Call of Duty
"Call of Duty: Black Ops 3" from Treyarch will be released on Nov. 6. Activision

While the release of “Call of Duty: Black Ops 3” is still quite a ways off, developer Treyarch continues to release information regarding new gameplay features and options. The studio recently spent some time explaining how switching to a three-year development cycle has benefited the latest game. “Black Ops 3” is only the second title on the new dev cycle, following the release of “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.”

Speaking in the latest issue of OXM, as reported by GamesRadar, Treyarch Studio Head Mark Lamia said that the three-year development cycle allowed the studio to take certain risks they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. Because “Black Ops 3” supports a four-player co-op campaign, maps are much larger and much more open, which necessitated an overhaul of the engine’s AI system.

“Without a three- year cycle, we wouldn’t have been able to take the kind of risks that we took on this game; frankly, we would not have been able to overhaul our entire AI system, which supports the kind of engagements in an open play space like we have. It was critical as soon as we decided to make a co-op game, because we needed to make it feel like a ‘Call of Duty’ game, which meant we needed to have a lot of stuff going on to entertain the player at all times,” he explained.

Lamia also added that the inclusion of robotic NPCs also forced the rewrite. He noted that while humans must show a sense of self-preservation by ducking for cover and waiting for opportunities to shoot, robots are considerably more aggressive. He added that throwing vehicles, humans and robots into the mix allows “Black Ops 3” to portray considerably more complex AI interactions than previously possible.

Meanwhile, a Redditor named Drift0r was invited to a recent “Call of Duty Black Ops 3” event held at Treyarch Studios. The gamer was able to provide some information on the game, confirming that the PS4 version does indeed run at 1080p and 60fps. Drift0r claims there were no stutters or drops in framerate, adding that he was able to watch a few minutes of PC gameplay running at 4K resolution and 60fps.

(Credit: YouTube/Call of Duty)

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