Outcasters is not the kind of game I expected heading into my interview with Splash Damage.
Itās a studio thatās made a name for itself working on the multiplayer for games like Gears of War, Doom 3, and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory ā games that lean heavily into the blood-soaked, war-torn side of multiplayer.
Splash Damage knows thatās its reputation. In fact, before they let me get a peek of Outcasters, they made sure I knew that was their reputation, showing me a list of games theyād released over the past decades, conspicuously leaving out some of their more colorful projects such as Dirty Bomb and RAD Soldiers.
Then they showed me their upcoming Stadia exclusive, which looks like this:
They showed me a video of the game in the middle of a video conference. CEO of Splash Damage Richard Jolly, Outcasters Product Lead Lily Zhu, and Stadiaās Executive Producer Nico Zettler all watched me take in the barrage of bright colors and action figure-like characters. Not a single one of these happy creatures even tried to chainsaw anyone elseās face off, which was rather jarring.
I donāt know what my face looked like during the video, but they certainly took notice.
āThis is exciting,ā said Zhu. āItās like reaction videos on YouTube.ā
While Outcasters might have a different flair, and certainly a different appeal, Jolly was quick to point out that its design builds on many of the concepts that Splash Damage pioneered years ago, such as character progression throughout a play session.
āWay back in Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, we kind of pioneered this notion of team play and objective-driven gameplay,ā said Jolly. āWeāve taken a lot of those things and distilled them down into Outcasters, which is a far more accessible version of that.ā
The game is designed around quick matches with small teams, with players assuming different roles and gaining strength throughout the play session by stacking power-ups. To hear Splash Damage tell it, itās a game with streamlined versions of what theyāre known for, but in a āvery, very colorful wrapper.ā
So why the change?
āI think itās just that weāre getting older, we have more responsibilities, weāve got children, we want to take those elements that have been so great and take them to a much wider audience,ā said Jolly. āSo, Outcasters is gonna be the game that youāll think, āIs this a Splash Damage game?ā But when you get to playing it, you get to see it, get your hands on it, you realize thereās so many of those nuances there.ā
Rather, the common denominator is strong multiplayer experiences that bring people together ā a core concept that led to Splash Damageās very inception.
āWe founded the company because we met each other playing Quake online,ā said Jolly. āThis was back in the late ā90s. Back when multiplayer was such a niche, niche area. It was nothing like the behemoth it is today.ā
That sense of competitive multiplayer community is not just a thread that runs through Outcasters ā itās part of what gave birth to the game in the first place. Splash Damage had some available time, so the company decided to host a game jam and see whether its developers could come up with an interesting prototype in just a few days. Out of all the creations that came forward, it was clear that the idea behind Outcasters ā bending shots in an attempt to outthink your opponentsā movements ā was the most entertaining of the bunch.
āIt was like, wow, this is fun. This is a lot more fun than āhow about we bend the shotā sounds like,ā said Zhu. āWe started to share it within the studio and share it with the execs team, and everyone just jumped on it, saying, āWow, this is really a good game that we should take forward.āā
And so they did ā and Google, looking for exclusives to feature on its new streaming platform, decided it was a perfect fit.
āAs a publisher, this is exactly what you hoped for. It’s a very different hue,ā said Zettler. āBasically a side project. Something that just comes naturally ā just self-invented.ā
As for Splash Damage, itās thrilled at the chance to work with Stadia ā especially with a multiplayer game. A streaming service, they say, has certain advantages over traditional distribution methods.
āWhen youāre playing a video stream, itās near-impossible to be able to cheat, which levels the playing field in a way that you can have so much confidence in a multiplayer game that you couldnāt have on any other platform,ā said Jolly. āAnd I think thatās just barely scratching the surface of whatās possible with Stadia.ā
Thatās not the only thing that excites Splash Damage about Stadia, though Zettler cast a nervous look in Jollyās direction when he talked about plans to merge YouTube with Stadia in order to turn āpassive gamers into active gamers.ā
āThereās a whole bunch of stuff we arenāt talking about yet,ā Jolly said after stopping himself. āI can see everyone saying, āI hope he doesnāt say anything.ā Iām not going to.ā
So will people be receptive to a move like Outcasters from Splash Damage? The studio sure seems to think so ā and they say theyāll be looking to the community for feedback on where to take the game.
āWe will be listening to more feedback from our player base and listen to what they want from us,ā said Zhu.
Published: Jul 27, 2020 01:08 pm