Gamesplanet Interviews Ubisoft Montreal about Watch_Dogs 2's PC Version and Story!
Taking a peak behind the curtain into what exactly makes Watch_Dogs 2 tick as we sit down with Ubisoft Montreal to discuss the setting and go in depth about the PC Version.
When it comes to making video-games it's not an easy road and sometimes it can take years to fully realize the dream, with Watch_Dogs 2 it was important that the team created something that was not only true to the original but also improved upon it in every way imaginable. We were given the opportunity to discuss the recent PC version as well as a little about the process of creating the game from vision to execution.
Interview, Part 1: Community Events, DLCs and the Future of Watchdogs 2
Answers by Dominic Guay, Senior Producer of Watchdogs 2 at Ubisoft Montreal.
Senior Producer Dominic Guay from Ubisoft Montreal gives us an inside look into development!
GP: Watch_Dogs 2 seems to be more upbeat and colourful this time around, not only the environment but also the main character. Where did the decision behind this come from?
DG: It started from the setting, San Francisco inspired us a lighter, more colorful tone. Marcus, with his good natured attitude also affected our tone. Overall, we still wanted to deal with relatively serious subject matters, but we wanted to take ourselves a bit less seriously while doing it. We wanted to embrace our setting and have a more balanced tone than in the first opus. Some players spend a lot of time in an open world game and with a more balanced tone we wished to create a more welcoming world.
GP: What are the main sources of inspiration for your artistic team to create the story and the universe in Watch Dogs 2? Do you have any good references to share with all the fans who love the Watch Dogs 2 universe?
DG: Our main inspiration is in the real world. At the core, our characters, world and story are rooted in San Francisco Bay inspirations, in places we visited, in people we met. We also researched how our hyper connected world impacts people and how technology is linked with society. A second layer of inspiration is the hacker culture. We worked hard to understand hacking history and reference that culture within the game. There is also many internet and pop-culture inspirations.
GP: This time around the focus is on San Francisco, what makes that city such a great setting for the Watch_Dogs universe and what are some of the highlights in the city?
DG: Obviously it is a beautiful area with inspiring, diverse locations and people. It is also a major cultural beacon, a place where movements are started and ideas forged. This said, another key appeal for us is that it is the birthplace of the tech revolution, notably in Silicon Valley, the place where many of the technologies that will change our lives tomorrow are being invented today.
GP: Now that we have Watch Dogs 2 out in the wild on all systems, you're probably already working on the DLC for the game. What can we expect from the additional content? And when will it be available?
DG: Players will be able to continue their hacker’s journey with several hours of additional mission contents including new co-op challenges and difficulty levels, outfits, vehicles and tons of customization items. Each downloadable content will be available with a 30-days exclusivity for PlayStation 4 owners. In addition, free content will be offered to players on a regular basis through title updates and in-game events will be organized.
The T-Bone Content Bundle, the first add-on content pack of Watch Dogs 2 is already available in PlayStation 4, and will be released on Xbox One and PC on January 24. The T-Bone Content Bundle revolves around Raymond Kenney, AKA T-Bone, and includes his attire, as well as his modified school bus, complete with bulldozer blade for creating extra chaos. The Bundle also offers a new Mayhem co-op challenge, with a tough new enemy archetype – the Grenadier – that uses advanced weaponry and tactics.
On top of that, to celebrate the release of this DLC, players can participate in the T-Bone Chaos Event. This free event will run for four weeks, with each week bringing a new themed challenge through Ubisoft Club that gives players a chance to earn in-game currency and unique event rewards, like new car skins or a new bag for Marcus. Players can access the Ubisoft Club app in Marcus’ phone and select the special event challenge to participate.
GP: Are you planning any upcoming community events for the fans to get involved with, i.e. Multiplayer events in the game or seasonal events that take place every few months?
DG: We absolutely are. Each DLC release will be supported with a special community event where players can earn in-game rewards, including unique car skins and bags, for completing themed Ubisoft Club challenges. Players don't have to purchase the DLC to take part in these challenges - they're open to everyone. These events are open to players on all platforms at the release of each DLC.
Additionally, starting in 2017 we'll run bi-weekly "Online Weekend Events" that will alter the gameplay experience for a specific online game mode, and players will earn leaderboard bonuses for participating.
Finally, every month we'll host a "Most Wanted" livestream featuring Twitch streamers and special guests playing targets in Bounty Mode, supported by live DJs. Fans can follow the action on Twitch, or hop in the game to track down the special guests as hunters.
Interview, Part 2: Implementation of the PC version and technical details
Replies from Florin Sanda, PC Producer of Watch_Dogs 2 at Ubisoft Montreal.
Florin Sanda talks us through the PC version and improvements over console.
GP: PC-Gamers had to wait a bit longer for their version of Watch Dogs 2. With the extra time put into the PC version's development, what were you able to achieve?
FS: I’d start by saying that adapting and optimizing Watch_Dogs 2 for the PC platform was definitely not a 2 week job . There was a lot of planning and hard work put in from the early stages of the project to reach the point where we are now. The last 2 weeks gave us the time to make sure our final game runs smoothly and is stable on a wide range of hardwares, offering a great experience to as many PC players as possible, from Day 1.
GP: What are the main PC-specific features?
FS: There are two big areas that allow us to be generous on a PC version: graphics and controls.
In Video Options design for Watch Dogs 2 PC, our goal was to achieve good scalability for the different hardwares, from low-end to high-end and multi-GPU. We also wanted to give our PC players advanced video options above the standard Ultra pre-set to enhance their experience and utilize the power of the newest video adapters.
We have Ultra Textures Pack (available as free additional content), a set of PC-exclusive video options (San Francisco Fog, Screenspace Reflections, MSAA, Headlight Shadows, Extra Details) and some smaller visual enhancements. The game supports different resolutions up to 4K, and Ultra quality for the many standard graphics features (geometry, terrain, vegetation, shadows, texture filtering). In addition to that, we support SLI/Crossfire multi-GPU modes and multi-monitor configurations with some additional options for UI customization.
In addition, We made a lot of changes and improvements to adapt Watch Dogs 2 to mouse & keyboard controls: Shooting, hacking, driving and all the UI screens were updated to be more PC-friendly. We also implemented plenty of different mouse & keyboard options in order to address the wide variety of requests from our PC players. In addition to a more mouse-centric approach, the game supports keyboard hotkeys for different cases. There is a keyboard hotkey for every UI and menu action, for every weapon, gadget, mass hack, smartphone app and emote.
We redesigned our equipment and emotes wheels to a mouse-friendly grid which allows the player to easily select weapons, gadgets, and mass hacks with the mouse. Hold/Toggle modes are supported for some controls: Sprint, Walk, Aim, Equipment Grid, Emotes Grid, etc. For example, you can set the Equipment Grid to Toggle mode and turn off the "Draw Weapon After Selection" option to use it as a more familiar PC inventory screen.
Mouse and Keyboard controls also enabled us to create a few specific features, like the Traffic Speed : by holding [CTRL] while driving, you can enter the Traffic Speed mode which allows you to “blend with the traffic” and adapt to the speed of the car ahead of you.
GP: What prevents you from offering cross platform PvP for Watch Dogs 2? Is it because PC gamers would have been advantaged compared to console players who could be limited in terms of performances and FPS?
FS: There are a few features that would give PC players the upper hand: from the scalable FOV to Traffic mode or Walk mode that allow players to better blend in the crowd.
GP: Watch Dogs 2 does not officially support modding but you do not have a policy against it. Even if modding the executable or hooking into the game may cause the anti-cheat detection to be triggered, how do you plan to support the mods created by the community for Watch Dogs 2?
FS: Considering the seamless nature of multiplayer in Watch Dogs 2, one of our main goals was to assure a clean and safe environment for everyone engaging in online activities. If someone wants to create his or her own mod, they are free to do so, it’s just they won’t be able to play the game online with those changes.
GP: Controls in the game seem to be much more responsive now, especially with the driving on a keyboard. Can you speak a little about what you did to make them like this?
FS: We implemented a raw input system, which processes the input signal separately from frame rate update, which makes controls more precise. We also changed the camera and animation systems to adapt shooting controls for the mouse.
To adapt driving controls to the keyboard, we implemented a system that counts how long the keyboard button was pressed, turning digital keyboard input into analog. The default steering sensitivity settings were designed to mimic the original gamepad driving experience as much as possible with the keyboard. The raw input system is also used for driving and counts even very short (less than one frame) presses.
GamesPlanet would like to thank Ubisoft Montreal for answering our questions and the entire team for making an exceptional game. Not had a chance to play it yet? Enjoy our Holiday Discount until January 2nd for £25.99 (35% off)!