The course of battles in the shooter Helldivers 2 for PC and PlayStation 5 is influenced not only by the actions of players, but also by a certain Joel, an employee of the Arrowhead studio. In this respect said studio head Johan Pilestedt in an interview with PC Gamer.
Joel takes on the role of “game master”, similar to the “dungeon master” in the tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). This means that Joel has access to special systems that allow him to influence the course of battle by changing various parameters and events in the game.
“We are constantly improving them (systems) based on what is happening in the game. Our support plans have secrets for these systems because we want to surprise players,” said Pilestedt.
Joel can “intervene” in combat in a variety of ways – for example, granting a particular player access to certain tactics or powering up automatons. Like D&D, the GM has predetermined scenarios, but these can change depending on the players’ behavior in the game, forcing Joel to adapt.
According to Pilistedt, since the game’s release, there have been several instances where players easily took over planets, resulting in Joel getting up in the middle of the night to operate the vending machines. He also noted that the studio has noticed how players are tied to certain planets, and this will be taken into account in plans to develop the galactic campaign.
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