Competitive video games have come a long way have now been considered as sports. Games like "Dota 2" and "League of Legends" have cemented the place of MOBA as a true test of wits and dexterity, enough to build entire professional teams whose members are full-time gamers. They compete in tournaments with prize pools ranging to the tens of millions.
However, we have to admit that one difference between these games and a conventional sport like, say, basketball, is that MOBAs are not easily watchable. While anyone can just sit on a couch and watch basketball knowing roughly the goals of the game, "Dota 2" might not be as easily engaging.
Those who scream in excitement at moments in a MOBA are also those who already have a cursory knowledge of the mechanics of the game, and how it works.
Made with streaming in mind, from the ground up
This is one of the points that Amazon Game Studio's new game, "Breakaway" wants to achieve. In fact, they admitted that they made the game from the ground up with streaming in mind.
That means that one of the development goals is to make the game as engaging as all these modern MOBAs, but at the same time making it easily watchable even by people who only have a passing experience with video gaming. See, Amazon has also acquired Twitch, too, and of course, it would be a smart move to invest on streaming, as it is all the rage right now.
Initially, the idea for "Breakaway" was for it to be a team game involving treasure-stealing. But remember that they had streaming in mind, so they made the treasure as a single relic, which will be some sort of design focus.
Breaking expectations
The Verge has this to say about the game's design choices: "The current version has a single relic that teams attempt to capture and score with.
The idea is to give the game a central focus, much like a ball in basketball or football."
They also said that one key element to make a game watchable is to make the game understandable "at a glance." If people know what they are seeing, they can as quickly make predictions about what happens next, and the anticipation of their being proven right, or wrong, is what keeps people at the edge of their seats.
"When you’re watching a competitive match of any kind, you want the viewers to get to the edge of their seat because a turning point is coming," Amazon Game Studios studio head Patrick Gilmore further explains. Of course, there are also the obvious design choices, like making levels smaller so that they fit better on screen.
It's no secret that Amazon made "Breakaway" to create as much engagement as possible. It's not surprising if the game makes its home in thousands if not millions of PCs and consoles in the following months.
