Why 256? MAG developers explain in diary #2
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It appears the guys over at GameTrailers have earmarked Mondays as the perfect time to drop some new MAG musings on the masses.
Last week we learned about the back-story behind the Shadow War but, in yesterday’s new edition, Zipper Interactive delve head-long into the one topic that’s on everyone’s lips: 256 players!? Are you guys insane?
Zipper stalwarts, Steve Suhy (Technical Art Director), Jason Tartaglia (Technical Director), Ed Byrne (Creative Director), CJ Heine (Lead level designer), Andy Beaudoin (Lead Game Designer) and Alan Van Slyke (Producer) all chime in about the mammoth undertaking of having 256 players on one map. They not only speak about how ground-breaking such an endeavour is, but also the inherent challenges that comes with smashing the current confines of tactical online shooters.
It’s interesting to hear for instance from Jason Tartaglia of how the game performs wonders, not just from a networking stand-point, but on a rendering level too. With so many players and an impressive field of vision, it’s heartening to hear that the frame-rate, even when all players converge towards each other at the end, consistently remains at over 30 frames per second.
This week’s developer diary also addresses the tricky concept of balance in a game with so many people frantically running about shooting everything that moves. The Zipper-ites mention how novice players can drop in at quiet zones in the map (in an effort to deal with the vicious spawn-die-spawn cycle) and how they have paid particular focus towards wanting the player to always feel empowered. Individuals should always believe that they can influence how the battle will end.
Check back next Monday for what we can only assume will be Developer Diary #3.
Woo – sounds like they’re thinking about all the right things. Fingers still very much crossed for this one
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Every time I hear about this game I get more excited about it. Let’s hope it’s as good as it looks.
Same here i really cant wait for this game and it looks better every week.
ditto
i think this game will shift a lot more PS3 units, especially to fans of call of duty 4. personally i hate cod 4 and hope that MAG becomes the first FPS to beat it, at least on consoles anyway.
Each to there own of course, but I thought COD4 was great. I gave COD5 a miss, as it seemed like it offered little new, and of course its from the “other” developer. The amount of people that brought this game without quite understanding that amazes me.
MAG interests me a great deal, as potentially it moves the genre forward. I’m still concerned it could get a bit lost if it is too close to Modern Warfare 2.
CoD5 had Nazi Zombies! And it was a brilliant shooter – CoD4 actually offered very little new as well, other than perks (which I’m very ‘meh’ about) and a much more arcadey vibe (which is good fun and all, but I prefer my shooters a bit grittier) – don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed CoD4, like playing an action movie
. Whereas CoD5 was a bit like playing Saving Pte Ryan and Enemy at the Gates 
.
I think Treyarch suffers because people always like to have a ‘bad’ with which to compare a ‘good’, when in reality it’s really a ‘good’ with a ‘bloody good’.
Back on topic – MAG FTW!
But 256 players is going to lag.. I can I only think about this.
I’m sure they will have done some viability test’s at the beginning of this project. Don’t panic.
[...] the concept of MAG’s Shadow War and the reasoning behind why such a prodigious jump to 256 online players, the latest MAG diary entry talks private armies and how each mercenary group will have their own [...]