The press releases talk how players can "Take Command of an entire armoured force consisting of up to 1000 soldiers, tank divisions, armoured vehicles, artillery and air force." How are you allowing players to handle that many units at one time?
You are right, managing a huge army may seem to be troublesome at first sight. But we took several steps to make Order of War accessible. Firstly, the player can use an “active pause” option to stop the game, analyze situation on the battlefield, give necessary orders and then get back to action. Secondly, in Order of War we used the so called squad-based control system so there’s no need to micromanage every separate unit issuing orders to groups of them instead. Simple and clear UI with a minimap will also make the live of a “virtual commander” easier allowing him to control the battle using only a mouse.
What kind of resource management is in the game?
There’s no resource gathering in Order of War as I’ve already said. The in-game economic system is based on capturing and holding strategic areas that give access to resource points which the player can spend on buying replacements or summoning airstrikes and off-map artillery support. Moreover, with every newly conquered flag the player gets additional types of units available on the reinforcement menu.
Was there every thought of bringing the game to the console or is it just to complex for a controller? What are your thoughts on other companies that have tried to bring strategy games to consoles (like the Lord of the Rings games and Halo Wars)?
Of course, both we and our publisher considered the option of bringing Order of War to the consoleBringing strategy games to consoles is a feasible task, though one should keep in mind that there would be a significant amount of work required to create a new UI and alter some mechanics so that the game would be built from the ground up for that system and audience.
It’s rather difficult for me to comment on other companies’ performance, but I believe that they are doing a great job, because this direction is very promising and the experience they get might be of great use to every developer who decides to follow their steps.
Strategy games have evolved over the years, as one of the top experts in developing strategy games can you talk about where strategy games have been and where you think they are going in the future in terms of gameplay?
Strategy games are evolving in the directions that are suggested by game developers :D. There have been quite a few projects released recently that step over the bounds of classical RTS formula with resource-gathering and base-building, and Order of War is no exception. Today we see this genre evolving quickly and splitting into subgenres. And only time will show which of them will prove to be “durable”.
It’s exciting, however, to see that developers, including ourselves, are taking steps in gameplay that are attracting new audiences to the strategy world, both players from other gaming genres as well as more “casual” players. Games like Order of War and World in Conflict that have removed base building and tech trees in favor of action and tactical decision-making, appeal very much to the FPS gamer who is more used to jumping instantly into combat and working with quick “respawn” times. As the strategy audience broadens, only time will tell where the genre heads and what new innovations will emerge.
Order of War is one step in that process and brings its own twist on strategy that we think will appeal to a lot of people.
Will there be a Pacific campaign expansion? Are there any thoughts about extending the game down the road? Any word on mod support for the game?
It’s too soon to speculate on Order of War expansions and add-ons. Though we, of course, have certain plans regarding further development of the project, but unfortunately they can’t be revealed at the moment. As for the second part of your question, the release version of Order of War won’t allow any mod options, but we’re considering the possibility ofan SDK and map-editor in the add-on.
What kind of multiplayer support will the game have?
Order of War will feature up to 2vs2 LAN and Internet battles powered by GameSpy technologies with 3 playable factions to choose of: USA, Germany and USSR (not playable in single player). There will be a separate rating system (with ranks and medals) for each party and a general one reflecting the overall progress of the user. Multiplayer clashes will offer deathmatch-style experience with maps being divided into several strategic areas and players’ task being to capture all of them and eliminate the enemy applying whatever tactics and strategies they want. Right now we are working on a bunch of interesting multiplayer features that will be revealed closer to the release date. Be sure to try Order of War MP demo set to release September 15.
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