Trials Fusion MP Update with ANBA
You've asked, and here's ANBA with some info on Trials Fusion's MP Mode, as well as when you can expect it. This isn't the full article, but you can certainly find a link to that at the bottom of this post.
Quote:
The Evolution of Multiplayer
Before telling you where we’ve gone with multiplayer, we want you to see how we’ve learned from and improved upon the online multiplayer in Trials Evolution. Evolution was the first time online multiplayer was included in a Trials game, and the two online multiplayer modes in Evolution were originally single-player modes that we converted to work for multiplayer. While the experience was fun, we knew we could do even better with a mode built from the ground up exclusively for multiplayer.
We were somewhat limited with what we could create after having With Trials Evolution, we had used every available resource on the Xbox 360, so our first multiplayer mode in that game (“single driving lane”) was based on a career mode. We used ghost riders to depict the competition but noticed that while they were meant to be unobtrusive, they were still distracting and blocked players’ views. Also, if you were too far ahead or behind, it felt like you were racing alone.
Trials Fusion
The second mode we created was similar to the Local Multiplayer mode, with four players riding side by side on identical driving lanes. The problem became the placement of the camera; it was randomly determined who was in the front of the screen and whoever was chosen had the best visibility. If you were in the back of the pack the camera was sometimes so far away it became hard to drive and see. While this isn’t typically a problem in Local Multiplayer when you’re with friends, yelling and having fun – it didn’t translate well online, where it could feel remote and unfair.
Overall we weren’t fully satisfied with these multiplayer modes, and the players agreed. Our statistics showed that players only spent10% of their time in the multiplayer, and of that only 3.8% was spent in public multiplayer. In comparison, 33% of our players in Trials Fusion are using Track Central daily and more than 40% have tried Local Supercross. This lack of engagement with multiplayer in Evolution is the reason we redesigned multiplayer to provide a superior racing experience.
Not enough? Please check out the Ubisoft Blog post by none other than ANBA himself, Mr. Antti Ilvessuo.