Dungeon Defenders 2 Devs Explain PS4 Exclusivity
VIDEO: Dungeon Defenders II - Now Playing [28:06]
Dungeon Defenders 2 will be a PlayStation 4 exclusive throughout 2015, its developer has revealed to GameSpot.
The sequel to 2011's popular tower-defence-meets-action-RPG has been in development for just over a year, and its creators at Trendy Entertainment want to expand the series' popularity by making it free-to-play.
Brad Logston, senior producer, stresses that he and his team understand where to draw the line on free-to-play games; a monetisation model that is sometimes accused as inaccurately labelled and deliberately exploitative.
"The term we use is ethical monetisation, so nothing you buy will give you a gameplay advantage"
"The term we use is ethical monetisation, so nothing you buy will give you a gameplay advantage," Logston says.
Specifically, goods in the game available for real world cash will only be cosmetic, vanity items, such as various outfits for each hero to be tailored in. Players won't be able to buy an item that makes their gameplay experience any easier, Logston said.
Philip Asher, a designer on the project, adds that there were clear benefits for making Dungeon Defenders 2 freemium console exclusive on PS4.
"Sony has been really good to work with for free-to-play games," he tells GameSpot.
"We think it's a good time to do it too. Free-to-play games weren't really a feature of last-generation consoles, so we're really excited to see that people can pick up this game for free on PS4 and start playing."
While a version for the Xbox One isn't completely off the table, Asher explains, "there are things we want to do later after the game is released that is more possible on PlayStation 4." He wasn't able to elaborate on what he meant by this, or whether he was referring to technical or publishing particulars.
He continued: "The support that indies get from Sony is exactly one of the reasons why we wanted to go with them. The people there are great, though that's not like we're saying the people at Xbox aren't great."
Not Drowning But Wave-ing
The first Dungeon Defenders, which Asher says has sold about six million units, pitted an online team of up to four players against oncoming waves foes. In order to thwart the masses of AI enemies, players needed to build their own base of blockades and turrets, as well as get their hands dirty when defences were overwhelmed.
The sequel offers more visual splendour and detail, along with a streamlined interface, but one of the key changes is the habits of your enemies.
"In the first Dungeon Defenders, everything was static," Logston explains.
"It was like a puzzle; enemies would come out in certain waves, and once you solved how to deal with them, that was it. One thing we've added in DD2 is something we call the Wave Director, which helps randomise the waves of enemies. We're also working on a later version of this wave director that will try to mess with you, and try to catch you completely unaware."
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