14 DAY TRIAL // The development team at Paradox North currently working on Magicka: Wizard Wars says that it wants the title’s blend of humor, complexity and balance for all powers and content to be the core reasons for its success in the eSports world.
Speaking to the official ESL Gaming site David Nisshagen, the lead designer of the title, says that the experience is designed to somewhat simplify the mechanics by making it easier to cast spells without committing suicide while also making it hard for gamers to negate damage and defend themselves.
He states that balance is very important to his team, but Wizard Wars also keeps much of the comedy element that was present in Magicka since it was first introduced.
Nisshagen says, “We have a targetable Crowd Control + Summon Magick that calls down an Outhouse from orbit and summons two imps with toilet brushes when it's destroyed on impact. We also have the Summon Death Magick, which summons the Grim Reaper who relentlessly hunts an enemy down across the map and gibs them in an explosion of blood. It's the contrast between the fun and the grim that makes Magicka: Wizard Wars special.”
The interview offers in-depth information about some of the core mechanics of the new Magicka title, which is at the moment in Early Access on Steam.
The developers are ditching classes in order to make the game easier to comprehend and leveling the playing field by making all spells combination available to all combatants and by introducing only items that increase one attribute while lowering another.
Nisshagen says that the balance of Magicka: Wizard Wars is constantly being evaluated and the team often finds elements that can be improved.
He adds, “since all players can cast all the spells at any time, there is really no imbalance between players. Bugs and unintended behaviour, especially with crowd control, is my personal angst. It takes control away from the player and removes the skill component. I'm also slightly concerned that teamplay may be too powerful, but I'd rather reward good teamplay than nerfing it for the sake of balance.”
An entirely new Magicka system is also in development at Paradox Interactive at the moment and will be launched on the PlayStation 4 from Sony as well as on the PC.
The two companies are also currently collaborating in bringing the mix between role playing and strategy Runescape to the home console.