Treyarch Game Developer Explains How Call Of Duty: Black Ops II Was Designed For ESports

Activision and developer Treyarch enlisted former Call of Duty pro gamer Mike “Hastr0” Rufail to design the multiplayer eSports elements of Call of Duty: Black Ops II from the beginning. The game was developed with three distinct teams, one focusing solely on multiplayer and eSports. Treyarch Game Design Director David Vonderhaar explains how eSports played an integral role in the multiplayer gameplay experience in this exclusive interview.

[ThanatosDMC]

I dont understand how it could be Esports especially for shooters like COD. Skill curve, teamwork, tactics, strategy, planning, etc. is lacking it shooters of this type. It has no depth compared to BF3 or Planetside 2. There's no skill even related to how the guns work or take into account the recoil like in CS 1.6. Oh well, I dont understand.

Games i consider Esport worthy are games like SC:BW, League of Legends, and SC2. When the quality of the gamers playing can be seen.

I hate those fighter games that have "pros" keep on spamming the same damn combo everybody uses that's an instant kill. I wish they'd take those ridiculous combos out because it becomes a waiting game on who can land their combo first and win.

[Gohadouken]

" I wish they'd take those ridiculous combos out because it becomes a waiting game on who can land their combo first and win.

I find such argument to be vastly exagerated . There is such a thing as reading and outmaneuvering your opponent ... that's what it is about . Not just or even necessarily at all waiting ...

Hell they dont wait at all in many pros matches .

In juggles oriented games , they are a way to punish mistakes and misreading . Nothing wrong with that .

In anything you see far more turtling and waiting in classic 2d fighters with less long combos .

[ThanatosDMC]

2D fighters usually have pokes/energy attack/long range attacks to set up those ridiculous insta-kill combos. It's not about reading or outmaneuvering, it's just waiting for the other guy to make a mistake. Just like the last King of Fighter tournament. The first guy who made a mistake lost all three characters since there's an advantage in killing your first opponent's first character since it opens up an advantage during the character switch in which the other person cant defend himself. The combos last more than one character's life bar.

Yes, they do wait in many pro matches. Waiting is usually around 3-6 seconds, it's short but it's really long compared to when they actually land the combo since it's a finisher.

Juggles are the worst in 3D fighters especially in Tekken 6. I'm so glad they toned down the damage and focused less emphasis on Juggle and Bound combos. Punching a guy's foot who's laying flat in the air which made him float even higher while taking 50-66% percent of standing damage is bull crap. Tekken Tag 2 got it perfectly.

What games do you play? I dont know any recent 2D fighters that have short combos.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Gohadouken]

Uh ? most street fighter games got rather short combos .

And i'm not even sure your video even helps your argument . They dont display insta death combos , arent that long and have for the most part built in mechanics that tone down the damages . Of course there are 100% damageing combos , they are in EVERY fighting games , glitch or not ... but most of the time arent worth the effort and difficult to pull in regular matches .

"I'm so glad they toned down the damage and focused less emphasis on Juggle and Bound combos"

They upped the damage actually , made it impossible to even play at 150% life , implented a system allowing multiple rages in a single round , and rather than shortening juggling , made it so they require tagging in the middle of the combo . Of course it's better but let's not pretend they nerfed and killed the usual juggling in tekken .

No offense , but I find it to be the excuse of sore losers to be like "i can't do squat , guy is waiting for me then install kill combo/juggle me" . It's quite not the reality of things and the real picture . You messed up big time then get punished , all those games do that , the rest is variant mechanics for each styles . Tekken 6 had issues to fix obviously , but let's not pretend Tag 2 did away with the usual meta game

"Yes, they do wait in many pro matches. Waiting is usually around 3-6 seconds"

Not really they are rather aggressive usually , but of course wont rush like fools . They'll try reading or psyching each others .

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

As you'll see , not really your "insta kill combos" , nor waiting game . They dance around , poke , gauge , strike wich is to be expected .

[papashango]

An fps can be esport oriented. See cs. However a game that's only designed to last a year will never succeed in esports. There's absolutely no point to scrimming or memorizing maps when you can't work your way up the ladders, for example going from CAL-O to CAL-IM/M/P in a year. cod will never blow up like starcraft or league of legends which is what their trying to push.