STACK #168 Oct 2018

GAMES FEATURE Royale with SMGs

visit stack.com.au

Call of Duty returns in 2018 with the fourth instalment in the Black Ops franchise.We spoke with studio design director – “the guy who makes the shoes” – DavidVonderhaar about what to expect from Blackout, the series’ new battle royale mode. Words Alesha Kolbe

What were some of your main takeaways from the beta? DavidVonderhaar, studio design director: The beta gave us a plethora of critical feedback, while also establishing how we want to talk with our community about Blackout. With a beta, the data that you can collect goes a long way to finding and fixing bugs and improving the overall gameplay experience. We were able to fix a number of bugs the community found

during the beta, and we have other bugs we are currently fixing. Ultimately, we learned that we can share our vision for this mode with our players. Doing that has created an active and healthy dialogue that will make Blackout more successful for the fans and the studio. What do you think it is that sets Blackout apart from other battle royales? Blackout is unique because it is Call of Duty in everything from pacing to signature fluid combat. We pulled from a ten-year-plus

heritage to influence game systems and mechanics. Blackout merges together a library of game devices in unpredictable ways that creates a unique and fun experience for our fans.

Did you need to add new members to the team in order to

make Blackout possible? Yes. It’s been a collaborative effort from the beginning, which includes dozens of people at Treyarch, new hires, and partners like Raven and Beenox. We have a talented mix of designers and developers with a wide variety of skillsets and experiences all working together to make Blackout possible.

014

OCTOBER 2018

jbhifi.com.au