More and more, 2013 is gradually becoming a year to remember in the gaming industry, especially for the numerous open world titles that are set to arrive down the road. One such title that has seen a lot of action and garnered immense popularity over the months is Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs. While Watch Dogs has been in the news with information about its gameplay and other features incoming, fans have been more interested to know what the multiplayer aspect of the game will offer. Now Ubisoft is more than willing to offer details on that.
The company only recently talked about the game and its multiplayer mode on its official UbiBlog, also elaborating on how it will coordinate with the new Disrupt Engine on which the game has been built upon.
The team states that the new engine will support dynamic experiences, and this can be understood if the mode is broken down into three components- connectivity, dynamism, and impact on the city, simplified via Senior Producer Dominic Guay.
“In Watch Dogs, the post states, “you can go from being connected and online with other players to being fully disconnected – without affecting the world or changing the environment. That’s no small feat, and this seamless connectivity is another key pillar of the Disrupt engine. ‘There’s no loading or matchmaking or waiting for a game to start,’ Guay says. ‘That means that every single thing in the game needed to be ready to be synchronized with the network. Every aspect of animation and physics and the AI needed to work online with other players’.”
It adds that although there are a number of stalkers, hackers and griefers all around the city giving the player a hard time, there’s no real need to worry about it. When the player is inside the game, “you won’t see other players just running around wreaking havoc. That would diminish the immersion Disrupt works so hard to build. The only time another player will actually enter your world is when they accept a contract with your name on it.”
As far as in-game dynamism and impact is concerned, the post states both of these aspects depend on how the game itself is built. So as an example generated from in-game weather changes (like rain), “When the sky starts to open up, civilians will pull out umbrellas. The lights reflect off wet surfaces. We can see the wind shifting the direction of the rain and blowing debris around. Even leaves and trash on the ground will begin to appear damp and weighted down by moisture.”
Similarly, the in-game impact will also work accordingly. After the player has gained enough notoriety (which has nothing to do with being good or evil), he will develop a certain reputation in the city and that will affect how people will respond to the player’s character.
Watch Dogs is currently set for release later this year on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii U, Xbox One, Playstation 4, and PC.
