|
|
|
 |
|
|
 |
 |
CRS
Official Chat Event - 1/20/00 This is a log of the first official World War Two Online chat event that took place January 20th, 2000. Chris "Mo" Sherland was the guest speaker and Al "Rafter" Corey was the chat moderator. Because the chat log was
more complicated than anything seen before on this planet, we had to omit
the names of the people asking the question. Sorry about that. Rafter (Jan 20, 2000 8:53:16
PM) Rafter (Jan 20, 2000 8:53:42
PM) Rafter (Jan 20, 2000 8:53:51
PM) Rafter (Jan 20, 2000 8:54:01
PM) Rafter (Jan 20, 2000 8:54:13
PM) Rafter (Jan 20, 2000 8:54:22
PM) Rafter (Jan 20, 2000 8:54:32
PM) Although release dates in the gaming industry are barely ever accurate, can you at least give us an estimate of when you think the game will be released? Closed beta in 1 Q 2000, open in 2Q 200, skies the limit after that :) How long was WWIIOL
been in development ? What is the highest graphics setting planned? 1600X1200 How is the production of the game coming? Well, we have a lot of work to do, and are under the gun. But we have a LOT of talent and are still full of vim and vinegar How many people work at CRS and how many at Playnet? or are they the same all in all? CRS is a dev house UNDER Playnet...but right now we all share the same bed :) There are about 22 here now...and we are growing Are you finding it more af a dificult task to Model all the Aspects into the game then you first anticipated? Yup, the sheep are taking a LONG time :) Could MO please give an update on the development of the Mac version is comming, unless its "hush hush"? :-) It's going well. Primitives are under dev right now. We are confident that we'll have parity by open bet How is the "vehicle" model working out, are you getting realistic performace for the vehicle types modelled so far? Yes Vila. They are coming out better than we had anticipated. The way Hoof set up the loops, they sort of "fall" into place well :) MO how will the clan thing work how will I run my own clan , will I be appointed my own regiment or division in which to command or will I have to earn the rank and then be given men , and how will I get orders for what to do with my clan without having the enemy know? Clans, and squads will follow basic online forms. Players will run them, and interact with the scoring/strat/ and rank systems. Also we plan on a lot of player support for clan / squad websites and email etc. How long does it take for one vehicle to be fully integrated into the game (sound/model/etc)? Well there are still some core technologies that we need to get wrangled. But it's looking like 2-3 weeks per vehicle. Warbirds 3.0 posted some info on their new damage model, with ww2ol have a comparable model? Our damage model is going to set every sim out there on it's ass. Will voice communication be built from scratch, in house, or are you incorporating Roger Wilco etc? We are looking into a proprietary system, but not sure about dev cycle time. RW and the standards will always work when in doubt. More news on this at beta time. How does the community that has formed thus far for WWII-OL compare to those formed around your past endeavors? It's MUCH more diverse. There are a lot of knowledgeable folks in here. Will WW2 online
be Modeling TRAINS, heavly into the SIM, TRAINS played a critical ROLE
in EUROPE during WW2 , will there be Steam, AA guns on the TRAINS, Tunnesl,
bridges.. etc... Regarding my earlier question (not answered yet), basically the question was what will the minimum / optimum requirements be? The reason for the question is to see if the typical user has enough horsepower to get the full flavor of the game. Right now we are looking at P2 266 is planned. W/ a 2nd gen 3D card. Will supply vessels in general be mannable (ships, trucks, planes or whatever). Neg. Players will be tasked with PROTECTING them. We don't feel like making players run 2 day supply missions accross the atlantic...however...if YOU want to.... :) WILL slower connections be able to keep up with the game? Especially with the voice chat. WIll my 56k run reasonably? No problem at all there. 28800 should be fine :) How can weather be modeled realistically enough for the high CRS standards? Are ya'll actually teaching the computer "what high winds do to the sea", for example? Our standards are high...but FT is getting good results on the stuff we are tackling so far. We want sea/wind/clouds/snow etc...and we will not rest until we have them. I'm looking to hook up with a pretty French barmaid.....will there be any available ? Rafter's Mom will be in the game :) She should do fine :) Is there any limit as to the amount of weight or ammunition that can be carried by infantry? Realistic limits for ammo, fuel, etc. But you will be able to get re-supplied by freinds in say...TRUCKS!! Is detailed damage control planned for capital ships. (dewatering by compartment, counterflooding ect.) Yes, flooding, balasting, fire control (WE HAVE SNAIL HERE GUYS!!!!!!) He won't let us do it wrong Mo how will the ranking system work , will there be people at the top who are paid tto play all day and organize missions , and how will the orders be relayed down the ranks This is a long one. So here's the short ans :) As you gain experience in COMPLETING missions you'll get higher ranks and be exposed to new game responsibilities. The COC will be supported by CRS player and community tools. Who makes more money, Rafter or Mo? Rafter is overpaid MO, will there be a visible limit on players? There has to be. But we are planning to raise the bar in a big way. All I can say for now :/ How will you balance the need for detail in a ground sim with the need for frame rates in a flight sim? We have some good systems in line...there will ultimately need to be some compromise but we are looking to the beta to see how far we can go to getting each aspect as detailed as we can. I'm still trying to envision it being "fun" to have to drive a WWII-vintage tank from a tank farm up to the front only to be killed seconds later by a fighter-bomber. How will you "work around" this? Get good at tanks :) We won't be making players drive for hours on end to get into a fight. Think of the classic WB mission time. We have got a system for ground vehicles that equates to that type of time to target...but it's our "secret ingredient" :) Will Hatch have a hacked f4u in this game also? He never did. A question I brought up on the message boards a bit back, how will building damage be modeled? Obviously the damage from a battleship shell will do more than a bomb, a tank round, or a flame thrower. Theres also the graphic question... anything ya'll could say on this? There will be more than a couple of damage states that building type objects will display. Graphically we'll show a lot of detail, and as the buildings degrade any holes in them will allow projectiles to pass through :) Will soldiers have any cover available on the landscape or will it be completely barren? As it stands now, there doesn't seem to be that much use for camouflage as most of the terrain we have seen is flatlands. Completely barren. :P We'll have a lot of stuff to hide behind and take cover in...trees, bushes, buildings, rolling terrain. Take all you see in those screengrabs with a huge grain of salt. We plan to get the terrain to be very complex in regards to cover/objects. How are you planing to insure that players who have a WAREZ version will not be able to play online or not at all? Can't say. We have lot's of experience dealing with hackers and we plan to do our best to keep the gaming fair. Will Cornerd Rat be at E3 in May? Yes...a few of them will attend What kind of graphics support will there be? Open GL D3D will you be able to knock a building over and make a dead in to set up traps or things like that? You will be able to take cover behind damage objects...but MOVING them is another story. We'll see. In relation to Sixxo's question, will we be able to dig? Such as making trenches/foxholes? We want that badly. But there are issues involved with creating negative ground levels on the fly. It's a bear. We will try for sure, but there are simply no promisses on that front :( How will respawning work in the game? If you are killed do you start from a certain point? Yes. There are all types of facilities that host spawn point for vehicles. You will need to choose a spot to respawn after death...but it won't be where you died. Once built, will the theatres function throughout the war, or will we have a 1940: Blitzkreig theatre and a 1944:D-Day theatre? Yes. We will use the SAME theater all the way through, and events will remain persistant. It's going to be like nothing else. If the Germs take out the Eiffel tower in '40...it's not going to be coming back :) Will damage to an infantryman be represented by the standard Quake-like Health bar or is there a more detailed personal damage model? Think R6 instead of Q3 when you talk about taking rounds in WWIIOL. It's going to be a very wide span of damage vs ability. Have you come up with an answer to the off-line trainer Q yet? Not yet. You'll be able to practice offline, and we may requier players to qualify in vehicles. Stuff like the 262 or Tiger tank will need to be handled by guys who have some experience. Offline is a good place to get your feet wet before logging on. will there be a time out period during a respawn? Yes. We can't really say how just yet. We need to take the systems we have on paper through beta first to see when they need tweeking. We won';t support "instaspawn" after death Is there anything preventing "campers" at the respawn locations? Well campers can be killed, and every facility will have it's own defences. Hanging out deep in enemy territory is unhealthy. Will the infantrymen be able to shoot down airplanes that fly over with there regular guns? If they are really really good :) Also, players will be able to man AAA guns...quad-20mm :) Dual 40MM :) WHEEEEEEHAAA Will we have amphibious vehicles at some point? Yes. Invasion FLEETS are planned. Will the world be reset if one side achieves a final victory, or crosses the point of no return? If a side is defeated ___COMPLETELY__ the war will end. Then reset is the only way to keep playing. But I think that winning this "war" will not be something that a few players can make happen in a few days...or weeks. Will player models show damage , such as bullet wounds , blown off limbs or muddy uniform? Yes. Not sure about the gore levels yet :) I have a young sister But the damage standard will support blown off "things" and they will effect performance of the "mother thing".
The "guy" looks weird cause we modeled killer :) But yes, hatches will open and close etc. Ypu'll have to articulate them to get in and out etc. And yup, spit man is tank man right now. We still can't afford a change of clothes for the poor bastige This is a question that MO HAS TO answer for me, and I know I've now had my fair turn. Use this for comic relief if you like. Patton vs. Monty? (by the same token, Letterman vs. Leno?) :-) Leno get's health point right now :( Monty was a panty waist. is the the game going to be single player as well as multiplayer? If I say yes will you let me live? In my prior question I meant to say will the infantry have access to anti tank weapons? Yes definately. Grunts will have to. Will Navay Ships on planes be able to sail or fly to the us,canada,mexico ect.. and launch an attack on those countries main land? Eventualy....when those
theaters open Well yes and no. Terrain will effect performance for sure right away, and aim etc. But to take damage from ground "pounding" will have to wait until we have some "extra" time and good dat Ok MO......the big question...... Flat Rate or Hourly? How's your credit? flat :) Will aircraft like B-17's be manned by multiple players? Definately Not a question, just wanted to say from what I've heard, that "never a doubt you guys will do it" seems right on the money;) Thanks for the vote HC. We have bitten off a huge ammount here, but we are very pumped about getting it done , and done right, SO WE CAN PLAY THE DAMNED THING:) so if I bail out... can I ground pound it back?? Yes, depending on how long you got. You can also get "picked up" by a buddy if you call him on the RT :) Should be fun. what's next for CRS? What theater of war will be modeled after blitzkrieg is complete? Also, what else will CRS make with this sim's increadable abilities? Perhaps a spin-off Korean War ect.? Blitz....then CBI and probably on to Africa and then Russian front ...and on and on :) Other projects need to be hush hush...but there ARE some boiling. How will yall work development on other stuff? Like the RPG, will it take resources from WW2O, or will hire more folk semi-exclusively for the other projects? We are growing all the time. The new projects will need new staff, but our dev team will be a shared resource...they rock! Will there be another chat session like this is in the near future? Yes. If you guys want more we can do it weekly. It's up the Rafter, but send in your feedback. Thanks for coming out guys...and dolls...it was fun. Rafter (Jan 20, 2000 9:53:14
PM)
Thanks to Mo for taking the time to answer our questions, and Rafter and the rest of the Playnet.com staff for setting this all up. Great work! |
 |
Playnet
Inc., World War II Online, WWII Online, and Cornered Rat Software, are
trademarks of Playnet
Incorporated.
Copyright 2000 Mike DelPrete
"Booya"
