Joint Task Force Developer Diary – Part 1

“Combat is designed to be dramatic and spectacular while keeping simple basic principles in mind”

The real-time strategy genre is rather crowded and in order for a title to stand out, it must provide a unique experience in some regards. Joint Task Force is throwing its hat into that ring with many elements that should have RTS gamers sitting up and taking notice.

Joint Task Force is from Most Wanted Entertainment and will be published by Vivendi Universal Games. The title is, according to the press release, “the real-time strategy game where you command the frontline forces in tomorrow’s most hazardous conflicts. Lead twenty dramatic missions in explosive war-zones including the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Balkans. Experience the evolution of warfare firsthand as you bring superior tactics and military technology to bear against dangerous and unconventional forces. No game has been so gritty or immediate. Use the principle of combined arms to your maximum advantage. All battlefield units — including infantry, tanks, artillery, reconnaissance and helicopters — are strongest when used together. Your men’s lives depend on your level-headed strategy.”

Exclusive GameZone.com screenshot

GameZone.com got a preview look at the title prior to E3 2006 (http://pc.gamezone.com/gzreviews/p26283.htm), but now we get to take an inside look at the title with a series of developer diaries.

Developer Diary I
by Kristoffer Waardahl, Designer Joint Task Force

Hello everyone!

Welcome to the first in a series of developer diaries that document our progress on Joint Task Force. My name is Kristoffer and I work as designer on the game. Over the next couple of months we are going to provide you with diaries which will give you insight into the progress of the game, not just from the design point of view, but from a number of people on the team like programmers and artists.

In this first instalment I’ll take you back to the very beginning of the game. As we began working on Joint Task Force in March 2004, we started off with the best part – brainstorming! This is where you can go nuts and just about anything goes, but of course the main thing is to set the fundaments of the game. We decided on the following key points:

The game should feel realistic. While definitely not a simulation, we wanted JTF to be as fast-paced and gritty as possible. With all the military hardware in the game, we felt they should look, sound and work like the real-steel versions rolling on battlefields today. Combat is designed to be dramatic and spectacular while keeping simple basic principles in mind – meaning you will have to have the right tools for the right job.

Exclusive GameZone.com screenshot

The game should be tactical. By emphasizing the above, you get a simple but effective system much like the old rock, paper and scissors game – encouraging tactical gameplay and combined arms warfare. Although it’s inevitable that some vehicles will be “better” then others, you’ll still find that every vehicle and every soldier has a very specific role to play on the JTF battlefield.

The game should improve the RTS experience. Now, this is the big Kahuna. How to stand out from the crowd of the dozens of other RTS games, yet still include your vision of things and keep true to the genre? Inspired by the modern battlefields of today like Afghanistan, Joint Task Force has a unique approach to map and force support handling and focuses on frontline combat and mobility instead of base building and resource gathering. The map sectors, the ability to re-supply via air and landing zones gives a completely new game environment where the situation is ever-changing – you can never be sure where to find your enemy. Players will have to cooperate and use sound tactics to win the day.

The game must be graphically stunning. Any modern game worth its salt should make use of new technology to enhance the game experience; luckily, one of the primary pros of video entertainment is the ability to create your vision and show it as you want it. The terrain, the vehicles, special effects and sounds of JTF are painted and modelled with painstaking detail to take you as close to the real battlefields of today as possible.

That’s all for now folks; I’ll be talking more deeply on the game’s specifics later on!

Take care, and don’t forget to check in for more updates!

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