Co-Optimus Interview with Mike Marr

from JoeUser Forums

Gas Powered Games Mike Marr is the lead designer on Demigod, and Co-Optimus.com sat down for a chat with him.  They discuss several features about Demigod including the single-player aspect, DLC, multiplayer, and more.

Co-Optimus: What options are there for cooperative play above and beyond the skirmishes?

Mike: Along with skirmishes, the multiplayer tournaments I spoke of before. Players choose to fight for either the Forces of Light or the Forces of Darkness, which also determines who their ally and enemy Demigods are. The tournaments themselves are expected to go on for weeks.

Read the full interview at Co-Optimus.

13,047 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from Demigod Forums Top

photoshoped

Reply #2 from Demigod Forums Top

Nice read :)

However im no so sure you should keep referring to the Pantheon as a tournament. Its not really a real one. Do you guys have plans for "real" competitive tournaments?

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Demigod Forums Top

It's still a tournament... its just with ai. doesn't change what it is.

Reply #4 from Demigod Forums Top

Im talking about the involvement of a.i - I am talking about how its not really the right format for a competitive tournament that can be taken seriously. Its more of a persisent battle/war between two random splis of players. Its just misleading to use the term tournament as its not actually one.

Reply #5 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting DalzK, reply 2
However im no so sure you should keep referring to the Pantheon as a tournament. Its not really a real one. Do you guys have plans for "real" competitive tournaments?
End of DalzK's quote

This.

 

I'm very concerned that we won't have officially sanctioned and bracketed tournies like in SupCom. That was a HUGE part of the fun I had in that game and it got a whole lot more people involved in competitive play as it was integrated directly into the game.

Reply #6 from Demigod Forums Top

the thing is tho, dalz, is that the game isn't meant to be 1 on 1, so I'm not sure how you could have a tournament that isn't teaming with a bunch of random people. Maybe I just don't understand what you mean.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Stardock / GPG have suggested so far that the direction of the game's multiplayer (such as the inclusion of tournaments) depends on how well the game goes after its actual launch. If the game becomes popular and there is a clear indication the community would really benefit from the inclusion of a tournament system they'll add it in post-release in a patch.

At the moment they are just really focusing on getting the connection basics right (and by right I mean what is port forwarding right). They have the standard multiplayer experience there that you would expect from any RTS, with the Pantheon being a bit of a bonus.

Reply #8 from Demigod Forums Top

Quoting ToxDrawace, reply 6
the thing is tho, dalz, is that the game isn't meant to be 1 on 1, so I'm not sure how you could have a tournament that isn't teaming with a bunch of random people. Maybe I just don't understand what you mean.
End of ToxDrawace's quote

It doesn't need to be 1v1 though that is valid, tournies don't need to have individual winners.  Team against team works just as well.  The Pantheon is great but it doesn't equate to a tournament. 

You and I team up with 3 other people.  We develop a focused and effective game strategy.  We are hot stuff and want to prove it.  Currently there is no real way to do that except with custom games.  In a real tournament we'd be able to test ourselves against other teams.  At the end of the day the best team would be left standing.

The winners of a Pantheon is either Light or Dark and the handful of top players who earned the most favor.  Nothing wrong with that, it is fun and you'll see me in there all the time.  But it isn't really a show of someone's skill at the game.  Mostly its a show of how much game time you can put in.

Reply #9 from Demigod Forums Top

Oh, I see, just having the same teams for every match? That makes sense, alright.

Reply #10 from Demigod Forums Top

Back in January, Frogboy said...

Quoting Frogboy,
If there is time, I hope for us to run a beta tournament with cash and prizes to test out the system. It’s a good way to thank beta testers for helping us out and work out cheese and connectivity problems early.
End of Frogboy's quote

Whether this will still occur hasn't been mentioned.  However, if he was thinking about maybe having a tournament in the beta, I think it is even more likely that they will happen in retail.  Remember, Frogboy and others keep mentioning how they want Demigod to be very competitive with tournaments and stuff.

The Pantheon is a good idea but I extremely doubt that it will be the tournaments that they are talking about.  It relies too much on how much time you put into it rather than how well you do.  Normal tournaments will probably occur sooner or later :).