In August last year Nival loudly announced the return of the series " Blitzkrieg " – the third part of the game goes under the motto" We have something to be proud!". Almost immediately after the announcement, we went to the studio and played a closed pre-alpha version-we were demonstrated by a multi-user regime.
► Sergey Orlovsky, President Nival, answered our questions.
The main thing we learned is in the new " Blitzkrieg »Asynchronous multiplayer. Players do not need to be online at the same time, and the attacking and defending, in fact, play two different games, although they are on the same map. First, the player is engaged in strategic planning – he builds a base and sets up a line of protection. Then he begins to storm the fortifications of other players – for this, everyone needs to find their own approach and develop a separate tactic.
Since that time, the project has been thoroughly processed, and radio reigned in the information field. But “Gambling” resolutely violates the silence: we talked with Sergey Orlovsky, the president of the company, about the development of the genre and about those details and intricacies of the game that no one has heard of us before. Next, you are waiting for all the most importantly about an ambitious strategy from Nival studio. Most of the information is the purest world exclusive, and you, dear readers, will be the first to know.
About the genre
Is it true that you announced the Blitzkrieg 3 as the answer to the scandal around the Company of Heroes 2, or is it nothing more than a coincidence?
No, not a coincidence. Development " Blitzkrieg 3 »Began long before the described case, but there was no official announcement. The established with Company of Heroes 2 The situation also hit us, so we decided to say that we are making an excellent, historically correct strategy in which you can play for all three sides of the conflict without afraid to hang the next labels.
The official website states that Blitzkrieg 3 is designed to revive the RTS genre. What do you think, how the genre will develop further? On the one hand, we have an e -sports Starcraft, on the other – a series of “enemy’s rear” with direct management of characters and high interactivity, with the third – simplification of the base management and work with small detachments, as in Coh or Warhammer. What do you like the most? What model you would like to take on, "Blitzkrieg"?
One of the problems of the RTS genre is the absence of fresh ideas. Ten years ago, several new genres grew from RTS – Moba, Tower Defense, Hero Survival, but the genre itself almost did not develop. Of course, there were attempts to make games more tactical, as in the case of Company of Heroes , or add a deep plot, as in Starcraft 2, But this almost did not affect the basic gameplay. At the same time, the strategies themselves online developed quite vigorously – take the same Travian , – Moreover, recently, especially actively towards the asynchronous multiplayer. The idea to combine RTS with an asynchronous multipleor, in my opinion, lay on the surface, and I am a little surprised that no one has done this so far.
Tell us about the asynchronous multiplayer. Was I wanted to choose something more traditional, or in the new Blitzkrig, the war with the other player takes place only at the level of "one is preparing defense, the other attacks"?
And what is the point of doing something traditional? If Moba has already defeated the classic RTS for today, why turn back? We play for the sake of new emotions and new experience, so we decided to bet on a combination of RTS with an asynchronous multipleor. This has not happened yet, and this idea is much deeper and more interesting than "one builds, the other attacks". The mode is, in fact, the game of single RTS mission created by other users, and the gameplay here at the junction of a single-user regime and multiplayer.
In general, asynchronous multiplayer is the most modern trend in PvP-works, and we are convinced that it will be more popular among players and developers. There are many inconveniences in synchronous games: a long search for an opponent (especially in a high rating), high requirements for the quality of the Internet, swearing in a chat, language barrier. We have a rich experience here: for example, our Prime World Now the most popular Russian fantasy project with the simultaneous presence of tens of thousands of players in the game, but the search for an opponent in a high rating at night can take ten minutes at night – and there is nothing to do with this.
Everything is much more logical in Asinhron: you can play with friends when it is convenient for you, there is no need to wait for the enemy to be online, there are no language barriers and “reservations”, Russian players can play freely against Germans and Americans. Given that people mainly choose their country among the parties to the conflict, this adds to the game of historical realism. And for fans of the classics we will have excellent story campaigns.
► The defender relies on a pre -planned defense and the troops of the garrison.
By the way, the canceled conditionally deposit Command & Conquer intended to combine several different setting. Whether bonus campaigns are planned with an “alternative” history, like the Caribbean crisis?
We are now working hard on three plot campaigns, all of them belong to the period of the Second World War. Additional campaigns can be devoted to other conflicts, now the development team is actively discussing this. Options All Wins Casino sister sites of "alternative history" are also interesting in their own way, but it is too early to make a guess.
About the multiplayer regime
Let's get back to the multiplayer. The conditionally paying project needs to be constantly supported and developed-to release updates, add new troops, maps and other new items. Will new modes and technology appear, are you going to gradually change the metaigr?
Our project is not conditionally paid. We are with " Blitzkrieg 3 ", In principle, now we are conducting a fairly bold experiment: in the game it will be possible to buy only plot campaigns and a premium account that gives acceleration in development. And that's it. No resources, no game currency.
In theory, this is a model that combines all the best features: the lack of compulsory subscription (like F2P) and the lack of micallors, as in a signature model. Yes, we limit ourselves in earnings. And we do it consciously. We hope to get much more players due to this. Let's see how right we are. If the experiment succeeds, this model will set a new fashion, and everyone else will reach behind it. And if not … then, the industry will be content with the usual F2P for many years.
Of course, like any online game, Blitzkrieg 3 will live and develop! New content, new interesting mechanics – all this is in the plans. We want the project to live for a long time and constantly delight its players with new opportunities.
► they plan to distribute the game only through the "number".
In a multiplayer, the player from time to time is engaged in the infrastructure of the base, which brings a certain amount of resources. How this base will develop? You rely on mechanics with timers?
IN " Blitzkrieg 3 "We have" not a base for resources, but resources for the base ". The player receives funds for development in battle, attacking the bases of other players and building the defense of his own, and not pumping “mines and mines”.
We do not plan to use timers. Economic model " Blitzkrieg 3 »Supports the principle of diversity of the gameplay: they built a new building, launched a couple of research – went to fight to get resources for further development. We conducted several fights, earned – now it is necessary to strengthen the base so as not to lose the received resources. Strengthened, again carried out several successful operations, received a reward for the successful protection of your fortified base-you can build something else and the right one and the right. Everything is interconnected, transparent and understandable.
► Authenticity of each unit and detailed models at a height.
Resources are also spent on the purchase of troops. Kopechek infantry, cheaper tanks, tanks more expensive. Will there be unclaimed combat units in the game? For example, an expensive aircraft that has nowhere to use?
Each unit solves its problems, and it is important to competently combine them. You can arrange a howitzer shelling of the enemy base and get a certain advantage – to break a couple of bunkers, for example. You can drop a parachute landing, distracting the forces of defense, and put the main group of troops into battle a little later. Or by covering the smoke curtain to break from the flank.
The player has a set of instruments – and only he himself decides how to use them. This is the same tactics, that multivariate, interesting gameplay that we offer players.
But we understand that the balance of the game changes as players learn to play it, so you can make it good only together. We will soon begin a large -scale closed test, where we just need your help. Taking this opportunity, we urge everyone to participate!
Tell us then how different types of troops interact. You can stick twenty tanks and roll out the enemy’s defense with a steel fist?
Stick a full army of tanks – yes. Roll up the enemy’s defense with their help – only if you are very lucky with the enemy.
What in the attack, that in the defense it will be necessary to create armies in which fighters and equipment effectively interact, complement each other. And the number of possible tactics is simply huge. Well, for example, grenade launchers sitting in the building amazingly "carrying out" equipment. And well done, the one who took with him a couple of units of the assault infantry, which will knock out the enemy infantry from the building in a few seconds and almost without loss, then calmly bring the tanks and destroy the anti -personnel bumps with a couple of salvos.
Or vice versa: if weapon batteries are placed so that they are covered not only by troops, but also by minefields and anti -tank hedgehogs, the same “steel fist” in an attempt to “roll out the defense” stumbles upon mines, loses caterpillars, shoots with the detachments of the defender, tries to go around Hedgehogs, it is blown up again … And all this under the fire of anti -tank guns, which can not reach.
In short, playing with some one “victorious” type of troops is the idea too ineffective, in a real war they are also fighting with only tanks.
► Aviation support can help win even a seemingly hopeless battle.
The new game has a mechanics for the development of troops. Tell us a little more about her. Is the newborn strongly lagging behind the veteran? Is it possible to save dead specialists? Is it possible to go so that we put veterans into defense, and then turned on the game and there is no platoon?
The pumping of the troops will go in two directions: development and improvement at the base – for any detachment; Obtaining combat experience – only for those directly involved in battles. After the battle, the detachments will need a certain number of resources for restoration. Consider that you drove off the equipment to the repair plant, and the infantry was lying through the hospitals. In defense, we generally refused to repair, in the event of a loss, the player loses part of the resources, but the garrison of his base does not suffer. Otherwise, players would have to constantly repair defense.
About a solitary campaign
► Take the best troops and walk through someone else's base in a steam rink – a direct path to loss of resources and lost battle.
And what about a separate and no less important layer of the game – a single -user regime?
At the time of the release of the game there will be three campaigns in it. Their same concept of Blitzkrig unites them – lightning -fast military operations, allowing to achieve the intended goals in the shortest possible time. But the plans are constant to release new and new campaigns.
Campances are strictly attached to historical facts, or you allow liberties and players will be able to lead to the victory of the chosen faction?
In plot campaigns, players will be able to lead their faction to victory without error against historical truth. We chose three different episodes of the war, three Blitzkriegs, in which the army of the USSR, allies and Germany came out winners. For Germany, this is the very beginning of the war when the Wehrmacht troops victoriously entered Paris. The allies campaign will end in Rome, and the game for the USSR will lead the players to the Reichstag in 1945.
► At the start of development, the authors did not exclude the possibility of the appearance of a traditional multiplayer.
As far as we know, an episode with the Vietnamese war was also planned, but “for ideological reasons” he did not enter the game. What are these reasons, because the mechanics of the Blitzkrig would have fit perfectly into such a conflict.
The reasons were actually not “ideological”, but ideological. And the idea is that the Blitzkrieg series is primarily the Second World War. We decided that it would be wrong as a starting campaign to release Vietnamese. But Vietnam is almost ready with us, so hands will reach him too, but later.
In the campaigns there will be a unified level of complexity, or it can be configured?
Each mission in campaigns contains the main task and several additional. The fulfillment or failure of the player of additional tasks will determine the final complexity of the mission.
► But according to statistics, only 10-15% of players came to the multi -user regime of the first two projects.
Will players give the opportunity to use unusual types of technology-say, Soviet Toji Toji or German mines-tanks "Goliath"?
First of all, we want to talk about large, large -scale operations of the Second World War, and in them the ball is not the ball of exotic. However, we cannot ignore the unique developments of that time. So, we had a “dora” in our game, a German super -hungry railway gun. Caliber – 800 millimeters, shell weight – more than seven tons! A separate mission with its participation will be one of the bonuses for those who pre -order the “strategic” publication of the game on our website.
What about special units? In terms of Gelb from the occupied countries, the fall of Belgium is of greatest interest, because from the Third Reich it was protected by the world's largest Fort Eben-Emael. Will the fighters with high-explorer and on Deltplanes from the Brandenburg-800 unit, the progenitor of modern special forces will be subordinate to our subordination?
The landing plants in Belgium will be, but not Eben-Emael, but the operation "Nivi". Not as loud as the capture of the Belgian fort, but very interesting in terms of tactical solutions. We will play for German paratroopers, who were supposed to clear the path for tanks, in parallel, not letting the enemy reserves and destroying the enemy’s communications.
And finally – since the game is made on Unity, it can be played not through the client, but from the browser? Is a concomitant application or a version for tablets planned? Can we engage in database management management?
The game will be released on PC, Mac and Linux. We at one time refused the browser version – the project turned out to be too large -scale for the browser. As for the applications on smartphones and tablets, then we have a lot of ideas, but now all our forces are abandoned to finish the main game.
Our project is now on the finish line, and we hope for a successful start in 2015. The most impatient fans of the series, we can advise you to issue a pre -order on the official website. In addition to all three plot campaigns and unique bonuses, they will receive a guaranteed ticket for a closed project test and will be able to first check the “blitzkrieg 3” for strength.
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We hope that we quenched your informational hunger with respect to the new part of the series " Blitzkrieg ". Stay in touch, we will keep you know all the details that appear!