Blog Tags

Developer Diary: Part 1 of Eric Chartrand on Multiplayer

In this developer diary Eric Chartrand, Lead Designer on Army of Two: The 40th Day, provides insight into many of the improvements and additions that have been made to the multiplayer component of this game.  The first part gives us a brief description of the four multiplayer game modes and covers some of the improvements made to networking in order to provide a smooth, uninterrupted, experience.

Army of Two may have delivered on co-op, but when it came to an online experience many players were left wishing for more. As a result the multiplayer component of Army of Two: The 40th Day has been completely reworked. We want to give fans unparalleled online functionality and a unique experience that can only come with a co-op game.

Army of Two: The 40th Day offers a total of four multiplayer game modes that can be played with up to twelve players on six different purpose-built maps. The visuals are inspired by the settings from the campaign, but the maps are designed from the ground-up specifically for multiplayer.

Caption: Extraction features four-player co-op and menacing waves of enemies.

The first multiplayer mode, and in my opinion the most exciting, is Extraction. Extraction is a new game mode that was devised as a bonus for pre-orders, giving gamers who preorder a month of exclusive access.  The idea came from Reid Schneider, our executive producer, after receiving numerous questions about the possibility of 4-player co-op in Army of Two.  The core of our game focuses on two, so extraction became an opportunity to extend Army of Two to four-player co-op. As such Extraction offers experiences similar to single player but without Salem and Rios and in a multiplayer situation. It's a single player encounter for four players where players must defeat waves of enemies, but with the objective of progressing through a map in order to reach safety at an extraction point.

Of course, this type of game mode is not unique to Army of Two: The 40th Day. Similar modes exist in other titles coming out this season, so we knew we needed to give Extraction a unique twist in order to really make it interesting.  In Extraction the difference lies in progressing through areas and moving around different battle zones in series of multiplayer maps.  We have four different areas that players will have to progress through on each map, and four maps in total for Extraction. The difficulty ramps up as players progress, but ultimately it's meant to be exceedingly difficult. We want to really get players sweating when they get to the end and have them feel like they are against insurmountable odds. For some players it will be difficult to get past even the first map, but fortunately you can choose to start on any map.

Caption: Extraction won't be easy. It's designed to be difficult and success will require tight teamwork.

In addition to extraction we have three other multiplayer game modes. We have Co-op Deathmatch, which is not team deathmatch. In team deathmatch players typically run around a map and simply attack the players on the opposite team without engaging in any sort of tactics that are different from free-for-all deathmatch. In Co-op Deathmatch not only is the winner determined by a partnership score and not individual scores, but players that don't stay with their partner will ultimately have a very difficult time. If you wander off on your own not only will you be potentially fighting two people alone, but if you do manage to kill one of your foes they can simply revive their team mate-making it almost impossible for you to succeed. In this way playing closely with your partner is essential for success in Co-op Deathmatch.

We also have two other team-based multiplayer modes. One of these modes is Control, which is essentially a king of the hill game where teams fight to take control of particular objectives and score points for holding them. Our fourth multiplayer mode is Warzone. It consists of a series of objectives that last for two to three minutes whereby teams score points for successfully attacking or defending.

Caption: You will be able to create your own mask & armor designs for multiplayer games using the online Mask & Armor Creator. Designs can be easily previewed in the editor itself.

Of course, having four very solid game modes is great, but it's the experience that players have playing them that's important. We've put a lot of effort into ensuring that players have a smooth and uninterrupted multiplayer experience. The original Army of Two relied completely on client-to-client communications, which ultimately led to some negative experiences. No matter how good your connection was, when one player had a slow connection it was highly detrimental to the game as a whole. This was the case because we needed to make sure that all of the animations were smooth and synchronized, and one poor connection meant that the game as a whole suffered. We've improved our networking, and the way it works, so that lag can be reduced to a minimum. Improvements to our networking have also allowed us to make Army of Two: The 40th Day completely region-free, unlike the original which was locked for technical reasons.

Check back next week for the second part of Eric Chartrand's multiplayer developer diary where he discusses Army of Two: The 40th Day's unique matchmaking, designing multiplayer maps for a co-op game, and more!

POPULAR LINKS

Media Army of Two: The 40th Day Fan Site Kit

Announcement Rios & Salem in a new Army of Two Comic

Media A Graphical Look at Weapon Customization

Dev Diary Part 1 of Nathan Brierley on Artificial Intelligence

Dev Diary Part 2 of Nathan Brierley on Artificial Intelligence

Announcement Army of Two: The 40th Day's Box Art is Revealed

Media 6 New Wallpapers

Dev Diary Part 2 of Danny Belanger on Location & Setting