Pinoy DOTA players rejoice! Valve, makers of all things Half-life and Team Fortress, has been revealed the upcoming DOTA 2 or Defense of the Ancients 2. DOTA is a style of real-time strategy game that requires players to channel and protect herds of computer-controlled minions as they attack an opposing force. DOTA has been popular since it started off as a mod for WarCraft 3.
DOTA 2 will feature a new coaching system and IceFrog, one of the lead developers behind the original DotA mod is DOTA 2 project for Valve, the company said. IceFrog was hired by Valve last year. IceFrog has been maintaining the most recent version of the core game, DotA Allstars.
By logging in as a coach, veteran players can do their part to help out newer folks. Valve hasn’t entirely decided on the specifics of how newbies and coaches will be matched up, but once they’re together a few things happen. The coach sees the pupil’s screen, and gets private voice and chat channels to communicate with them. The coach probably won’t be able to take control of anything directly (once again, the details are currently under discussion), but information is power in Dota 2 and having a mentor whispering in your ear can make all the difference in the world.
GameInformer.com spilled the first official details, saying that the game runs on Valve’s Source engine and includes voice chat. Gameplay appears to be faithful to the series’ roots, supporting three-lane maps and focusing on multiplayer competition (with artificial intelligence taking over for players whose connections drop.) Graphics are upgraded, though said to follow in the original cartoony style birthed in the original. Steamworks-based achievements will be able to reward players for actions in the player community as well as in the game.
