Lunch with the Developers â€“ Part 1/4

FoxWMB · Sep 22, 2013

Lunch with the Developers ? Part 1/4 | gamescom | World of Warplanes

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 wouldnâ€™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 gameâ€™s current state and Wargamingâ€™s vision for its future.
Find out what exclusive information they revealed in our four-part article below. Letâ€™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 â€œWorld ofâ€¦â€ titles

A smaller â€˜Slim Clientâ€™

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 canâ€™t pick up any new scoops in the process.
Letâ€™s start with a subject that has been brought up many times during the Q&Aâ€™s and that captures the imagination of our players a lot â€“ the unification of our three â€œWorld ofâ€¦â€ 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 youâ€™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 â€œWorld ofâ€¦â€ 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 itâ€™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 â€“ 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 â€˜Slim Clientâ€™. As of now, itâ€™s pretty much in the same state as the unified launcher. That means that weâ€™re talking about it, we know what needs to be done and already have begun some development on it. However, weâ€™re still far away from releasing it.
Whatâ€™s the reason for the World of Warplanes client being so much bigger than the World of Tanks one â€“ especially given that the game hasnâ€™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 â€˜Slim Clientâ€™ 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 donâ€™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. Youâ€™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 couldnâ€™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 â€˜oldâ€™ content back. Our guys have been actively working on this since June and as of now, itâ€™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 weâ€™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 planeâ€™s tail and you â€˜pullâ€™ 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, youâ€™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 weâ€™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 â€˜Mouseâ€™ version.
OG: Me too. However, I did enjoy 3.5 a lot. When it makes its return, Iâ€™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 havenâ€™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 gameâ€™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 thatâ€™s working on the tutorials right now will switch over to game mode production and resume the development of this long-awaited feature. We didnâ€™t want to rush the production of this. In the end, itâ€™s supposed to feel like a completely new experience and not just a clone of the main mode. Itâ€™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 weâ€™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 doesnâ€™t allow for any other formats than the rectangular ones we already have.
OG: Trust us when we say that weâ€™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, itâ€™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. Weâ€™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 developersâ€™ plans for eSports, new planes, the matchmaker and what new maps to expect soon!
See you in Part II, Pilots!
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FoxWMB · Sep 26, 2013

Lunch with the Developers â€“ Part 2/4

Lunch with the Developers ? Part 2/4 | gamescom | World of Warplanes

part 1 - http://www.gameogre.com/forums/world-warplanes/36332-lunch-developers-part-1-4-a.html

After Part I, our lunch with developers Oleg Gotynyan and Miroslav Baranenko continues. Letâ€™s dive right in!
Oleg Gotynyan
General Manager Persha Studia

Miroslav Baranenko
Head of Art

Interviewed by our World of Warplanes Editor Elijah Tabere
In this article we discuss:

eSports plans

New planes

Match Maker

New maps

eSports is becoming bigger and bigger in World of Tanks with tournaments being held almost all year round. Do you plan to include proprietary options for it as well in World of Warplanes?
OG: Absolutely. However, the development of all eSports-relevant features wonâ€™t begin before release of the game. Although we all agree that it is a very important part of whatâ€™s to come for World of Warplanes, itâ€™s not on our â€œMust-haveâ€ list for features, without which the game just canâ€™t launch.
MB: That does not mean that we havenâ€™t already started thinking about it. Weâ€™re learning from World of Tanks and want the eSports mode for World of Warplanes to be very efficient when it arrives. There will be an Observer Mode for spectating, as well as many other features that will make participating in eSports more accessible for the players.
OG: We just finished work on a new camera architecture last week. This work will benefit the development of the aforementioned Observer Mode. First weâ€™ll tweak the Post-Mortem view, then maybe some improvements to the camera during battles and then weâ€™ll get to the Observer Mode view. However, this is not for before the release.

On the other hand, release day is not too far away by now. People wonâ€™t have to wait for it for too long, right?
OG: Thatâ€™s true. We have a list of things that we want to tackle immediately after release. Itâ€™ll all come down to prioritisation. ESports is pretty high up on that list. We all agree that World of Warplanes lends itself very well to eSports. The game is dynamic, fast, has a tactical gameplay and looks visually very appealing for spectators.
MB: Weâ€™ll have to pay a little more attention to balancing when it comes to designing maps for eSports. In competitive environments like this, topography and the layout of ground targets needs to be absolutely fair for both sides. Obviously we canâ€™t just make a sea map with flat ocean below and clear sky above without anything else in it. (laughs) Itâ€™s a little more complicated than that, but weâ€™ll figure it out.

Oleg Gotynyan (3rd from the right) and our very own Alberto "Bertiux" Delgado (far right) meet fans at this year's Community Party during gamescom 2013.

Letâ€™s talk about new planes. On stage youâ€™ve already revealed that the German Junkers Ju 87 â€œStukaâ€ is going to make an appearance in the game. Can you say when we can expect it?
MB: Yes, we did say that it was coming, but we canâ€™t disclose right now when exactly it will arrive. As you know, we have promised the British planes before release of the game, and with this day coming up soon, right now, weâ€™re mostly concentrating on delivering on this promise.
OG: What we can say is that we have a plan for the coming year and a half for the deployment of new aircraft in the game. We wonâ€™t stop after the British. Expect to see expansions of the German tech tree, new classes for the U.S. plane fleet, as well as very interesting new branches of iconic Soviet fighters, just to name a few. Our plans go even way beyond that, but itâ€™s too early to talk about that now. Somewhere along the line the Stuka will make it into the game.
MB: The hardest part about introducing new planes is game designers changing their minds at the very last minute about the features of a certain new aircraft or branch extension. Major updates, which bring a whole group of new planes, need to be planned and worked on long time ahead of their release. When all of a sudden entire aircraft get taken out, or replaced by others, this has ramifications for the entire process. To give you an example, just last June alone we lost around 500-600 working hours when a projected branch extension was revamped. Two German planes got taken out of our plans for an update, which caused us to have to do a lot of new work on the balancing front for the remaining scheduled aircraft.
OG: That doesnâ€™t mean that these planes are lost, of course. Sooner or later, game designers will dig those â€œlaggardsâ€ back up and weâ€™ll end up using them in some fashion â€“ whether itâ€™s as Premium planes or maybe even gift aircraft. Last-minute changes happen from time to time in all development processes. Tanks are probably being moved around even more! (laughs)

During our lunch, Miroslav revealed our plans regarding the introduction of new aircraft in the future.

From the forums, we know that the matchmaker keeps being a hot topic. There are proponents of reducing the tier spread, in order to make the matches more even. At the same time, other players feel that this would make battles less diverse and thus less entertaining. Others again see no need for action. They are happy with the current state and say that you can â€˜out-playâ€™ pilots of a higher tier plane through experience. What is the position of the development team on this?
OG: We are currently working on a new version of the matchmaker, which is scheduled to arrive soon after release. We know about the concerns that some of our players raise and want to address them. In fact, we already have in the past â€“ even if the results were mixed to say the least. To tell you a true funny story, about a year ago, we had scheduled some changes to the matchmaker, which we couldnâ€™t deploy in time for an upcoming update. We therefore decided to postpone the introduction of this particular modification until the next version. However, because of an oversight, we forgot to remove the mention of this introduction from the already announced patch notes. People thought that this feature had already made it into the game and began giving their feedback on it. 40% of players said the matchmaker improved, 40% said it got significantly worse and only 20% didnâ€™t seem to notice any changes. (laughs) So, even though we obviously continue working on it, you see that the perception of the matchmakerâ€™s efficiency varies a lot from person to person.
MB: The new version will be better at taking into account the level of all players joining in a flight. Other factors will be taken into consideration as well, which should lead to an overall improvement of the game balance. We will also work on reducing the time that the matchmaker takes to assemble the teams. With more players comes a greater need for a quick and efficient system that will allow everybody to have fun.

Check out some views from two of our latest maps 'Fjords' and 'Eastern Front'!

Miroslav, youâ€™re often asked here at gamescom how long the team takes to design an aircraft from its first conception until final arrival in the game. However, nobody ever seems to ask about how long it takes to create a map. From experience we can tell that thereâ€™s one or two maps coming out about every 2-3 versions. Is it accurate to say that the creation of one map takes on average about this span of time?
MB: Every map we produce requires on average 800 working hours. Usually, weâ€™re looking at a development time of about two months per map. Normally, we have two maps in production at the same time. Depending on the situation, we then decide if we publish both, or keep one of the two for a rework with a later release.

Earlier onstage, you revealed that you were working on city maps. Does that mean weâ€™ll see a new city map in the game soon?
MB: I was talking in general terms. weâ€™re working on city maps among others. Although itâ€™s too early to give away concrete details yet, we can say is that there will be a city map thatâ€™s inspired by a city in Western Europe.
OG: At the moment, when developing new maps, we try to work with different altitude levels. For example, a very cool map, which weâ€™re preparing for after release right now, manages to incorporate multiple â€œbattle arenasâ€ that are separated from each other through different altitude plateaus. Players will be battling in between these different levels, of which every single one is going to feature a unique feeling.
You will get to see a sort-of first version of this gameplay on the â€œFjordsâ€ map, which is going to be released in the next update. The new map with the different altitude plateaus is going to take the same concept to an even greater level. It should be a lot of fun.
MB: In terms of map production, we just recently restructured the teams that are responsible for it. If you look at the latest maps that we released, like â€œAsian Borderâ€ and â€œPlateauâ€, you can already see an improvement in terms of quality of the work they produce. Both of these maps look visually stunning, and offer new and exciting gameplay through clever use of environmental factors such as cloud levels, ground topography and target layout.
However, weâ€™re not only chasing great heights. Since many air battles actually happened over rather simple terrain, â€œflatâ€ maps are in production too. Our goal is it to make every map fun, regardless of its relief.

Can you talk about how you want to achieve this?
MB: Mountains are a key gameplay element in our game. People have to fly around them, reach new heights by going above them, or use them for cover in dogfights. None of these elements exist on a flat map. However, we try to find a way to introduce what we call â€˜virtual heightsâ€™.
OG: On one particular city map, which weâ€™ve been working on for multiple months now, we use fog, clouds and heavy anti-aircraft fire to create zones that act like mountains. That means that through extensive use of these elements, we can create different conditions in various areas of the map that will force the player to gain altitude, fly around or completely avoid entrance into a specific sector. This is a very unusual concept, which we havenâ€™t tried before. So weâ€™re not entirely convinced of how this will work out in the end. Maybe it will make it into the regular map pool, maybe it will appear later in a new game mode. Weâ€™ll see.

It seems that every time we introduce a new map, itâ€™s a high-tier map of huge size. Will people who fly lower tiers also get to see new maybe smaller maps in the future?
OG: Five of our coming maps will be either for mid-tier or high-tier planes with appropriate distances and sizes. After the introduction of those, weâ€™ll shift back to creating new maps for the lower tiers. Itâ€™s definitely planned. We were lacking high-tier maps for a long time when people had to fly on â€˜Pacificâ€™ even with Tier X planes. Once this has been dealt with, weâ€™ll be able to concentrate on smaller size maps as well.

Not too long ago we published the stats of our Closed Beta, which revealed that most people played on Tier IV-V planes. This means that many only flew on â€œNational Parkâ€ and â€œPacificâ€ most of the time. Wouldnâ€™t it have been better to give those guys a little more diversity?
OG: Definitely! You canâ€™t even imagine how much we agree with our players. After a while, we just couldnâ€™t see these maps anymore! (laughs) Launching the game and landing on â€œPacificâ€ again for the millionth time was a challenge for us as well! However, we first had to nail down our map creation process and technology. Thatâ€™s why we couldnâ€™t immediately put all our resources in just the addition of new content. A lot of time was spent on reworking the already existing maps in terms of balance and visual overhauls. When you make improvements to your rendering engine, you need to rework the old maps too to adjust for it, right? So we did just that and spent a lot of time in the process whenever our technology evolved. â€œHarbourâ€ alone was redesigned, retextured and repainted so many times, that now we could have added five new maps in the same timeframe.
We completely share the opinion if our Closed Beta testers about how bad it was, having only â€œPacificâ€ available for your flights. It was a difficult time for all of us. At least the players had the option not to play the map when they couldnâ€™t see it anymore. We didnâ€™t have that luxury, since we had to keep on developing it. (laughs) Now that weâ€™ve established our tools, weâ€™re working hard to add to the map pool as quickly as we can.

Join us next time when we tackle subjects such as historical accuracy, the gameâ€™s Free-2-Win aspect, possible plans for a tablet version, and the developersâ€™ opinion on the current competition.
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FoxWMB · Oct 5, 2013

Lunch with the Developers â€“ Part 3/4

Lunch with the Developers ? Part 3/4 | gamescom | World of Warplanes

With Part I and Part II out of the way, hereâ€™s the third part of our interview with World of Warplanes developers Oleg Gotynyan and Miroslav Baranenko.
Oleg Gotynyan
General Manager Persha Studia

Miroslav Baranenko
Head of Art

Interviewed by our World of Warplanes Editor Elijah Tabere
In this article we discuss:

Historical Accuracy

Free-2-Win

Tablet version of the game

Just a couple of months ago, the re-introduction of controversial inscriptions and insignia to World of Tanks sparked a huge debate across all our international communities about historical accuracy in the game. How did your team perceive this discussion and whatâ€™s the developersâ€™ position on these types of decorations in World of Warplanes? How far can historical accuracy go in your opinion?
MB: What we will try to do is stick as close as possible to recreating authentic aircraft with all the small details that featured on them. If this means adding a specific tagline which has historically appeared on such a plane, then itâ€™s likely that it will find its way into our game as well. However, we will not show any symbols or words that are illegal in any of the countries where our game is being played. Other than that, we donâ€™t make any political affiliations and try to recreate historically correct planes in an authentic, yet fun environment.
OG: Quite frankly, we followed the entire discussion about potentially controversial writing on the tanks only from afar. The entire thing is less relevant for planes because historically there was far less inscription on warplanes from our era. What you will see in terms of visual customisation options in World of Warplanes will be mostly symbols, portraits and nose art that were much more widely used during that time.
MB: We already have a lot of additional designs in stock which weâ€™ll include to the game over time. They are not really hard to produce and take only little time in development. Painting a cool logo to be added as an optional texture is one of the easier tasks, but it is not essential for release, so we are keeping it for later. We will get to it, once weâ€™ve finalised all the essentials. However, there will be an additional slot on the planes for extra emblems and weâ€™re already working on that.

Will Free-2-Win features make an appearance in World of Warplanes as well?
OG: Yes, absolutely. Weâ€™ll have basically exactly the same principles for our economics as the ones that youâ€™re already familiar with in World of Tanks. Expect to see the option to buy Premium consumables for credits in the game very soon, probably at release. The ability to acquire high-end consumables for Gold/Tokens is already ready for the game right now. As soon as weâ€™ve figured out the final pricing details, weâ€™ll make a lot of premium items available for credits as well.
Weâ€™re not concerned that this will destabilise the game. In the end, we never sell any game-changing articles. The skill of the player piloting the plane is still the defining factor that determines the overall rate of success. In this regard, weâ€™re able to build off what World of Tanks has already established. Our company has laid out clear guidelines for economic structures to follow in all Wargaming products and we intend to make this a reality in the game as soon as possible.

Anton Sitnikov, a Producer for World of Warplanes, recently mentioned in an interview that itâ€™s not impossible to see a tablet version of the game sometime in the future. Here during gamescom, youâ€™ve been asked about this by fans as well. Can you tell us a little bit more about it?
OG: The idea has been discussed. However, it is way too early to get excited just now as this project is still far from becoming a reality. As we said here during our Q&Aâ€™s, we need to concentrate on finishing the PC version of the game first. Only after that can we start to think about porting the game to other devices.
MB: You have to keep in mind that the game is of a very fast nature and that converting it to a device with a touch interface such as a tablet is a very complicated matter. It already takes a lot to be able to understand the ways of a fast-moving plane in 3D space on the PC. Handling this accurately and being prolific at using the controls to hunt down other moving targets isnâ€™t exactly childâ€™s play and could be even more difficult on a tablet.
OG: This is why I personally prefer the idea of bringing World of Warplanes to consoles first. You already have the option to use a gamepad for steering your plane right now. Making the transition from your PC screen to a TV, keeping these same familiar controls, should be an easy step to take. If we ever release a tablet version of World of Warplanes, it will look and play more differently from the PC original than what you can see with Blitz for World of Tanks. As weâ€™ve said though, itâ€™s still way too early to speak about this now in any concrete terms.

In the last part of our gamescom talk with the developers, we speak about how new game modes are created, ask if World of Tanks has influenced the development of World of Warplanes and get to know Oleg and Miroslavâ€™s thoughts on gamescom itself. Find out this and more in the fourth and final part of our series soon, right here on the portal!

Sit tight until Part IV, Pilots!
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FoxWMB · Oct 7, 2013

Lunch with the Developers â€“ Part 4/4

Lunch with the Developers ? Part 4/4 | General News | World of Warplanes

Pilots,
After Parts I, II and III, our long-lasting talk with developers Oleg Gotynyan and Miroslav Baranenko comes to a close with the fourth and final part of the interview. Letâ€™s get to it!
Oleg Gotynyan
General Manager Persha Studia

Miroslav Baranenko
Head of Art

Interviewed by our World of Warplanes Editor Elijah Tabere
In this article we discuss:

Game mode creation

Synergies between World of Tanks and World of Warplanes

Gamescom 2013

Wargaming in 15 years

Ivan Kulbich, Head of Game Design, was recently quoted saying that before arriving at the current standard battles, ten other game modes have been tested during the development process of the game. Can you tell us about this?
OG: Itâ€™s true that weâ€™ve worked and tried a lot of game modes in the past â€“ probably even more than ten overall. However, what you need to understand is that these were, for the most part, only rudimentary draft versions of game modes, which a programmer had rapidly assembled for testing purposes in barely a couple of days. What usually followed was a test of this initial base version by our game designers, who were tasked with assessing if the mode was promising enough for further development.
Overall, we must have run tests like these until about summer of 2012. The closer we came to the end of last year, the more we stopped with these kinds of â€œexperimentsâ€ and started concentrating only on either â€œMust-have-for-releaseâ€ features, or polishing what we already had.
I seem to remember that there was a mode among these, where the players had to take out NPC-driven bombers, before they managed to reach a target. There were plenty of others as well. But honestly, itâ€™s been too long ago to recall all of them.
All these modes never left prototype stage. You never really considered having any of them ready for release?
OG: Initially it was planned to ship the game with two game modes. However, the more we saw how expensive it creating and balancing such a second game mode would be, the more we thought that it was not mandatory for release at least.
From the past we had seen that World of Tanks did very well with just one game mode for a very long time. We figured that we were in the same position, where itâ€™s more important to first polish one main battle mode, and think about all potential extensions to it later. Itâ€™s normal in game development, to shift tasks around, based on the actual current state of the game. In our case, the main standard battle mode had evolved so well, that we felt it worthy and able to carry the release of the game on its own.

What previously acquired knowledge from developing World of Tanks helps your team develop World of Warplanes today?
MB: The basic gameplay principles of World of Tanks, obviously also apply to us. We benefit from their experience, sometimes by building on their knowledge, sometimes by literally being able to employ people, who either have or still actively take part in World of Tanks development.
OG: There are a lot of server-side features, which have initially been developed for World of Tanks, which we also use for World of Warplanes. Their server architecture, which allows to switch between clusters for example, will be necessary for us as well. Obviously we wonâ€™t reinvent this, if we already have the technology ready for it from a previous project.
A lot of things that make the game run â€“ not in the client but rather in the web part behind it â€“ like the payment system, support program or Backyard interface, have also been directly copied from World of Tanks.
In terms of gameplay, we knew from the start that we were going to develop a 15 vs. 15 player instance-based MMO. Even the interface of our game is supposed to resemble World of Tanks. However, we try to adapt it for our purposes, avoiding mistakes that have been made in the initial game.
Weâ€™ve seen that youâ€™ve been busy changing the interface a lot in the last half a year or so.
OG: Indeed we keep constantly working on it. Thatâ€™s because the interface largely dictated our release window. We couldnâ€™t release the game without a working in-game shop, a user profile page, an achievements page and so on and so forth. These features were crucial and had to be prioritised for us to be able to finish the game. So we worked a lot on it, even copying more from World of Tanks when we saw that creating a new element from scratch would throw us too far behind time-wise.
MB: The World of Tanks developers have also helped us a lot with the gameâ€™s economy. We could simply rely on their knowledge, to adapt a stable and fair system which benefits both us and the players.
Lastly, theyâ€™ve always consulted us on questions regarding the balance of the game. Overall, even though the direct interaction wasnâ€™t too extensive, with everybody being busy on their own project, we still benefitted a lot from their experience.

Developer Oleg Gotynian explains the future of World of Warplanes.
How did you like the Wargaming gamescom 2013 experience? What are your thoughts on the event?
MB: We love it, even though itâ€™s very exhausting after a couple of days on stage in a row.
OG: It is an amazing event and weâ€™re happy to be able to come to represent our game. What I liked particularly was yesterdayâ€™s Community Party. It was very heart-warming to meet and greet with our testers face to face and to get their direct feedback. To see their eyes light up when they speak about the game, and to be able to answer their genuinely interested questions was great.
Was this the first time that youâ€™ve met with players in such a fashion?
OG: Well, with European players yes, that was the first time. Weâ€™ve met other players before, of course, but it was always in different conditions at focus tests or by individual invitation. Weâ€™ve never met with players in such a loose and friendly atmosphere before. That was just great.
MB: I liked this yearâ€™s gamescom even more than the last. Our team has grown together now and everybody was more efficient. This allowed us to put together a much tighter-run show, which had an amazing vibe about it.
OG: Everything worked like clockwork. We want to extend a sincere thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the work that our EU team has done â€“ from supporting the game to organising gamescom, everything was great. I donâ€™t even know how to top this next year.

Miroslav Baranenko and Oleg Gotynyan with our World of Warplanes Editor Elijah Tabere (center) who led this interview.
Our company just recently celebrated its 15 year anniversary. Where would you like to see Wargaming go in the next 15 years?
OG: Thatâ€™s a good question! It reminds me of how one of our leading developers has written a development plan for World of Tanks until 2025! (laughs) But in all seriousness, I think the answer to this question can be summed up in our Wargaming motto: â€œConquer the world!â€
We already have 16 offices worldwide on every continent except Africa and the Antarctic, and most likely, weâ€™ll get to those too. In the end, it will obviously lead to more and bigger games. So far itâ€™s only been World of Tanks, but weâ€™re only inches away from releasing World of Warplanes as well. Next up will be World of Tanks XBOX 360 Edition, where our American colleagues are already mounting an Open Beta test. Then comes World of Tanks Generals, followed by World of Tanks Blitz for mobiles. After that youâ€™ll hear about the current project of Chris Taylor, which people will be very eager to learn more about once itâ€™s announced.
This is just the beginning! Some of you may have heard that we recently acquired the rights to the â€œMaster of Orionâ€ and â€œTotal Annihilationâ€ series. Obviously we intend to make use of those as well. So there is still a lot to come.
MB: Already every 100th person on the planet plays World of Tanks (with 70 Million players worldwide). In 15 years, we expect this number to be much higher. (laughs)
OG: Letâ€™s just modestly say that we hope weâ€™ll get to a point, where everybody, who owns a computing device and is connected to the internet, will play some kind of Wargaming game.
As we say in our mission statement, we aim to make legendary games. Just recently, during Research and Development for a future title, we took a step back after the initial discussions and asked ourselves: â€œIs this a truly legendary game, weâ€™re creating?â€ For us the answer always has to be yes. We donâ€™t want to produce cheap games to earn a quick buck. Weâ€™re in it for the long haul.
Right now we focus on MMOs, so every new title, must contain something fresh that moves the genre forward. We care about our games and only want to work with people who share this passion. Thatâ€™s why in 15 years, we envision every player to play some kind of Wargaming game. Whether itâ€™s a futuristic version of World of Warplanes or any of our other titles is secondary. Theyâ€™ll all be great. Weâ€™ll make sure of that.

Thatâ€™s it for our developer interview from gamescom. We hope, youâ€™ll join us in thanking Oleg and Miroslav for the time that theyâ€™ve attributed us.
Hereâ€™s to our next 15 years together, Pilots!
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FoxWMB Clubbed The Pit

FoxWMB Clubbed The Pit

FoxWMB Clubbed The Pit

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