Ubisoft has issued a new Q&A in which the French company answers – among other things – a number of questions about Watch Dogs’ NPCs, day/night cycle, and weather system. According to the team, there will be 6 different districts in Watch Dogs, all with really different looks, types of NPC’s and vibe. Moreover, players will have access to more than 75 different vehicles.
Here is the complete Q&A that was sent via a press release:
1. Are there day/night cycles in the game?
Yes, there is a real time day and night cycle. Time of day is not scripted.
2. What weather systems can the player expect to experience?
We have a lot of different weather possibilities from sunny and calm, to stormy and rainy. Wind, rain, fog and clouds all have several degrees of intensity and are all systemic.
3. How do you manage to ensure every NPC is unique?
Every NPC has unique qualities that distinguish him or her from others in the game. There are over 3000 character kits and an almost infinite amount of unique profiler possibilities.
4. How many concurrent NPCs can there be?
The number of NPCs players can encounter at one time depends on a variety of factors like time of day and location. If it’s mid-day, then players will see more NPCs going about their busy lives. At night, we have fewer NPCs reflecting the patterns we see in the real world. The downtown core of Chicago is also a busier area with lots more citizens than a more industrial region, for example. Our main goal was to ensure that the world feels as alive as you’d expect in a major city like Chicago. And of course, the next gen consoles allow us to place more NPCs in the world than we’ve ever been able to do in current gen consoles.
So it’s hard to give specific numbers, but rest assured, the city will feel alive like players have never seen before with many unique NPCs populating the city.5. Can you hack absolutely every NPC in the game?
Yes, every NPC can be hacked. Based on their profile, a variety of hacks are possible. You can also hack elements in the world to influence the behaviour of NPC’s around.
6. What different environments can the player expect?Chicago is a rich and diverse city and we want the player to explore every inch of it There are 6 different districts in WD, all with really different looks, types of NPC’s and vibe.
7. How many different vehicles can the player drive?
Over 75 different vehicles from bikes to compact, heavy, muscle, off road, SUV, luxury cars, or speed cars, all of them with their own realistic physics.
8. How many difference hacks are available in the game?Over 100 hacks.
Watch Dogs is currently planned for a late May release on PC, current-gen and next-gen consoles.
Enjoy!
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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So much gameplay potential in this game. For f*ck sake Ubisoft don’t screw up!
I know I said many times that I don’t trust you, make me change my opinion!
Seriously. I allowed myself to get hyped up for AC4 and it was just more of the same. I am now back to my cynical way of looking at Ubisoft releases.
Very nice…hope my PC can run this…if not I´ll enjoy it like when you look at screens at least. lol
lol,what about zombies and aliens ? at the end of the chigaco trailer they were all sort of crazy things.
pics:
http://someimage.com/ZW5Elp9
http://someimage.com/zEySsVZ
http://someimage.com/6XoIDrZ
http://someimage.com/OPlCtmI
sry, double post
Oh yeah, the VR missions.
AR missions
Yeah AR… Sorry, my bad. 😛
These will be like the VR Missions around the city you can partake on from what I have read.
that would be cool 😀
I wonder if this game will ironically get people hacking into it, most probably.
a bunch of useless information, i want to know more about gameplay.
All this is part of gameplay, so I’m not really sure what you mean.
0/10
Uh, what?
trolling.
Who cares about weather and other crap. What we care is how the missiosn work, what can you do in the missions, nonlinear paths, how the upgrade system works, etc etc.
Except the “weather and other crap” things are part of the gameplay too.
nope weather doesnt effect the gameplay, unless cars drift more.
Weather is part of the gameplay if it changes the gameplay mechanics. Neither you nor I know what the exact mechanics are, so don’t assume what is or is not gameplay.
what does it do? make tornados that grab bad guys?
Come on,talking about hacking, weapons, vehicles, upgrading skills and such are gameplay, the weather and how npcs are in the game is nothing more but tech bragging.
How weather influences the environment and how NPCs react to your actions is gameplay, like it or not. Tech bragging is graphics, audio and textures.
pfff it does nothing.
Go ahead tell me how has weather, day and night cycle or npc textures ever changed the gameplay of any open world game.
Pfff, that’s your opinion.
Since you added those last two lines to your comment, I’ll go ahead and name GTA4’s rain and Skyrim’s dark dungeons as just two of many examples.
In GTA4, the people react dynamically to falling rain when they seek shelter and dry themselves. This add a new level of immersion.
In Skyrim, the Falmer ambush you in the darkness by creeping up
behind you. This requires you to think and strategize in dark areas.
Also, I never mentioned NPC textures. I simply mentioned NPC. The way NPCs react to the player’s actions… for example when NPCs fight back in GTA4 and police show up, and when NPCs start running when they see a dragon in Skyrim.
So yes, weather and NPCs do play a role in gameplay and are very much gameplay elements.
how exactly does rain change gta iv and skyrim? Honest question. Everyone wanted to know how the skills and dungeons work in skyrim not how much rain and npcs are in the game, case and point.
Once again npcs pulling umbrellas out of nowhere doesnt effect the gameplay, its just more immersive just like graphics.
By npc textures i am reffering to how they say they gonna make the npcs diffirent, who cares? I wanna know how the unlock system works and how the hacking system works for a game all about hacking, there is very little talk about the actual hacking and the freedom this game suposelly has.
I guess i am from the guys that still plays doom for the gameplay and not for immersion factors like rain and graphics.