Forget the FPS rumors, Titan = MMORPG

May 12: Update #3 (at the end of the article)

Update #1:
Here's another MMORPG mention (last row)

Update #2:
Update #3:

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Brink developers brought in to work on Titan [rumor]

May 2: Small update related to the open jobs for Titan

About Splash Damage

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• it's a British game development company that specializes in the creation of multiplayer FPS games.

• started in 2001 by the creators of high profile free mods like Quake 3 Fortress.

• notable releases: Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, Doom 3 (multiplayer), Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, Brink.

About Brink

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• FPS, released for PC, PS3 and Xbox in May 2011.

• has 2 factions that battle in a floating city above the waters of a flooded Earth.

• its gameplay focuses on parkour-style movement.

• up to 16 people / bots can play together on the same map.

• "Splash Damage developed the SMART (Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain) System. By noting a player's position and predicting what he is trying to do, the system lets players navigate complex environments without equally complex input. By holding down the SMART button, a player will automatically clear obstacles without having to use complex controls such as in Mirror's Edge."

• it has 4 character classes: Soldier, Medic, Engineer and Operative.

• "Brink received mixed to average reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 69.63% and 72/100, the Xbox 360 version 69.38% and 68/100 and the PC version 68.94% and 70/100. Eurogamer gave it an 8/10, saying that Brinkwas "an exceptional team shooter, smart, supremely well balanced and with a unique, exciting art style." GameSpy gave Brink 4 out of 5 stars. Saying that "Brink has the potential to become your new favorite FPS." Videogamer.com gave Brink a 8/10 saying that "Splash Damage achieves the impossible: a game that feels fresh in the stalest of genres."

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Content drought update

Rob Pardo the brave

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Q1 2012 results Conference Call

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Titan jobs update

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Rob Pardo's teaser; website stuff; Learning from D3

It's time for a few small updates!

Concerning the site

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I've had a crazy month, with work, classes and other personal stuff leaving almost zero room for anything else (I haven't even watched the return of Mad Men yet!!). During all this, I had the brilliant idea to start the upgrade to a new version of the software that's powering most of the site.. Upgrading the software also means resetting the skin and pretty much everything else, so there's a lot of rebuilding to do and one can always count on new bugs creeping out.

So of course, after I realized that I won't have time to do it all, it was already too late, and all I could do is hide it as best as possible from you guys. And just so you know how much worse it could have been, this is what I've been staring at for the past week.. the non-customized version of the skin. Yeah, it's god damn pink(ish).

Anyway, all is fixed now, and I've even added a few new things, like new sidebar blocks (together with a new look), less ugly Blizzard quotes and quite a few backstage changes that will make my life easier. Provided my free time will increase, I have many new features planned for this summer, that I'm sure you guys will love. Until then I'd love to get more feedback, no matter if it's criticism, suggestions or bug reports. You can do it all here.

Rob Pardo's teaser

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Even if truly is no big deal, this is probably the highlight of the month. Apparently RP was a bit bored and considering the Diablo 3 teasing has kinda run its course, he decided to switch to the Titan crowd and start poking it with a stick. :)


OMG, right? Well, not really.

First of all, Rob Pardo did mention the game being playable (in an extremely rough form) before, at Blizzcon 2010. So it's nothing really new.

Secondly, of course it can be play-tested! You can't work on such a massive project, for so many years, without testing it each step along the way, from the first engine trials to independent game-play systems tests to actually having a complete game-play session.

To get a bit more technical, most game companies, including Blizzard, like to use Agile or Scrum or something in-between as software development models. The Titan team is no exception, considering that Kim Sellentin, an expert in both Agile and Scrum, has been brought in to be Associate Producer for the game.

Without getting too much into details, the thing about these two models is that they promote ultra fast build iterations and the constant delivery of usable and testable code. In some cases, new versions of the software are launched almost every week, in order to be tested and approved by the clients or the people in charge of the project.

This promotes a constant state of giving and receiving feedback inside the team and also allows for frequent changes in the project's design, something that, I'm sure you can imagine, happens particularly often in game development.

I guess the conclusion is yes, of course it's being play-tested; it has been from the very beginning and it will be until it's dead. What would be more interesting to know is what exactly was Rob Pardo play-testing. Was it a play-through or just some basic mechanics tests, inside a small area and with tons of restrictions?

More tweets, with a wild Cameron Dayton making an appearance

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After his initial tweet, Rob Pardo continued with another Titan related one, this time in the form of a question:


Definitely let him know what you guys want (click on his name to go to his tweet)! In my opinion anything is better than nothing, so I'm fine with more teasers, even if they won't really reveal anything.

Cameron Dayton does not agree though. :D


And I honestly can't blame him, considering he's talking from experience, him being the one that gave us some very intriguing hints through 2, now-deleted, tweets. I guess Blizzard's PR team wasn't a fan of them, but we certainly loved them and in the end this is what should matter. :) So thanks CD and sorry if they caused you any trouble.

Learning from Diablo 3, MoP, HotS

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Blizzard has an exceptionally busy rest of the year and even if Titan probably won't be a part of it, we can still learn a lot from all these launches.

For instance, just looking at Diablo 3's saga, it's easy to see three things:

• Blizzard's beta really is beta. D3's beta started somewhere in September 2011, and it's still going; and not only that, but there have been some significant changes during this period. How related were they with the beta feedback, we can't know, but it definitely shows us that Blizzard is willing to shake things up, even at such a late stage in the development process. Something to keep a note of in the future. :)
  

• A very unpredictable company. Props to them for keeping everything tight and having no leaks, during a period in which the pressure I'm sure was phenomenal. Pretty much every release prediction the fans and the press gave turned out to be wrong, starting with the beginning of January ones, continuing with "when it's approved in South Korea" and then ending with the March and April guesses.
  

• Expect delays. It's one thing to develop an expansion and an entirely different thing to build a new game, mostly from scratch and from which fans have HUGE expectations. And Blizzard's way is never to rush because, as Jay Wilson wisely said, "fans won't remember if a game was late or not, they'll remember if it was great or not". So yeah, if Diablo 3 got this treatment, I can only imagine how careful they'll be with Titan, a game I'm sure they're betting a lot on!
  

I've also written down all the time-frames (beta start, initial expected release, actual release, release date announcement, etc.) and will probably often use them as a reference in the future.

This being said, we still have MoP and HotS to learn from, and even if they're "just" expansions, I'm sure there are a lot of principles in their development and launch processes that also apply to Titan. I'll probably write more on this subject during the summer, after we see MoP launch (July or August probably).

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