There is a continuous topic in this forum: “should or should not there be a multiplayer patch for Max?”. I like to share my view with the rest of you (and, hopefully, end the repetitious discussion).
Here are some facts.
Multiplayer games have (in average) a longer lifeline than single-player-only games.
Half-Life (PCGamer’s game of the year 1998) is the most played online game. The original HL came with only deathmatch, which didn’t rose any eyebrows. Later, a MOD named Team Fortress Classic (an in house MOD, yes, but a MOD never the less) became really-really popular. If you think of TFC, it’s really noting like HL, There is no Black Mesa, no Freeman, no Scientists, no aliens, no Xen… not even picking guns from the floor. The games looks similar, but they are nothing alike. The same goes for Counterstrike (which was not “in house”).
Deus Ex (PCGamer’s game of the year 2000), has a multiplayer add-on, and also tools for making things with it. Never the less there is about 30 people playing DX online at any given time. The same goes for System Shock 2 ( and this is quoted from Agust2000 PCGamer) : “We [added multiplayer] because all of the noisy critical demand for a multiplayer game – and we almost died implementing it. And 16 people played it.”
Max Payne is the flagship for Max-FX, in the same way that Quake3 is the flagship for the Quake3 engine, or Unreal for the Unreal Engine. It’s, in a way, a commercial for the technology (“The World is Not Enough uses the Quake3 engine… It must be great!”)
Most (not all, but most) user made single player levels (or mods) SUCK. This may be partly opinion, but it’s backed up by lots of reviews. I’ve been playing (and trying to do) single player maps since Quake1. and most of them are not worth the download time. This MAY be because a DM map is easier to do, and has longer longevity than a SP map.
The list states (in my opinion) 5 simple things:[list=1][*] If Max Payne doesn’t do a multiplayer add-on it will be quickly forgotten (6 months). Maybe not for everyone ( I still like to play “Day Of the Tentacle” ), but for a lot of people. can you name a game that was published around the same time as Half-Life? Quake3? Unreal? [*] Max Payne Multiplayer add-on doesn’t have to have bullet time (spite that it’s the highlight of the game), It doesn’t even have to have Max, nor be in Third person.[*] There is a risk for the developers in doing a MP mod, and having no one playing it.[*] If Remedy doesn’t do the Multyplayer mod, It may loose points on what the general public thinks of the capabilities of the MAX-FX engine.[*] It seams as if it is really important to Remedy to have a large community doing work for them (like the quake and HL communities). The MOD making community likes to do multiplayers, not single players.[/list=a]
In short, I think that Remedy should, add a MP mod (or, at least enable Multiplayer support for mod makers). This MP mod should no be just a couple of Maxes running around shooting each other, but a well thought mod. Maybe they can hire someone to do it for them. This is not because it would be cool or not, or because I would play it or not, It’s just that it seems (to me) the best business decision.
NOTE:I’m not trying to convince anyone to do or not do the multiplayer thingy. I’m just trying to get a more elaborated perspective on what seems to be a hot topic filled with childish discussions (“I’m right”-”No, I’m right”-”No, I’m right, and you suck”-“No, you suck”).
Reading another post I realized something. Heavy Metal Fakk2 is very similar to MaxPayne: Its SP only, short and action based, and (here is the important part) said to be the “easiest game to edit”. It has a lot of map making tools (being based on Quake3 and all), with a lot of tutorials and a lot of people that know how to do things for those kind of engines. Yet, I haven’t seen ONE single user made map for FAKK2 (don’t believe me, look at http://www.fakkyou.com/files/ under user levels). The most I’ve seen is some new (and bad) naked skins for Julie.
hhhhmmmm how would mutiplayer work with the bullet time mode and shotdodgemode,,, would everyone else have to slowdown when someone used it???????dont you think it would have to be disabled in multiplayer hhhmmmm ... this kinda takes away from the NOVELTY that is Max PAyne dont ya think
But it should be a totaly diffrent game.
For example
Half life
Counterstrike
See what i mean? ..
If you pretty much take counterstrike .. and remake it using this game engine .. i think it would do very well. i know alot of people who either play or played games like that.
Of course you cant have bullet time in MP .. which is fine .. i dont think i would wan tto have bullet time in a MP game .. it would be a bit hmm cheezy
In theory its possible to make multiplayer mod or (add multi) with bullettime. If you think logic, infact i believe it would work kinda good.
But it might require awesome internet connection cause the server and your client (The game) would need to (know) all projectiles in the air, and mark those you shoot with bullet-time as (Bulletime) before it sends them to the other clients and more about the ping and speed of those and compared to (Usall) projectiles, they dont go slower, but you go faster so you see everything like (superman) thats what makes you able to "dodge" them before they hit you. So in theory it would be possible todo bullet-time. Remedy call me if you want my thoughts ;-)
there is one major reason there is no MP other than the fact network code does not exist (and even that statement I dont find to be entirely true)...
you would run into very serious synching problems.
In Max Payne...the actual bullet projectile..."travels". You shoot, and it goes from point A to point B with a travel distance and velocity in between...(this also depends on the weapon you are using)....you can reproduce this by going into "bullet time" and firing the shotgun...you will actually see the projectiles "move" or "travel"...
In games like Half-Life...there is NO travel time...when you click your mouse button...in theory once the gun is fired, it already knows it is going to go to point B. Its instant hit....
there is one major reason there is no MP other than the fact network code does not exist (and even that statement I dont find to be entirely true)...
you would run into very serious synching problems.
In Max Payne...the actual bullet projectile..."travels". You shoot, and it goes from point A to point B with a travel distance and velocity in between...(this also depends on the weapon you are using)....you can reproduce this by going into "bullet time" and firing the shotgun...you will actually see the projectiles "move" or "travel"...
In games like Half-Life...there is NO travel time...when you click your mouse button...in theory once the gun is fired, it already knows it is going to go to point B. Its instant hit....
My thoughts are this....i want MP for Max payne....lol.....i think it can be done...but not sure...not skilled in making games happen..so here it is .....if 1 person online goes in Bullet time.....then the person or persons in that are should c him in Bullet time and themselves be in bullet time..its like a zone or something...if ur in distance of the person using bullet time u should slow down as they are.......thought 2....1 person goes into bullet time...the others around him/her...c him in bullet time...but themselves are not....giving the bullet timer the advantage...or not..therefore...giving the non bullet timers advantage..by moving quickly....but giving the person in bullet time..to react to their actions..c what im saying.....i think either or can be done...but for multiplayer ur going to need a great connection and hardware to play it online.
Basically exaclty whats needs to be done is that just like in The Matrix, you see the "guys" move VERY FAST, (When they move) Like they do, dodging bullets meaning they went into bullet-time but you didnt, so basically if Max Payne going to add MP support, you would see the guy moving fast as hell dodging your bullets, would be like LAGG (Jumping around fast) meaning he moves as fast or faster than your bullet does, its that simple. However with the theory about the bullets are instant like in half-life, but here they actually run through the air with a certain speed from point A to B, that would require some advanced netcode but it can certainly be done. That much i know.
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