Thank you for writing this detailed post, Andy. We can't wait to play COH3 as well!

Hey Andy. Do you know when the next Multiplayer Preview will start? I can't wait to explore all the new features!

Art_0f_War wrote:

I'm curious on the big picture timeline that you are all a part of and if those meetings you describe that are constant are sufficient forms of collaboration or if you think there is a drawback to not being in the same building prior to the pandemic. If so, do you think the advantages of video communications and advancement in virtual meetings has eliminated some of those limitations to where there may be no tangible benefit to be in a cubicle next to your peer as a game designer. I'm sure this topic is case by case per employee but it's interesting to know that coh development is happening remotely as well as in person but during a historical point in our history where teleworking is advancing at a pace never seen before in most industries. My question to anyone still reading this is, will that fact directly or indirectly impact the final outcome of COH3 in either positive or negative way? 

Working remotely has definitely been a challenge for all video game developers, and not just Relic. However, the studio has provided us with a ton of support to ensure we're taking care of ourselves and our families while also accomplishing everything to make a great game. As you mentioned, how everyone feels about this depends on who you're talking to. Many teams I speak to really miss being in the same building for that less structured collaboration moment to moment. While others really like that they can put their head down and focus on their tasks. Everyone works differently, and the last couple years have shown us we can adapt if necessary, so that's something we'll be looking at moving forward. 

To address your concerns about putting games out while working from home and how that could affect quality, we can look at our colleagues working on Age of Empires IV. They did an absolutely amazing job and launched while working remotely. I have no doubt our team will be able to do the same. :) 

JohnT_RE wrote:

Art_0f_War wrote:

I'm curious on the big picture timeline that you are all a part of and if those meetings you describe that are constant are sufficient forms of collaboration or if you think there is a drawback to not being in the same building prior to the pandemic. If so, do you think the advantages of video communications and advancement in virtual meetings has eliminated some of those limitations to where there may be no tangible benefit to be in a cubicle next to your peer as a game designer. I'm sure this topic is case by case per employee but it's interesting to know that coh development is happening remotely as well as in person but during a historical point in our history where teleworking is advancing at a pace never seen before in most industries. My question to anyone still reading this is, will that fact directly or indirectly impact the final outcome of COH3 in either positive or negative way? 

Working remotely has definitely been a challenge for all video game developers, and not just Relic. However, the studio has provided us with a ton of support to ensure we're taking care of ourselves and our families while also accomplishing everything to make a great game. As you mentioned, how everyone feels about this depends on who you're talking to. Many teams I speak to really miss being in the same building for that less structured collaboration moment to moment. While others really like that they can put their head down and focus on their tasks. Everyone works differently, and the last couple years have shown us we can adapt if necessary, so that's something we'll be looking at moving forward. 

To address your concerns about putting games out while working from home and how that could affect quality, we can look at our colleagues working on Age of Empires IV. They did an absolutely amazing job and launched while working remotely. I have no doubt our team will be able to do the same. :) 

Hey @Art_0f_War thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed the read. 

I don't take the criticism personally, as much as I have invested into the game and love what we're making I am more than the result of the final result of the work. Don't get me wrong, it can be trying at times and there are plenty of moments where you want to make everyone happy with everything you make but it's just not possible. You'd drive yourself mad trying to please everyone and in the end no one would be happy. All we can do is keep working towards making the best game we possibly can with plenty of feedback from the community. In the end we'll produce a better game for having communicated extensively with people like yourself. 

I think part of having more productive communication with people who play games is giving more context for how we work, why we make decisions, and how games get made. Every little bit helps to contextualize the challenges we face and maybe helps people understand why some things happen the way they do.

About work from home, I'd echo what John said. Things are fairly different working from home but we've adapted and are working effectively in our current setup. There are pros and cons to WFH versus the office, and you're totally right that some people are better at WFH than others. I would prefer to be in the communal environment of the office mostly to be around the awesome people we have on the team (we have some incredibly intelligent and fun people to be around). I haven't seen my co-workers in almost two years now, which is kind of wild to think about.

I don't feel like it'll be a positive or negative impact in the end...it is what it is and we just had to keep going and do our best with the situation. So many high quality games have managed to get released in this period that I have high hopes we'll be one of the draft picks that you look back on and celebrate.

My dog appreciates the sentiment, I probably spoil her but she's worth it.

maaa wrote:

Thank you for writing this detailed post, Andy. We can't wait to play COH3 as well!

Thank you for reading! Glad you're looking forward to it!

Jewpaca wrote:

Hey Andy. Do you know when the next Multiplayer Preview will start? I can't wait to explore all the new features!

I'm the wrong person to ask about that. When we have news to share about more hands-on experiences you'll find posts here, or on the CoH/Relic social feeds.

Everything I read about the dev team's work gives me a lot of confidence in the game. It's really great that you guys seem to have the room to give proper attention to detail. Thanks and keep it up!

Hi @JohnT_RE and @AndyF_RE ,

Thank you very much for providing your input on my telework inquiry. I hope as much as the community is seeing behind the scenes of game development, I'm hoping in return Coh Dev is seeing gamers are not just fans of just the final game, but the developers/pro's/community we are rooting for all of your success in CoH 3. I hate to follow up a question with another question or if this deserves its own thread off of Andy's, but John mentioned AOE4's success, so I'm going to ask.

I personally just played a match of AOE4, I've been playing it over COH2 as my game of choice since it was released. (Cue blushing emoji) I like turn based games so have tried Expedition Rome which I love the era and art and gameplay (xcom like) but I find myself coming back to AOE4. It's the perfect balance of nostalgia, simple mechanics, but deeper level strategy that make every match a bit unique. A huge bonus is i can run it at medium settings and not low unless massive 4v4 then my system starts to struggle. I'm updating my rig specifically for COH3, been saving up for a new gaming desktop. Okay okay before I ask my question I want you to have context that I am a huge fan of AOE4 as a buyer of the game and I still play it almost daily, so this feedback is not critical for the sake of being critical but genuine as a fan. I'm not asking for your AOE4 input or feedback either obviously, I am asking strictly for COH3 so keep that in mind.

In AOE4 since it's release I have a friend I play with who is very good at finding exploits within any given faction, not really exploits but just strengths and then utilizing them, they actually become obvious to most and then you get the spamming or abuse of certain strategies/units. Whatever the term for that lifecycle of a multiplayer RTS game is where units rise and fall after each patch, but OP units get nerfed, then new units/factions get OP, in a cyclical fashion that seems like a turnstyle of going from one OP faction/unit to the next. I do not know if I explained this concept well but if you've played AOE4 then you've experienced Chinese lancer spam, then nest of bees and grens, Mongols were OP early then nerfed, then recently now Dehli is OP with elephants. To my final point.......finally!

I of all people understand the difficulty of finding the right balance to appease all players at launch, balance is like the holy grail but there are games out there that have launched with pretty fair balance and the updates were very minor. Updates/patches are a part of gaming that are just a normal part of most games lifecycle, they benefit the players and hopefully make the game better. What will CohDev do to help prevent that cyclical nerf cycle that can really take away from the beauty of the game and just make it sort of a "let's see what gets nerfed and what becomes OP next patch" sort of experience? It's not just player choice to ignore it or embrace it, it impacts the game whether MP/Skirmish so I hope the onus is not put on the gamers to not use those exploits as we all know if there is an advantage in game (without cheating) most people will take it. I still love AOE4 and as I said I am still playing it, but the OP units and wave of faction changes does make your headspin and I believe COH3 will need to learn from that AOE4 experience and use it to their advantage proactively rather than just reactively after release. 

- Art of War

This is just the reality of any player vs player mode in video games. Some type of meta will always form and players will always find the most optimal ways to play. It's on the team to ensure there are enough viable strategies and mechanics to keep things fun and interesting. That's also where feedback from players during our Pre-Alphas and any other testing we do becomes critical. It allows us to identify problem areas and address them right away. Balancing multiplayer will always be a collaborative effort as the team will be watching and listening to what players are saying, and adjusting things if necessary to ensure the game is fun for everyone. Will we get it right all the time? Probably not, but we'll try our best. It's going to be a conversation with players to find out what's working and what's not. The fun thing about any game's meta, sometimes it develops around certain strategies because a player discovers something new, and not because unit balance has changed. It's an exciting process!

This is awesome to read. Thank you for giving this behind the scenes glimpse! The high transparency of the CoH3 team really puts a lot of good feelings in players who are likely to have walked in extremely skeptical with video game companies in general. I've been telling a lot of friends I'm really confident CoH3 would be great or will get to the point where it will be even though it's not released yet because of this level of transparency.

I have a question about the "editor" referenced in the post. Is that some type of custom built editor similar to tools we've seen to support modding for CoH2? How does it differ from what engineers may work with?

How are the multiplayer matches set up to allow for the best "testing" for tuning? How do you ensure the behavior a player might "play" to test those scenarios you're intending to tweak aren't pre-biased versus what a real player might "play"?