Red Orchestra spills the beans about their WW2 TC for UT2003.
First off, Could you introduce yourself and tell a little bit about the mod?
Jeremy: Hi, I'm Jeremy. I'm the original CoLeader of the Mod and am now on the Board of Directors and basically handle the 3d stuff that goes around. I've been with the mod since day 1 (about 15 months ago).
Ramm-Jaeger: I am Ramm-Jaeger, Coder. I was the Lead Coder/Co-Lead on The Third Reich mod before joining Red Orchestra.
Original9: I'm Adam "Original9" Hatch. I am a mapper for Red Orchestra.
Back-Slash: I'm Back-Slash, Lead Animator for Red Orchestra.
Mercatorn: I'm Mercatorn (Merca) and I am the Sound designer/Editor for RO.
We are all going to be answering the interview to give it some different perspectives. Red Orchestra Mod is about the Eastern Front of World War 2 and will primarily include 2 fighting forces; the Red Army (Soviet Army) and the Whermacht (German Army). Battles will rage from Berlin to Stalingrad; where the Russians made their initial counter-attack against the German Forces.
Can you tell us a little bit about the gameplay of Red Orchestra?
Jeremy: In our current version of the mod, the gameplay is, to say the least, "coming along". It takes a long time to get things perfectly the way we want it, but I feel we're getting there in good time. To talk a bit about the future gameplay about Red Orchestra so you can wonder what to expect, Red Orchestra will be a very realistic shooter. If you get thrills out of being engaged in battle, then you will probably get playing Red Orchestra. We feel that gameplay and fun can be found in an almost completely realistic game. Of course you wont go to a hospital when you're injured and you wont see thousands of people running accross a field and just getting picked off in the hundreds WW1 style in our mod, because not just can we not do it because of the engine's limitations, but I also feel that's "going too far". However you will see infantry units fighting eachother and use tactics, voice commands and iron sights to engage your enemy. You will see rifles, submachine guns, machine guns, grenades, melee weapons, pistols, and artillery in the mod which makes the gameplay pretty unlimited to say the least, lots of different situations to run into which will make RO's gameplay varied every time played based on the circumstances and the situation.
Ramm-Jaeger: One thing we are trying to aim for is a realistic representation of the flow of battle. In a real battle you don't touch a flag and magically control an area. You win by clearing the enemy out of an area of territory and then controlling that area. I am coding the gameplay around that idea, and it is playing very cool so far. There will be other game types as well, the skies really the limit with the UT2k3 engine. If the team can imagine it, I can code it.
Original9: Gameplay won't be very very fast paced like Medal of Honor: Allied Assault is. We plan on making Red Orchestra based off of teamplay, instead of how many times a player got a kill or died. Though, do expect some nicely done intense battles. ;)
What makes this mod different from the other WWII mods/retail games?
Jeremy: What I think makes Red Orchestra the most different from other mods and retail games is the feel and setting. I find it hard to find a game that's realistic like say Operation Flashpoint or Raven Shield, but has as good control/feel as Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for example. Day of Defeat comes pretty damned close and I love DoD for it, but the graphics are outdated which is not the team behind DoD's fault, it's the engine. Red Orchestra has great feel for such a realistic setting. It's easy to raise your weapon to aim, reload, and fire, just like real life. I have fired some of the weapons included in the mod at a shooting range before, and so far I must say we're doing a helluva job recreating them into a 3d world. So, in conclusion, what I feel that makes RO the most different from any other WWII mods/retail games is the Russian Front setting, feel and the creative ideas that we can't talk about yet :) (never seen in any game/mod before)
Ramm-Jaeger: One thing that strikes people right off the bat is the setting. Western Europe has been beat to death. Even the Pacific theatre has been done. The war on the Eastern Front is almost a forgotten part of history for most of us. There have been some games that have briefly touched on it, but we are taking it all the way. One distinct advantage we have over retail games is that we don't have to make money off the game. We can make the game that the team enjoys and are only accountable to our fans and ourselves. This allows us to create a game that is not necessarily packaged for the mass market. We can then make a game that is more realistic and has more depth than the average retail game. Now this doesn't really mean we want to be a "niche" game with only 20 players or something. My goal is to create our own fan base. I don't plan on stealing BF1942 players or something. I want to make a game that has gameplay that players can't get anywhere else. If we build it, they will come :)
Original9: Some of the more "newer" stuff I'm not allowed to say or hint about, so I'll just say we have some stuff up our sleeves. One thing I can say is that our "focus" feature seems pretty new.
Mercatorn: I plan to make RO have total immersion with sound; I feel that most games skimp on sound and are too concerned with eye candy. An exmaple feature with sound is hearing your heavy breathing rather than having a typical stamina meter on your hud.
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