14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer Turtle Rock says that it has chosen to build the gameplay mechanics of its upcoming Evolve around a group of four players because it has found that it’s the best number when it comes to teamwork.
The development team tells Game Informer that it did a lot of testing on how many players could collaborate when it was working with Valve on the first Left 4 Dead and decided that four was flexible and easy to keep track of.
Chris Ashton, the creative director working on Evolve, states, “One of the first things that the Valve guys did when they started playing Left 4 Dead and they really enjoyed it, they were like, ‘This is great, but we could make it work for five guys or six guys’. They changed the code on their side and they tried it, and eventually they came back to four.”
He adds, “I can know that you’re over here and you’re in front of me and you’re to my left. And I can keep that in my mind, and I can keep in my mind that you have 50 health and you have 80 health, and I can keep track of that and fight another team.”
Turtle Rock also believes that a four-player team allows gamers to create two groups of two in order to try to achieve two objectives at the same time.
For Evolve, the team wanted to enhance the experience and that’s why they decided to make the monster that’s being hunted also player controlled.
The game will see the team of four work together, using class abilities and special weapons, to track the monster and take it down before it becomes too powerful for them.
The game is expected to arrive this year on the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4 and the PC.