are being raised.

In a speech at the game development conference Nordic Game in Sweden this week, Johan Pilestedt, Chief Creative Officer of Arrowhead Games, made clear the studio's intentions. Helldivers2's "original hypothesis," he said, was to cast players as "the evil man of the galaxy," like stormtroopers, and see how they fare as background extras intended to fly off the balcony when the good guys were in charge of filming.

"The first Stormtrooper through the door will be shot in the chest by Han Solo, of course, when they try to break through the cell block in Star Wars," Pilestedt says, "And that's the question: Are you trying to take over your lovely death star better?" Climbing into that room trying to capture the bad guys

Full pitch Helldivers2, Pilestedt included in the presentation slide, was:"The Helldivers is a co-op action shooter in which players are put in the shoes of a growl on the "evil side" of pop culture. How would you fare as one of the 'extras' of your favorite '80s/'90s action movies' Could you survive the intergalactic war without plot armor to protect you?"

An action game without plot armor is a great explanation: One of the first things I did with Helldivers2 was that the idea of getting a body through a teammate's accidental approach fire became the basis for the view of Helldivers2 that Arrowhead put about building.

"We wanted a realistic take on what it is to be one of those squads of Stormtroopers," said Pilestedt, "or Starship Troopers"

In the full story, which can be seen on YouTube, Pilestedt is based on Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Arrowhead's game design philosophy, Talking in general about the development of Helldivers2, and what he thinks made it a hit, Arrowhead initially predicted that Helldivers2 would take 3 years to make, but was working on it 7 years, 11 months and 26 days before its release. It's worth it.

Pilestedt was previously the CEO of Arrowhead, but recently announced that he is transitioning to a predominantly creative leadership role. Shams Jorjani, a former Paradox Interactive executive, has taken over the title of CEO.

Here is the full Nordic game presentation of Pilestedt: