Dota 2

Announced late last year, Dota 2 has since shown very discreet.

Except a trailer released just before the gamescom, details about it were slim to say the least. And still maintain the mystery, the game responded well present on the German show last week, but only in a version playable by arguing progamers from $ 1.6 million in prize money. For more information, however, we met Gabe Newell, Valve's boss to ask him some questions about Dota Dota 2 and only 2.

Gamekult: We do not know ultimately not much about Dota 2 although the game is here now at gamescom, but playable only by progamers competing for a gain of EUR 1.6 million tournament at The International . Can you tell us more about the genesis of this title?

Gabe Newell: Like many developers, we play many games and there are a whole group at Valve who played Dota [for Defense of the Ancients, a popular mod for Warcraft III, ed], or as Robin Walker Erik Johnson who worked on Half-Life. They were big fans, followed the league and have started to send emails to IceFrog [the creator of Dota Allstars, ed] to ask if he planned a sequel, what (s) type (s) things he wanted to join or what he would like to correct ... And then they said "Why do not you come with Valve so that we can do together?". That's how it went: it's just a story of fans who wanted to make something of their passion for this game

Adrian [Finol, note] has spent about a week to make a prototype to make sure we could do a STR with the Source engine, because we have not thought of this engine for this kind of game, but it worked very quickly, and more and more people were convinced that it was doing a response to Dota. When one thinks of changing Dota since its inception, the concept has gone through many stages and it will therefore continue with new heroes, new mechanical ... What we also wanted to incorporate into the game, it is these features that were taking place outside the game, like the guilds of the players or coaching. Gradually, as we worked on the game, a group of testers composed of big players of Dota brought us many returns and we had a big influence. And each time they were asked what they liked, they sent us an even longer list of items to review (laughs).

When we finally managed to come up with something we liked and who liked to professional players of Dota, the next step was to set up a tournament that is discovered by the gamescom. It also allows us to refine the test by ensuring there is no problem when the game is broadcast in several languages, or when many players connect to servers to see the parties live, the last time I looked, there were 230,000 people on our server. This event makes it possible to ensure that under these conditions, there is no lag or inconvenience of the genre.

When did the project really started at Valve?

There are about 2 years. Now the development team has about sixty people - is a team similar to what we had for Portal and Left 4 Dead 2, waist level.

And gameplay side, what's new in this sequel?

Most people are already familiar and happy with the mechanical Dota. It has certainly refined and enriched the whole, but the players used to gather Dota immediatly their brands. However, some aspects were reviewed: the facilitated access to such stores, as well as the entire system to find an online game adapted to your level.

Will there is a single player mode in Dota 2?

We can add some bots to play alone or as a team against the computer, but there will be no real single player mode, no. There will be tutorials, and will also allow players who wish to offer on the card directly from their Steam account to play better advice. All this is possible since the game

Looking a little pro players here at this gamescon, we note that the parties seem rather slow. Is it a commitment from you to this sequel?

I think that most players on the tournament play differently, as they compete for $ 1 million. Certainly they play a little more cautious and conservative, but there is nothing in the game mechanics that can change the pace of play in this sequel from Dota first name. Moreover, the parties last as long on average on two tracks: 35 to 40 minutes.

How do you explain this craze in recent years to the kind that recently Dota acueille Demigod, or Heroes of Newerth League of Legends?

There are always new types of games that appear and as a game designer, what surprises me most about Dota is the notion of impact player and the fact that during the game, it is constantly changing projection of the future. What will happen in the next few minutes in his team and among our opponents, it is changing all the time. And I think that's what allows Dota to be different from most other types of games. For me, it is more important than for the first or third person.

What will the business model around 2 Dota?

We do not know yet. We hope that most players are convinced that Dota is a good successor, but also make the game more accessible to those who were put off by the complexity of the first component. We really want to address ourselves to these two populations. When we are satisfied with this, we can then think of a way to monetize everything.

Will the game be released before the end of the year, as planned?

For this kind of title is quite complicated. There is a playable game here without crash or big problem, but most of the work will be on the side of servers and networking code. So we will go through a phase of closed beta with thousands of players and an open beta. Things are moving so quickly from one week to another, but I'm sure we will have by the end of the year.

Have you just details of this future beta?

It will start in three weeks I would say. We still have some things we want to change in response to feedback after the tournament, and then the launch in the wake.