Gail Havelock asked 2 weeks ago
[Hardcore Gamer] Out of curiosity, how many people are working on Overwatch? I’m often shocked when games developed by larger teams manage to maintain any semblance of personality or flair as a result of the sheer number of voices piping it at once.Perhaps it’ll be a bit easier to collect my thoughts on Overwatch once the beta period is over, thus giving me a bit of time to ruminate on what has been the best surprise of my time here at Hardcore Gamer to date. Right now, I find myself stuck in a mode of childlike wonder that rarely comes along and the last thing I want to do is ruin this through academic over-analysis. I haven’t had a multiplayer experience that has come along and completely enraptured me quite like this in seven years; on top of all of this, any semblance of being jaded as a result of playing too many games has all but vanished as a result of Blizzard’s impeccably polished arena shooter. Since you all probably would like to see a bit of negative criticism in here to balance out the single most glowing article I’ve written this year, however, I’ll leave you with this: I really don’t like the feeling of knowing that I already need to write off hundreds of hours of my life.
Yesterday evening (December 1st, at the time of writing this) was the night of the annual Game Awards show, a lavish live-streamed spectacle where the best and brightest of the video games industry gathered in Los Angeles – in order to receive awards voted on by industry peers and journalists, celebrating the year in gaming. It was a good night for big-name hits like Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End , the reboot of DOOM and Blizzard’s mega-selling team shooter **Overwatch ** , as well as respected independent titles like That Dragon Cancer – and it was a chance for those in attendance to show off all-new trailers for upcoming titIf you’re looking to dive into the world of being a tank but don’t necessarily want to just absorb damage or worry about only fighting at close range, then D.Va is the character for you. What makes this particular hero unique is that she’s an absolute beast when inside of her mech, but once its health reaches zero, D.Va essentially gets a second life as a light glass cannon. While D.Va is inside of her mech, her main weapons are her Fusion Cannons, which allow her to fire unlimited ammo at short range. Despite the fact that these weapons function like machine guns, they shouldn’t be thought of in the same manner as, say, Bastion’s Recon weapon, as their range is considerably shorter than one would expect. Still, if you’re looking to cause more damage than anyone else on your team, then you could do a lot worse than peppering your foes with D.Va’s Fusion Cannons. A small note, D.Va loses a great deal of her movement speed when using these weapons, so you’re not going to want to just permanently hold down the fire button.D.Va’s first ability, her Boosters, allow her to rapidly fly in whichever direction the reticle is facing for a handful of seconds. Not only is this a wonderful method for getting to an objective or getting out of trouble, but it also allows her to cause a bit of damage whenever she comes in contact with an enemy. In addition to the Boosters, D.Va also has access to the Defense Matrix, which functions as a smaller version of Reinhardt’s shield (essentially absorbing all incoming fire).With Overwatch, the charming hero shooter from Blizzard, launching this week, we want to make sure that you’re as prepared as possible to help your team dominate. Overwatch’s main focus is clearly on the interplay between its dynamic characters, so in order to become competent, you’ll need to understand how every character works. Throughout the week, we’ll be publishing guides on each of the twenty-one launch heroes, three at a time, with the hopes that you’ll be able to recognize certain patterns on the battlefield.It’s tough to make maps during development. Now it’s easy to make maps, since we have all of our heroes. The first map that we built was Temple of Anubis, and it was built while we were designing our first chaotic hero Shooter, which was Tracer. We were probably four or five maps into the game by the time we went to our first BlizzCon and had twelve heroes. It can be really tricky designing maps for heroes that are unknown.If you were to rank all of Overwatch’s heroes in terms of sheer quirkiness, then Lucio might wind up claiming the top spot. A support hero with potentially devastating offensive power when used properly, everyone’s favorite Brazillian DJ has the potential to completely turn the tides of battle with proper positioning and ability knowledge. His main weapon, the Sonic Amplifier, has two distinct firing modes, each mapped to a specific mouse button (or trigger for those of you playing on console).Torbjörn’s first ability, and the one he’s most known for, allows him to build a stationary turret on any flat surface large enough to house it. Aside from the fact that this turret will automatically lock onto and fire at any enemies that wander into its range, but it can also be upgraded to a second, more powerful and hitpoint-heavy version through the use of the aforementioned Forge Hammer. Of course, this does require a bit of scrap, which is earned through kills. Not only is scrap used to upgrade Torbjörn’s turret, but it also plays into his second ability, Armor pack. For the cost of fifty scrap, Torbjörn can throw down a bit of armor for either himself or his allies, which raises the amount of hitpoints that they can take before dying. Finally, his ultimate ability is known as Molten Core, and this not only significantly raises Torbjörn’s health and firing rate, but it also temporarily increases the level of his turret, making it a massive damage-dealer. This lasts for a few seconds, and is a wonderful way to get foes off of an objective once a turret has already been built.
Yesterday evening (December 1st, at the time of writing this) was the night of the annual Game Awards show, a lavish live-streamed spectacle where the best and brightest of the video games industry gathered in Los Angeles – in order to receive awards voted on by industry peers and journalists, celebrating the year in gaming. It was a good night for big-name hits like Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End , the reboot of DOOM and Blizzard’s mega-selling team shooter **Overwatch ** , as well as respected independent titles like That Dragon Cancer – and it was a chance for those in attendance to show off all-new trailers for upcoming titIf you’re looking to dive into the world of being a tank but don’t necessarily want to just absorb damage or worry about only fighting at close range, then D.Va is the character for you. What makes this particular hero unique is that she’s an absolute beast when inside of her mech, but once its health reaches zero, D.Va essentially gets a second life as a light glass cannon. While D.Va is inside of her mech, her main weapons are her Fusion Cannons, which allow her to fire unlimited ammo at short range. Despite the fact that these weapons function like machine guns, they shouldn’t be thought of in the same manner as, say, Bastion’s Recon weapon, as their range is considerably shorter than one would expect. Still, if you’re looking to cause more damage than anyone else on your team, then you could do a lot worse than peppering your foes with D.Va’s Fusion Cannons. A small note, D.Va loses a great deal of her movement speed when using these weapons, so you’re not going to want to just permanently hold down the fire button.D.Va’s first ability, her Boosters, allow her to rapidly fly in whichever direction the reticle is facing for a handful of seconds. Not only is this a wonderful method for getting to an objective or getting out of trouble, but it also allows her to cause a bit of damage whenever she comes in contact with an enemy. In addition to the Boosters, D.Va also has access to the Defense Matrix, which functions as a smaller version of Reinhardt’s shield (essentially absorbing all incoming fire).With Overwatch, the charming hero shooter from Blizzard, launching this week, we want to make sure that you’re as prepared as possible to help your team dominate. Overwatch’s main focus is clearly on the interplay between its dynamic characters, so in order to become competent, you’ll need to understand how every character works. Throughout the week, we’ll be publishing guides on each of the twenty-one launch heroes, three at a time, with the hopes that you’ll be able to recognize certain patterns on the battlefield.It’s tough to make maps during development. Now it’s easy to make maps, since we have all of our heroes. The first map that we built was Temple of Anubis, and it was built while we were designing our first chaotic hero Shooter, which was Tracer. We were probably four or five maps into the game by the time we went to our first BlizzCon and had twelve heroes. It can be really tricky designing maps for heroes that are unknown.If you were to rank all of Overwatch’s heroes in terms of sheer quirkiness, then Lucio might wind up claiming the top spot. A support hero with potentially devastating offensive power when used properly, everyone’s favorite Brazillian DJ has the potential to completely turn the tides of battle with proper positioning and ability knowledge. His main weapon, the Sonic Amplifier, has two distinct firing modes, each mapped to a specific mouse button (or trigger for those of you playing on console).Torbjörn’s first ability, and the one he’s most known for, allows him to build a stationary turret on any flat surface large enough to house it. Aside from the fact that this turret will automatically lock onto and fire at any enemies that wander into its range, but it can also be upgraded to a second, more powerful and hitpoint-heavy version through the use of the aforementioned Forge Hammer. Of course, this does require a bit of scrap, which is earned through kills. Not only is scrap used to upgrade Torbjörn’s turret, but it also plays into his second ability, Armor pack. For the cost of fifty scrap, Torbjörn can throw down a bit of armor for either himself or his allies, which raises the amount of hitpoints that they can take before dying. Finally, his ultimate ability is known as Molten Core, and this not only significantly raises Torbjörn’s health and firing rate, but it also temporarily increases the level of his turret, making it a massive damage-dealer. This lasts for a few seconds, and is a wonderful way to get foes off of an objective once a turret has already been built.