World War II Online attracts gamers from throughout the world to its MMORPG vehicle
By Michael Lafferty

The war was fought by, and touched the lives of people throughout the world. Perhaps it is fitting that one version of the computer simulation of World War II can once again involve gamers from throughout the world.

World War II Online – from Strategy First and CRS – captures the historical battles of the war, and brings not only ground combat, but also the aerial war into the game. Players can either command aircraft, or ground vehicles, or fight as a soldier in first-person combat scenarios.

The year is 1940. The British forces are coming to the aid of France’s besieged forces. WWIIOL recreates the major battles and locales throughout Europe.

Here, according to Strategy First’s Web site, are some of the features of this program:

• Combined land and air operations in the first online virtual battlefield
• ½ scale map of Europe with accurate terrain modeling- the biggest online world ever!
• Thousands of online players in a 24/7 online world
• First person perspective in all game play- the first massively multiplayer first person shooter!
• Strategic systems driven by player missions and command structure
• Historically accurate and detailed weapons including aircraft, tanks, anti-aircraft guns, trucks, rifles, grenades and more!
• Groundbreaking physics and damage modeling
• Web-based player services package integrated with game play

GameZone had the opportunity to discuss the game with John "Killer" Macqueen, COO of CRS.

Question:  What will the Pay-for-Play implementation actually mean to WWIIOL users?

Macqueen: “It will mean that we will be able to keep developing the game, making improvements and updates to the product on a continuous basis.”

Q: The last time I checked news on the Web site, the development team was working on the final design. What have you come up with?

Macqueen: “In a game with a scope like WWIIOL, reaching a final design is impossible. The game will continue evolving significantly during its lifespan. Even trying to predict what hardware both the client and server will have in the future is enough to prevent planning too far ahead. Things like the recent drop of Direct X support for Win95 affect development, as we will have to drop '95 as a supported OS sooner than we would like.

“We have established many short-term design goals we are currently working towards. These range from simple things like improvements and additions of weapons and vehicles, which will cover the complete war, to persistent capital ships. Then there are long-term goals that will take several years to reach, such as adding all theatres of war in a seamlessly modeled globe that can put WWII combat anywhere, with strategic oil fields, mines, shipyards, factories etc. all modeled to a much higher detail than what we currently have.”

Q: Since our last interview, has any new technology been incorporated into the game design?

Macqueen: “Oh yes, we are adding new stuff or refining older systems with every new release. In and since 1.30, we have added new terrain streaming technology that has reduced memory usage and raised the frame rates considerably. We’ve added new physics for infantry and we are currently incorporating DX 8.1. As well, vehicle spawn availability based on supply links to surrounding towns has been completed. There are other improvements and either new or modified technology bits under construction as we speak, which will allow new features and improvements to existing features.”

Q: You mention the feedback you have received from the gaming public in a development note – exactly what has the response been like from game enthusiasts? Is this putting more pressure on you to deliver a game that will be heartily embraced, or do you have some measure of comfort because you know that you are on the verge of delivering the type of game that players want?

Macqueen: “We have a lot of passionate gamers playing WWIIOL. Many have been looking for a comprehensive virtual battlefield for a long time. Each has his own vision of what that should be, so we get a lot of very detailed and varying opinions and ideas thrown our way.

“We'll never please every single player. We’re making a game that has no predecessors to learn from. We’re attempting concepts and game play that can only be based on what we foresee and what we think players will enjoy. Getting intelligent and reasoned input from a large segment of players is mandatory. It's our best resource for validating game design, future design, and forming the right strategy to move the game forward that will make it more fun for more folks.”

Q: What is the current release date for the game?

Macqueen: “Current release date? Not sure what you mean here. It's been released in North America for the PC, we are in the process or securing release dates for the Mac release and European PC release."

Q: Can you give us an idea of the atmosphere in the office as the game has evolved?

Macqueen: “The atmosphere is still positive. We would have liked to be more successful; to be able to deliver more, faster, but the game is still like nothing else out there on the market. It's breaking new ground in a lot of ways. Just the fact that we are able to combine thousands of players, all at one time in a combat sim environment, located in one seamless, zoneless world, is quite an accomplishment in itself. Combat sims are the closest comparison to WWIIOL, but they primarily feature air combat, with anything else (boats or ground vehicles) as an added afterthought to the flight sim portion, and are lucky to get more than a couple hundred players together in one environment. Everyone here really wants to move the game forward and accomplish more cool things."

Q: What aspect of putting this game together has provided the most challenge and joy?

Macqueen: “Hmm, the combat sim is the most joy. Large battles for towns are simply amazing. The tank sim is hands down the best I’ve ever seen and the flight sim is also amazing. The infantry is also a blast, and is going to get a lot more fun as we add newer and neater weaponry, as well as more options and roles for infantry to perform. The playability and immersion in all aspects of the game will only continue to get better as we move forward, increasing performance and adding more detailed sound and visual feedback all around as development continues.

“The RPG type stuff has been the most challenge. Making an accurate sim is one thing that has been pretty familiar from our flight-sim background. Tying an accurately modeled vehicle/FPS sim to an RPG layer that doesn't cause an undesired play style, or ‘gaming the game’ so to speak, in this total WWII style PvP environment, has been and still is quite the design challenge. Behind that, scaling the environment to seamlessly allow several thousand people to interact with each other in varying roles (air, land, and sea) was quite a technical challenge.

Q: What are you going to do immediately after this game is released?

Macqueen: “Easy! Get to work on the next Blitzkrieg update and continue on the plan of expanding the WWII Online experience! Development on WWII Online will really never stop as long as players are there to support it.”

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