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Singleplayer + Multiplayer = Crossplayer ?

thatgameblog.com — Half-Life 2's Art Director and Arcane Studios are working on a totally new kind of gameplay experience. They're fusing singleplayer with multiplayer, hoping to create something we've never seen before: crossplayer.

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  • sinizuh, on 10/12/2007, -5/+190Last time I checked, singleplayer + multiplayer = Co-op (something that way too many game developers are afraid of)
    • piiyoh, on 10/12/2007, -19/+6Hehe yeah, I have no idea what crossplayer means.
    • Bara, on 10/12/2007, -24/+4Or MMO.
    • dan2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21Yeah exactly, I don't get it. It can't be just co-op though will have to wait and see.
    • tigu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+37Agreed, if it turns out they just made up a new name for CO-OPish gameplay then they'll just be laughed at. There has to be more to it than that.
    • BeefBaron, on 10/12/2007, -12/+4Test Drive Unlimited.
    • jus1haz2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12http://duggmirror.com
    • ThatGameBlog, on 10/12/2007, -20/+3Some fook is attacking our server. Should be up shortly. Damn low life competition.
    • Earthacis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+95 - 10 player FPS.
      Players vs CPU.
      Ramped up difficulty.
      + multiplayer puzzles
      ='s CrossPlayer?
    • crgnetworks, on 10/12/2007, -3/+33Can we stop spamming this crappy blog? it goes down everytime it hits front page! And someones not attacking your server. your shared hosting can't handle digg.
    • rockorager, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1I'm imagining a FPS crossed with WoW
    • ThatGameBlog, on 10/12/2007, -17/+2crgnetworks, please don't presume too much. or at least try to be correct when you do.
    • blaze03, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15I'm guessing this is just a fancy, marketing buzzword for "co-op".
    • siodine, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2It's gonna be like sven co-op probably.
    • oskite, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12This reminds me of what Spore's system is like. When you get up to a certain level and other players' games become sort of available, they influence your game, but you don't influence theirs directly.
    • netdroid9, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5It could mean anything, but chances are it'll be indirect (like Spore, as the above poster noted).
    • WestDC, on 10/12/2007, -0/+33http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossplay

      Well, there's your definition.
    • m0laria, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13Dad: Johny, what are you doing?
      Johny: I'm going Crossplaying daddy, all the kids are doing it.
      Dad: Oh dear, not that Crossplaying again son. Go get my belt.
    • CornStarch, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Perfect Dark did it perfect. (pun not intended)
    • Inferny, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Just like crossdressing, but online!
    • asteron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Maybe they are describing an MMOFPS? It is amazing how little information that blog actually had.
    • Drahkar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well the biggest difference I can think of would be the ability to play the full storyline completely as it was intended, only with more than one player. If most of you remember, even Co-Op had its own special maps and events that you played through. You didn't generally play the actual storyline.

      If this is what they intend, I hope that they completed it. There is not nearly enough Co-Op and the added ability of playing through environments like the Half-Life Universe with friends sounds fantastic.
    • Gordin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Spore is actually referred to (though it might be just a word Will Wright himself invented) as a Massively Single Player game. ( http://www.sporeuniverse.net/sporeplayer.php )
    • Cerebral, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Is it just me or is everyone out there missing the best CROSSPLAYER game to date: Gears of War

      That is what I imagine they are referring to like when you split up in co-op GoW. This way you are both playing the same map in each a different way eventually meeting back up to kick ass again.

      Regardless of the attempt at the creation of a new buzz-word, if it is anything like GoW co-op then it will be awesome.
    • themastersb, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3If only Valve could work out all of their bugs before starting something new....
    • shokk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@ThatGameBlog
      You couldn't even get the "co-op isn't news" thing right, how the hell can we trust you with understanding your own networking. I don't think you have anything more than a passing familiarity with gaming. It's easier to just assume you're an idiot, given that level of incompetence.
    • bs0l, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Cooperative games cross each other's paths online with other people playing cooperative games.
    • CornStarch, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@Cerebral

      Co op is not the same thing. They're talking about something along the lines of perfect dark where other people play as the enemy.
    • wabbiteh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1themasters: it's not being developed by valve.
    • Emanji, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1IMO, looking at the trailer crossplaying could be a player playing as an enemy in another player single player mission. It's multiplayer because there are other people involve, but its also single player because you are on your own mission and story. It's not an MMO because it is story driven and linear. I dont know, just a wild guess.
  • Maracle, on 10/12/2007, -17/+4This is already done in Gears of War.....but don't tell valve that or they'll throw another fit
    • thisisbs, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2It wasn't done by gears of war...they are talking about a world where you can just walk up to someone. Not join a server. Play Test Drive Unlimited that is the only thing you can compare to right now.
    • wabbiteh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2maracle: it's not being developed by valve.
  • devindotcom, on 10/12/2007, -15/+5Looks like duggmirror didn't get it. Apparently this is an introductory video:
    http://www.gamevideos.com/video/id/8142
    • devindotcom, on 10/12/2007, -13/+1Sorry for reply abuse. I just watched the video, there's practically nothing in it - like 3 seconds of video that show nothing, and a lot of nerdy guys talking. Skip it and bury both these comments...
  • skamper, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I bet you'll be able to do missions and stuff like guild wars solo, or with people coop, or compete in arenas.
    • PvtJenkins, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm thinking it may be like this: You play the game like any other single player FPS but you're actually influencing and altering the game play for other players. Say you shoot down a drop ship flying overhead; you successfully helped out a fellow player who in some other part of the "world" that otherwise would of gotten swarmed by troop reinforcements. And maybe every once in a while you cross story lines with other players. Things like that. Would be pretty cool. If it's a fun game at heart. I'm interested to see what this really turns out to be. I doubt it'll be like any other "co-op" game since they already hyped the hell out of this new word.
  • interrogate, on 10/12/2007, -1/+34I've got this great idea, but I'm not going to tell you what it is! Instead, enjoy my 3 second trailer with my new buzzword "CROSSPLAYER"!!
  • OpCzar, on 10/12/2007, -22/+3How about Valve finishes their current "episodic content" on time before going on such endeavors, mmk?
    • estvir, on 10/12/2007, -21/+1.. and add to that they still have that new zombie game and Valve's horrible delays on so many things we'll probably see something in late 2008.
    • Displace, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18It's not Valve's project.
    • distrbnce, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11It's not being made by valve. What the ***** are you people talking about?

      EDIT-- Wouldn't real-time comments be nice?
  • TheNik, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7It looks as if it's co-op with more than 2 people and over the internet.
  • Sethwm2, on 10/12/2007, -12/+1Would this be caller WOW or. some kind of RPG?? I play HL2 Counter Strike UT2004 FEAR combat. Was FEAR combat release the same time the regular game fear was??
  • Petrarch1603, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i have seen something like this for the aircraft simulation game Tornado
  • juniorlikespie, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23i think it'll be where you play as enemy and hero in the game. imagine actual people playing as locusts in the gow campaign and u can see where i'm goin.
    • meetjoeblack, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3That would be sweet
    • wabbiteh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18A similar thing was in Perfect Dark for the N64 -- I believe it was called counter-op (as opposed to co-op). One person played the main character, another person played "Mr. Blond", trying to stop them from finishing the level.

      The only problem with this is that unless the 'enemy' player is severly crippled, or somehow given seamless control of a group of enemies, it becomes incredibly difficult for the main character to finish the level.
    • ThatOneFatGuy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yeah i think that's what they mean.
      Instead of me and my friend playing together against computer AI in the story mode, its me and my friend playing against other people over the Internet in story mode.
      The problem with that is that it has to be crappy for those that are playing as the bad guys, just think of how many enemy's you've killed in a game and imagine being that enemy.
      Not very long game play is it?

      The other thing would be a mmofps.
      It could be like there's to different sides and you can join which ever one you want and you can attack the other team.
      This would all be centered around a story line.
    • MrStabby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Wouldn't that really just be a new version of counterstrike...except the planting of a bomb is replaced with the opening of a door...

      That would be plausible..but I doubt something like that would have enough depth to sustain interest in a company like VALVe
    • jhshukla, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I would like to play Agent Smith.
    • jonahatan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@ThatOneFatGuy:
      "The problem with that is that it has to be crappy for those that are playing as the bad guys, just think of how many enemy's you've killed in a game and imagine being that enemy.
      Not very long game play is it?"
      heard about Valve's 'Left 4 Dead'? that seams to be doing just that!
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Left_4_Dead
  • DrakeGTA, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Wiki doesn't know much about this either...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crossing_%28video_game%29
  • knodi, on 10/12/2007, -7/+4Test Drive Unlimited already does this.
    • TheNik, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think they are claiming this is a first for and FPS, something that Test Drive is not.
    • knodi, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5What they are saying to do Single player + Multi player = Crossplayer has nothing to do with the genre of the game. Again Test Drive already does this. whether its done in FPS or driving game its the same concept.
  • Harbinger67, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Honestly, if someone that influential from Valve is working on it (even though not while with valve), I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and remain hopeful. If anyone is going to bring some innovation to gaming, it'll be someone related to Valve.
    • wabbiteh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5It's an art director -- I doubt they'd have much say over the game, other than artistic content.
    • purezero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's Arkane Studios, the same people who made Dark Messiah.
  • zzz@tkz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16Singleplayer + Multiplayer = More multiplayer.
  • KnightMareInc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5or what like spore is suppose to be doing
    • distrbnce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7It looks a little more direct than Spore. I saw at least one other username.
  • Scopitone, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Gears of War what?
  • MrStabby, on 10/12/2007, -8/+12What would be cool is a game which involves a uniform single-player world, which everyone who plays the game is a part of...

    A MMOFPS if you will...

    Your "main quest" consists of the basic single player elements, make it through certain areas...defeat certain enemys...complete certain tasks/puzzles...but then you come across a task or puzzle which requires a pair of people to complete...

    This means you and another person who has made it to that area of the game can complete this task together, and cooperatively continue with your quest...after completing this task, you have more "single-player" objectives, which you may or may not encounter others in your world experiencing...

    Eventually the coop missions get larger, and require more people...sooner or later you have established a group of people who have come across the same path (or similar) and you work together to complete obstacles which can in no other way be completed...

    It is definitely possible to put together a game like this, but like the guy said in that video...it will either work and be AMAZING, or flop and be the guinea pig for any other developer to feed off of...

    Oh man, am I the only one that gets excited when VALVe announces something new?
    • Blazekun, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I had an idea simmilar to this. Not really single-player, but not really multi-player. Basically my idea was a simple dungeon, that was extremely big (probably 90% Seed generated) Lots of cross-sections and a dynamic mapping system. You would play the single player game, and explore the dungeon. Eventually you would run across other players. You could team up for a while, but eventually you would need to go one way, and your new found friend the other. Then you split only to run across another player somewhere down the line.
    • skamper, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Guild wars but FPS
    • olliholliday, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2WoW + vice city multiplayer == mmpolrpfpsg


    • thatrez, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1@ MrStabby: you spent a lot of time thinking of and writing that post didn't you? too bad no one modded you up but me
    • NadeChaser, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1No, please not Guild Wars. Yuck.
    • MrStabby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@thatrez

      I dunno if that was a compliment or a shot at my intellect...I just typed the first thing that came to mind when I saw the video...

      But yea, I've thought about things like this before, great concept for a game if pulled off correctly...

      And for the people who are comparing the idea to an MMORPG like WoW or GW...It could definitely be similar, but I really think that an FPS would be diverse enough in its own aspects that it would eventually become something less tedious and time-based than MMORPGs and more communication and teamwork based...

      Think of playing HL2 Campaign with a group of 5-10 friends, add on a few areas where single players must go alone and trigger events which allows the group to continue while they're off fighting a hoard of combine soldiers...

      I really don't understand why so many Diggians have to be such doubtful people...

      Technicalities aren't something an entire judgment should be based upon...imho
    • duffman03, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I would like to see an MMO where you can play as the monsters. Instead of leveling up you would be promoted to a more powerful monster.
    • Lewiji, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1That's exactly what I thought of when I read this: Imagine if you will Half-Life 2 or a similar game, and you're playing along, and come to a town infested with zombies, far too many for one man to handle...

      So you enter a little room which would act as a lobby. You'd find 3 or 4 players in the same part of the game willing to help you, and they join you in some zombie mauling fun before departing to carry on with the rest of the game.

      I like the idea, but from what we've said at least, it seems there'd need to be a hell of a lot of players online for it to start to work, as obviously you can't have players 10 minutes into the game helping out on objectives a couple of hours into the game.
    • Steelfox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What you're describing reminds me exactly of City of Heroes. City of Villians just came out not too long ago too, it's just like what they're talking about but an MMORPG.
    • Pests, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2duffman03:

      "Instead of leveling up you would be promoted to a more powerful monster."

      Sounds like the same thing to me.
    • BlindIrishman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You mean Planetside?
    • Agret, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1"Oh man, am I the only one that gets excited when VALVe announces something new?"
      Nah VALVe rock but this isn't being made by VALVe, the only connection it has to VALVe is the engine and a single art director.
  • phliver, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I would hardly call it something "we've never seen before" but I have not seen any CO-OP FPS games as fun as Duke Nukem 3D. We would use dial-up and play through the single player missions together. I would love to see something like this become more popular.
    • MiDri, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1GoW coop was really fun... games just to damn short by it self... multiplayer cuts it easily in half. (The levels can be beaten 2x as fast, and the bosses are a joke.)
  • anthonybruno, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2im going to say that your AI enemy that is usually rather dumb, is going to be another player through xbl.
  • nawzyah, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3It appears to be another pay-per-month gaming experience like all the MMORPG's currently available. If that's the case, count me out! I have enough monthly bills, I don't need to add another one.
  • MackPrime, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2 Like ... Chromehounds ?
    • knodi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2come to think of it Chromehound does do this.
  • orbanj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It may suck, but goddamn it, it sounds so ***** cool.
  • acff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2i was thinking of crossplayer being (in mario terms) 1 player playing mario and the other player playing the environment, like bowser
  • gamerzworld, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Gears of War anyone?
  • hiixhii, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0Am I the only person that considers anytime Im playing with somone other then myself it's multiplayer.
  • otaleks, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1some levels are singleplayer and some are multiprobably
  • Gareshra, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Am I the only one who read "Crossplayer" and thought that sounded like some kind of weird gamer fetish?
  • MasteRR, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Sounds like an MMO for FPS.

    Think about it. In an MMORPG there are lots of players, but a lot of the times they are out doing quests or grinding solo. Yet sometimes you can join up with other players in groups to help each other out.

    Might translate well to FPS. Lots of people doing "quests" in a free world with little "dungons" that are nothing more than single FPS levels, but you can join up with others whenever.
    • duffman03, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1In which case this has been done already. GTA3 Mods.
    • MiDri, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1planetside?... *I know it is ugly!*
  • godmode, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Cosplayer + cross-gender clothes = Crossplayer
  • skunkworker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I Would think that this type of gameplay would be where instead of your allies being AI they're
    actual people so it would be 8 vs Computer
  • CyberBlade, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Single player plot line.
    multiplayer action..

    call it Co-op, Counter-op, or whatever you like.
    i don't see this as anything 'new' to me.
  • BenSerwa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Great, I just can't wait to get spawncamped in a single-player game.
  • Serj730, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Pefect Dark This this years ago.
  • melanko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2http://www.svencoop.com/
    • swqt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's exactly what I was going to say.
      Also check out http://www.coopordie.com/.

      Now instead of being 200 years late with new "gameplay experiences", can you just release something we've really never seen: Team-Fortress 2?
    • Agret, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@swgt what control do Arkane have over Team Fortress 2?
  • Exodin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1How about reading the Games for Windows #3 cover story before coming to any conclusions? No one has even said what it is yet, just speculation.
  • Zero0ne, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Single player + multiplayer sounds just like the mode when you play NetHack online. You may find the remainings of other players and loot their graves or kill their ghosts but you'll never meet them alive (unless they were killed by and became vampires etc). You also have shared highscore lists.
  • derekl09, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I'm thinking its regular singleplayer gameplay with online multiplayer deathmatch breaks in between
  • daxsymbiont, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1it's an aspect of WoW where you have to challenge someone to go against real players.
  • RTourn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Games should be a social experience, not a death match all the time. I want the option to play co-op, and I'm not alone.
  • shortarabguy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Honestly, the idea of a Singleplayer/Multiplayer game sounds an awful lot like a massively multiplayer online game...
  • TimDigg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1eh...I think it'll be like what an MMO SHOULD be.......

    multiplayer, but with a story.......how all the players are not necessarily on the same side


    imagine if the final boss of halo was the #1 halo player in the world
    • bdorry, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Tons of fun for everyone not the #1 player in the world, good luck beating that game
  • cphelps, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0It's going to be like an MMO where there are many players in the world, you try to complete single player objectives (perhaps even have teams ala co-op) while also having to be aware of other real players who might come along and kill you. Not that hard to figure out really.
  • crhardison, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0anyone else think of HUXLEY?
  • Sabin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Epic did the with Unreal......10 years ago. From what i remember, the way it works was you could set up a level exit to point to another server running a different map with different players and you could link together hundreds of levels this way. No one ever took advantage of it but it was possible and i probably possible with every other iteration of the unreal engine.

    Sorry Valve, HL2 is great and all but this is not as original an idea as you seem to think it is.
    • distrbnce, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1You don't have to apologize to Valve. They aren't making it.

      Anyway, you don't even know what this is, so giving a little analysis only makes you look silly.
  • jonshipman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'm thinking Crossplaying to be like Super Mario Brothers 3.
  • DannoHung, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Blech, Arcane Studios.

    I still don't have the taste of the Might and Magic game out of my mouth. Way to take a great idea and do a completely bland execution.
  • Sutanreyu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I bet it's that... A goes through the game, as if that was their story-based mission while a bunch of other people also get the same treatment, but are on a opposing side.

    It's sorta like Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII. Two full stories on two different perspectives. Only that instead of CPU being the enemies, they are actual people, integrated with the story.
  • bonk2k, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1cosplayer? wooh sounds really exciting, i cant wait to go dress up as my favorite anime character and go play counterstrike...

    hmmm i think there might be something i missed about this article...
  • MacHarborGuy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1CO-OP 2.0!!!

    I'll wait for Co-Op 3.0, it will have even better crossplayer action :D
  • jkostantos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1If they are planning on revolutionizing the fps platform with a true seem less single-multilayer experience everyone has to be playing the single player game at once together. like a mmofps. but for it to be a single player game and not wow with guns the people int he world have to be Incorporated into t he single player experience as npcs or people your competing with.. so basically a lot more complex than ganging up for quests or making clans and defending territory.

    I'm guessing this game will be similar to The Ship ( http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/the-ship/ ) where everyone is in one world or city and players are randomly apart of other players objectives.. depending on how far in the game you are you have a different relationship with the players around.

    So at one stage you(P1) will be trying to achieve objective like find the ruby and someone Else is objective will be murder P1. in that way everyone will have the same experience but the whole time instead of npcs your playing against/with humans. hopefully there is no leveling up in this game and that apart from the 'crossplay' experience there is standard multilayer DM, otherwise this game is not unique, its just a mmofps with a new name.

    in a nutshell i'm hoping for Perfect Dark Co-op + the ship + Milton Bradley's Clue (board game)
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