Report: Respawn's new game is TitanFall for Xbox One, PC
It appears that the rumors were true. Respawn Entertainment's first title will be a multiplayer centric mech shooter call Titanfall, and is expected to be a Microsoft exclusive for Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.
It appears that the rumors were true. Respawn Entertainment, the team comprised mostly of former Modern Warfare devs will be making a multiplayer-centric mech shooter called TitanFall. According to an early copy of Game Informer magazine, it will be a Microsoft exclusive for Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.
Apparently, Google Play released the magazine early and a post on NeoGAF has run a large synopsis of the article. The futuristic shooter will focus on huge mechs called Titans that can be piloted by players. Players can also run around on foot and shoot things, and are able to leap atop mechs to blow out their "brains." The game uses a modified version of Valve's Source engine, with "major portions" rewritten by Respawn. The game is expected to run at 60 frames per second.
The game will apparently make heavy use of the Xbox One's cloud processing support. Respawn will be handling the Xbox One and PC versions, while a separate developer will be handling the Xbox 360 version.
The game is set for a spring 2014 release.
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John Keefer posted a new article, Report: Respawn's new game is TitanFall for Xbox One, PC.
It appears that the rumors were true. Respawn Entertainment's first title will be a multiplayer centric mech shooter call Titanfall, and is expected to be a Microsoft exclusive for Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.-
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It makes perfect sense. I am sure they wanted to use a quake based or quake like engine and tool set.
Their options would be to then pick either quake 3, doom3, Rage, or source.
If they picked Quake 3 they have to write too much new code because quake 3 is SUPER bare bones on the game code side and also lacking a ton of engine features.
Doom 3 is also super old but would come with a lot more game code and scripting tools but the engine really isn't set up for no SP games and all the lighting stuff would have to be replaced.
Rage probably isn't for sale anymore and besides the Mega Texture stuff sounds like a huge pain in the ass and id is relying too much on designers using Modo or whatever 3d package... though maybe that isn't such a bad idea because I have worked that way before and it was pretty good using 3d studio as a level editor in some ways......... making anything you want without restrictions.... but in Rage they import all that junk still into their version of radiant. Still I don't think id tech is for sale anyway.
Source however has been kind of sort of updated with new features at least compared to Doom3 and Quake 3, it is for sale, it's additive BSP based instead of Subtractive and level construction is almost exactly like the COD tools EXCEPT for it doesn't have good patch/terrain/poly support.... but they could add that. Also they are going to have to write a new scripting system instead of the funky source version, but they can add that. I don't think Source has a good prefab system but it has something close, so they can add that. Does source run super fast though like Quake3???? hmm unsure.
Unreal is out because it's all imported static meshes and subtractive BSP which is the opposite of what they were doing with the COD tools. It also doesn't have good patch/poly/terrain support in the editor to make any shapes you want without restriction. The scripting system for unreal is the visual Kismet which is the opposite of what COD tools have. Basically everything in unreal is the opposite of everything COD's tools have.
They were trying to get something that was the closest to their old toolset and they don't have many options so Source makes sense.
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I doubt they'd offload something like physics.
I'm reminded though of something I read about the portal algorithm in Portal. They use an initial algorithm that computes super fast and is 95% accurate the instant the portal is created, and then a second algorithm runs that takes a lot longer to process (like 0.1 second) that is 100% accurate. This way the portal opens and is usable instantly, and is 100% accurate 0.1 second later.
Something similar could be done with cloud computing algorithms taking 0.2 sec to process and then return, and using a faster initial algorithm in the meantime. Pathing could be done this way - get the unit/NPC moving in 95% the right direction, and .2 sec later they move in 100% the right direction.
I'm just thinking out loud, I have no idea how this stuff will be done in the reality, but this cloud computing thing could be more useful than people are giving it credit.-
But in this case, the more costly algorithm is the one that has to be calculated at the last possible second, and having that calculated remotely, then having the results transmitted to the client, would result in hitching due to network latency.
It's also possible that they're offloading to cloud processing for the sake of having cloud processing. If the rumors of a year-long XBox One exclusivity are true, that could be the downpayment for a discount on Microsoft Azure for the dedicated servers they want to run for all the platforms.
This title sounds like a "we'll announce details when we solidify things, and/or when we feel the audience will best receive it", but it smacks of a MW2 "let's not announce IWNet until 3 weeks before release" kind of situation, so I'm not investing myself in this title at all. I'm just going to sit off to the sidelines, and continue playing "Steam or nothing" PC first person shooters.-
Ars had a decent article on what sorts of things could be done in the cloud: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/05/how-the-xbox-one-draws-more-processing-power-from-cloud-computing/
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That's interesting stuff.
They mentioned the same idea I had, except applying it to lighting instead of AI:
So when you walk into a room, it might be that for the first second or two the fidelity of the lighting is done by the console, but then, as the cloud catches up with that, the data comes back down to the console and you have incredibly realistic lighting.
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They can offload physics for things which are not time (latency) sensitive. The example I used somewhere else was the particle physics of a massive waterfall... it could be calculated in the cloud as you enter the level and then streamed to the console as you get closer. It's almost like pre-rendering a 3D scene for video but just the physics are being pre-calculated not the actual 3d objects. Somebody else mentioned that you could have higher level AI routines (the strategic overview level of AI) processed in the cloud with the tactical smaller-scale stuff processed on the fly. There is also the idea of what Onlive and Gakai are doing with rendering a scene and streaming it to you as a video stream. That could be used for something like a video screen or a viewport in a spaceship where the stuff through the 'window' is being calculated in the cloud, rendered and streamed to you. There's a lot of stuff which could be done... if their cloud stuff is up to the challenge and if it actually does work the way they are saying.
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Um, any MMO? Most of the popular MOBAs, any social game, and almost any F2P game regardless of platform. The only games I know that had an always online requirement that was primarily motivated by DRM are a select few Ubisoft PC titles. The rest (and I am including Simcity and Diablo 3 in this) are online only by design, designs which have angered many legacy fans of those franchises but designs nonetheless.
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Neogaf as always breaking out with the leaks
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=61609681&postcount=1
Looks like it's using a heavily-modified Source engine.-
"Hulking 24-foot tall mechs concentrate heavy fire on anything that moves while lithe soldiers zip across the map with a swiftness normally reserved for superheroes"
"Legions of AI soldiers pour in and out of buildings on a large-scale battlefield as dropships deliver reinforcements from above"
Weapons of soldiers can vaporize multiple targets at once, but the mechs can repel shots back.
Blurs line between competitive multiplayer and single player.
"The titans move at the speed of a regular soldier in many first person shooters and feature an array of heavy firepower that make them formidable adversaries in open space"
Titans best offense is good defense.
Titans can be player controlled or can be commanded to guard an area or follow you around.
More to come... -
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