A new video discusses Respawn’s efforts to balance Titanfall’s robot vs. human combat and fuse the game with single player quality.
There was no shortage of shooters at this year’s E3, but for many Titanfall stood out as one of the more interesting upcoming additions to the genre. Dropping players into a futuristic war, it impressed with its unique combat that combines giant robots and more traditional first person foot-soldiering. Now, Respawn Entertainment, the studio behind Titanfall has released a new behind-the-scenes video that shows off more footage and discusses the developer’s goals and methods in making the game.
Respawn’s biggest ambition, according to producer Drew McCoy, is simply to make something fun. “There are so many games now that are just retreading old ground and we just wanted to do something that was so fun and unique we just couldn’t put it down ourselves.” As easy as that might sound, Titanfall’s focus on multiple combat options has required some careful balancing. “We have this unusual blend of scale of Titan’s and pilots fighting each other,” said Steve Fukuda, Titanfall’s director. “Our levels are built to accommodate both the scale needed for a Titan to get around as well a pilot to be able to get to all these different places.”
Watching Titanfall in action, it’s hard not to get at least a little excited for it. While there is certainly some base allure to giant robots blowing things to smithereens, Respawn also looks to be working hard at giving the game’s universe a real sense of purpose and story. At several points in the video, for instance, the developers talk about their attempts to fuse single-player quality with multiplayer fun. Whether or not they’ll hit that target is something we’ll have to see when the game launches in 2014.
