4-Players Couch Co-Op

[Crefelder]

I really like the game a lot. It looks good and it's also really demanding from the start.
I've been looking for a game since Diablo 3 that can be played with 4 players in front of the big TV. I don't want to play it with them over the internet, I just want to hang out with my bros and have a lot of gossip and laughs. I have 4 current XBox game controllers that run well under Windows.
Please add a local Couch Co-Op, then we will really often sit in front of it.

[jabfrispe]

+1

[alex593426]

+1

[alex593426]

+1

[Spidey[ST]]

+1

[alex593426]

+1

[ToyHammer]

I was just about to ask if this game has couch co-op. Me and my kids just finished Ember Knights 4 players couch co-op and was looking for another game. Guess this ain’t it for now.

[DaMu]

Should have asked for this months ago, kids.
This game's pretty far in development with one person taking the screen in mind. Imagine the split objectives teammates want to do, but cannot because the 2D camera has to capture all characters on the screen at the same time. A traditional split-screen will severely limit the visible resolution of all players. A Diablo-like couch co-op experience for something that is an open-land limited-time is a severe hinderence. Diablo couch co-op works because it's a linear adventure, but in this game you can roam wherever you want.

Developers for this game, if they submit to adding in couch co-op, would have to design a dynamic split-screen that would start with all players sharing the screen but can seamlessly split into its own partitions when the players inevitably split, then recombine perfectly as the characters get closer. Very few games have achieved this with success, and it's very difficult to implement, which is why most couch-coops either limit visibility to one screen and accept that players will not outrun each other on the screen (which ALWAYS HAPPENS, look at every couch-coop 2D Super Mario or Rayman title), or limit the entire game to one screen, which will break the magic of this specific game. Without any thought to the currently finished design, this game will suck hard if you throw in couch-coop with this design. It won't work.

What would be cool is if the couch co-op was similar to Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure, such that all four share the same screen but can still dive into their own mini-dungeon in the overworld, all in real-time. But again, if you wanted that game, should have asked for that or checked if it resembled anything like that months ago, not while the core game is 90% done.

You want a good couch co-op title, go play Renegade Ops. Seriously.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/99300/Renegade_Ops/

[๖ۣۜ𝓞ɱεn̷➶]

This choice will disappoint many potential buyers. Adding split-screen co-op should have been planned from the start. Even if it's added later, players might buy the game just for this feature. Challenges are expected in development, but they shouldn't stop progress. Companies should aim to please customers while being practical.

[MaGi]

It's a good point DaMu but you could still lock all the players to the same screen. It would majorly change the balance of multiplayer but still be fun I think.

[harlock 73]

+1

[justfeedm3]

+1

[kp]

They could easily incorporate 2 player split-screen at least to address the free roam.

4 player split-screen would be too much as much as I'd prefer that; although they could have all characters share the same screen (like Diablo 3)

[Aid of Healer]

Not a bad idea but it wouldn't make sense. How is the camera even going to work? Unless split screen returns which I doubt is even a nice experience at all who is the main camera going to track? The group? The host?

[WaterWaterWater]

How about 1 screen, with the camera tracking the middle point between all players at any point in time (i'm not sure how difficult the maths/coding is for that). Any player off screen would have a hero icon, enabling them to move in the direction to return to screen vision.

If hypothetically all four players moved in exact opposite directions at the same speed, so: up, down, left and right, then the camera would stay in the same place as this would be the middle point between all players, and all players would be off screen.

[Crefelder]

Hey guys,
thanks so much for your support and points! That really surprised me and impressed me that you also want to have it. I used exactly this method for my own game to move the camera for 2 - 4 players, which I built in Typescript and PixiJS.
"
public static calculateMidpoint(points: Array<Point2dInterface>): Point2dInterface
{
let totalX = 0;
let totalY = 0;

for (const point of points)
{
totalX += point.x;
totalY += point.y;
}

const midpointX = totalX / points.length;
const midpointY = totalY / points.length;

return {
x: midpointX,
y: midpointY
};
}
"
Please become more so that this feature is incorporated here.