Posted Mar 03, 2007 at 06:45PM by Ian C. Listed in: Interviews, News, Warhawk, Games Tags: Downloadable Content, SIXAXIS, Kirk Baum
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Warhawk Multiplayer - Image 1 


In this week's IGN video weekly it was revealed that when it comes to the phasing out (there go the rumors) of the single player experience for Incog Inc. Entertainment's Warhawk, the developers were able to focus more on their goal to deliver a AAA online game.

Moreover, given their goal to deliver a fast paced game, they decided that 32 players would we the sweet spot for them. According to Kirk Baum, lead online engineer for Warhawk, there's a technical side to why they're keeping it at 32.  The game will really start sending out a lot of data, and to keep the game experience fast paced, they're going to have to ensure that there's a "big pipe" to handle that.

They will implement technical nets wherein if someone with a not so desirable connection try to host a 32 player game, they will limit it, because they just can't support that many players, and they don't want players to have a bad game experience. Don't worry, though: they do plan to host dedicated servers themselves, so there's still going to be space for people to play on.

On to the integrated SIXAXIS flight controls. The developers said that while their play-test group did find it a bit harder, the group found tilt-sensing control more fun once you get past the learning curve. So the devs decided to not force the issue, and just have tilt-sensing as an option for players - if they want to use it for the aircraft or ground vehicles - an option which in the end they say, worked pretty well.

They also take the time to boast about their planned reward system for the game. Not only will there be individual awards, for more than 2,500 statistics that they're tracking, but they're will also be team-play awards. If your team take a lot of time to defend your territory, you're probably going to get awards for that.

They also confirm that they have plans for downloadable content for the game.

Their overall pitch for the game right now, is that the single player experience for this game was just not up to par, so to keep players happy they're doing everything they can to make it a rewarding multiplayer experience. The game should be available by June.


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8 Comments


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   by MESSIAH (Unregistered) - 2007-03-03
 » WARHAWK

I CAN"T WAIT FOR THIS GAME... I wonder how it will work though? Will it be 32 vs... the CPU or 16 vs. 16... only time will tell

   by Destroyer (Unregistered) - 2007-03-03
 » hmmm

Warhawk now takes the same approch that BF2 took with just pure online gaming, and while BF2 was great and all, I was hopeing that for Warhawk sake it would also have a single player option.
Ah well as long as Warhawk has a good enough online multiplayer like BF2 did then I'll probably be picking it up, although i'm really on the fence at this point, now if it had a single player option then it would have been a must buy for me, I'll see how the game turns out before casting my vote on it though.

   by 666 (Unregistered) - 2007-03-03
 » 666

I can't wait to buy this game. I'm going to own everyone.

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   by lansingone - 2007-03-03
 » i must not have listened correctly

i thought they said, you can make your own dedicated servers ( like on a PC or somthing) and you can get over the 32 cap. but if you host using a PS3, the max you can get is 32. so in this way you could have a top of the line dual core PC with as much RAM as possible, you could make 128/200 player servers


   Re: Vietone - 2007-03-03
 » ...

Not really they limited it to 32 for gameplay reasons as well at network reasons.

I find it easy to believe since games like HalfLife 2 and the mods are limited to 32 because of the massive amount of traffic and power a server needs. Even if there are ways around it, a 64 player counter-strike game sucks because theres soo much lag.
   by jroder (Unregistered) - 2007-03-03
 » What if you loved warhak but not online games?

Has the develpoer even thought that maybe some people dont like playing online?

Ive tried the whole online experience, and while I agree it was fun, I just would rather play single player. Online feels the same. you have *****s and non-*****s. Thats why I loved oblivion so much. It was fun just to go explore and do quests. Half-life has some of the best story writing ever.

While I think online should stay, I think developers should take time to offer a good single player experience as well to please everyone who is not so crazy about online. I was soo looking forward to warhawk and now its over with. No warhawk for me. It makes me real sad that they would go this route.


   Re: NonPartisanCon (Unregistered) - 2007-03-04
 » Don't blame the devs

I sincerely doubt that the developers wanted it this way. Look at the recent happenings at Incog Inc. They've had people leave the team, gone over their time limit AND budget, and now they've had their Creative Director replaced by their publisher (Sony). This reeks of a damage control attempt.
   by Shatterdome - 2007-03-03
 » June...

It's still not comming out untill June, for just the Multi-player, which is considerably less work then putting together an entire single player game. So you might have had to wait another year or year and a half for a single player game.

It's also possible for them to put out the online portion, then focus on the single player...maybe doing downloadable chapters or something.

I just hope the game is only $30 or something, since it's only online.



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