Yearly Archives: 2015

Triad Wars: The Origin, Enforcers, and the Future

Triad Wars: The Origin, Enforcers, and the Future

Interview with Steve Ferreira, Triad Wars Design Director

By Jaime Skelton (MissyS)

 

Triad Wars Dev Interview

There really isn’t anything quite like Triad Wars. It’s part shooter and part strategy-simulation; part single-player and part competitive multiplayer. While you can take features of the game and compare them individually to certain genres or game titles, there’s really no overall experience that Triad Wars mirrors. Far from ambiguous, Triad Wars is one of those rare titles that takes its own distinctive shape not simply to innovate, but in order to be true to the game’s vision.

I admit I’m getting ahead of myself here, so let’s take a step back. Triad Wars is an open-world, multiplayer action game set in the Sleeping Dogs universe, and currently in beta. It’s developed by United Front Games (UFG) and published by Square Enix, both the forces behind Sleeping Dogs. With the recent Enforcer Evolution update and an exciting Halloween event planned, we wanted to touch base with UFG and get a real understanding of the design behind the game. I sat with Steve Ferreira, Triad Wars’ Design Director, to talk about the history of the game, where it now stands, and where Triad Wars sees itself going into the future.

 

Triad Wars Dev Interview
 

The Past: The Long Road to Success

“You can say it started right when we finished Sleeping Dogs,” Steve says when I ask him when the seed for Triad Wars formed. While Triad Wars isn’t Sleeping Dogs, a bit of history here is required. Design and development for Sleeping Dogs began in 2007-2008, under the umbrella of Activision and its True Crime game franchise. In 2011, Activision cancelled the game, but Square Enix came to the rescue of the title, freeing it from the True Crime IP. It wasn’t until late 2012 – five years after the journey had started – that Sleeping Dogs was released to the public.

“We feel somewhat attached to Sleeping Dogs,” Steve explains. “It had a little bit of extra love in it as a result of everything the project went through. We didn’t want things to end there.” Initially, some of this additional love came in the form of DLC packs for Sleeping Dogs, which added both storyline elements and fun culturally themed features to further flesh out the game world. Eventually, one of these spontaneous creations from the team became the idea for Triad Wars.

While Sleeping Dogs followed the story of Wei Shen, UFG wanted a chance to expand the open world environment of Hong Kong and characters that had been created. Eventually the team decided that it was time to build a game that wasn’t a sequel or prequel, and instead used the universe that had been created to create a new experience focused on the alternate aspects of the game. “It’s a way for us to be playful with all the other cool stuff that Sleeping Dogs had that wasn’t part of Wei Shen’s drama,” Steve said. In a way, Triad Wars is to Sleeping Dogs what Grand Theft Auto V Online is to GTAV: an online, personal experience where the player character becomes the central point of their own story.

Community has been a key part of development for Triad Wars from the beginning. Part of Triad War’s development plan was to involve player feedback at two levels. The first level was to involve players in the conversation as the game was being built. The second level was to have gameplay “leverage what players are doing as well as to help evolve that experience.” The idea, Steve explains, was that rather than spending years in development isolation and then dropping a finished product on players hoping they’d like it, the team could reach the end goal together with the players.

“The plan and trajectory of where the game was going has changed since [we started], based on the fact we’ve been running a beta . . . our goalposts have moved as to what that experience wants to be. Most of the fundamentals are all still there, and the high level goals are all still the same, but it’s how we’re going to get there that has changed.”

Triad Wars Dev Interview

The Present: Enforcing the Core Concepts

This continuous involvement with the developers and the Triad Wars community has had a major impact on the game already, part of which has resulted in the game’s most recent major development updates, the Enforcer Evolution.

Initially, Steve tells me, the game was designed to introduce the competitive multiplayer aspect from a metagame standpoint that used action combat elements as support. This first iteration was meant to offer in-depth strategy on the higher level of the game. “One of the things that immediately became apparent was that what players were expecting, naturally, was that it was driven by the action, and not the meta,” he elaborates. While that was always the eventual goal for Triad Wars, this initial build was sending the wrong first impression to players. In fact, some early testers compared the game to a casual Facebook simulation game. But Triad Wars is meant to be “an action game at the end of the day,” and that action is a key strength of Sleeping Dogs.

In order to bring that vision back to the players, several updates were made to shift the current gameplay toward the action. The biggest step was the release of the Enforcer Evolution patch, a direct message to the players that said “This is very much about you and your character that you’re building, what you’re going to turn that character into, and what that character will evolve into.” What the team hopes to achieve is a level of character building that’s determined by player vision and actions, rather than metagame and choices on a UI screen.

Ultimately, what the Enforcer update has done is shift not the end goal of a complete game experience, but rather which part of Triad Wars is currently in focus as the core experience: the action. Before this update, characters followed a rather preset path based on the upgrades players chose, and thus limited both players and developers. The Enforcer Evolution patch changes this, making it so that character gameplay is driven by the items, upgrades, and weapons that each player chooses to equip. It “open[s] up the ceiling for us on where we can take the personalization of the enforcers,” Steve elaborates, adding that the development team is now free to add in more impactful changes. He cites an example of a current upgrade in development that changes out the combat style to be a Muy Thai fighting style. “That was impossible before,” he explains, and boasts about some of the rewards available in the Halloween update that offer “over-the-top” effects, like upgrades that set your hands on fire. There’s a whole new level of customization that takes the game away from a simple and straightforward approach to action to one where there is a much greater freedom of choice. The reaction to the update so far has been positive.

Triad Wars Dev Interview

Of course, this level of customization and freedom comes with the cost of constantly monitoring balance in multiplayer situations. It adds a layer of challenge, especially as each interaction must be measured on a case-by-case basis. United Front Games does its best to add in the extra perspective it needs to be thorough, gathering feedback not only from forums, but also from surveys, emails, analytics, and gameplay sessions. It’s that kind of constant communication that helps the team identify issues early and make sure the game remains fun for everyone.

Triad Wars Dev Interview

The Future: Turf Wars, Cameos, and More Surprises

All this is well and good, but I’ve seen plenty of games that hope to bank off the success of their founding franchise only to close their doors the moment the virtual sky gets cloudy. So I ask Steve up-front: what’s the long-term future for Triad Wars and its place in the Sleeping Dogs Universe?

“When we make a SD sequel, I 100% want the non-story-driven elements of that to feed back into Triad Wars and expand Triad Wars. To me, Triad Wars will just continue to grow and be basically the amalgamation of everything that the story-driven Sleeping Dogs puts into that universe,” he answers, further elaborating that while Triad Wars will never influence Sleeping Dogs, the Sleeping Dogs franchise will grow and expand Triad Wars, whether it be a new area, new character, or new activity. As long as Sleeping Dogs is alive and people care about its universe, Triad Wars will be its playground.

As for the gameplay itself, Triad Wars will eventually evolve into that meta that UFG envisions, where both action and high-level decisions impact gameplay. The game will still look much like it does today, and players will still be able to build their Triad at their own pace without being severely impacted by the action of other players online. Gameplay will essentially be built into two tiers: a single-player focused experience where novice players can learn the game and establish themselves and their style, and a multi-player experience for veterans who go head to head to battle over control of Hong Kong in Turf Wars. Steve’s explanation of it is succinct: “Get in there, have fun, feel like a badass, and then prove that you are against other people.”

And yes, I did ask about the elephant in the room – karaoke. Steve’s answer, after a short laugh, was an emphatic “no.” The biggest challenge with karaoke is licensing costs, something that UFG just can’t include in their budget right now. While you might be able to bust into a karaoke bar and engage in a brutal battle, don’t count on being able to bust out your Flock of Seagulls impression yet.

One last thing Steve adds is that none of the characters of Wei Shen’s story in Sleeping Dogs have a prominent role in the game today – but that’s about to change. Triad Wars will begin to stand out from the Sleeping Dogs universe in its own story as characters, new and old, are introduced into the game in different ways. “We’ve got some really cool ideas on how to roll those characters back into this world,” he teases. With the passion behind this team, I’m sure that Triad Wars will continue to deliver on this vision.

Ready to join the beta? Learn more about Triad Wars at their site.

Camelot Unchained Unveils Archers

CityState Games has revealed the second archetype in their 10 weeks of class reveals, the Archer, for RvR PvP MMORPG, Camelot Unchained. In their typical ‘bat shit crazy’ style, the archers will represent classes capable of range that may shatter your vision of typical ranged classes in MMORPGs. Utilizing the realistic physics system combined with the uncertainty of enemy movement, the game will present the most real archer representation when it comes to siege warfare, meaning they’ll be great for barraging large groups, but likely can’t hit a single target until at close range.

Camelot Unchained Archers Reveal

In terms of the archetype class breakdown between realms, we have the following.

Vikings – Winter’s Shadow
Unlike its rival archers, the Winter’s Shadow can excel at mid to close range combat. Utilizing proficiency in shields and fast reload abilities, they can keep the dps up while staying on the move without letting up their offense prowess. In the snow these archers can unleash devastating blows from camouflage, panicking their foes while they hunt down the surviving stragglers.

Arthurian – Blackguard
Archers recognized by their dark clothing, the Blackguard are experts at ruining foes when given time to prepare their shots. They can see the weaknesses in foes, penetrate extreme armor, and pick apart foes with extreme prejudice. Their specialized arrows can fly in high arcs over extended distances, or put injured foes out of their misery with massive bonus damage.

TDD – Forest Stalker
Calling these archers a thorn in your side is an understatement, and surprisingly literal. Masters of camouflage while in their homeland thick forests, these archers strike with a furious swarm of arrows. Their goal is to kill an enemy before they have a chance to fight back, utilizing rapid fire attacks weaker than their counterparts, and costing higher stamina. When stealth assassination isn’t their gameplan, they can instead attach seedlings to their arrows, planting a variety of flora and fungi capable of debilitating nearby foes.

For the full list of potential abilities, interventions, and boons/banes, check out the new class post on the official site!

NYCC 2015 – Day 1 – A Day of Discovery

By Michael Sagoe (Mikedot)

 

As the sun dawned on the majestic land of New York City, the streets were filled with the sight of docile pigeons slinging white poop wherever they can, the sound of car horns blaring for hours and oversized dudes walking down west 33rd street in stretchy spandex. While these sights and sounds may seem strange, all of this was normal for the average New York citizen. For me, it’s a truly exciting change of pace from the day to day!

 

NYCC 2015 Day 1 Coverage 1

What? It’s just Batman directing parking lot traffic. Clearly nothing to see here…

 

Day one of NYCC has arrived and my first day was mostly open with plenty of leisure to do whatever I wanted. With that said, I spent most of the entire day exploring the convention floor in search of some cool booths and some even cooler cosplayers.

NYCC 2015 Day 1 Coverage 2

The first thing that I found on my exploration was a neat 80’s style café, which was based off the classic sci-fi adventure film series Back to the Future. With 2015 as the iconic year where Marty McFly arrives from 1985, so many predictions of the future were blatantly made in the film, including floating cars, hoverboards and Pepsi Perfect.

NYCC 2015 Day 1 Coverage

NYCC 2015 Day 1 Coverage

While we still have a long way to go when it comes to floating cars, we already have a (somewhat) working hoverboard in existence (the Hendo Hoverboard, not the crappy self-balancing Segway) and Pepsi has been preparing for the upcoming October 21st release for Pepsi Perfect, which features pure cane sugar and a stylish bottle. Now while I really wish that we had flying cars by now, I supposed two out of three isn’t bad.

NYCC 2015 Day 1 Coverage 5

After checking out the 80’s café booth, I went off in search for some game related goodness, as I do with every NYCC, but in between, I did run into some neat cosplay here and there.

NYCC 2015 Day 1 Coverage 6

NYCC 2015 Day 1 Coverage 7

NYCC 2015 Day 1 Coverage

First gaming related booth that I stumbled upon was the Project Triforce booth, back again for NYCC with their top quality models of video game weapons, characters and props. This year, Project Triforce was showcasing the Plasma Rifle from Halo, the Goliath monster from Evolve and many others. With such amazing detail put into these replicas, they also come with a hefty price tag starting at $600. Very expensive, but for diehard fans of these respective games, they’re easily worth it.

NYCC 2015 Day 1 Coverage 9

NYCC 2015 Day 1 Coverage Evolve Cosplay

To my surprise, right after passing by the Project Triforce booth, I noticed a short line that looped around the area, which led to a premiere play test for EA and DICE’s upcoming parkour action game: Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, which caught me completely off guard since I had no clue this game would even be presented at NYCC this year. With much excitement, I hopped into the line and waited for about an hour and fifteen minutes to get my hands on the game, which features Faith, the main protagonist from the original Mirror’s Edge as she is seen combating against corrupt officers in the city of Glass. While I wish that I could have grabbed a picture or two, no photo or video capture was allowed. Oh well…

Mirror's Edge NYCC

Still, with the 14 minute demo that I got to try out, I must say that I was expecting a much lesser game compared to the original, due to EA’s remarks of creating the game to appeal to a wider audience. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst plays out like the first title, for the most part. The only real difference between the two is a much more forgiving movement system and an open world for players to explore and take on missions at their leisure. The only real issue I had with the game was with the new melee combat mechanics which includes cinematic takedowns which switches the game into a 3rd person camera view, which breaks the immersive first person experience that Mirror’s Edge is known for. Other than that, it was a fantastic demo and I’m now looking forward to the finished title now more than ever.

After finished up with Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, a reminder popped into my head. With the Warframe panel which will be happening on Saturday, I also recalled a food truck that would be serving special foods and desserts based on popular cartoons, shows, video games and more. So I went off to search for that special food truck, and within minutes, I had found it.

NYCC 2015 Day 1 Coverage 12

Ah yes, the Wikia Foods Truck! Just like last year, Wikia Foods hosted an online poll contest to see which fantasy food was the most popular, with the top four winners being Nuka Cola from Fallout, Cookie Cat from Steven Universe, Mabel Juice from Gravity Falls and Greedy Milk from Warframe. Even though Greedy Milk is technically not a legitimate item in Warframe but more of a metaphor for crushing skulls (with the “milk” part actually referring to someone’s blood), I still wanted to see it win first place, just because I am that much of a Warframe fanatic.

I wanted to purchase a cup of Greedy Milk for myself, but sadly the Wikia Foods truck was closed for the day. I’m dead set on trying out that drink, so my mind is dead set on getting to that truck tomorrow.

After that, I had no more time left for exploration, as I had a special appointment to attend to with Rich Gallup, Executive Producer for Star Trek Timelines, a brand new Star Trek crossover game for mobile devices and PC browsers. He gave me a quick demonstration on the game which showed off a unique blend of turn-based RPG and strategy. Rich, along with many members of the Disruptor Beam team, were passionate fans of the Star Trek franchise. With such a down-to-earth personality, you could easily chat it up about Star Trek facts and trivia for hours on end.

NYCC 2015 Day 1 Coverage

I got to ask Rich all sorts of questions regarding the game, such as plans for monetization, which kinds of Star Trek crews will be playable, and so much more. And overall, the whole interview left me more excited for the game than I was before. For more details on the interview, keep your eyes peeled to our site in the coming days.

NYCC 2015 Day 1 Coverage 14

As day one for NYCC came to a close, I contemplated my next plan of action for tomorrow, because there’s going to be so much work to do. With a handful of interviews back-to-back, I’m certainly going to get a work out tomorrow.