On the eve of the global first testing Wildgate to the Chinese Game Portal Gamelook He was one of the first to get exclusive access to this expected project in Hanzhou. WildGate is the fruit of the five -year work of the Moonshot studio, founded by the legendary co -founder of Blizzard Mike Morheim and his Dreamhaven studio. The game is positioned as the first one of a kind command shooter on spaceships, breaking the boundaries of traditional FPS.
According to the first impressions of Gamelook, WildGate resembles the “Cosmic Sea of Thieves”, where the players in the team explore space, collect resources, fight with PVE-grinders and, of course, a friend with other players, trying to take possession of valuable artifacts and become the last surviving. Experience is described by two words: “cool” and “chaotic”. “Coolness” consists in a unique combination of control of a spaceship and intensive shooting from the first person, procedurally generated maps and various tactical possibilities thanks to different roles and equipment. “Chaos” is an integral and cheerful part of a multiplayer game. Carefully planned operations collapse due to unpredictable events or mistakes of teammates (for example, someone forgot to close the door on the ship), turning tense moments into a source of laughter and discussions for the next match. Here, as journalists note, the process and interaction with friends are important, and not just victory.
Behind the development of Wildgate is a team that carries the “Genes of the Old Blizzard”. Mike Morheim himself in 27 years in Blizzard had a hand in creating the cult series Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo, as well as World of Warcraft and Overwatch. Having left the company, he founded Dreamhaven and the subsidiaries of the Moonshot and Secret Door studio. The leadership of Moonshot is entrusted to other Blizzard veterans: Jason Chase (producer Hearthstone) and Dustin Brower (leading developer Starcraft II and Heroes of the Storm). The team is supplemented by experienced specialists from Sony, Ubisoft, Riot, Respawn and other studios. Such a star composition, as well as a personal visit to Mike Morheim to China and its activity in Chinese social networks, emphasize the serious ambitions of the project and attention to the Asian market. It is not surprising that the game attracted great attention to the world community and even received a recommendation from Jeff Kili.
Immediately after the game session, Gamelook representatives held an exclusive interview with Mike Morheim. During the conversation, they discussed a five -year WildGate development path, a vision of a T -shirt on the Julesfish genre and the modern game market, its philosophy of creating games, and also asked several personal issues.
We carefully studied the materials of this meaningful conversation and prepared for you a detailed Russian -speaking summary:
- The voltage changes in the game (from high intensity to more calm moments) are a conscious design solution. Such a pace gives players more opportunities for communication, planning the next steps and creating “chemistry” in the team. It is also convenient for streamers, allowing them to be easier to interact with the audience in calm phases, which improves the involvement of the audience and the social value of broadcasts.
- Although the played teams interact better, the built -in communication system effectively solves the problems of coordination in temporary groups, allowing accidentally collected teams to successfully compete with constant. The developers paid a lot of attention to the communication system, introducing several mechanisms: an automatic warning system about the status for synchronization in real time and the wheel of fast commands for a convenient exchange of information about each other’s actions. The distribution of roles includes not only combat missions, but also important functions of the pilot/driver, researcher/scout, making the game richer than the usual FPS.
- The key element of the game’s design rotates around space battles, creating a kind of “sandbox”. Victories can be achieved by different strategies, which ensures the unique development of the plot in each match. The card is generated procedurally, adding the freshness of each game session. The combination of these factors makes each battle unpredictable and gives rise to unique game moments, where memorable stories naturally arise from each cosmic adventure. The team made a lot of efforts to balance strategies, trying to create a variety of ways to victory (aggressive, defensive, tactical maneuvers) so that there is no only “correct” tactics, providing honest and rich competitive experience for all types of players.
- The idea of building their own ships by players to developers seems very cool, but at present the team is focused on the completion of the planned content. The priority is the refinement of the main functions of the game. After the key content is ready, they will consider the possibility of expanding personalization systems, such as the construction of ships.
- Each hero is designed to various styles of the game and tactical roles, while the team observes the popular player strategies and creates heroes, respectively. However, the equipment has no rigid restrictions, so any hero can use any weapon and equipment. As progress, the combination of unlocked weapons and equipment becomes key factors affecting the course of the battle. Thus, although the character’s features can strengthen a certain style of play, it is the choice of equipment and tactics by the player that ultimately determines his combat style.
- The design of abilities and equipment takes into the needs of players of different levels. It is aimed both at the satisfaction of hardcore players looking for a high ceiling of skill, and to provide affordable experience for casual players. Skills and equipment are configured in such a way as to simplify management, without sacrificing with strategic depth.
- The uniqueness of WildGate is the procedure for procedured maps, fighting mechanics on spaceships and design philosophy, uniting many elements. The game includes research, battle and piloting, but makes a special emphasis on teamwork. The purpose of the team is to provide a variety of experience for players with various preferences; This is not a traditional heroic shooter, but an alloy of elements of the Royal Battle, Extrack Shuther and Research. The developers hope that the game will become a link for fans of different genres (FPS, strategies, adventure games), offering fascinating experience for everyone. This concept of the merger of genres is aimed at creating a more diverse game experience.
- When choosing a concept for Wildgate, the Moonshot team used a systematic selection of ideas: the initial brainstorming gave about 30 concepts, of which 5 most promising were chosen after several stages of assessment. After the final choice, the team has been engaged in the concept of the concept for five years – from the quick creation of game prototypes to the gradual improvement of key systems, constantly checking each element.
- Sources of inspiration were diverse. Classical science fiction franchises served as a cultural basis, but also influenced various game genres. Throughout the development, the team constantly honed the main gameplay so that the final product was innovative and corresponded to the expectations of players from a high -quality space adventure.
- The main goal of the team was to create a game experience based on team interaction. At this base, they sought to add more creativity and unpredictability, so that each match would give rise to unique and memorable stories. The peculiarity of this approach is that, although players are included in the game with certain tactical plans, the real combat situation always makes their own adjustments. It is this dynamics of “expectations against reality” in combination with various unforeseen situations that creates a unique charm of each match, since there are no absolutely identical battles in this system.
- The Moonshot team developed this game without looking back at the previous Blizzard franchises. However, the possible similarity lies in the fact that many team are fans of science fiction, including fans of the Star Way and Star Wars, and these hobbies had a deep influence on their work on the game.
- The developer team really has invested a lot of efforts in the background of the game, which will be gradually revealed in various ways. Part of the plot will open as the character progress, the other through the narrative from the point of view of different heroes. There is a detailed plan on the presentation of these various aspects of history to players. However, specific details are kept secret so that players can discover all surprises for themselves.
- In the future, there is definitely hope for expanding the franchise to other media formats, but at this stage all the efforts of the developers are completely focused on the finalization and polishing of the first game.
- Mike Morheim himself spent a lot of time in the game and provided a huge amount of . The development team adheres to the highest standards, especially in relation to the training system for new players, which went through many iterations. Significant efforts were invested in optimizing learning design to help players quickly and better understand the game. Also, a lot of effort was invested in the information transmission system in the game – this has become a key area of development. A holistic system has been created for presenting complex information in real time (events on the map, the status of the ship, the actions of other players) naturally so that the players clearly understand the situation on the battlefield, without feeling overloaded with information.
- The current game industry is really encountering huge challenges. Thousands of new games come out every year, creating severe competition. As a new studio, Dreamhaven is looking for its development path. The authors want to continue to use the “secret ingredient” of Blizzard success: to fully focus on creating the best game experience, ignore external pressure and noise, concentrate on the game itself and gameplay, and also carefully listen to the reviews of the players. The team hopes that this proven strategy will still be the key to the success of Dreamhaven.
- Mike Morheim does not have one specific beloved genre. Like most players, he likes multi - and competitive games. He recently played Wildgate, as well as in the latest Dreamhaven game Mechabellum, a fascinating competitive strategy from the Chinese developer Game River. If we talk about preferences, then strategic and multi - games most consistent with its taste, since the emphasis on tactical thinking and social interaction in them is often provided by a richer game experience.
- The most difficult technical task of the project is the design and optimization of the systems of ships. From a technical point of view, each ship is essentially a dynamic card for FPS-transfers, which requires the perfect solution to two key problems. Firstly, basic synchronization: it is necessary to accurately synchronize the movement of the ship with the positions of all players on board in real time, which makes high demands on the architecture of servers. Secondly, a complex landing mechanism: according to the laws of physics, it would be impossible to return to a moving ship after landing due to inertia. For this reason, the concept of a buffer zone around the ship was developed. If you leave the ship, but stay in this zone, you can still return aboard. This decision allows players to naturally carry out landing/landing without a sense of violation of physical logic. After many iterations, the system of ships in the game is now felt absolutely organic and smooth in management.
- Mike Morheim spent thirty years in Blizzard, and during this time the company has changed a lot. The base of Dreamhaven is a return to a small team, which allows you to be more focused and flexible, avoiding a complex decision -making process inherent in large corporations. Although the scale of the company is different, its main development philosophy remained unchanged; She was honed in Blizzard. Key of Dreamhaven are old colleagues who share the same values, which is why they decided to work together again. At the dawn of Blizzard, the team did not have enough experience, they studied in the process of work, and then the games were easier. Now Dreamhaven has gathered experienced producers who created many successful projects, which allows you to create more complex and deep games – using the accumulated experience for things that Blizzard have not dared to dream about in the early days.
