Helldivers 2 uses its game master to stop the live service side from being 'just a calendar with automated events tied to major holidays'
Helldivers 2 has landed in a big way and it just keeps getting bigger, to the extent that bewildered analysts are muttering about an «inverse decay curve» (meaning its sales are increasing over time). Partially because the game is just a total blast, but what's kept many of us coming back is the overarching structure of the galactic war. Every mission counts in the quest for liberty.
The galactic war is something that we understand the broad contours of, but Arrowhead's wisely kept vague about the specifics of how it's working. The most fascinating element of it can probably be summed up in one proper noun: Joel. The mythical game master was revealed to PCG in an interview last week, since when they've acquired meme status among the community. Bad mission? Blew up your mates? Goddamn it, Joel!
Joel's role is to react to player behaviour on the macro scale, set the Daily and Major orders that help direct the flow of traffic, and give the enemy forces some direction in the face of humanity's swarming heroes. When the Helldivers started to overwhelm a planet recently, for example, Joel cranked up the enemy resistance and things got a little hairy.
A community manager from developer Arrowhead has now spilled a few more beans on the idea behind the game master, and what the studio's hoping it will mean for the game.
«It's really intended to keep the game exciting and keep the never-ending war engaging for players,» said Katherine 'Baskinator' Baskin on Discord (first spotted by GR+). «Helldivers 2 is going to run for a long time, we'd love to see it go for many years, and that means we need something more than just a calendar with automated events tied to major holidays. That's what I see in other live service games.»
Kinda brutal, but there's no denying Baskin has a point: Plenty of great games reach that endgame grind, and then they're just flat out of ideas beyond seasonal events and themed cosmetics. It's not a structure that particularly grabs me, at least. The game
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