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00:05What's up, everybody? It's your boy Lionel Jinx.
00:07I am the creative director of the WWE 2K franchise.
00:11And this time I'm not alone, y'all.
00:13I've got my homie with me.
00:14She is going to be with me along this journey, this ride.
00:18Christina, please introduce yourself.
00:20Hey, y'all. I am Christina Diem Pham, art producer on WWE 2K22.
00:26And welcome to the inaugural episode of Ringside Report.
00:30Brought to y'all by the teams at 2K and Visual Concepts.
00:33We're here to provide regular updates and deep dives into the many areas and features of WWE 2K22.
00:41And this year we're introducing the WWE 2K22 Ringside Reports.
00:46And you'll hear from Lionel and myself beginning now, through the game's launch in March and after,
00:52for the latest on DLC, patches, and other updates.
00:56And we're not going to be taking this ride alone because we're bringing the homies from the dev team with
01:00us.
01:01Come on, bring them on, bring them on.
01:05But before we dive into that, let's kick it off with a very quick conversation about visuals.
01:11Because let's be real, if y'all take a look at WWE 2K22,
01:15you might see some massive differences from previous cycles.
01:19And this is the best looking game yet.
01:21Just a little bit.
01:22Oh, it's pretty.
01:22It's so pretty.
01:24Lionel, can you talk about how the teams approach production differently this time around,
01:29starting with the superstars?
01:31So the superstars, you know, in any WWE game are the backbone of the game, right?
01:38And so we have to make sure that we are doing our absolute best on representing every superstar
01:44to the best of our abilities.
01:45And in order for us to do that, piggybacked on the same technology that you guys saw in NBA 2K22,
01:53where, you know, you look at their players and the details and just the likenesses look amazing.
01:59And so, you know, we shared that same technology and brought that into WWE 2K22,
02:06like the cross-polarization scans, improved hair.
02:10Just to me, the amazing amount of detail that you'll see in our superstars is unparalleled for us.
02:15Yeah.
02:16And also the teams have overhauled the lighting engine, and there's an all-new VFX engine as well.
02:22Yeah.
02:22So, you know, lighting is everything, right?
02:25So, like, all of these details and everything that we poured into our superstars wouldn't mean anything
02:30if they weren't lit properly, right?
02:32And so, if you, you know, take a look at this version of the game compared to any other year,
02:38like, it looks like a broadcast.
02:40It looks photorealistic at times.
02:42And a lot of that is due to lighting.
02:48And before I forget, there is also a ton of new and improved championships as well.
02:54And one of my personal favorites, mainly because it's the team I work with most closely,
03:00is the environments team.
03:01There are over 55 playable arenas, and we also have virtual crowd boards in the game as well.
03:08So, you might see some familiar faces.
03:10Oh, yeah. Not my ugly mug.
03:15All right. We know what y'all have been waiting for.
03:17So, we have some folks in the waiting room.
03:20I'm going to go ahead and invite all of them in.
03:23So, y'all, we're so excited today because y'all know who we got.
03:27Please welcome the gameplay leadership team,
03:30Principal Designer Jason Vandiver,
03:32Senior Designer Derek Donahue,
03:34and Senior Producer Jonathan Rivera.
03:36Y'all, this is extremely exciting,
03:39and thank you so much for joining us for the first episode of Ringside Report.
03:43Okay, so, I don't want to linger any longer
03:47because folks have been asking for gameplay for a very, very long time.
03:51Without further ado, the moment y'all have been waiting for,
03:55we are going to show you a 1v1 match
03:57between Rey Mysterio and Damian Priest.
04:00So, let's roll the footage.
04:03So, at this point,
04:05one of the things we very intentionally called out
04:07to our fan base
04:09is that we have a redesigned gameplay experience.
04:12And starting with Jason,
04:14can you talk about what that means to you
04:16and how gameplay hits different?
04:19In WWE 2K22,
04:21we have a completely new animation system.
04:24This system has allowed us to greatly improve the look
04:26and the feel of the characters.
04:28Basically, everything from the way the characters move
04:31and they traverse through the world
04:32to how they align with each other during attacks
04:34has been completely overhauled and redone.
04:37Players are going to notice a significant difference
04:39the moment they pick up the controller.
04:41The characters are way more responsive than they've ever been.
04:45You no longer feel like you're fighting to control your character
04:48to get them into position to do what you want them to do.
04:51Strikes, dives, screenboards,
04:53they all connect more precisely.
04:54And that's also something that we really struggled with
04:57and took the heart and tried to resolve this year.
05:01Another key change that we've made
05:02through Game Engine this year is our physics system.
05:05While the series has always had Habit to some degree,
05:08it was primarily used for only hair and cloth simulation.
05:12For 2K22, we've completely integrated Habit into gameplay,
05:16which has allowed us to introduce things like breakable props.
05:19The kendo stick starts to fray the more you use it.
05:21tables, they break more dynamically.
05:24The chair even breaks.
05:25And even elements within the environment itself
05:28are now dynamically breaking, such as like the corner barricade,
05:32instead of relying on a canned sequence animation.
05:34It's a really big change and has helped to make
05:37the entire gameplay screen feel more dynamic.
05:40Awesome.
05:41Derek, same question.
05:43So for me, when we sat down to figure out
05:45how we were going to change gameplay for 2K22,
05:48one of the biggest things that we put as a priority
05:51was making sure the game is fun in a pick up and play kind of way.
05:54I want to be able to hand the controller to my friend
05:56who doesn't know anything about WWE.
05:58And I want them to still be able to have a good time
06:00and be able to just kind of hop in with me.
06:02So we made sure that with our controls redesign,
06:05all of the core actions are something you can discover
06:07just by button mashing.
06:09You should be able to basically play through a match
06:10without having known anything beforehand.
06:13But another big priority for us with that
06:15is making sure we're not smoothing over
06:17a lot of the details that returning fans like.
06:19So all of the high level of control
06:22that you expect to have in a character,
06:23all of the high degree of customization you expect,
06:25all of that still remains.
06:27Okay, so you've mentioned new controls and mechanics.
06:31Combat itself is centered around three inputs,
06:34light attacks, heavy attacks, and grapples.
06:36So in this cycle specifically, what do those terms mean?
06:40So light attacks, those are your quick strikes,
06:42the fastest attacks in the game.
06:44Heavy attacks, those are kind of like strong strikes
06:46from previous years.
06:47They're bigger, slower strikes, but they deal more damage.
06:49And then finally grapples,
06:51those are where some of the bigger changes come into play.
06:53So you press the grapple button once
06:54to lock up with your opponent,
06:55but then from there you can press light,
06:57you can press heavy.
06:58Those will do your light and heavy grapples,
07:00but there's all sorts of other options.
07:02Irish whips, drag, carry,
07:04all of those things come from the grapple state.
07:05So once you grapple your opponent,
07:07you have a lot of possibilities opened up to you.
07:09Okay, and I want to toss this over to Jonathan too.
07:12So opening up these possibilities,
07:13can you talk about some of the combo options
07:15that players can dive into?
07:19Yeah, sure.
07:20I love how simple and engaging
07:22our new dynamic combo system feels.
07:24I don't need to memorize every superstar's move set,
07:27but instead I practice the timing of my inputs
07:30in order to execute combos.
07:32Light attacks allow me to branch into a combo,
07:34and when I learn that light, light, heavy grab
07:37executes that move,
07:38I can take that and apply it to anybody I play with.
07:41I love the exploration that our game provides,
07:43so I encourage the user to play with many different superstars
07:46and then choose whichever one is better suited for them.
07:49And if you don't like the combos that we assign,
07:51we also support customizing combos.
07:54I'm personally really excited to see
07:55what cool combos our community creates.
07:59Okay, very quickly, I want to take it back to one point
08:01that Derek touched on earlier,
08:03which was about the accessibility of this game
08:06and being able to just pick it up and play.
08:09And I want to call this out mainly
08:10because I myself am a much newer player to WWE 2K.
08:15So for me, picking up and playing
08:17has been the whole experience.
08:20The controls are super easy to learn,
08:23and while my own habits fall back on button mashing the controller,
08:28even though we have that,
08:29I enjoy having to be very strategic and intentional
08:33about how I'm approaching this game,
08:36especially when it comes to the timing of things
08:38like reversals or finishers.
08:40So I can definitely attest to,
08:43hey, if you're feeling intimidated by this,
08:46please don't.
08:47Pick it up.
08:48Try it out.
08:49You'll have such a blast.
08:51But also, if you're a vet,
08:53and you've been playing this for a long, long time,
08:56can y'all talk about how vets can better show off their moves
09:00and what that means for the overall strategy
09:02of their experience?
09:04So a lot of the strategy for our game
09:06comes with the new defensive options
09:08that we've added this year.
09:09So one of the biggest examples is breakers.
09:11Instead of reversals being the only tool
09:13for countering your opponent's attacks,
09:16grapples and combos actually don't use reversals.
09:18Instead, you counter them with a breaker.
09:20So when you're doing a grapple or a combo on your opponent,
09:23they can counter that attack
09:24by pressing the same light, heavy, or grapple input against you.
09:27So those moves are countered with breakers.
09:30Everything else is countered with a reversal.
09:31So knowing what kind of attack you expect your opponent to perform
09:34can already prime you to know how you want to counter it.
09:37So there's already a mind game with that level.
09:39Then you have blocking, which is all new.
09:41If you hold down the reversal button,
09:43you enter a blocking stance,
09:44and that lets you withstand light, heavy, and running attacks.
09:47And then you can counterattack faster
09:49than your opponent can after blocking.
09:51You can also dodge with the right bumper.
09:53So you can kind of choose a direction
09:54and get out of the way really quickly
09:55if you time your dodge correctly.
09:57But it's higher risk than a block.
09:59And then when you're on the ground,
10:01you also can button mash to get up faster.
10:03Or you can press right bumper to do a quick get up
10:05at the cost of some resource.
10:07So when you have all of those defensive options available to you,
10:10it makes when you're on defense, it's a lot more strategic.
10:13But also when you're on offense,
10:14you have to be careful with how you want to attack your opponent
10:16so that they don't counter you.
10:18So our community has been speculating about the HUD
10:21and guessing what these little glowing meters mean
10:26and all this stuff.
10:28Jonathan, I'm going to let you be the first
10:30to break this down and break the news.
10:33And let's dive into the HUD
10:36and give the community some clarity here.
10:38So our goal was to create a HUD
10:40that strips down all unnecessary aspects
10:42and simply gives the user the information that they need
10:45without distracting the user from the in-game action.
10:48So at the very top, you'll have the Vitality Meter.
10:51And this is basically your health bar.
10:53Below that, you'll find a special meter,
10:55which is a resource you want to spend
10:57to perform signatures, paybacks, or defensive action.
11:02Finally, at the bottom is your Finisher Meter
11:04where you can store up to three stocks.
11:07So there's one thing that's missing
11:10that I think a lot of people are like,
11:11where's the reverse stock?
11:13Can you talk a little bit more about like,
11:16you know, the changes we made there?
11:18Yeah, sure.
11:19Yeah, obviously the biggest change that we made
11:22was the removing the reversal stock from the HUD.
11:24We felt that 2K20's matches came down
11:26to how the users managed their reversal stock.
11:28We wanted to bring a bit more skill to a match
11:31by giving the users unlimited reversals,
11:34but making them a little bit more difficult to execute.
11:36In our internal matches of 2K22,
11:39we get wild swings and back and forth
11:41and a bunch of oh-so-close moments
11:45that we really feel make the match memorable.
11:47And in addition to that,
11:49we added a new stun meter
11:51that shows up on the characters
11:52when it's close to being filled.
11:54So we're really excited to show off our new HUD
11:57and for our users to play with all of the new additions
12:01and our streamlined approach.
12:06Cool.
12:06Like one of the things that,
12:08you know, at the end of the match
12:09where I'm like, you know,
12:09in previous years or, you know, iterations,
12:12once you could,
12:13you basically knew once your opponent
12:15didn't have any reversal stock,
12:17all you had to do was hit your sacred finisher,
12:19match was over.
12:19That's not the case anymore, right?
12:21Like someone can just pull out like a reversal
12:24and this back and forth.
12:26And so Derek, can you talk about the,
12:28like the, you know,
12:29how strategy is incorporated into that,
12:32that part of the, this new mechanic?
12:34Yeah.
12:35So with reversals no longer being on a limit,
12:37that opens up a lot of possibilities
12:39for how your opponent can counter you, right?
12:40Like they could always pull a reversal out
12:42or if you're using combos and grapples,
12:45they could hit you with a breaker.
12:46But the stun meter that Jonathan mentioned earlier,
12:48that's one of your biggest tools
12:49for making sure that you can pull off
12:51your biggest move without getting countered.
12:53So lighter attacks,
12:54while they don't do as much damage
12:55to the vitality of the opponent,
12:56they're better at filling your opponent's stun.
12:58And if you can get their stun meter filled,
13:00that's your opportunity to perform an attack
13:02without the risk of getting a reversal or a breaker.
13:04Button mashing is back, y'all.
13:06Like I love it.
13:07It creates a whole new level of like intensity
13:10in those, those, those tight matches.
13:13And yeah, like I got to practice
13:15my finger strength on that
13:17just so I can beat everyone down
13:19when this game goes online.
13:29All right, y'all.
13:30We can go on and on,
13:31but unfortunately we're out of time.
13:33So to close out,
13:35now that we're nearing the end of production,
13:37what are y'all looking forward to most for the game,
13:39whether for your own experience
13:40or with players specifically?
13:43Let's start with Jason,
13:44then Derek, then Jonathan.
13:46I'm really looking forward to seeing
13:48how my rise turns out.
13:50We've been working so hard on gameplay
13:51that I haven't really been able
13:52to look at the rest of the game.
13:54Those guys have been really,
13:56really, really working to deliver
13:58an awesome, awesome story this year.
14:00And from everything I've seen,
14:02they're ready to deliver.
14:03You two, get in the ring.
14:05For me, it's the backstage,
14:07the completely redesigned backstage
14:08that I think people have only seen
14:09a small peek of.
14:11There's a lot of really cool stuff
14:12going back there,
14:13especially with the verticality.
14:15And for me,
14:16I'm super excited to see
14:18Rey Mysterio in our showcase mode
14:20playing some classic matches
14:22that were recreated for WWE 2K22.
14:25So I think people are going to be
14:26really excited about that.
14:27Awesome.
14:28Well, again,
14:29thank you so much for joining us
14:31for the first ringside report ever
14:35for this cycle.
14:36That's messed up.
14:36You didn't even ask me, Christina,
14:37like what I'm looking forward to.
14:39That's just messed up.
14:39It's going to lead me out.
14:40We'll take it back.
14:41We'll take it back.
14:42All right.
14:43Rewind.
14:45Lionel,
14:45what are you most excited for?
14:47It's everything, right?
14:48Like, you know,
14:49I've been fortunate enough
14:51to like have my hand in,
14:53you know,
14:53every single cookie jar.
14:54And as you can tell,
14:56like this COVID weight
14:57ain't going away.
14:58anytime soon.
14:59But yeah,
15:00like, you know,
15:01it's seeing,
15:02you know,
15:02what we're doing
15:03on the gameplay side
15:04and how that bleeds
15:05into Universe
15:06and how it bleeds
15:07into MyRise
15:08and my GM,
15:10my faction.
15:11Like it,
15:13we've done so much
15:14in the time
15:16that we have.
15:17And I'm just super excited
15:18for everyone
15:19to get their hands on with it
15:20and just have fun.
15:22Like again,
15:23like just practice,
15:24practice now,
15:25practice your thumb strength
15:26because you're going to need it.
15:28thumb strength,
15:28thumb strength,
15:30really?
15:31Dude,
15:31thumb exercises,
15:32though,
15:32thumb push-ups.
15:33Y'all,
15:33so that,
15:34again,
15:34that wraps it
15:35for our first
15:36Ringside Report.
15:37Thank you
15:38to Jason Vandiver,
15:40Derek Donahue,
15:42and Jonathan Rivera
15:42for joining us.
15:44Sure.
15:45Thank you.
15:46Thank you for having us.
15:48Oh my God.
15:51Was I supposed to leave?
15:54No,
15:54I think that was...
15:55Okay,
15:56so once again,
15:57for real this time,
15:58thank you to Jason,
16:00Derek,
16:00and Jonathan
16:01for joining us.
16:02And thank you
16:03to all of you,
16:04the player community,
16:05for tuning in
16:07for our first
16:07Ringside Report.
16:08We are so excited
16:09to release this game
16:10and we can't wait
16:11for y'all to get
16:12your hands on it.
16:13Yeah,
16:14thank you guys
16:14so much
16:16for joining us
16:17and thank you all
16:18for tuning in.
16:19We will talk
16:20to you all soon.
16:22And in the meantime,
16:23check us out
16:23on social media
16:24at WWE Games.
16:27Okay,
16:27bye.
16:27Peace.
16:40Bye.
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