1 Vs. 100 on Xbox Live season 2 improvements

[Steve]

Season 2: Extended Play's New Set

October 7, 2009

 

Make no mistake: big changes are in store for season 2 of 1 vs 100 on Xbox LIVE. I had an exciting talk this week with Matt Van Gorder (Art and Design Lead), Brett Johnson (Game Designer) and Colin Riley (Technical Artist) about what's new. When covering it all in a single discussion like we did, the main thing I can say is that there will be no doubt that you're in a brand new experience. "As soon as you launch the game," said Brett, "You're going to notice changes."

 

I'll be able to go more in depth about the season and our discussion in the coming weeks. For the first blog, though, I decided to focus on one of the main things that will get the attention of fans of the beta season: 1 vs 100 Extended Play's massive new set.

 

"We knew we could make Extended Play games feel bigger," said Colin. In the beta season, sessions of 1 vs 100 Extended Play regularly attracted tens of thousands of players, all answering the same trivia questions at the same time. Each half-hour game was an event unto itself. He continued, "We decided to make the set reflect the size and scope of the game mode."

 

There is a distinct difference between 1 vs 100 Live and 1 vs 100 Extended Play. "We wanted to visually portray how different it is," Brett said. Added Colin, "We wanted you to know you're in Extended Play."

 

In addition to the 3D changes - upping the scale, modeling a much more massive set, adding more grandiose types of set feedback - the team knew there was more they could do with cameras. "From perspectives, sweeping angles, the massive feel, the stats on the quad screen..." said Brett, "Mob Elimination will feel more impactful."

 

In season 2, when thousands of people show up for 1 vs 100 Extended Play game sessions, the atmosphere will be that of a huge avatar event. Said Colin, "We wouldn't have changed anything unless we did it this way."

 

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Season 2: The Designs They Are A-Changin'

October 14, 2009

 

Last week, I revealed changes to the Extended Play set for 1 vs 100 Season 2. I’m going to blog about more game changes this week, and in the coming weeks, as I detail more of my discussions with the game’s art and design team. The changes made to the core game in season 2 are far from just cosmetic, and today, we’ll begin to take a look at some new things you’ll see in the game design and interface.

 

Skip No More

 

One of the first design changes you’ll notice in Extended Play is that Skips have been replaced by Safeties. Brett Johnson, 1 vs 100’s game designer, is excited to introduce the change. “Hmm, the easiest way to describe it…” said Brett, “Safeties can be exchanged for a correct answer.” In the season 1 design, this wasn’t necessarily the case with Skips; they kept you on a streak, but the trade-off was that you would earn no score for “skipping” a question.

 

Safeties, like Skips, are earned for three consecutive correct answers, they preserve your Streak Bonus upon use, and you can hold a max of three at a time. The only penalty for using a Safety is that you forgo the opportunity to earn speed bonuses. Everything else is tallied the same. Colin Riley, technical artist, added, “We listened to feedback. Now you can get past an answer you don’t know without losing too much score, so you can stay in the running for the Top 10.”

 

Help Replacement: Trust the Top 10

 

The One choosing to “Trust the Brain” (the round’s top scoring player) was often a source of amusement for players in the season 1 beta episodes of 1 vs 100 Live. It turns out that it’s no guarantee the best-performing player in the game will be reliable, for a variety of possible reasons. Still, it was a Help that got many contestants out of a jam, and it’s being improved for season 2.

 

“Trust the Top 10,” when used, will return an answer of X, A, or B – whichever is most-selected by the game’s ten highest scoring players – and lock it in as the One’s answer. “Relying on ten really good players, instead of a single player, is just a better idea,” said Matt Van Gorder, the game’s art and design lead, “It will be a better experience for the One.”

 

Stay tuned. I’ll be back next week with more, as we gear up for 1 vs 100 Season 2’s winter release.

 

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Can't wait for this to come back. Hopefully I'll win a prize this season!

[d00ban]

never even heard of this, sounds funny tho

[Steve]

It's a good laugh if you like quiz games, especially as you can play in groups of 4 with your friends. It's not so much fun on your own after the initial novelty of playing it wears off, cos it's fairly slow paced, but if you've got 3 or 4 people together on voice chat, it's really good IMO. The games on Friday and Saturday have a live host - some guy that used to present the National Lottery show on the BBC, and you can win real prizes. Last season, you could win MS Points and XBLA games in the live games, then for the grand final weekend there were holiday vouchers and 2 Fiat 500 cars up for grabs for anyone that managed to beat the entire crowd (nobody did, although one guy got down to the last crowd member and then both of them got the question wrong, lol). It's free to play too if you have Xbox Live Gold, and there are themed games on through the week, such as football specials, super hard questions, or games where all of the questions were submitted by Xbox Live members.

[Liam]

The gf loves 1vs100, she's really looking forward to the new season.

 

I think it's brilliantly executed, pseudo-synchronous coordination of sessions numbering in the tens of thousands is no mean feat.

 

They could really work on the host/guest side of the presentation, though.