STACK #168 Oct 2018
GAMES FEATURE Royale with SMGs
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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.
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OCTOBER 2018
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