Hello, my fathers.
Unreal Tournament vas my first multiplayer game, and i was grown on UT`s and Unreals. Now it’s significant part of my personality. Thank you!
So, i am your truest fan. I wish you prosperity.
And now I’ll try to help you with it by my ideas, made with help of my 17 years of multiplayer games experience. I hope they will help you, and thru your geniality - to all game industry of humanity.
Loocking back on history of games, I have note, that secret of bestseller game - is understanding, that players are evolve.
Every innovation, revealed to gamers, change the gamers, make them learn and grow. But this affects not only visual and design aspects, but many another’s!
That’s why i think, that VR googles will not be innovative enough for multiplayer actions. They make visibility even worse, with 1k pixels per eye of googles like oculus. And untill 2-3 generations of VR will change - shooter fans will prefer even 1080p monitors. Possibility to move inside room, or shake head, is cool to audience of nintendo and minecraft - and I am understand, they deserve games too. But you, dudes, you are one of main roots of genre of shooters, and i want to share this list of (by my opinion) importantest aspects of future evolution of gamers.
Aspect 1: Massive action.
Arma, Battlefield, UT Onslaut game mode, GTA online, they all provide very different experience, simple shooters. Very different, and better. And gamers all ready note this.
Legendary UT words: doublekill, multikill, megakill, lidicrows, holy ***! ……… longer progress in this sequence can provide only massive games with imbalanced vehicles and guns. What can be better, than killing 10, 20, 50, 100 human players in one moment??? This make me hard, even after 17 years of mp experience!
And i did it. Not 100 and not 50, but 20 - was! It was in ARMA. And i have feel like I am young again.
So my first and most important idea and question is:
Will Unreal Engine capable to provide quality gameplay for at least 1000 of peoples on one usually powerful server, on giant map, like in arma, but with 100+ fps on modern middle computers (gtx 960, r9-380, and 4 core CPUs)? Arma now is best in this, ive shoot apc from tank gun on 11 kilometer distance. Ive drop bombs from 8 km altitude from jet. Ive shoot down fast jets and choppers from tank canon. I`ve demolition buildings with enemies inside from bazookas. I have kill with Sniper rifles from 2600 meters. But best sniper rifle – is 120 mm tank canon, and 30 and 40 mm guns of APCs. And I have kill infantry enemies from 3-4 kilometers. Or inside camper hidings, just penetrating walls by SABOTs. Wery big and complicated battle arena with powerful enemies – humans, is realy cool. And this changed the gamers, so this is the trend of future games – bigger battles with more players, more possibilities on battlefield to kill more good enemies, use bigger guns, and extreme powerful unbalanced* vehicles. Games with strategy, not just tactics.
But game engine of ARMA 3 is garbage. Fps in big games is around 20-30 for players with CPU from AMD. Bohemia now try to made new engine, “enfusion”, but I think they will be lame again.
So problem with performance now – is most important. Better performance in big games – is key to future gaming.
So, you, dudes, best engine creators, please, make engine capable for intense playing of at least 1000 peoples on giant maps! And capable of running on not expensive servers, that can be afforded not only by big companies, but persons who hosts or rent multiplayer servers now. It’s the most important way of evolution of games and gamers. Please, Epic, head this movement!
*Aspect 2: Imbalanced vehicles – is realism. But realism needs effective engine support.
Game developers traditionally put artificial balance everywhere. Because think that player equality provides fair game. But it results game destiny killing consequences. Because when player get experience in game, and improve skills, he expects he will benefit more frags. But most important skill in shooters - is to be the first who open fire. In mostly all balanced shooters weapons is tweaked to kill slow, from at least 3-4 hits. Or even more. And when player become experienced in such balanced games, he meets problem of overprotected noobs and firepover limitation of professionals. So, with growing of experience, player faces impossibility to defeat larger numbers of enemies. For example - in one assault rifle magazine is 30 rounds. 1 frag needs at least 5 rounds. So in theoretically perfect situation, when pro gamer, with realy impressive tactical innovation, shows behind backs of enemy squad of 7 noob players, he will anyway loose. Add here time, needed to fire 30 rounds – at least 3 seconds, this time is enough even for noob to turn and start fire. Add here and insane recoil and spread of weapon on whole screen… And in result – statistically, balanced games limit all players to play one against 3-4 enemies, no matter of skills. So players with time start hate game, and drop it.
Game developers added ranks, to stimulate players to stay. But it is bad way too! Because many gamers are adult, have jobs, wife’s, kids, and not many free time. But good game skills. So, 30-year old gamer, joining game with ranks, and…. Derpy young childs, who have plenty time to spend, already have big rank and serious guns. But 30yo videogame veteran have weak bb-gun. And he just have no time to spend it for upping levels! He never can’t get cool guns, if he plays 1 hour in week!
So, he just drops this game.
After this, donate added, and it ruin games even worse – always wins only who more pay. An it is often kids of rich parents – usually dumb ********. Or crazy freaks, who spends thousands dollars.
Note another stupidity, like power armor in fallout 4. Little insects by their tiny teeths somehow damage health of player in power armor, because it just reduce damage by percent. And little miserabke roach can kill player in ****en power armor if he will be disturbed from game on 30 seconds. That’s ridiculous, and make gamers disrespect game, not feel it’s serious and solid.
But bf2 project reality, operation flashpoint and ARMA shows another way: Realism. Every, absolutely every weapon can kill from one shot. Like in real life. Different sides have different weapons. Vehicles gives monstrous advantage over not prepared infantries. 1000 soldiers without bazukas or explosive, can’t do nothing against one tank, but tank can kill them all easily. Assault rifle with 30 round magazine can on practice kill 30 enemies.
Balance between players gained by tactics, strategy, real skills, and other honorable things like IQ or map knowing.
So, assuming this – next step games will need effective and fast support of giant maps, ballistics, materials penetration, destructions even of land and grass, like craters from explosions and digging trenches, realistic slow coming and inside-room realistic changing sound, physics, especially for ground and air vehicles, and other complicated matters of realistic. But on very effective, reliable for developers, and fast and precise for players level.
If battle arena is 10x10 kilometers, and 1000 players is intense shoot ballistic bullets, so in air could be dozens thousands bullets in one time! And this bullets must interact with everybody without lags! Today games not ready to this. But gamers want it very much.
So this is idea number 2:
Give effective and performance support of giant maps and matters of realism.
Aspect 3 – guts and body slices.
I want cut enemies with sword in shapes what I want. I want cut off arms and legs presize where blade has meets meat. I want see through holes, that I penetrate in enemies and in monsters by weapons. Please please please! Do want!
To protect childrens, simply can be added button in menu, turning this feature on. And to unlock gore and guro - capcha based on physics, chemistry or astronomical questions. So don’t afraid criticists.
So idea 3 is:
Advanced body destruction.
Aspect 4 – performance mode.
Many players prefer smooth gameplay and big framerate than beauty. And many people have cheap pc, or want to play on notebook. But main problem – some game arenas so big, that even high tier pc can’t handle game fast enough.
So idea 4: Make some effective way to easy get maximum performance, radically simplify graphics. Like button “ugly but fast”.
Thank you.