PUBG is a phenomenon and a huge success. Of course, others want a piece of the pie too. For example, the developers from Automaton Studio, who are working on an MMO shooter that will also offer a battle royale mode.
Automaton is working on a game that is still nameless and is an open-world shooter set in a 144 square kilometer world. Up to 1,000 players can roam in this vast world simultaneously. For the MMO aspect, the developers have spent the last two years developing a technology that enables this number of players. The shooter aims to distinguish itself from other genre representatives through its high player count. For this, the developers are utilizing an investment of 10 million dollars, which makes the title financially not a small project.
In addition to the high number of players in this unique and special MMO mode, it is also interesting that the online game will feature a battle royale mode where 400 players can act simultaneously. That is four times as many players as PUBG currently offers. This is intended to make the battles even more exciting and challenging. Your heroes can also improve over time and meet in social hubs— for example, to form groups.
A world full of tactical possibilities
The shooter aims to provide a diverse, dynamic, and lively world where wild animals roam and where you can also destroy the terrain. This simulated world allows for many tactical possibilities.
Players leave tracks that you can follow. Or players are detectable when they sneak through the bushes, causing the leaves to move. If you shoot an opponent, he will bleed, and you can follow this blood trail.
Dynamic weather also plays an important role, as you need to adjust your tactics, for example, during rain.
SpatialOS enables a large virtual world
The MMO shooter from Automaton uses the Cryengine to create particularly spectacular effects. The developers are also no strangers, as they have already released a successful game with the multiplayer horror game Dead by Daylight.
SpatialOS is also put to use. The system is specially designed for game development and cloud deployment, allowing the creation of gigantic virtual worlds that go beyond what a regular server can handle. And it is precisely on this world and the enormous number of players within it that the team wants to place great importance.
The game is set to be released in 2018. Playable content is planned for spring.
Andreas says: The developers make ambitious promises. What they ultimately deliver and whether it is actually fun remains to be seen. The MMO aspect sounds extremely interesting, but how it will ultimately be implemented is still the big question.
Whether the shooter will really manage to come close to PUBG or surpass the successful title will only be revealed over time. Many developers hope for similar success, but what ultimately comes of it remains to be seen. Therefore, I am already looking forward to the new online shooter – also because the developers of Dead by Daylight are behind it – but I remain cautious for now.
We reported on the impressive technology of SpatialOS here:
