Hedone Developer Q&A - Game Modes

16th December – Acony Games – Hedone Developer Q&A : Game Modes


“Which further game modes are planned? Will there be classics like CTF, S&D or Last man standing?†- Community member Kahlschlag

This is a good opportunity to talk a little about game modes in Hedone generally. Team Death Match is the classic FPS game mode and it would be weird if we didn't have it so that's our default mode. It's the game mode that everyone understands, there are no complicated rules to wrangle – shoot the other guys, stay alive; it's pretty simple and is ideal for some fast-paced fun.
The game show setting of Hedone gives us a lot of freedom to come up with new game modes. We can make up rules for a game and we don't need to explain why those rules exist – it's just the game. If you look at action-based game shows like Wipeout, American Gladiators, Fort Boyard, Crystal Maze etc, there isn't a plot or a story behind the games – they don't need to tell you that something bad will happen if you don't press the big red button, or come up with reasons why the game is set in a castle. The rules of the game just say that you have to climb the obstacle course and press the button to win.
For us it is the same; we can make game modes that are fun without having to try and make them realistic or explain things too much. You've all played Dominion so you know that an objective zones turns off for a while after you've captured it. There's no real-world reason for that, it's just to make the game more balanced and more interesting.
Dominion was the second game mode we finished for Hedone and this was designed to be a more tactical option for players who want to play in a more team-oriented way. It's a rotating King of the Hill but with some twists. Each of our game modes is designed to create different challenges and appeal to different kinds of players. At the moment we are working on Search and Destroy which is a classic game mode that I'm sure most of you have played in other games. For this we aren't changing much, it will have a unique Hedone feel of course but the game play will be the same as you'd expect from a well-known game mode. At the moment this is being worked on and tested internally so I can't say when it will be released in the beta as there's still a lot of work to do before it is finished.
What else is coming in the future? Well, we have some prototype game modes that we've started work on; some are still at the design phase, others have come along to a rough playable stage. One thing we really want to do is to have a game mode that is pure Hedone, a game mode that is all showbusiness and will get people talking about the game. Internally we call this game mode GDR and I'm not going to say anything about how this game mode works but I will show you this ultra-secret glimpse of what you can expect from it.
Iain Compton – Senior Game Designer
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