Warhawk, the sweet 32, and downloadable content

In this week’s IGN video weekly it was revealed that when it comes to the phasing out (there go the rumors) of the single player experience for Incog Inc. Entertainment’s Warhawk, the developers were able to focus more on their goal to deliver a AAA online game.

Moreover, given their goal to deliver a fast paced game, they decided that 32 players would we the sweet spot for them. According to Kirk Baum, lead online engineer for Warhawk, there’s a technical side to why they’re keeping it at 32.  The game will really start sending out a lot of data, and to keep the game experience fast paced, they’re going to have to ensure that there’s a “big pipe” to handle that.

They will implement technical nets wherein if someone with a not so desirable connection try to host a 32 player game, they will limit it, because they just can’t support that many players, and they don’t want players to have a bad game experience. Don’t worry, though: they do plan to host dedicated servers themselves, so there’s still going to be space for people to play on.

On to the integrated SIXAXIS flight controls. The developers said that while their play-test group did find it a bit harder, the group found tilt-sensing control more fun once you get past the learning curve. So the devs decided to not force the issue, and just have tilt-sensing as an option for players – if they want to use it for the aircraft or ground vehicles – an option which in the end they say, worked pretty well.

They also take the time to boast about their planned reward system for the game. Not only will there be individual awards, for more than 2,500 statistics that they’re tracking, but they’re will also be team-play awards. If your team take a lot of time to defend your territory, you’re probably going to get awards for that.

They also confirm that they have plans for downloadable content for the game.

Their overall pitch for the game right now, is that the single player experience for this game was just not up to par, so to keep players happy they’re doing everything they can to make it a rewarding multiplayer experience. The game should be available by June.

Via IGN

In this week’s IGN video weekly it was revealed that when it comes to the phasing out (there go the rumors) of the single player experience for Incog Inc. Entertainment’s Warhawk, the developers were able to focus more on their goal to deliver a AAA online game.

Moreover, given their goal to deliver a fast paced game, they decided that 32 players would we the sweet spot for them. According to Kirk Baum, lead online engineer for Warhawk, there’s a technical side to why they’re keeping it at 32.  The game will really start sending out a lot of data, and to keep the game experience fast paced, they’re going to have to ensure that there’s a “big pipe” to handle that.

They will implement technical nets wherein if someone with a not so desirable connection try to host a 32 player game, they will limit it, because they just can’t support that many players, and they don’t want players to have a bad game experience. Don’t worry, though: they do plan to host dedicated servers themselves, so there’s still going to be space for people to play on.

On to the integrated SIXAXIS flight controls. The developers said that while their play-test group did find it a bit harder, the group found tilt-sensing control more fun once you get past the learning curve. So the devs decided to not force the issue, and just have tilt-sensing as an option for players – if they want to use it for the aircraft or ground vehicles – an option which in the end they say, worked pretty well.

They also take the time to boast about their planned reward system for the game. Not only will there be individual awards, for more than 2,500 statistics that they’re tracking, but they’re will also be team-play awards. If your team take a lot of time to defend your territory, you’re probably going to get awards for that.

They also confirm that they have plans for downloadable content for the game.

Their overall pitch for the game right now, is that the single player experience for this game was just not up to par, so to keep players happy they’re doing everything they can to make it a rewarding multiplayer experience. The game should be available by June.

Via IGN