Lunch with the Developers – Part 1/4

Pilots,

A lot of things were said about the development of the game during the multiple Q&A sessions held a couple of weeks ago at gamescom 2013. However, we felt that our news coverage of the event wouldn’t be complete without a recap of a private interview with our two resident World of Warplanes experts Oleg Gotynyan and Miroslav Baranenko. Both developers sat down with us for lunch, away from the bright lights and loud noise of the main convention showground, to have an intimate conversation about the game’s current state and Wargaming’s vision for its future.

Find out what exclusive information they revealed in our four-part article below. Let’s begin!

	Oleg Gotynyan General Manager Persha Studios	Miroslav Baranenko Head of Art
Interviewed by our World of Warplanes Editor Elijah Tabere

In this article we discuss:

• Unification of the three “World of…” titles
• A smaller ‘Slim Client’
• Mouse 3.5
• New bomber escort game mode

Oleg, Miroslav, thank you very much for taking the time to meet with us. The purpose of this interview is to get a little more of a behind-the-scenes look into the development of World of Warplanes. We want to expand on some of the things that have been said on stage and see if we can’t pick up any new scoops in the process.

Let’s start with a subject that has been brought up many times during the Q&A’s and that captures the imagination of our players a lot – the unification of our three “World of…” titles. We know by now that a first combination of all titles will happen through the Clan Wars and not directly within one unified game mode. However, rumour has it that you’re working on another way to bring the three games together through the launcher. Is there any truth to that?

OG: Indeed there is. We are working on a unified launcher, which will allow the user to start all three “World of…” titles from one single desktop application. For the most part, it is being developed in Kiev in at Persha Studios while the Project Management and Technical Review continue at HQ in Minsk. Right now it’s too early to tell when it will arrive or how exactly it will work. Still, when it does get going, it should be a neat feature for the fans, tying the games together even more and making it easier to switch between the individual titles.

Some players wonder if there is something that can be done about the large size of the game client. Especially now – as a lot of new people join the community for Open Beta, concerns are being raised that downloading the game takes a lot of time. Are we working on addressing that issue?

OG: Yes, there are plans for a feature called ‘Slim Client’. As of now, it’s pretty much in the same state as the unified launcher. That means that we’re talking about it, we know what needs to be done and already have begun some development on it. However, we’re still far away from releasing it.

What’s the reason for the World of Warplanes client being so much bigger than the World of Tanks one – especially given that the game hasn’t even released yet, but has already managed to amass a bigger size than World of Tanks, which have been out for three years?

MB: Because of the sheer size of the game environment in the game, the textures that we use are much bigger than in World of Tanks. Of course we keep working on optimising our resources, which will lead to a more efficient size management. However, since we will release new maps and planes, a definitive reduction of what we already have now will be unlikely. 

OG: Take our maps for example. They are not only bigger from a surface point of view, with levels that are up to 10x10 km, they are also very detailed because they have to look good from far away as well as up close.

MB: It takes about four times as many resources to develop a World of Warplanes map than are needed for a World of Tanks map. The same thing goes for our planes. Textures need to be in a higher resolution, details need to be added and overall the engine needs to be able to show all of this at a frame rate that will allow the player to have a fluent and visually stunning experience.

OG: This is where the ‘Slim Client’ will come in. It will allow players to download smaller amounts of data, depending on their needs. People will be able to determine more quickly if they like the game or not without the need for long download times.

MB: Also don’t forget that, as technology evolves, we will re-work our graphic tools and assets. This will change not only the way that maps look (think about 8.0 render update for World of Tanks), but also how they are built and how much space they take up.

Controls always stay a big issue. You’ve mentioned onstage that a new 3.5 mouse control option is coming. Can you add to this?

OG: This is a mouse option that was already in the game before being removed a couple of patches ago. We know that many of our Alpha and Closed Beta testers liked it, as did many of our own developers. It couldn’t be returned easily because of the changes made to the flight model, so we had to find a new way to bring this somewhat ‘old’ content back. Our guys have been actively working on this since June and as of now, it’s actually ready. It still requires some testing and fixing of a couple of issues, but the initial feedback from within the team is that we’re pretty close to where we need to be with it. If all goes well, people should be able to see it in the game before release.

Can you remind our readers how exactly this option plays differently from the two we already have in the game?

OG: It resembles the 4.1 mouse controls. This means your view stays statically behind your plane’s tail and you ‘pull’ your aircraft via positioning the cursor in a certain direction. However, unlike 4.1, Version 3.5 will auto-centre your plane on the position of your cursor. If you want a continuous movement, you’ll have to keep moving the mouse. The auto-centring function should make aiming a lot easier. In fact, 4.1 was designed to be an improvement of the initial 3.5. However, feedback from our community showed us that both versions have their merits, which is why we’re bringing the 3.5 back for those who want it.

Since you play as developers yourselves, what version do you prefer when you play?

MB: I play the default ‘Mouse’ version.

OG: Me too. However, I did enjoy 3.5 a lot. When it makes its return, I’m likely to remember my early days and give it another shot.

For a long time now, both on the forums and at the various conventions, we keep hearing about a new bomber escort game mode. However, other than confirming the plans, we haven’t seen much development on this front. Can you bring us up to speed on the actual state of this feature?

OG: A first version of the bomber escort game mode was accomplished back in November 2012. However, we decided not to test it or develop it further at that time. This decision came from us all getting together and determining which features were absolutely necessary for the game’s release and which ones could be delayed until later. That means that we had to prioritise and put a couple of active developments on hold. As much as we all would love to see the bomber escort mission right now, we decided that having helpful tutorials and so on will be more important at release time.

However, as soon as the game is released, the same team that’s working on the tutorials right now will switch over to game mode production and resume the development of this long-awaited feature. We didn’t want to rush the production of this. In the end, it’s supposed to feel like a completely new experience and not just a clone of the main mode. It’s meant to feature a unique gameplay, which naturally requires just a little more time.

MB: From an artistic point of view, you also have to consider that maps a mode like this would have to be different as well. The regular maps, which we have in game right now, are not entirely fit for escort missions in my opinion. Maybe we’ll need to start thinking about stepping away from the rectangular map design and explore different shapes that would be more appropriate for the new gameplay. Sadly, so far, our Big World engine doesn’t allow for any other formats than the rectangular ones we already have.

OG: Trust us when we say that we’re also all very much looking forward to the introduction of new modes. We will keep working on it, regardless of the challenges we may face. If production of it has been slow, it’s not for a lack of will, but because we need to prioritise our resources. If we had more programmers, things could go much quicker. We’re in the same situation as the World of Tanks developers by the way. They too just lack the manpower sometimes. We already have about 150 developers per project strictly programming the game right now. As we staff up, development of both games should speed up as well.

This is just the beginning of our in-depth development review. Come back next time when we will talk about topics such as the developers’ plans for eSports, new planes, the matchmaker and what new maps to expect soon!

See you in Part II, Pilots!