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| Hypixel Studios' official art of the Riot x Hypixel Studios partnership |
I covered this topic about 6 months ago with the summer 2021 development update, but in summary, Hypixel Studios doesn't want to alienate players who use different platforms, but at the same time, they may face challenges beyond technical ones similar to, say, being required to offer some features exclusively to a certain platform (such as Nintendo's Mario-themed Minecraft skins and PlayStation's Genshin Impact weapons and effects).
But recently, I poked around the Google Play Store (can't remember why--was I going to update apps or casually browse for new ones?) and thought, "Wait, WHAT!? There's an official mobile League of Legends game called Wild Rift!?"
There are three main reasons I installed League of Legends: Wild Rift on my phone.
#1, I wanted to promote this game over what I thought of as the LoL copycat Mobile Legends: Bang Bang which actually got lawsuits filed against it by Riot Games.
#2, I thought this might be a good way to learn League of Legends for the first time and actually know how to talk about MOBAs in general with others who may not relate to my primary interests.
#3 and most importantly for this blog post, I thought, "Holey moley, this is a mobile game by Riot Games," a company I primarily associated in my brain with PC games. Yeah, I admit that while I'll be talking a lot about Wild Rift in this post, I want to keep the focus on Hytale.
My Phone's Test Results
Speaking of my phone, I got a budget gaming phone as a Christmas gift in December 2021. My main purpose is for it to replace my old and painfully slow phones that can't even do basic tasks like chatting at a fast enough speed to respond to emergencies. However, being a gaming phone, as a gamer, I can't purely use it for work now, can I?
Anyway, most non-game apps like Facebook and Twitter load on my phone in 1 second or less compared to about 5 seconds on my old phones. Discord takes about 5 seconds vs. 10 seconds. As expected, I can respond lightning-fast; this time, my phone outspeeds my fingers instead of the other way around.
As for Genshin Impact...well, I run it at the lowest settings. Running around goes at about 30 FPS...but fights slow it down to less than 10 FPS, especially when I spam Elemental Bursts.
Back to Wild Rift. When I spammed all 4 of a champion's skills in quick succession against an enemy champion, the lowest FPS I hit was 54 at maximum settings. Most of the game ran at 60 FPS.
I was honestly surprised, especially given how good the character models look for a mobile game in my opinion. Graphics-wise, it doesn't feel like a mobile game.
What does Wild Rift mean for Hytale?
And finally back to our main topic: Hytale.
Wild Rift was announced in 2019 while the Riot-Hypixel Studios partnership was announced in April 2020. To me, this means Riot Games has already had at least some experience developing mobile games, so they can pass on this experience to Hypixel Studios.
Wild Rift's graphics are also drastically different from Hytale's; Wild Rift looks roughly PS3-quality in my eyes while Hytale is a mostly voxel (cube-based) game with some exceptions like with the portal's visual effects (VFX).
When I was in high school and I watched kids play Minecraft Pocket Edition (now Bedrock Edition), from what I remember, the game ran at slightly higher than 30 FPS.
I'm not 100% sure though because those kids were mostly building, the most popular activity in single-player Minecraft--I think combat, especially against creepers, is the best way to stress-test a device using only realistic survival situations. (Am I really the only dedicated Minecraft fighter I personally know besides NachoPizza, my Singaporean friend, as well as YoSquid?)
But LT, you'll mainly play on PC. Why care about Hytale on mobile?
If for whatever reason, I'm unable to play Hytale on PC, mobile can save the day.
I'd mainly do this while waiting for a long time (such as in a government office or a restaurant) or when I'm at a party that I'm not interested in but am "strongly encouraged" to join.
I don't think Hytale Adventure Mode in single-player will have any Anti-Poop-Socking or similar real-time-sensitive mechanics. The game features its own anticheat, but we don't know if it works only during multiplayer. Regardless, I think Hytale will be playable offline.
Sometimes, my younger brother also borrows my PC for his online military training via Google Meet. Admittedly, in such a situation, I imagine I'd be more likely to play Genshin Impact to ensure my Resin doesn't reach the maximum, but if I really wanna scratch the Hytale itch, mobile makes it possible.
Because mobile is often a more difficult platform to play on than PC and home consoles, this opens up some opportunities for training and challenge runs.
Most notably, it's kinda hard for me to aim with ranged weapons in general on mobile, whether they're bows or guns. A ranged-only playthrough can shake things up.
I have a HARD time running away from zombies in Unkilled (the Spiritual Successor to the once-popular Dead Trigger mobile games from the same developer) and chasing Rebels in Windtrace on mobile so I guess I can practice with minigames or situations that involve quick movement such as parkour or evasion, both with and without daggers which can dash both on the ground and mid-air.
While my main focus will be recording Hytale on PC, I might record the mobile version just for fun or for testing purposes. Enjoy watching me fail at things like parkour and PvP.
Relating to Others on a Topic I Genuinely Care About
One of my biggest weaknesses as a person with Asperger's syndrome is I have difficulty talking to others about things I am not interested in. They also generally can't keep up with my sheer level of knowledge about what I am interested in. I generally prefer to stick to my own interests instead of exerting effort to explore other topics, especially without enough motivation.
In particular, Mobile Legends and Call of Duty Mobile are two of the biggest games in the Philippines right now. Both are competitive multiplayer games and...obviously mobile games.
In addition to what I explained in my rant against competitive multiplayer, these games are difficult for non-players like me to talk about with hardcore kids and teens. I can only talk about general topics like buying items, choosing characters, and how to aim a gun, as well as real-world things like popularity and these games' effects on the youth, not when to use which skill against which champion or whatever tiny detail. Kids and teens generally don't care about "declining grades due to video game addiction" or whatever but I think some young adults do.
Edit: Help--I downloaded Call of Duty Mobile just to study it and I'm now a little addicted to it. I've been getting MVP in Multiplayer about 50% of the time and #1 in Battle Royale about 90%.
On the other hand, Hytale is something I've researched like crazy down to tiny details. While it is advertised as more of a creative game than a competitive one, I see potential in Hytale as a big e-sports title given Hypixel Studios' partnership with Riot Games which hosts some of the world's biggest tournaments. Heck, when "opportunities arise", we might get a League of Legends crossover! This, and possibly other crossovers, can attract competitive gamers to Hytale similar to how Genshin Impact players influenced me to watch Squid Game.
(If you ask me which LoL character I'd play in Hytale, it would be either Xin Zhao (solo, roleplay) or Seraphine (team). Xin Zhao because he looks like and has a similar name to Zhao Yun; Seraphine because I think support roles are Boring but Practical.)
The first thing that comes to the minds of the vast majority of people when it comes to Minecraft is building. However, more often than not, they ask me, "What do you build?" instead of talking about their own builds. I'm guessing they haven't built anything at all, or at least anything significant. As someone who is mainly a fighter and basically builds like a little kid, I can't properly answer--I usually end up with a typical wooden house for an answer before I talk about how I mainly prefer to slaughter my foes on a battlefield. They usually change the topic after that.
There are two things I hope for Hytale. One, that it actually rewards me for good architecture instead of "just another Minecraft village-style house". Two, that it will be widely recognized for being more than just a building game, just like how Pikachu is known for being both cute and strong in the Pokémon anime.
If the topic does end up being about building, I want to have a long discussion about the process before, during, and after the actual building. I want us to be able to answer questions like "Why did you choose to build this?" "What features does it have?" "Now that your building is done, what do you plan to do with it?"
Basically, I expect answers like these:
"To look good and be functional at the same time./Because I want to feel like a princess."
"A balcony for surveying the surroundings and keeping an eye out for threats./A grand hallway of archways, columns, and a carpet leading up to the throne."
"Set up a strong defense for myself and my forces so that farming resources near our territory and recovering after long journeys will be easier./Roleplay with my friends."
What About Home Consoles (Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, Xbox)?
I admit I don't know much about this since I rarely play with home consoles--usually only when I visit YoSquid's or my big brother's house.
They don't have at least an Xbox One or a PS4; they have an Xbox 360 and a PS3, respectively.
But at least YoSquid finally got his hands on the Nintendo Switch.
Minecraft Bedrock Edition has split-screen on all these home consoles so I think Hytale will take notes and do the same thing.
Unfortunately, it can't be played with a single Joy-Con and, if I'm not mistaken, PlayStation and Xbox consoles only come with one controller each. To play split-screen, another controller must be bought separately...and as cool as Hytale on a console might be, it's my lowest priority.
Triple-A games still remain a viable market in the West and Japan, further increasing the variety of people I can play with. Many of my YouTube subscribers from the West play triple-A titles like The Last of Us while my Japanese students enjoy Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
PC Players Curb-Stomping Mobile and Console Players
I only recently thought of this one, oddly enough, despite me playing Genshin Impact on mobile and having a harder time.
Minecraft Java Edition and Bedrock Edition are incompatible with each other, after all. I don't own Bedrock Edition.
This one, interestingly, is neither a technical nor intellectual property (IP) issue.
While FPS won't be a problem thanks to what I said before about VALORANT and Wild Rift, controllers will be.
With a PC, all 5 fingers on a typical player's left hand will lay on the keyboard: 3 fingers on WASD, the pinkie on Left Shift or Left Ctrl/Cmd, and the thumb on the space bar. The right hand controls the mouse: two fingers on left- and right-click and the other three fingers gripping the mouse (or even clicking additional buttons on the sides of the mouse if available). This makes button-mashing very easy and aiming accurate.
On mobile, typically, only 2 thumbs will be used at a time: one to move and the other to perform various actions such as attacking, interacting, and looking around the game world. Yes, while a PC player can look around and attack at the same time, most mobile players don't know how to do that...but I do: I use my right pointer finger to look around and my right thumb to attack.
On a console, joysticks are pretty easy to push around so pushing too hard can throw off a player's aim. There are pro console players out there in FPS games, but I still think they're harder to learn for newcomers. Using a mouse still has maximum precision because there's practically no limit for how fast or how slow the player aims.
To somewhat solve this problem in multiplayer servers, I imagine PvP rooms separated by platform: PC-only, mobile-only, console-only, and one accessible by all platforms for those who like to flex their mobile PvP skills on PC players, for example.
What Platforms Will Your Friends Play On?
Aby and YoSquid both own PCs that are capable of playing Minecraft so I'll play Hytale with them on PC by default.
One of my Genshin Impact friends plays on PS4. She also owns a bunch of PlayStation flagship titles like God of War and Horizon Zero Dawn so I reckon she or one of her family members will get Hytale as well. I give that a 10% chance assuming Hytale will have the price of a triple-A game and she recently blew all her savings on Xiao, but if it does happen, you bet I'll take advantage like the lunatic I am.
(Can parts of Hytale's story be heavily inspired by anime? I mean, some Hypixel Studios members like Mewen and Oscar Garvin live in Japan with Oscar Garvin having learned all 2,000+ jōyō kanji. I wanna relate to weebs while playing this game...)
I'm already technically a young adult so I reckon my hypothetical girlfriend will be roughly the same age and will own a PC for work purposes--after all, much of the world is still used to a work-from-home culture thanks to the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.
However, I'm not sure because I don't talk to a lot of ordinaryong Pilipino, but I think Filipinos generally prefer to use smartphones for gaming even if they have PCs. Back in the late 2000s and early 2010s, they were mainly used for Counter-Strike, DoTA, Grand Theft Auto, and League of Legends, but now, they're strongly associated with Zoom meetings while gaming has largely moved to mobile. Mobile also allows users to use other platforms like Facebook and online shopping sites with almost no drawbacks compared to a PC; it's obviously more of an advantage thanks to the portability.
As such, I imagine my hypothetical girlfriend will prefer to play Hytale on mobile...if she DOES get interested in the game. I would play on the platform she prefers; if she wants me to be the main carry, I'll play on PC, but if she wants to carry, I'll play on mobile. If she's undecided, I'll play on PC so I don't cripple myself too much.
TL;DR summary: League of Legends: Wild Rift is freakin' fast on mobile so I assume the same for Hytale. Although I'll mostly play on PC, mobile is still great for when I'm not home and for introducing Filipinos to Hytale. I'm just worried about mobile players being at a huge disadvantage in terms of controls, especially in PvP, compared to PC and console players.
