How Panic Button became the Switch Port Master

Once the port is visually recognizable, the company moves on to another explicit phase called "first playable". The team will begin to reconnect the controls and enough subsystems for the player to travel the world. However, you may not be able to use a weapon or kill something dangerous. "But at least you move around the world and it starts to be an interactive experience," said Traub.

At this point, the team is very familiar with the game and its progress. They have the ability to see all the tricks and workarounds that are ideally imperceptible to the player. "It's not a spaceship, it's a Hollywood space set," Traub explained. "And if you turn the camera 15 degrees to the right, you see a handle standing there with a microphone." For Traub, it's like watching a documentary "making of" for your favorite movie. You can appreciate the time and craftsmanship that preceded its development, but you will never believe in his world again.

Sometimes Panic Button will appeal to quality assurance testers during the first playable stage. The game will be in poor condition, but the team wants to make sure that what has been implemented is working properly.

Then, the company aims for parity of the features. It means implementing and perfecting each system necessary for final publication. The difficulty of each addition and the order in which they are processed vary according to the project. Rocket League is a mostly online game, so some features might have been needed for "first playable". For a title like CondemnHowever, with a single player campaign and a fun but secondary multiplayer mode, it could be dealt with later. Panic Button will often use this time to enhance visual elements, adding shaders, lighting effects and complex particle systems. The team will also approach the audio and will determine when and how to load different parts of the game.

"Some games just try to do some static at the beginning," Traub explains, "and others play streaming as you progress.The different bandwidth issues can complicate things, so we may have need to do compression levels to speed up loading, or we may need to be more aggressive about background processing. " Video games use a lot of tricks, including slow, narrow lifts and passages that force a cinematic shimmy to hide huge load times. The panic button must match the timing of these sequences or have only minimal obstacles, such as a locked elevator door, so that its load times do not stand out. "We absolutely have to watch for such things," said Traub. "It's always fun, all the stuff and the airlock that games bring into play."

Once the port is finished, Panic Button will make a pre-submission and a submission with Nintendo. Finally, once the game is released, the team goes into live assistance mode, reacts to comments from players and publishes optimizations that are not yet ready for release. "Even though everyone is trying to do some internal controls in advance, the reality is that modern games are obscurely complex animals, and as soon as you cast a million players on a target, they will find the least crack, "said Traub. "So, pay attention to what is reported, if someone has problems, or if there are discussions about problems, then that's something we can investigate. "

Condemn was released for the Nintendo Switch on November 10, 2018; Rocket League was released four days later. Most critics praised Panic Button's technological achievements, while noting that the final version, with fewer technological compromises, would still rely on other systems.

The team then moved on to Wolfenstein II: the new giant, another first-person shooter released by Bethesda. The experience with Condemn "Gave us a little extra boost," said Traub, but the game ended up presenting its own challenges and systems. It has also happened to a developer to insert a new building into the level to hide objects that would have required a herculean rendering. "There was a shot, a camera angle that was killing us," admitted Traub. "So we just installed a building that was a big cache and saved the day."

"There was a shot, a camera angle, that killed us, so we just installed a building that was a big cache, and that saved the day."

Once again, the port was considered a "technical marvel" and "something to see". Panic Button's reputation then exploded. He began to receive more inquiries and calls for proposals from other studios and rights holders. This meant that the company could be more selective and take on projects that were both interesting and stimulating for its employees. "What we do not do is choose those who make us leave." It's easy, we know we can take it out of the park. "We are actually choosing the ones who are pushing us to go," it's hard to agree, but we're sure we can do it, "Traub said.

Panic button has since worn Warframe, a free online shooter, and Plate, a colorful adventure game from Runic Games, to the Switch. This is also worn Subnautica to consoles and helped out of Electric Hat Games Until the summit, a first-person platform game on PlayStation VR. The company remains busy, even if its fans are excited about two upcoming projects, in particular: Wolfenstein: young blood and Eternal Doom. Both games are still in development and considered by Panic Button as co-dev (co-dev) projects rather than a typical port.

The eight-step process of the company remains the same. Working in a co-development model, however, offers unique advantages and disadvantages. If Panic Button has a question, for example, it is easier to reach out and talk to the person who worked at that level or system. "I say potentially, because some projects cross the finish line gracefully, and other projects cross the finish line on fire," Traub said with a chuckle.

With a typical port, this person may have migrated to another project or have left the company completely. "It depends on the time that has elapsed," Traub said. "We have had ports where we are working on something that was shipped years ago, and many things have been lost over time and legend." A co-development model also means that the game is still being developed. It is a mobile target and if the other developer makes a radical change, it can also affect Panic Button's work. "Every project is different, and each group is different, so every adventure is an adventure," Traub added.

Wolfenstein: young blood, developed by MachineGames and Arkane Studios, has two protagonists and will offer a cooperative multiplayer mode, unlike its predecessor. Eternal Doommeanwhile, will have new locations, weapons and crossing mechanisms – including a quick and deadly grapple – that increase the tempo and blood pumping action. "They are easily part of the most difficult projects we've worked on," Traub said.

Games of this size and visual fidelity are normally considered beyond the modest hardware of the Switch. Panic Button has, however, demonstrated that it is possible to integrate "triple-A" games into the portable system. The company has already set the bar high – the question seems to be how much it can be raised before Nintendo gives them a hand and frees a successor. Switch.