“Pilot Down” Gamers, Send Help! He’s Trapped Behind Enemy Lines!
By Louis Bedigian 

“We also tried hard to communicate the sense of fear and tension of the character, isolated and facing overwhelming odds, forced to risk capture searching for food and shelter.”

Three years seems like a long time, but it's becoming a common timeframe for game development. Pilot Down: Behind Enemy Lines is one such game. Inspired by survival stories of American pilots shot down over occupied Europe during World War II, Pilot Down combines stealth, action and role-playing game elements.

Starring US Airman Bill Foster, players will embark on a journey that sees them stranded alone in Germany during the winter months of 1944. Your mission is one of survival. Make it to the Swiss border and you’re safe. Until then you’re a walking target.

Intrigued by this frightening concept, GameZone Online sat down to chat with Ed Daly, studio head of Kuju Brighton, previously of Wide Games.

Pilot Down is based on the inspirational survival stories of American pilots shot down over occupied Europe during the Second World War. Where did these stories come from? How are they being translated from real memories to an interactive game?

Ed Daly: We read a load of books which featured great true-life stories. The figures are almost incredible: 180,000 allied airmen shot down over occupied Europe, 5,000 attempted to make it home, 300 succeeded. That's odds of under 0.2%. Fortunately Pilot Down is much easier to complete than this! We took elements of individual stories and used them in the game, such as the moment when our hero is making great progress on a train, only to have the train blown off the tracks by an RAF squadron. As well as the spectacular set pieces, we also tried hard to communicate the sense of fear and tension of the character, isolated and facing overwhelming odds, forced to risk capture searching for food and shelter. All this is inspired by true stories.

Many first-person shooters are clones of each other, but there are also a lot of third-person clones. What was it about the third-person view that made it seem more appropriate for this game?

ED: Two main reasons: firstly, as the game involves stealth we believed that the player needed to be able to manipulate the camera in order to provide themselves with the best view of the enemies lines of sight, otherwise you'd spend the game spinning round desperately trying to keep tabs on the bad guys and watching where you're going. The other reason is that first-person views rarely work if you're trying to establish a real character in the central role, as was the case with Bill Foster, the unlikely hero of Pilot Down.

You're using a comic book style to enhance the visual experience. We'd love to hear all about this.

ED: We wanted a style that would differentiate Pilot Down from other WWII games. We felt this style provided a refreshing look, to complement the refreshing gameplay. The style is reinforced through beautifully hand-drawn comic book cutscenes, somewhat reminiscent of the 'boy's own' style comics that formed part of the inspiration for this style of story telling.

It's interesting that you've chosen to include an experience point system. In what way is experience obtained (by winning battles?), and how does it improve your character's performance? 

ED: Experience is gained through completing objectives, both the primary tasks that allow the player to progress through the game, and optional hidden objectives, and also by finding secret items. Skills cover stealth, unarmed combat, carrying capacity, healing, ability with weapons and survival skills. The survival element of the game is very original, the player needs to keep fed and warm. This creates many dilemmas for the player, do you wade through the icy river to avoid the patrol on the bridge, players that are able to stand the cold for longer may have this option, others may be forced to fight their way through.  

Is there a maximum amount of experience points that can be gained or a maximum level that can be reached?

ED: Yes, there is a maximum number of experience points but there aren't enough to maximize all your skills, so you will always have to specialize. Players may wish to play through the game multiple times with different combat/stealth/survival skills.

You can catch a cold in this game. That's another feature you rarely see in World War II games. How does this work and how long do the negative effects last?

ED: As noted above there is a survival system and indeed if the player gets too cold they will start to sneeze, not a good idea when hiding from a German patrol! In this case the effects would last until the player has warmed up again - there are plenty of opportunities to do this.

You can also become fatigued, leading to exhaustion. Is this due to the cold? Are there are other things that can cause exhaustion, and is there any way to cure it?

ED: There is a single endurance value linked to cold and hunger - if endurance drops below a certain level then the player will actually take damage, if endurance hits zero the player will take a lot of damage over time. Food and warmth (e.g. from fires) restore endurance.

How do colds/exhaustion influence the gameplay? Does it slow the character down?

ED: I mentioned the sneeze, as well as this the effect is on the deterioration of health. Low endurance doesn't effect speed of movement as this would be frustrating and creative negative feedback loops. Different levels contain different weather, in a blizzard the player will have to focus on warmth, on a nice day or when indoors they'll be able to concentrate on the Germans.

What kinds of items can players collect? In what ways can they be manipulated? 

ED: There are many different sort of items, these can be combined and used in a variety of ways. One example would be that the player can collect the parts of a fishing rod and play a fishing sub-game for valuable food, another is a morphine dose, which will give the player temporary protection from damage.

Stealth is another element Pilot Down takes advantage of. Are you going for something along the lines of Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid or something else entirely? 

ED: There are elements of gameplay similar to that of these games, you can sneak up and silently throttle Germans, hide their bodies, dress up as a German and walk straight past them (but not too close!) One nice feature is that you can distract a patrolling bad guy by setting off a flare, or even just leaving a packet of cigarettes lying around, while they go to pick this up you'll have a brief chance to sneak past.

Give us some examples of how these and other gameplay styles are going to be utilized during a mission?

ED: Throughout the missions the player has the choice of using combat, stealth or survival skills to get past a particular challenge. The solution they use may be based on the skills they have invested experience points in or by the objects they have with them (for example ammunition would be handy if you're going to risk a fire fight). Some players will sneak around taking out the Germans quietly, with silenced weapons or by throttling them, others will go in all guns blazing, others may drink a bottle of whisky and wade through the waste high snow to avoid all the trouble.

There are nine missions in Pilot Down - can you give us an idea as to how many objectives players will have to complete within each of them?

ED: Each mission is broken up into 5 or 6 sub-objectives, and there are also 2 hidden objectives and other secret items to find.

I've yet to hear which weapons you plan to include in Pilot Down. Please tell us about them.

ED: There are a range of pistols, machine guns and rifles, all based on real-world weaponry. Although the game's graphics are stylized, the detail remains historically accurate.

Thank you for your time.