Darksiders 2 technical hurdles prevent co-op play

Vigil Games wants to include multiplayer in Darksiders, and has since the first title, but it comes with its own technical and balancing challenges according to game lead Marvin Donald.

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Despite revolving around the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Darksiders 2 won't feature a co-op mode to ride alongside your fellow harbingers of doom. But as game director Marvin Donald told IGN, the absence of multiplayer comes from the technical difficulty of such an undertaking, and Vigil Games would love to include it in the next installment.

"[Multiplayer] has been something we've been wanting to do since DS1," said Donald. "You almost have to make four games. You've got completely different animation sets. It's 800 to 1,000 animations for Death alone and they're all unique. One thing great about working with Joe [Madureira] is that he comes up with awesome characters but they have completely different proportions, so you can't share any of the animations across them."

The issue isn't just the massive task of designing such distinct characters; since the Horsemen have different abilities and powers, Vigil would want each character to be unique in that way too. "Of course there's balancing with the different abilities. We're going to want them to play differently, so we wanted to spend some time developing each of the characters individually."

Vigil Games wanted to include multiplayer in the first game, but it wasn't feasible for a small studio working on a new intellectual property. Donald hopes that they can include co-op in the next Darksiders title, but that depends on resources and budgets, ultimately determined by the success of Darksiders 2. "It's too soon to say. Multiplayer is definitely something we want, but this time around we're not quite ready for it."

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    July 26, 2011 11:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Darksiders 2 technical hurdles prevent co-op play.

    Vigil Games wants to include multiplayer in Darksiders, and has since the first title, but it comes with its own technical and balancing challenges according to game lead Marvin Donald.

    • reply
      July 26, 2011 11:09 AM

      [deleted]

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      July 26, 2011 11:26 AM

      DS2 does not need coop anyways the first one was fine the way it was. NOT EVERY FUCKING GAME NEEDS MP.

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        July 26, 2011 1:15 PM

        ^This.

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        July 26, 2011 1:16 PM

        This

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        July 26, 2011 1:24 PM

        When they can add it in a way that doesn't diminish the single-player experience I don't see why not!

        Co-op is almost always better than single-player just for the fact that you get to share your experience with someone else (IMO)...

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        July 26, 2011 1:25 PM

        [deleted]

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          July 26, 2011 1:57 PM

          I love coop games but there is no need to put it into every game.

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          July 26, 2011 2:11 PM

          Me too...

          I'm fine with online co-op, EXCEPT when they sacrifice client-side co-op in favor of it.

          If they have to choose, I'd be happier if they chose Split-Screen.

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        July 26, 2011 2:19 PM

        DARKSIDERS DOES. WAR AND DEATH BROFIST UNITE.

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        July 26, 2011 2:21 PM

        Not MP but CO-OP!

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        July 27, 2011 3:22 AM

        SIGNED.

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      July 26, 2011 11:32 AM

      Mega DS1 fan I can not wait for 2, I really hope they make two more after DS2, they be crazy not too.

      While MP would be cool, I don't care if they ever do it, personally I want them to keep making rad SP games.

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      July 26, 2011 11:43 AM

      4-player co-op in DS3 (play as all four horsemen) kthx.

      MAKE IT SO!

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        July 26, 2011 1:11 PM

        I'd rather DS3 be 2 player co-op with Fury and Strife, then have DS4 with 4 player co-op where all the riders gather for an epic showdown.

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          July 26, 2011 1:23 PM

          I thought they only promised a trilogy?

          I mean a quadrilogy would be nice, but I believe it was only three games!

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            July 26, 2011 2:15 PM

            There's still 2 more horseman (Pestilence/Conquest, and Famine), so who knows =P

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      July 26, 2011 2:14 PM

      [deleted]

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      July 26, 2011 2:15 PM

      another game ruined with multiplayer.

      Can't wait for Solitaire 2k15 with 64 players.

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      July 26, 2011 2:21 PM

      Fuck that shit, I want 4-player apocalyptic carnage, it does not need to remain Zelda-like.

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        July 26, 2011 2:23 PM

        That animation thing is such a horrible excuse, tone it down to 250 each!

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          July 26, 2011 9:14 PM

          The great animation and Zelda-cloneness of Darksiders are pretty much its two selling points!

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        July 26, 2011 9:39 PM

        4 Horsemen, right?

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      July 26, 2011 2:22 PM

      I'd rather have lighting than multiplayer. The world is so cool, why is it all so flatly lit? I mean, that is a nice framerate, but surely there has to be a better balance, right?

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      July 26, 2011 10:40 PM

      co-op is so 2009

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