Evolve was one of the highlights at E3 and most definitely the best multiplayer game we saw at the world’s biggest games convention. But besides the 4 vs. 1 multiplayer mode, a lot about the game is still a mystery. GamingBolt caught up with Turtle Rock Studios co-founder Chris Ashton to talk about the different monsters, their respective evolution and abilities, a single player mode inspired by Left 4 Dead, possible micro-transactions and much more.
Check out Ashton’s response is below.
Leonid Melikhov: I am really happy that this is a next-gen exclusive, but at some point you must of thought about the 160 million install base for PS3 and Xbox 360. Do you think you are taking a risk by not launching on them, especially with Evolve being a new IP?
Chris Ashton: There is a risk in trying to make the game run on the older systems and you know Evolve is quite intensive on the CPU with all the wildlife we have and also all the vegetation and cover for the monster to hide in. It was a really big concern with ‘could we get it to run on those systems without making sacrifices that would hurt the gameplay?’
Leonid Melikhov: You guys want to make the game you wanted to make so you can’t really sacrifice.
Chris Ashton: Exactly, yeah. Evolve is an old idea that we wanted to make for a very long time and we were only able to execute now because the systems are more powerful.
"All monsters play a lot differently and it’s more about what we’d like people to do is to find which one suits their play-style the best and which one they have the most fun with. All monsters will have different abilities and different ways of traversing the world, but there will always be three stages of each one and each have four unique abilities and they can level up as they evolve."
Leonid Melikhov: Evolve also has a single player campaign. Can you share details about the story and how it will differ from multiplayer?
Chris Ashton: You can play single-player and we have AI that fill empty slots, so you can play single-player as the monster, you can play single-player as the hunter with AI teammates against an AI monster. We haven’t really talked too much about what single-player elements will be in the game. Other than that, story wise we are doing a lot of similar things like Left 4 Dead. When you played Left 4 Dead the characters would talk and you’d hear about the world and you’d see writing and stuff like that. You’d learn about the world a little bit as you played it. So we are doing kind of a similar take on Evolve. A lot of what you gonna learn about the fiction and stuff comes from the characters.
Leonid Melikhov: Can you tell us more about the different monsters in the game? Also, can you explain their evolution process; will each monster have a different evolution cycle?
Chris Ashton: Right now we’ve shown 2 monsters. We’ve shown Goliath and he is the brawler, he is big, strong, very upfront when he fights, he is very direct. Kraken is our flying monster and it uses electricity for ranged attacks and doesn’t quite has the health or armor that Goliath does. They play a lot differently and it’s more about what we’d like people to do is to find which one suits their play-style the best and which one they have the most fun with. All monsters will have different abilities and different ways of traversing the world, but there will always be three stages of each one and each have four unique abilities and they can level up as they evolve.
Leonid Melikhov: Can you talk about weapon customization in the game?
Chris Ashton: Well, our weapons are attached to our characters, so Marakov will always have a lighting rifle for example. We do have skins for weapons that you can get when you pre-order the game. We wanted each character to represent a specific style of gameplay. When Lazarus is in the game for example; you know both as a team what to expect and also as a monster what to expect.
"Since the game is still in development and we are still looking at what exactly DLC is gonna look like. We have a lot of cool ideas, a lot of things we are throwing around right now."
Leonid Melikhov: Is the game going to run at 1080p and 60fps on both the PS4 and Xbox One?
Chris Ashton: Well, we are still in development right now, I am not sure where we’re going to end up.
Leonid Melikhov: What’s the target, you’re not sure?
Chris Ashton: I am not sure actually, yeah.
Leonid Melikhov: How many maps are we going to see in the final game? Are those maps always going to be take place in some jungle area? If yes, how are you distinguishing them from each other?
Chris Ashton: We are going to ship with more than 12 maps. Previously, before E3 all we were showing was forest environments. But now, we’ve brought a desert environment to E3 and it’s full of different wildlife. Completely different wildlife, we’ve got mega-moths and dune beetles, you know where as in forest our big threat was tyrants that were in the water. In the desert you don’t have water, so the wildlife winds up being different. Different environment types with different AI wildlife.
Leonid Melikhov: Will Evolve have micro transactions in the game? If yes, how are you justifying its inclusion?
Chris Ashton: Since the game is still in development and we are still looking at what exactly DLC is gonna look like. We have a lot of cool ideas, a lot of things we are throwing around right now.
Leonid Melikhov: I can imagine DLC being a map-pack or maybe like a small expansion with a new monster, new class or something like that.
Chris Ashton: Well, for sure. The only DLC we know for sure we are gonna make is a fourth monster and if you pre-order the game you get that monster for free.
Leonid Melikhov: Is the monster available day 1?
Chris Ashton: I am not sure actually what the DLC dates are.
Leonid Melikhov: I see, but the game is shipping with 3 monsters?
Chris Ashton: The game does ship with 3 monsters.
Leonid Melikhov: And we’ve seen two out of three?
Chris Ashton: Yeah, and like I said the forth one it’ll likely be sometime after we ship. We’re definitely committed to building more monsters.
Leonid Melikhov: Thank you so much.
Chris Ashton: Yeah, I appreciate it.
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