September 22, 2009

Wargaming.net's Victor Kisly Takes Us to the Battlefield in Order of War
By Louis Bedigian

“That’s why we have created with our unique 'Cinematic Camera' – where with the press of a button, you can instantly jump into an automatic camera mode that pans around the battle in dramatic fashion, capturing the biggest action and highlights as if you’re watching an intense combat scene from a huge Hollywood blockbuster.”

Every developer says they're making a "cinematic gaming" experience. But as we're all aware, very few of them pull it off. Perhaps this is because their definition of cinematic differs from the viewpoint of the average gamer.

Knowing the hype surrounding the RTS Order of War, I brought this up when speaking to Victor Kisly, the CEO of Wargaming.net. "You’re right," he said. "The term 'cinematic' is probably overused by many games and marketing programs."

So I asked him: what does that word mean to you? Why make a game cinematic – as opposed to making it some other way?

"When we speak about Order of War providing a 'cinematic gaming' experience, we mean that in two key ways: the way the game makes you FEEL and the important features we have included in the game to heighten that sensation during gameplay.

"First, let’s talk about the 'cinematic feeling,' which is most often ignited by the visceral impact of increased visual fidelity, storytelling and realism. The battles in Order of War are so realistic and the graphics so impactful that often we find players telling us that they feel like they are directing their own war movie, where they decide the outcome of the battle and where the plotline extension depends on their ability to make critical strategic decisions and execute them effectively.

"Luckily for us, the team here at Wargaming.net recognized early on how powerful this impact was on the game experience and identified that this cinematic gameplay would appeal to a broad audience. Not just strategy gamers and PC game fans, but also those players out there who are way into history, World War II or wars/military things in general. These people own PCs and certainly play a lot of war games, so we looked for ways to enhance what was important to them – the realism and immersion of feeling like you are IN World War II.

"And that’s why we have created with our unique 'Cinematic Camera' – where with the press of a button, you can instantly jump into an automatic camera mode that pans around the battle in dramatic fashion, capturing the biggest action and highlights as if you’re watching an intense combat scene from a huge Hollywood blockbuster.

"So you can set your troops and tanks to move and attack, jump into the Cinematic Camera, and watch the battle unfold. It’s pretty dramatic and a beautiful feature that really sets Order of War apart from other, more traditional strategy games."

I understand that Order of War will allow players to control an army of 1,000 units.

VK: Unlike any other WW2 game, in Order of War you don't command just a platoon, a squad or a couple of companies. You are in charge of the whole division. There has never been a WW2 RTS where you can be the General, win a dozen epic battles (not just capturing a couple of houses and one bridge), and yet see each soldier and tank in a close-up action. Order of War is unique in the strategy space in that you have the immense scope of the war with the narrow focus on individual units and platoons tied in.

Can you control all of the units simultaneously?

VK: Yes, of course! That's the point!

Such huge amounts of units may seem to be unmanageable, but we spent more than 2 years designing iPhone-style interfaces and gaming mechanics, allowing you to hold all these masses under meaningful control. Plus, the game constantly keeps you informed (talking heads) about what's happening on the battlefield. Moreover, the friendly A.I. is capable of fighting in isolation (if you, for example, forgot about some of your units) very effectively.

Tell us about the different units in the game; not just that there are tanks, soldiers, etc., but the different kinds of tanks, soldiers, aircraft, etc., featured in the game.

VK: In Order of War player will have the opportunity to build up and realize his strategic planning using about 70 different units, which represent three sides of conflict. Each of these units is equipped with their real world characteristics – such as armor strength, firing range and rate, speed, etc. We have the most common units used during the war, plus some that would have been pretty rare, but have a very high “coolness” factor.

On the battlefields, players will be able to manage various modifications of tanks and self-propelled machines. In this way, armadas of King Tigers, Shermans and T-34s will definitely arrange a special war concert, while the squadrons of Thunderbolts, Martins and Il-2s bombers will make grandiose ground attacks. Moreover, in Order of War there’s a rare WWII gun “Leopold” that can hit practically any target on the game map.

Despite containing a ton of units, Order of War has reportedly eliminated the micromanagement content of most strategy games. Is that the case, and if so, what made the development team take this direction?

VK: Who said micromanagement must be economic only? Sure, if you have a game where there are only a couple dozen units available for control you might want to fill some of the game time with "economy" and "building" and tech trees.

In Order of War, you have so many units of various types, huge terrain with various strategic features, so that you have enough of tactical micromanagement on top of your strategic management - maneuvering, relocating artillery fire, off-map fire support, summoning paratroopers, defending half-dozen of your strongholds, crossing bridges, air strikes, building and countering AA defense, occupying trenches and buildings by infantry, armored assaults, setting up anti-tank defenses, etc.

World War II wasn’t about gathering wood and building grain warehouses. As a commanding General in the war, you need to worry about what units you have, where you deploy them, and how you intend to use them to achieve your objective. There’s plenty of micromanagement in there, just not in the way traditional strategy games execute it.

So is this an action-strategy game (where action comes first) or a strategy-action game?

VK: We spent more than three and a half years combining both. Here is the trick: if you want action – then you set the game to "Easy" difficulty to get non-stop cinematic action. If you are a hardcore strategy fan or WW2 die-hard, go straight for "Hard" difficulty level, which will guarantee you hours and hours of thinking, strategizing and maneuvering during each of 18 missions. Plus there are countless hours in skirmish, survival and multiplayer over LAN or Internet.

What are the two campaigns being designed for the game and how do they differ?

VK: In Order of War players can choose between 2 absolutely different campaign modes - US Army vs Wehrmacht in France and Wehrmacht vs the Red Army and US Army in Poland and France. These campaigns offer completely different missions, which are based on key historic events and operations.

As the campaigns take place in different parts of Europe, the terrain is quite different as well as composition of units because you fight for (and against) different armies with their own equipage and peculiarities. Moreover the German campaign may appear a bit tougher, because you will have to fight on two fronts against Russians and Americans. Don’t forget that the year is 1944 and the position of the German Army was very complex at that time.

The camera system sounds pretty dynamic. Tell us why it's cool, innovative, and superior to other camera systems.

VK: First of all, we are pretty sure, Wargaming.net was the first one to make such feature in a strategy game. It was first introduced in Massive Assault 3D Sci-Fi TBS back in 2003. So, we've been working on that technology for more than six years now, constantly upgrading the formulas.

Now we feel like it's really perfect and polished. The biggest worry was that it would interfere with Real-Time gameplay process. We made sure it does not. You can use it on "Easy" difficulty level (a lot), and I bet, you won't be able to resist our Cinematic Camera from time to time during most massive and live-or-die moments on "Hard".

As I said before, for those players out there who just LOVE the cinematic experience, are way into history or WW2, or are just big military players, the Cinematic Camera is the perfect feature for you; just set your units in motion, send them to combat and then take a minute to eat some popcorn and watch the battle unfold. It’s simply awesome.

And for the hardcore gamer playing multiplayer, for example… well, it’s really fun when you know you’re are going to defeat your opponent in a key battle and can set everything in motion and then just sit back and talk trash while you watch in grand style.

Order of War isn't just a promising strategy game, it also features some very impressive visuals. Talk about the graphics, the engine, and the challenges in bringing the visuals to life.

VK: Our goal was to combine very detailed close-up views with massive "Total War"-style scale. That's what we did. Our individual models may be less detailed than in FPS's or some strategy games, but we have up to thousand moving, firing and exploding things on a huge battlefield, which is, in fact, much more detailed than in the "Total War" series (hundreds of buildings and zillions of small objects). The engine is all in-house production, and here are the key success strategies: years of hard work of a huge team, brilliant algorithms, and optimization, optimization, optimization.

That wraps up my questions for Order of War. Is there anything else you'd like to share about the game or its development?

VK: Sure! First of all, Order of War is an incredible game which will interest the casual player as much as the hardcore gamer due to a unique mix of realism and fun. Moreover, this is not going to be a typical RTS clickfest. There are other games out there with nicer graphics and more explosions for that.

Besides, let me address just a few words to the players: enjoy the gameplay, use the camera features and really feel what it’s like to be the commander of entire army. So thanks for the chance to do this interview and come and if you’d like to talk to us or the game devs, visit us on our discussion forum at http://oow.wargaming.net/.

Thank you for your time.

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