Activision has revealed the creative process of making Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’s Dark Water level, which was first showcased at Summer Game Fest Live.
A Call of Duty blog post describes the trailer as a “vertical slice.” That shows off core features, visuals, audio, and overall player experience. The campaign mission is meant to set the tone for what players can expect upon its release on October 28. “Dark Water balances being completely realistic while being completely ludicrous,” said Rich Farrelly, lead-level designer at Infinity Ward.
Sound designers for the game got creative and toyed with microphones on a lake to create authentic boat sounds used in the mission. At the same time, another recorded the sounds of precipitation and added rain sound to give the players a more immersive experience. A senior lead audio designer stated the engine being used opens itself up to better audio and is on par with some Hollywood films.
A challenge that was faced was making physics look right when the cargo containers would move, as well as controlling the AI during a gunfight to make it look as realistic as possible.
The VFX team at Infinity Ward utilized the engine to make Dark Water more realistic. So while players are on the boat, there won’t be silent moments, and because of that, the team was able to create big splashes on the ship. Krzystof Wójck, a senior lighting artist, stated that the new shadow system played a pivotal part in helping with the game’s lighting. The engine introduced Percentage-Closer Soft Shadows (PCSS), which allowed them to have better visuals on PCs and current-gen hardware. Creating realistic water was a significant focus for Infinity Ward this year.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is scheduled to come out on October 28 for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.
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