Armored Warfare: World of Tanks formerly from Obsidian

[AN4RCHID]

Indeed, the most likely narrative here is that following the cancellation of the next-gen AAA project, Feargus knew that the options were either to lay off many people undoing all the recovery they had done after FNV metacritic debacle - or take whatever project can be gotten ASAP. Hence, they take the existing relationship with the Russians for their more limited work in Skyforge, and develop this horrible thing.l

Nope.

Other way around.

Armored Warfare lead to Skyforge.

And yes I'm 100% sure.

Why would they be keeping some shitty little game like this secret for 2 years?

 

[uaciaut]

Welp i'd much rather have Obsidian make RPG's since it has some of the more experienced people in the industry who have proven that they're at the very least decent and at best brilliant at making RPG's.

Given that said people did spend most of their youth making the shit that defined the genre and got so little for it, financially at least and most of them got fucked over afterwards repeatedly i really can't say they owe me anything, so if this helps them pay the bills then i hope they do a good job with it and get it over with fast so they can go back to making RPG's.

 

[Semper]

Why would they be keeping some shitty little game like this secret for 2 years?

because russians copy a product owned by other russians which generates a monthly revenue of double digit millions and a constantly growing user base putting facebook to shame. you're not running around talking about your big project while there's nothing to see. right now the announcement generates interest and you can sign for the beta - first step to success.

 

[Duraframe300]

Rich Taylor spakz

Thank you for the great suggestions.

1. We are definitely having more than just Main Battle Tanks in the game. I don't know if I'm cleared to talk about our actual vehicles by name yet, so I'm avoiding mentioning names for right now.

2. Artillery will be part of the game. The exact mechanics of its role are still being iterated on.

3. We have talked internally about supporting infantry in the PVE missions because that absolutely feels like something armored vehicles should be engaged in. I will say that we won't have infantry in the game at launch, but it is an idea that we've been talking about and like. We just want to make sure that we do it at a point where we can focus on it to add them right (good models, animations, AI, etc.), so we aren't focusing on the concept right now.

BTL are pretty awesome. Early on in the project we talked a lot about finding a way for players to be able to control them and still feel engaged in the battle. It felt like players in control of a BLT would move out, place their bridge, and then have nothing else to do for the rest of the match. They'd need to be able to hop into another vehicle to actually participate in the combat, it seems like.

I won't say they will never come along, but for right now, they are not among our launch vehicles.

The vehicles range from the 1950's to modern. We're also looking at near future technology (next 5 years or so), but we'll be sticking to real, built vehicles for our initial lineups.

We are focused on vehicles that were built and approved as our first priority. Second priority are vehicles that were used as prototypes, experiments, and other production efforts that never made it past the testing phases. We currently have no plans for blueprint only vehicles. I think blueprint only vehicles can be interesting (I'm probably one of the few that love the T28 Prototype in WoT...). But there's so many vehicles that were actually built from around the world that I'm sure we'll have...

 

[Name]

Wow they actually seem to be passionate about this game.

 

[Duraframe300]

On barrels interacting with the environment

Good question.

Early on in development, barrels and turrets would collide with the environment just like you would expect in reality.

In practice, it made for very frustrating gameplay for the few months that we had it working that way so at this time, barrels and protruding turrets don't collide with the environment. Getting the barrel jammed against every last rock and wall you drove near made the controls feel really buggy. It didn't just affect where you could turn your turret, it also caused issues in where you could drive or orient your vehicle without moving your turret first, which was a clunky process.

It's something that seems like a good idea for what it'd add to realism, but the impact it has on playing was very negative. I guess we could go for ultra real and have people sheer their barrels off for turning their turrets into rocks, but I don't think that'd be too fun either.

 

[aratuk]

I guess in this game there won't be any significant air support, or drones. In the real world, the US Army says it doesn't need any more tanks, but there are politicians who want to keep buying them because tank factories employ people who vote.

Rather than going to the trouble of controlling territory, tactics seem to have evolved into simply killing whichever specific people are bothersome, from far away, with minimal risk or expense. That means drones or cruise missiles, or very rarely, a small team of special forces. Tanks really seem obsolete. (Part of the reason for the tactics I'm talking about, too, is the chances of armed conflict between any two countries with advanced militaries, have become infinitesimally small. Compared with not having airplanes, that can more easily be explained away by just making something up.)

So, if this game is supposed to take place in the modern day, I suppose there will *somehow* not be any aircraft that can destroy tanks, or that can more quickly and easily do the same job as tanks, like in reality. A certain large degree of unreality appears to be necessary in the premise of this game, though they seem to desire real-world authenticity.

 

[Haba]

Not to mention artillery that can shoot precise shots from 20km away... Not much "fun" in that.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

The difference between Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery.

HAPPINESS IS . . .
Infantry: A good rifle
Cavalry: A big tank
Artillery: A loud boom

UPON HEARING FIREWORKS
Infantry: Cool, just like a live fire exercise
Cavalry: Not loud enough
Artillery: Fireworks? What fireworks?

OTHER TRADES
Infantry: Waste of rations
Cavalry: Waste of rations
Artillery: Waste of rations

IDEA OF FUN
Infantry: Not having to "pepper-pot" an entire grid square before the objective
Cavalry: Racing across a grid square on "full stab"
Artillery: Leveling a grid square

FAVOURITE SONG
Infantry: "Ballad of the Green Beret"
Cavalry: "Purple Haze"
Artillery: Anything, just play it LOUD!

BIGGEST LUXURY IN THE FIELD
Infantry: Engineers blowing trenches for them with C4
Cavalry: Grunts to dig their trenches for them
Artillery: Cable

A LONG ROUTE MARCH WITH FULL KIT
Infantry: 20 clicks
Cavalry: From the hangars to the tank
Artillery: What's a route march?

OFFICERS
Infantry: Are morons and should stay away from the trenchlines
Cavalry: Are morons and should stay out of the vehicles
Artillery: Are morons and should stay away from the gun lines

FAVORITE MODE OF TRANSPORTATION
Infantry: Anything but walking
Cavalry: Tanks. Tanks. Tanks. TankstankstankstanksTANKS!
Artillery: Don't you have to move around to require transport?

BIGGEST GRIPE IN THE FIELD
Infantry: The weather
Cavalry: Coffee maker in tank not working
Artillery: Only having basic cable

BREAKFAST IN THE FIELD
Infantry: I don't care what it is, just so long as I can sit down to eat it
Cavalry: Hot coffee and rum with a beer chaser
Artillery: Eggs over easy, crispy bacon, sausages, toast and Tim Horton's coffee

WHAT THEY CALL THEMSELVES
Infantry: Death Techs
Cavalry: Cavalry
Artillery: 10 Mile Snipers

 

[Duraframe300]

Bulletpoints from the official website

STEEL AND AMMO
In Armored Warfare, you will find yourself at the controls of the most modern mechanized destructive machines on the planet. From general purpose combat vehicles, to main battle tanks, and even long-range high-powered artillery, it will be up to you to defeat your enemies and control the battlefield.

BUILD YOUR PRIVATE MILITARY
Establish relationships with other corporations, contractors and non-government suppliers to build your private military's arsenal. As you gain more combat experience and fight through more battles and scenarios you'll meet new characters and suppliers who will give you access to newer and even more powerful destructive machines, improved ammunition and other resources.

COMMAND AND CONTROL
Armored Warfare isn’t just about putting you in charge of operating, you’ll also be responsible for upgrading and maintaining these vehicles. As you work your way through the fields of battle you will encounter, you’ll gain knowledge and experience that will help you make intelligent choices before each battle and decide what strategies to implement in order to capture victory.

SEEK AND DESTROY
True-to-life visuals and destructible environments add a new layer of strategy and complexity across every map and scenario where the face of a battlefield could change at a moments notice. Peek over a ridgeline and snipe your enemies from afar, or rush around a hill and surprise enemies by sneaking behind them when they are distracted. The terrain is all-important for combat strategy, and it’s up to you to use it to its fullest potential. But beware, not all cover is permanent. Destructible environments mean you can’t hide behind a building forever!

BATTLE FOR SUPREMACY
The way to victory isn’t always just to destroy all your enemies. Through a variety of team-based cooperative and competitive game modes, you’ll never run out of exciting battles that you and your friends can participate in. These game modes will also affect your strategies and vehicle choices but most of all will test the mettle of players where group strategies must be employed to take on and overcome unique player-versus-environment (PvE) scenarios and other players and teams.

EVOLVING BATTLEFIELD
As an online game, Obsidian Entertainment is committed to releasing regular content updates that will enhance your gameplay experience and ensure your continued enjoyment of the game. These ongoing content updates will include everything from new components and Tanks to entirely new gameplay modes and base expansions. New weapons for tanks will become available, changing the playing field in small or large ways, and challenging you to make the most of new combat situations.

 

[Destroid]

I guess in this game there won't be any significant air support, or drones. In the real world, the US Army says it doesn't need any more tanks, but there are politicians who want to keep buying them because tank factories employ people who vote.

Rather than going to the trouble of controlling territory, tactics seem to have evolved into simply killing whichever specific people are bothersome, from far away, with minimal risk or expense. That means drones or cruise missiles, or very rarely, a small team of special forces. Tanks really seem obsolete. (Part of the reason for the tactics I'm talking about, too, is the chances of armed conflict between any two countries with advanced militaries, have become infinitesimally small. Compared with not having airplanes, that can more easily be explained away by just making something up.)

So, if this game is supposed to take place in the modern day, I suppose there will *somehow* not be any aircraft that can destroy tanks, or that can more quickly and easily do the same job as tanks, like in reality. A certain large degree of unreality appears to be necessary in the premise of this game, though they seem to desire real-world authenticity.

The MBT is the only vehicle that can eat a large proportion of RPGs and IEDs without getting the occupants killed, they won't go out of fashion for a while. Although perhaps the quantity the USA has is a little excessive.

 

[Duraframe300]

Game seems to have a real chance of success. There's tons of people that are disatisfied with WOT and WT because of their shitty customer support/deleting threads and opinions they don't like. That certainly plays in Obsidian's favor.

Currently there's 20'000+ people that have signed up for the Beta of AW and 13'000+ people for Skyforge.

 

[Athelas]

So can we rename the thread to 'Armored Warfare will kill WoT'?

 

[Duraframe300]

Further on barrels

Some good points raised in this thread.

First off, I'm not opposed to different realism modes. I actually think that's a really good direction to go in the long run. The issue is that our focus right now has to be on getting /one/ mode solid, and in the interests of accomplishing that, I feel we have to focus on avoiding elements that will feel clunky or obtrusive to most people trying to get into the genre.

Having a solid barrel/turret as far as environment collision is concerned will be a major hurdle to overcome for anyone approaching this type of game for the first time and I'd rather not have it be a turnoff for potential newcomers to the genre. In the long run, there's a lot of merit to having two+ levels of realism that players can queue for, but we can't start there.

Thanks for the video link, Boogie Van! That was great to watch. I'd never seen it before. Forwarding it on to the team now.

The consideration about the barrel collision being a valid concern for some types of vehicles and not for others as it pertains to areas they can go on the map is a good point. It gives me something to think about for the future.

About mods

Mods are a tough thing to decide on.

As a long time MMO player, I've always used mods in any game where they were allowed by design such as in WoT and WoW and really enjoyed what they added to the experience. They let you improve annoyances in UIs or provide convenience for things that should probably be supported already. They can also generate awesome communities. I've always been impressed with the mod communities I've found in both online and offline games.

On the other hand, un-policed mods can really break game systems quickly. Hit skins, effects removers, tracer hacks, etc., are all ways to really negate elements that were intended to be present in the game. Sometimes these can be detected easily enough, other times it's hard to detect them without implementing really intrusive detection software in the client exes.

For example, we can't do a spotting system based on having vehicles always rendered if it's possible for someone to client-side mod all vehicles to have vibrant pink skins so that every other vehicle contrasts starkly against the map (unless we send tanks into to Sugar Rush land). Often, we've discussed ideas for systems internally, only for the point to be raised that if we allow mods, people will be able to get around the system or break it.

To me, the best solution for mods is to have a collaborative mod-approval process between the developer and the community, so that the mods that are circumventing intended gameplay mechanics won't be loaded by the client. But this type of collaboration requires a lot of staff and infrastructure to pull off properly. I know other companies have talked about getting something like this going to resolve the challenges un-policed mods can cause, but I haven't seen examples of it being done yet. If anyone is aware of any such system that's up and running in a satisfying way, please let me know about it. But right now, such an infrastructure is beyond the scope of what we can pull off in time for Open Beta.

With all this in mind, I've been tentatively, albeit reluctantly, planning to not allow mods initially. My long term hope is that we can get a system in place that allows for mods to be loaded by the client while being able to deny mods that give unfair advantages.

So in both cases, like infrantry, not at launch, but in serious consideration for the future.

 

[Duraframe300]

Crew stuff is harder to comment on since our implementation isn't finalized. It's currently being worked on right now. Once it's further along, we'll reveal more about it in a comprehensive release of information.

For vehicle upgrades, every vehicle will have a set of modules that can be upgraded from stock to best, though the exact list of these modules varies depending on the actual vehicle. Guns, turrets, treads/wheels, and engines tend to be the common ones.

In addition, vehicles will be able to upgrade other elements depending on the type of vehicle and its history. Examples include upgrading its electronics, its stealth aspects such as camo netting, or its defenses such as adding caged armor or ERA.

There will also be equipment-like upgrades. We'll get into the details of those at a later time.

As far as the damage model goes, I'll tackle that in a new thread, hopefully sometime this weekend.

 

[anus_pounder]

Wait, so this is basically WoT but with modern day weaponry? and some 'base building' thrown in?

 

[Duraframe300]

I don't know who the following person is exactly.

Even in World of Tanks, premium vehicles are not 'better' than the equivalents. The IS-6 is worse than the IS-3 at the top, for instance. Usually they offer unique experiences that you wouldn't call an 'advantage' or otherwise are balanced by huge weaknesses, such as the TOG II*'s ability to swim across lakes or the SU-100Y being a barn with a cannon. In other cases, they are better than stock, and worse than Elite.

We'll have Premium vehicles, but they won't be superior to anything else on the battlefield. And since I answered 2/4, I'll also add on yes, Premium accounts will also exist.

 

[Duraframe300]

Np, wait I got it. It's 99% Andrew Rowe.

Edit: Nooooooope-

 

[Duraframe300]

Np, wait I got it. It's 99% Andrew Rowe.

And I was wrong again. My Magical Girl Stalker powers abandon me.

 

[Name]

Np, wait I got it. It's 99% Andrew Rowe.

And I was wrong again. My Magical Girl Stalker powers abandon me.

How do these games make money? Premium tank? Buy in-game currency that can be gained by playing grinding?
Also are you magically stalking girls or are you a stalking girl made from magic?

 

[Echo Mirage]

World of tanks made, and still does make money buy selling gold ammo (can now be got for XP points as well), garage room for more tanks, barracks for more tank crews. And premium tanks for either a pittance or the price of a full game. They also have a premium service that once subsribed to will get you Xp boosts and the like.

 

[Name]

World of tanks made, and still does make money buy selling gold ammo (can now be got for XP points as well), garage room for more tanks, barracks for more tank crews. And premium tanks for either a pittance or the price of a full game. They also have a premium service that once subsribed to will get you Xp boosts and the like.

Gold ammo sounds worst...

 

[Duraframe300]

Np, wait I got it. It's 99% Andrew Rowe.

And I was wrong again. My Magical Girl Stalker powers abandon me.

How do these games make money? Premium tank? Buy in-game currency that can be gained by playing grinding?
Also are you magically stalking girls or are you a stalking girl made from magic?

The second

 

[Name]

Np, wait I got it. It's 99% Andrew Rowe.

And I was wrong again. My Magical Girl Stalker powers abandon me.

According to obsidian second greatest stalker C2B's stalker post it is Andrew Rowe. His forum profile and his Linkedin both list himself as system designer. Also he's born on 1985, and Andrew Rowe began attending UCSB at 2002, that is at the age of 17, a usual right age for college.
Now can I join the rank of magical girl stalker too?

 

[Duraframe300]

Np, wait I got it. It's 99% Andrew Rowe.

And I was wrong again. My Magical Girl Stalker powers abandon me.

According to obsidian second greatest stalker C2B's stalker post it is Andrew Rowe. His forum profile and his Linkedin both list himself as system designer. Also he's born on 1985, and Andrew Rowe began attending UCSB at 2002, that is at the age of 17, a usual right age for college.
Now can I join the rank of magical girl stalker too?

Well, I'm C2B

And I was wrong. It's close, but I asked ArmoredWeasel directly. He works with Rowe on the project though.