It’s Time to Freeze the Frontlines…With an Ice Tank!?!? “War Front” Merges Sci-Fi with Reality

by Louis Bedigian

“There are no boring pauses or already decided situations. You have to react quickly according to the enemy's strategy.”

“Before we have created our vision for War Front: Turning Point,” opens Lajos Boza, Lead Designer on one of the year’s most promising real-time strategy games. “We performed a really wide research on previously released RTS games and actual competition. We have created a database from the data we gathered, established categories, and finally defined which features were successful and/or popular in these titles.”

Their research led them to design a fast-paced, base-builder RTS with an abundance of interesting units. “Not only the ordinary units were buffed with special strengths and weaknesses,” he says, “but all sides will have their unique heroes with [a] wide variety of active and passive skills. The game will have four possible ways of gathering resources, which means that both defensive (focusing on economy and resources) and aggressive (focusing on unit production and battles) style players will find their way to play ‘War Front: Turning Point,’ as if it were designed only for them.” 

That kind of personal gameplay is what separates good games from the bad. But that doesn’t mean the developers can leave it at that. This RTS has to go beyond the competition in other areas as well.

Lajos comments: “There are tons of historically accurate games on the market, therefore we, together with publisher CDV, decided to play with the idea of ‘what if ...’ We have chosen an alternative storyline, where the German people realize that following the Nazi ideology will be a disaster for their country: they remove Hitler from power and from that time the war changes in many aspects. This makes War Front: Turning Point the first WW2 title in which the player can win playing with the German side!”

Following a general fan FAQ and developer chat on the official War Front forum, Lajos Boza took some time to directly answer our questions about the game.

Real-time strategy is a very competitive market. What are some of the things you set out to do when War Front's development began, and how many of those have come to fruition?

Lajos Boza: Digital Reality has 10 years experience in creating strategic games, so we decided to create something we are good at. The main idea behind War Front: Turning Point was to release a visually nice, well balanced, action packed RTS which can become the favorite of online cyber-sport fans in 2006. So together with CDV, we designed a base builder RTS which follows the classic rules in many ways to look familiar for most of the players, but has many new elements as well, to be interesting enough for gaming veterans.

War Front defies RTS logic by fictionalizing a realistic-looking war by using new kinds of weaponry (example: the ice tank!). This idea is awesome. Can you tell us about the unit creation process, and how the team decided to go in this direction?

LB: Thanks for the compliment. As I see most of the people in the gamer community [are] fed up with "traditional" WW2 games. So we decided to spice up the things with some sci-fi unit development. The unit creation itself is much more mathematical than idealistic. At first we plan a function in the game, and later we try to find visual and audio implementation. For example we thought there should be units with an ability to immobilize enemy vehicles, after it we've found out some Ice effect would fit nicely to this functionality, and so on. As you supposedly know, there are tons of "numbers" and datasheets behind a well-balanced RTS game. In the case of War Front: Turning Point, we strictly went for the perfect gaming experience, and we fashioned every single bit of the game serving this single cause. 

Icy goodness in all its glory.

What kind of sound effects do the ice tank (or any other unusual unit in the game) cause? We know, or at least can assume thanks to television, what a typical explosion should sound like. But what about ice?

LB: You can imagine the sound of the ice cannon the best, if you think of a gigantic spray of liquid nitrogen.

Have you settled on a soundtrack yet? If so, could you talk about the music (genre / style, etc.)?

LB: Yes of course, every piece of the game's soundtrack is ready and recorded. I have to emphasize that, all soundtracks are composed by the musicians of Digital Reality. They've received many awards for the music of previous games, and I hope the players will also like the War Front: Turning Point's majestic but stimulating tracks.

The German Exoskeleton is reminiscent of the mobile suits seen in Japanese games and anime. Was any inspiration drawn from those in designing units for War Front?

LB: Yes. We've found that many people in the gaming community like the idea of the heavy infantry armors in nearly all game genres, so we designed this unit to add some "visual candy" for fans, while we tried to keep the looks of the '50s technology.

On the units page(s) it says "more units coming soon..." Can you talk about any of the units that have not been revealed yet?

LB: In the E3 trailer you may take a look at the three ballooned zeppelins with rows of cannons on the both sides, for example.  

How do you acquire the different units and unit types? Are they based on a specific level, or progress point in the game?

LB: In single player you get the new units based on the number of the mission. As you make progress in the game you can command newer and newer units. In multiplayer you have to increase the tech level in the command HQ to get new researches and instruments of war.

Can you replenish lost units?

LB: Yes. The War Front: Turning Point is a base-builder RTS. You can plant tank factories and barracks on the map, and you can produce as many units as long as you have the sufficient resources.

Is there a resource management aspect in the game?

LB: Yes, as in all base-builder RTS games. In War Front: Turning Point the resource gathering and distribution is the key to victory. There are at least three ways of acquiring money in the game for each nation. Every method has its advantages and disadvantages; it depends on your strategy which way you want to amass your invincible army.

For nearly two decades RTS games have stayed on the PC, with various console ports here and there. Do you think that will change with the increase in console power (Xbox 360, PS3) and new, unique console controls (Wii's motion-sensitive controller)? Do you think the day will ever come when equally impressive strategy games will be made for a game console, if not specifically for a game console?

LB: My personal opinion is [that] there will be successful RTS ports for consoles as soon as someone can solve the problem of creating dragboxes without a mouse. Or when someone finds out a better way to command the micromanagement of big masses and single units at the same speed with one controller. We at the Digital Reality made some experiment with different console controllers in the past half year, and we are about to plan a console-based RTS game in the near future.

That’s great to hear.

Ultimately, what defines an RTS is its core gameplay – the speed, the flow, the functionality (how well the game plays / controls), etc. Aside from the cool elements we already know of (like the ice tank!) what is it about War Front that's going to make it a standout, unforgettable game?

LB: I promise that War Front: Turning Point will pin you to your chair. It gives you instant action, and provides it continuously. The gameplay itself has a really fast flow. The time for the creation of buildings, production of units and the battles are set to an adrenaline pumping rhythm, the player always has something to do if he wants to, or able to automatize some tasks if he don't want to take care of them. There are no boring pauses or already decided situations. You have to react quickly according to the enemy's strategy. While the game binds your eye to the monitor with units exploding to pieces and with huge flaming explosions covering the battlefield, the music inspires you to use all your means to achieve victory. Just try it.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my Qs.