The shooter Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 by Treyarch is coming on the 12th.October and has had a successful beta behind it. What lessons have the developers learned from the beta? We asked Treyarch.
From September 28 to 30, 2018, the gaming fair EGX took place for the first time in Germany. The developers of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 were also present in the exhibition hall in Berlin. We were able to get Jason Blundell (Sr. Executive Producer, Zombies, Treyarch), Thomas Wilson (Co-Studio-Head Beenox), Jonathan Moses (Senior Producer PC, Treyarch), and David Vonderhaar (Studio Design Director, Treyarch) for a large interview.
In the first part, it is primarily about the Battle Royale mode Blackout, how Treyarch envisions this genre, and what the future looks like.
Interview on Black Ops 4 – Part 1: Blackout and Battle Royale
MeinMMO: Why are you only now making a Battle Royale game?
Treyarch: The genre was not a topic when we made Black Ops 3. But we could address it during the development of Black Ops 3. So we were actually very quick and are the first Call of Duty that is participating in it.
MeinMMO: There are many games in the genre with their own fanbase. What type of Battle Royale player should play Blackout?
Treyarch: Black Ops fans, Call of Duty fans, shooter fans. Blackout is a game that builds on ten years of Black Ops history. Those who enjoy fast and fluid gameplay will love Blackout. If you love competitive shooters, you will love Black Ops and Blackout.
We take the experience and refinement from ten years and create a BR mode that is fast and dynamic and does not feel cumbersome.
MeinMMO: Which game was your inspiration for Blackout?
Treyarch: We get inspiration from everywhere. It’s not just Battle Royale games. But we have of course studied the genre. We played the two big BR games and many more. Influences come from all over.
But the influence from our own history and background is also important. The most influence comes from a decade of working as a team.
Questions about gameplay – What makes Blackout different?
MeinMMO: Call of Duty is known for fast action. Yet in many Battle Royale games, it’s a good tactic to hide and camp. Isn’t that a contradiction to the core values of CoD?
Treyarch (David Vonderhaar): I think we achieved that well. Blackout is faster than other games in the genre. But it is slower than a typical multiplayer mode. It has everything you wish for in a BR game. You have various items and three armor levels as well as different healing options.
All this does slow the game down a bit compared to the standard multiplayer, which is very fast-paced. There is also no respawn, which is the case in almost all BR games. Therefore, we have to lower the TTK (Time to Kill). We do this with items, armor, but also by adjusting the combat distance.
We have bullet drop at long range. Bullets drop off, as does the damage. The game therefore becomes slower because the combat distance is much greater. Blackout is therefore slower than you would expect from a typical CoD game but faster than typical BR games. You can seek your luck as a camper, but that won’t get you very far.
You also can’t camp endlessly in other BR games; it goes better in some than in others. But I tell you: Only over my dead body will you be able to sit in a bathtub and win the game!
How long will Black Ops 4 survive?
MeinMMO: What will happen to Blackout when other Call of Duty titles come out next year and in the following years?
Treyarch: We only make Black Ops every three years. What the other studios do is not known to us. But we will continue this game here.
MeinMMO: So as a “Game as a Service“?
Treyarch (David Vonderhaar): I’m not particularly fond of this term “Game as a Service.” But I understand what is meant. A game that you continuously develop and enhance. We will do this for at least the next three years.
If you look at Black Ops 3, we didn’t stop it after a year; it was even updated a month before. I guarantee that we will do the same here. We will finish it, we will update it, and we will get the most out of it.
MeinMMO: So I can expect at least three more years of Black Ops 4?
Treyarch: At least! You can still play Black Ops 3 today.
Feedback from the beta – Armor adjustments
MeinMMO: What about armor? There were complaints from the beta that it was too strong. And some players think that you are punished for engaging in combat since you lose health and armor.
Treyarch (David Vonderhaar): That was nerfed in the beta. And the version from the beta has already been nerfed. On the one hand, in the overall protection that the armor gives you. And then we have also done something interesting: The heavier the armor, the more you can hear the footsteps and general noises of the wearer.
This way, you can immediately recognize when someone with tier-three armor comes around the corner. And we will also think about armor repairs and how to better see how damaged the armor is.
The fact that armor is even a topic is good! That people are thinking about it and debating it! I want to have an engaged and determined fan base, even if some are sometimes angry with me.
Weapons and ammunition – Why there are only 2 versions of a weapon
MeinMMO: You have a lot of weapons in the game. But you don’t see right away what they can do and how good they are. Will you change that?
Treyarch: No weapon should be better, just different. You can also try the weapons in the various modes in tutorial levels. There should never be a useless weapon. Weapons have a foundation of values, applicability, or atmosphere.
So then you get things like “This is the weapon that reloads the fastest” or “This weapon is the best suppressed weapon in the game.” But that should stay the same, and it will never happen that the weapon that reloads the fastest is also the quietest weapon. That is the philosophy of weapon design that we have for Black Ops 3.
In Blackout, there will also be rarities that we balance the weapons around. For example, sniper rifles with high range are more powerful in Blackout because the combat distance is much higher. A caliber .50 sniper rifle can blow your head off instantly; therefore, it is rarer to find.
MeinMMO: But there are not multiple different strong versions of a weapon?
Treyarch: There is a gold version. If you find it, you get all accessories and modifications included right away. However, it is not inherently better than the regular weapon. It does not deal more damage. You just don’t have to search for five different accessories. It’s a complete package.
MeinMMO: So you will not offer differently colored versions of the same weapon with different values in the future?
Treyarch: No, that would be too complex and hard to balance. That would be “dirty game design.” We want to keep it simple and easy to understand. Players should immediately know what a particular weapon is. Therefore, there is always the same version, just the gold version with all addons.
In zombie mode, things look different. No one complains about overpowered weapons there. Zombies don’t do that. So we intentionally included overpowered weapons.
MeinMMO: Some players complained in the beta that the loot mechanics were too slow. Will that change?
Treyarch: That is not slow; we have adjusted it during the beta.
MeinMMO: And what about ammunition? Wouldn’t it be easier if you automatically picked it up?
Treyarch (David Vonderhaar): That is dumb. We call that “automatic sucking.” If you do that, you are not paying attention to the ammunition. It doesn’t make sense for a first-person shooter like Call of Duty to not see ammunition as an important resource and gameplay mechanic.
I am extremely against this “sucking” in our games and see it as an important decision for a CoD game.
But I think it’s very good that players are so intensely involved with loot, armor, inventory, and sounds. They are super passionate. And we want to use that to improve our game. You will see significant improvements from the beta. That’s why we even made a beta. To see what interests players the most. Fans are loud, and we are listening to them.
That concludes the first part of our interview with Treyarch at EGX 2018 in Berlin. Part 2 will continue with zombies and the general multiplayer mode of the game.
MeinMMO: Has Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 understood why Fortnite is such a hit?
That concludes the first part of our interview with Treyarch at EGX 2018 in Berlin. Part 2 will continue with zombies and the general multiplayer mode of the game.
MeinMMO: Has Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 understood why Fortnite is such a hit?
