'Overwatch' developers discuss new maps and Arcade mode
LOS ANGELES -- A lot of new things are coming to Overwatch in the near future, including the hero Sombra, two nw maps and an arcade mode, all of which will be shaking up the game as we know it.
With so much change to wrap our heads around, Mashable sat down with Overwatch assistant game director Aaron Keller (who works as a level designer) and principal game designer Geoff Goodman (who designs and balances heroes) to talk about the new maps and game mode and how they fit in the Overwatch universe.
Overwatch Arcade
A whole new Overwatch game mode was revealed at BlizzCon Friday called Overwatch Arcade, which sends players into the fray in new ways. Similar to the weekly Brawl mode, the alternative game types will regularly rotate, but there will be a variety to choose from, starting with 3v3 skirmishes and 1v1 duels.
The 1v1 matches are called Mirrored Duels, Keller told Mashable, and they're unlike anything else in the game.
"Players don't select heroes in there," he said. "We randomly pick heroes and assign the same one to both players, and then it's the first to five [kills]."
"We had some concerns about some of the heroes early on because we didn't know what it was going to be like," Goodman said.
"An example is Symmetra -- we're like, 'Is she going to work? Because you're just going to left click each other and die.' It ends up actually being really fun."
With Symmetra's turrets, the game turns into a territory control game as players set turrets up in different areas for defense while trying to advance on each other.
"The Arcade is a place where we want to experiment."
Mirrored Duels include all heroes except for Lúcio, whose health regeneration and lack of damage output took the fun out of the matches while the mode was in development. At this point, it's still questionable that Mercy will be playable in the duel mode because of her upcoming changes to health regeneration.
But that is part of the fun of the Arcade: trying new things and seeing if they work.
"The Arcade is a place where we want to experiment, it's almost like a game mode laboratory," Keller said. "There might be a better version of 1v1 out there, maybe that's one of the next things to go up there."
The Arcade allows for new twists on Overwatch action, especially considering that it takes place on the new Arcade-only map Ecopoint: Antarctica.
Ecopoint: Antarctica
Ecopoint: Antarctica is a snow-covered scientific outpost out on Antarctica where Mei was in cryostasis for years after a polar storm swept through the region.
The map is much more compact than traditional Overwatch battlegrounds, specifically designed for smaller-scale fights without objectives.
"It's a totally new class of map for us," Keller said, adding that the duels force players to really delve into every inch of the map.
"The more you play it, the more I think you become intimately familiar with every little detail of the map, because it matters so much more."
With Widowmaker duels, the game almost turns into a traditional FPS, and Winston duels turn the map into a playground with so many areas to jump around to.
"This is our first arena map, and if this is popular, we would love to make more arena maps and put them in here," Keller said.
Both the Arcade and Ecopoint: Antarctica will be available to play on the public test realm Tuesday, Nov. 8. The other new map that was announced, Oasis, is a little bit further out.
Oasis
While there aren't any images of Oasis available yet, Keller and Goodman were able to share some details to keep everyone sated until its on the public test realm in December.
Oasis is a control map like Ilios, Nepal and Lijiang Tower. It's a high-tech, futuristic city in the middle of the desert in Iraq, founded by people that are into genetic modification and knowledge.
Oasis is also home to the first jump pad in Overwatch.
"There's a big university there and all these different, really cool places to go," Keller said. "It should feel different than all the other places in Overwatch... There's three different [control] points there and they all play really differently from each other and differently from all the other control maps that we have."
Oasis is also home to the first jump pad in Overwatch, which will launch players up into the air, giving previously grounded heroes a whole new perspective on the battlefield.
"You can have Bastion transforming in the air," Goodman said.
"There have been some pretty cool Reinhardt moments of charging into the jump pad and going up and taking Pharah out of the air," Keller said with a laugh. "It's so awesome."
