Sometimes discussions on forums can get a little out of hand. Fans are pretty good at going down the rabbit hole. Sometimes it goes into full-blown conspiracy theories. In this instance yes, you the fans, were right. Youâve worked out how Overwatchâs netcode works, and thatâs made the programmers happy to talk about it in more detail. But to do that, they need props.
I can understand the dilemma. Netcode can be tricky. So when youâve got two blokes stand in front of a camera going through the nitty gritty of predictive clients, hitscan weaponry and what happens when a Tracer dodges at the same moment Widowmaker fires a shot, youâre going to need to visual aids.
So thatâs what engineers Tim Ford and Philip Orwig did: they brought paper cups.
Itâs actually fantastic to see engineers being rolled out like this to talk about the nitty gritty of how netcode works. Itâs usually only the kind of detail youâd hear John Carmack go into at his Quakecon keynotes, or something youâd hear delved into at a GDC panel.
But Ford and Orwig are pretty precise about how Overwatchâs engine works. Thereâs talk about adaptive interpretative delays, hit registration miss predictions, mitigation exceptions and exactly what happens when it looks like youâve shot someone but the server didnât pick it up.
It should actually be required reading for anyone who wants to whinge about ping times or netcode, because many of these techniques arenât unique to Overwatch: theyâve been staples of first-person shooters for years.
Also, watching two blokes play with paper cups with Overwatch stickers on them is a little funny.
This post originally appeared on Kotaku Australia
