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Game Problems? Bah!
by Weasel

To help ease the pain of some newbies, I've decided to write up an article on the game itself, and the technology behind it. If you understand how it works, you won't "worry" about it, like many people have started doing after the last round of movies and screenshots.

PROBLEM: The Troops look incredibly simple and not fun at all.

NO IT ISN'T: The troop animations were *very* primitive. The troops had just been finished and the Rats released the video to settle our appetites. The videos demonstrated only a few of the already-made animations, and not much action at all. We aren't able to determine gameplay from the few scenes we had, considering we can't even see from first-person perspective.

PROBLEM: The game seems to be too aircraft-intensive, and other aspects of the game will fall behind.

NO IT ISN'T: Many of the Rats *do* love airplanes, but then again, some Rats are FPS junkies... Like DocDoom. In my opinion, the Aircraft physics will be the hardest to figure out, and getting it done and overwith first will make the rest of the game seem simple in comparison. Another thing to note is that Aircraft will be one of the easiest to setup, and easiest to sustain as a gaming environment - meaning that the sim could release as a flightsim FIRST and build up with ground vehicles and troops. What this means to us is that we get the beta faster.

PROBLEM: The game has too much micro-management. The detail of the game is such that it won't actually be /fun/.

NO IT ISN'T: Most of the games intricate details will be handled by the server or your local machine, not by yourself. Things such as propellor pitch and fuel lean are all adjustable, but by default they will be a one-size-fits-all setting. If you want the extra 3-5 MPH on your engine, you can tinker around, but if you just want to play, you are fully capable. The strategy system is run entirely on the server-side. The allocation of resources and such will mainly be automatic, but the only people that can tinker with those settings are high-ranking officers. The game will be a strategy, flight-sim, FPS, and tank sim all in one... And that's not counting the naval portion.

PROBLEM: I only have a 56K modem.

NO IT ISN'T: The game is being developed with a 28.8K in mind! Any bandwidth above and beyond 28.8 or 56.6 won't particularly affect your performance or connection rating. Most people notice a ping jump when upgrading to, say, a cable modem, and assume the faster the modem, the faster the gameplay. This is not so. In WWIIOL, the whole entire european map and thousands of players are not updated all the time - only items within your viewing distance are updated on your screen. No unnecessary data is transmitted to you from the server.

PROBLEM: There are more Axis than Allied players! The game will be one big un-balanced blow-over.

NO IT ISN'T: In all online games, it has been observed that an automatic equilibrium will be achieved, and not because of auto-balancing. Beleive it or not, people don't like to completely overrun their foes because it just isn't fun... there is no challenge. Those that aren't having fun will switch sides and the game will be roughly 50/50 at all times.

PROBLEM: It hasn't been released yet! It's vapor-ware!

NO IT ISN'T: I'd rather the developers took a long time to develop a perfect game than quickly devlop a crappy cash-cow. Plus; the developers are still on time with their origional schedule.

PROBLEM: The game is all about killing!

NO IT ISN'T: WWII was all about killing... So you probably won't like this game. But if it makes you feel better, you can "kill" objects such as tanks, airplanes, and buildings - no gore, just big exlposions. And there is a big strategy system - you can try your hand at
delivery driving, or troop transporting.

PROBLEM: The loading time for all the textures of all the vehicles is gunna be brutal!

NO IT ISN'T: The loading time will be handled in the login and connection time - while your planning your mission out and such. As in all games, some time must be sacrificed for fun.

ABOVE ALL: The game is always in development. There is no finished product, no box set. Updates will always be abundant and the game will simply get better and better as time goes on. And with every major update to the hardware industry, the game will [probably] undergo a major graphics-engine overhaul, making sure that we are all playing the most up-to-date, top-of-the-line game as long as the company is still in business. VIVE LE RATS!