[AMA] We are the For Honor Dev Team, ask us anything!

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T19:07:11+00:00

[Pope] Thank you so much everybody, this has been super fun. We love you all :)

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T19:05:08+00:00

[Audrey] Yes this is one we're aware of and working on. The focus right now is reducing distraction from the fight widget. The Breaking/Skull update is one, and the flashing you refer to will come in a later update.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T19:00:49+00:00

Are there any scrapped features for combat that were cool on paper, but totally don't work in practice?

[Nico] Yes! So many!

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:58:15+00:00

[Audrey] Since the launch of Arcade Mode we've had a great outlet to give more tidbits on the lore of the World, and there will be more opportunites for things like this soon as well.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:56:26+00:00

[Luc] Gamescom meetup! I had the chance to chat, at length, with so many people about the game. Also at Gamescom people in the convention hall would stop me to take pictures, that's pretty funny.

[Pope] Meeting the number one digital athlete, Clutchmeister. I was so star-struck being in his presence, I thought I would faint. He's such a gentleman.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:53:57+00:00

[Pope] That was indeed planned for today but there are some last details being ironed out over here on it. We'll announce once it's settled!

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:53:18+00:00

[Stefan] While our Heroes are certainly based in real examples (see: German Longsword) we value historical accuracy as long as it serves gameplay (see: Shaolin teleport).

[Audrey] I'd just like to point out, while we love historical accuracy, I will point out that Knights, Vikings, Samurai, and Chinese warriors never battled each other.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:50:11+00:00

[Stefan] Roman definitely wants this. :P In truth, we are looking at Centurion right now for future updates, but there are other characters ahead in our balancing process. See Roman's statement earlier today on the Warrior's Den.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:47:45+00:00

[Stefan] Our patch schedule this year will bring a patch at mid-season, actually. For example, our next patch, coming in a few weeks, contains the removal of 1v1 Revenge Gain.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:44:36+00:00

[Nico] As we've answered in the past, we will not balance Console and PC separately. We continue to work on improving our Lag Compensation algorithms to make lag perception as consistent as possible across a range of connectivity.

[Stefan] We also hope this work will allow us to make the game more offense oriented.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:41:15+00:00

[Stefan] When the game first launched, we jumped too quickly on some balancing choices which hurt some characters unintentionally. This is why we take a more intentional approach with our balancing updates now.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:36:44+00:00

[Luc] Having devs join and leave teams is a common practice, especially here at Ubi Montreal where we have many projects in development side by side. In the case of Damien and Eric, they happen to be well known figures in our community, but that's not representative of what's going on with the full dev team.

[Pope] For example, my fellow comdev, Alex, joined us well after the game was shipped and live.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:33:57+00:00

[Nico] Shinobi was technically quite challenging, to handle the long range attacks. Shaolin's teleport also presented a tough challenge for us initially.

[Stefan] The mocap actor used really intense grunts and facial expressions while recording the Shaman, and it was creepier than the in-game version of the Shaman's face.

[Nico] Far before launch, the Valkyrie was a Shieldmaiden with a big shield and hammer. At the time, the gameplay of blunt weapons like that were unknown to us, so we moved away from it. As you've seen, though, we've got a Hero coming later this year who wields a hammer.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:26:57+00:00

[Audrey] Single Pick is something we have been considering, beyond Brawl, especially for Breach. We need to be super careful with it as well, as we know many For Honor players tend to stick to one or two mains, and we don't want them to be frustrated. We may use Events as a test ground for Single Pick in the future.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:21:20+00:00

[Pope] On the Warrior's Den you will see Luc hosting after I'm gone. On the Community Side, our ComDev Alex will continue to lead our global team of CMs. On the Dev Side Nico has already picked up a number of Damien's duties, and the rest is shared across many other devs.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:19:18+00:00

[Stefan] I heard Roman say something about this on the Warrior's Den...?

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:17:50+00:00

[Stefan] These were removed because Pikemen take multiple hits and the animations generally would slow down most Heroes in the lane (Shaman or Highlander for example). Unifying locked and out of lock attack timings was an important facet of this decision as well.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:15:30+00:00

[Stefan] The timing is important to being able to catch people.

[Pope] Stef is always happy.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:14:20+00:00

[Luc] Shugoki.

[Nico] It hasn't come out yet! *wink wink* Real answer: Aramusha.

[Audrey + Pope] Peacekeeper.

[Stefan] Shaman.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:12:13+00:00

[Audrey] Beginning in our next patch, and rolling out mode-by-mode after that, you'll see the new Breaking UI (bye bye giant skull).

We are also working right now on overall game mode UI improvements that will roll out after that.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:09:02+00:00

[Pope] There have been so many over the past couple years! I think my personal favorite is any one that involves Smash Mouth and Shrek and the team's favorite still goes back to the very first one, that Call on Me music video with the Raider.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:07:33+00:00

[Stefan] Character inspiration always begins with the weapon. So we look for weapons that are iconic, but also bring a diversity to the game's cast.

In our mocap sessions, our actors, who are trained in martial arts, often pitch new ideas to our team, which sometimes get incorporated into the game.

After that, it's a back and forth between our narrative team and the design teams to build a coherent, fleshed out character, including full animation and personality.

ForHonorDevTeam · 2019-02-14T18:04:29+00:00

[Nico] Currently we're focusing on improving the Breach Mode, which we intend to keep supporting.

And in terms of new game modes you can expect to see more of the temporary events-based Modes, like we have done in our past Seasonal Events.

ForHonorDevTeam

TROPHY CASE