Yesterday, Vince Zampella of Respawn Entertainment dropped a small bit of details on Titanfall’s multiplayer stating that only supports up to 6 vs. 6 in competitive modes. And…the internet did as the internet does. Twitter and gaming forums across the net released a collective hysteria retarding Titanfall (a game they haven’t even played), because apparently they know how to develop a game better than the actually developers of this particular game.
@VinceZampella very disappointed vince, that sounds incredibly lousy.
— Swish (@MrClutch514) January 8, 2014
@Wolf23169 I think it keeps it competitive. Often times in big teams your efforts go unrewarded. Let’s not knock it too early lol.
— John Michael Nunez (@Lostdonut361) January 8, 2014
DKo5 took the opportunity to address the reaction to Titanfall on NeoGAF where he pretty much ridiculed everyone throwing shots at a game they haven’t even played yet. In addition, he explained that the Respawn Entertainment Team tried large player counts but the game boiled down to 6 vs. 6 which ultimately gave them the balance they desired.
Lots of armchair game designing going on in here. I’d suggest playing before judging a something as insignificant as a number in a vacuum.
Vince is right – we tried a huge amount of playercounts (all the way down to 1v1 and up quite high) and designed the maps, gameplay mechanics, and entire experience around which played best. If anyone wants to chase the numbers game, perhaps we’re not the experience they’re after? I dunno.
And FYI, for amount of stuff happening at once in a map you’ll be hard pressed to find a game that keeps the action higher. I literally have to stop playing every few rounds because my heart just can’t take it some times. Remember, you can get out of your Titan and let it roam on AI mode – meaning there can be 12 Pilots wallrunning around, 12 Titans stomping below, and dozens of AI doing their thing.
Oh, and I keep seeing people thinking we’ve got “bots” when we talk about AI. Thats not how they are. The AI in Titanfall are not replacements for human players. Our playercount is not 6v6 because of AI – AI play their own role in the game and are a different class of character in the game.
Can’t wait! Only a couple months until speculative threads like this are gone and people are actually talking about their experiences with the game. Its truly fun stuff, and I hope everyone at least gives it a try. — DKo5
Most of my experiences with high player count games are usually not very good. One of two dreadful things happen, either you get teamed up with a bunch of DIYers who try to up their score and KDR rather than completing the objective, or…lag. Titanfall launches in March, let’s take a deep breath and leave the game designing up to the game developer.
