Far Cry: Arcade looks incredible, and the development team deserves huge kudos for developing an editor that will allow the community to create some of the most unique and original content the franchise has ever known. The problem however, is that any map, no matter how original or unique it is, will eventually become boring when there are no variable modes to play on it besides basic (team) death match. Single Player and Co-Op have a bit more variety in this department (though I'd still like to see more game mode options added) but the PvP portion of the game seems to be seriously lacking.
While team death match is great, it will quickly become stale after being played over and over, suffocating the capability to create unique mini-games, and shortening the longevity and replayability an original map may have.
I personally would like to see the additions of Conquest, Capture the Flag, Race, and some form of Attacker vs Defender mode, whether that be 1-Flag CTF (as seen in the Halo franchise) or some form of progressive territory mode (see 'Invasion' in the Halo franchise). The necessity for game modes is vital to provide multiple unique experiences for Mappers to build around in order to sustain replayability and to help keep things 'fresh'. Plus, more options NEVER hurt.
I'm hoping to see more game modes added with the 6 upcoming content updates, as I believe the lack of which will ultimately hurt the custom map community. Other then that, I have been blown away by the support the community has received thus far, and raise a glass to you, the Far cry devs![]()
Looking at the reveal content it’s apparent that they are really pouring a lot more into the editor this time around. I’m sure many of the features they’ve listed in their official posts required lots of dev time and probably had to draw the line in the sand somewhere. That said what I’ve seen show up yesterday looks quiet amazing and the fact that Ubisoft looks like they are allowing time spent in community maps earn you rewards/perks that follow back to main game is huge + those 6 future content drops that you mentioned in the OP. My gut feel is we’re in for a true treat and if they time the content drops right it should feel fresh, unique and creative for a long time (besides one of the videos said 9000+ assets). Also it appears that they are planning more post launch acitivities so maybe future game modes may not be too far of a stretch, only time will tell.
I agree. They said that more content and activities would follow post launch, so I am sure they will also look into more game modes as well. But for now we can not complain for what they will already give us on the 27th. We can build nice maps with that and probably be busy with that and playing other peoples maps and of course the main FC5 game in the meantime. That will give them time to work on some new stuff we can enjoy after that. Now its up to us to make great maps and show them how much we appreciate their hard work.
I would rather have some very generic cause-and-effect triggers that combined with the available gamemodes would make for something more interesting. Kinda like scripting, but easier.
For example, let's say we can have an object spawn in as soon as another object disappears/dies, totally separate from the Wave system. This one single principle could allow for:
- Racing maps; when one objective marker is reached, it would destroy itself, and the next one will appear. Repeat this for however many checkpoints you want, and finally spawn the Extraction Point zone for the finish
- Capture The Flag: have an object in the map that disappears as soon as it receives fire damage. Have players take No Fire Damage with a mutator, and have a fire damage emitting zone right behind 2 goals. Spawn a new flag each time the old one is destroyed.
- Objective-based storytelling: guide players through a map, requiring them to visit certain points in sequence.
- Unlocking alternative routes in a map (spawning in a ladder, grapple ledge or even a rigged explosive blowing up a door).
Of course these implementations would be very crude (and disregard keeping actual scores where needed), but it'd be pretty powerful in the hands of creative editors I think.
I think other modes would be great, but I have always been satisfied with DM and TDM. Ubisoft probably wants to wait and see if this whole Arcade mode is successful at maintaining a strong player base before further diluting the options with more game modes (and of course investing more resources in it). So our best hope for new game modes is to hope that the existing ones are exceedingly popular.
If there really is only a few PVP gamemodes, my guess is its to keep the lobbies filled for as long as possible. For example, many years down the road if/when there isn't nearly as many people playing the game it'll be alot easier to fill up lobbies where there are only a few pvp gamemodes compared to having 10 different gamemodes. Just my 2 cents...