We have new information on Watch Dogs that we’re consolidating for you here. Some of it is information culled from the CTOS promotional site, and some from a new video about Watch Dogs.
We’re going through the CTOS site 1st. As you can see, it’s a promotional site that’s showing off CTOS as if it were a real company working for Chicago. There does not seem to be any signs that it could be an alternate reality game, or ARG, but this is definitely a possibility.
In fitting fashion, fans went through the code to see what they could find. What they found are, in order, these images of Aiden Pearce, Jordi Chin, Clara Lille, and the still – unexplained Watch Dogs logo.
They also found this Morse code message : – -.– — ..- .—-. .-.. .-.. -. . …- . .-. -… . ..-. .-. . . .- –. .- .. -. – It translates to “You’re never be free again.” Chilling stuff indeed.
Up next is this Watch Dogs dev video, where they discuss the extensive use of middleware in the game to make a truly dynamic environment.
Now, dynamic environments are not new in gaming, but with Watch Dogs Ubisoft has gone the extra mile to make a genuinely unpredictable and dramatically subtle world. They made middleware to handle simulation special effects like smoke and flames, and even vegetation. Middleware has been developed for the elements: sun, wind, rain, which other game elements will react to. The middleware is logical, meaning it will not repeat events, and instead makes actions happen on the fly.
This will give you an idea of how far Ubisoft has gone with the middleware and dynamic world: the cars will recognize the surface friction caused by rain, and will then control less accurately. Cans on the treet will react to wind middleware so that they will be animated automatically.
Human characters also have dynamically reactive AI. They will scuttle off to find shelter when it rains in-game. More than that, they won’t be found around a theater at noon as they would be when the theater closes near midnight, because just like real life, the middleware determines that they would not be there while the theater is closed.
As they point out, these systems have consequences on the game experience. In previous console generations, developers learned to use ‘tricks’ to fool players into thinking they are in such a dynamic game world, by making unrecognizable repeating cycles, obscuring details, and in many cases, just relying on a player’s suspension of disbelief. While it could be argued that there was an art to accomplishing such a feat, Ubi wants to push the envelop, now that the technology is there.
Whatever the case will be with the graphics, Ubi seems determined to bring a next-generation game in Watch Dogs in more subtle ways. We’ll see if the game lives up to this promise in its initial release on May 27 for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One, and if they can also pull it off on Wii U, in a later date.
