There are two primary reasons why you have to visit a development studio. Those reasons are to:
Distribute High Fives: These are the great visits where everyone is all pumped up and there are plenty of great things going on. We sit around a talk about all the cool things we are about to do and how Spartans were a bunch of sissies.
Distribute Headlocks: These are the not so great visits where there is the gnashing of the teeth and we have to figure out how to not kill each other…
So when we went out to Idol Minds last week unfortunately it was for the liberal application of the headlock maneuver. The reason: Online multiplayer functionality… we had “issues.”
We played through quite a few online multiplayer games while we were there. We breathed a collective sigh of relief. When we decided to take PAIN online some of our partners advised against it. Good thing we don’t listen too well. While online multiplayer is working there was still too much to do before the Amusement Park shipped. So… we are delaying the release of the online functionality of PAIN.
There are several reasons why we delayed release. Here’s a few:
The Rabbit Hole
As we started to develop online multiplayer for PAIN more and more features became necessary. Although not mandatory, certain functions in multiplayer became necessary for players to really enjoy their online experience. Two very important online aspects (questions) became…
Who am I playing against?
This is obviously very easy when you are in the same room with your opponent. This becomes infinitely more complex when you have never met. So we had to make sure at a glance you could see:
Win Record, Loss Record, Disconnect Record, Level of Skill
So instead of just having a simple match making system we felt we really needed to make a robust system to track history. That way you know what kind of fight you are in for before it happens. You might not want to play against someone who has 2,000 wins 0 losses and 8,000 disconnects. He seems kinda shady doesn’t he?
Is this person a DOUCHE?
Griefing is practically assured when you get into online play. Some players just LOVE to exploit the system. It wasn’t until we started playing online where all these things became really apparent. Things like taking forever to launch (GRIEF). Taking forever to choose a target (GRIEF) or in the case of advanced players… people who take too long to end a run (DOUCHE). People who just drop out of four player games because they think it’s cute (DOUBLE DOUCHE) All these occurrences needed effective countermeasures.
So we had to make changes to ALL modes when you are in online multiplayer mode. This means we are putting timers on just about everything. No one has all century for you to make up your mind in H-O-R-S-E. We also aren’t impressed with players who spend too long on the log ride. Only Phelps should spend that much time in the water.
Whoa wait Travis didn’t you think of this &^@# before you started?
The simple answer is yes and no. The complete answer is.. Yes, we thought about most of these issues as we attacked online play. However, the more play evolved in PAIN the more it became crucial that we alter not just the online experience but the offline experiences to better mirror what will happen online. Most of these changes you will see in the offline modes in Amusement Park. It doesn’t effect your enjoyment of the game. It just means we have to think of PAIN differently now. When we built Downtown we didn’t have to really consider online issues.
PAIN wasn’t originally created to be an online multiplayer game. Everyone wanted multiplayer and we listened to you. So multiplayer is what you’re going to get. We never thought we would have to answer development questions like…
When you blow up 50 crates and the shrapnel blows up another 25 crates and there are hundreds of objects displaced is all that level trash relevant?
The answer is yes… Yes it is.
So why not delay Amusement Park until online is ready?
The biggest reason is because most of you have demolished Downtown and need new challenges. The other BIG reason is that we have really been hammering out content like modes, characters and constructs like PAINLabs. There’s a lot more coming so we want to get in front of you guys as soon as possible. Our new schedule calls for new cool things on a MONTHLY time table. Holding up all this content didn’t seem fair or smart. You guys clearly said you wanted more PAIN right now. Last time I looked at the poll 21% of you ranked online multiplayer as the most requested feature. So I hope our decision pleases the 79% majority.
So is there any good news here Travis?
Absolutely..
I saved a lot of money by switching my car insurance to GEICO (No seriously)
Online multiplayer works now… we just need to make it “friendly”
We are not holding back cool content because online multiplayer isn’t ready
We haven’t cancelled online multiplayer… it’s just delayed
More modes will be available online due to the delay
It won’t be easy to be a douche online. (Amen)
We will still have Voice over IP ability
And best of all…
When online multiplayer is ready it will still be FREE.
Feel free to ask questions about our online plans in the responses area. I will share as much about our plans as I can. Just remember flaming or ranting here isn’t going to make us develop any faster than we already have been. However, If you ARE going to rant…please make it entertaining.
We will be back next week with good news… PROMISE.