Popularity of the original World of
Tanks did not leave aspiring game development studios indifferent. Since 2011 WoT-resembling (in terms of gameplay) products started to rocket on different
platforms including mobile - smartphones and tablets. Naturally Wargaming.net is
not going to disappoint their customers and is going to come up with their decent
version of tanks for tablets.
Developing games for iOS and Android
platforms is a very special case that requires very dedicated and focused professionals. Wargaming didn't have that kind of expertise until recently.
DAVA, a Belarusian development studio,
was founded in March, 2008 in Minsk. The guys chose their specialization right away.
They decided they would be developing apps for iOS. The date of founding the studio
is close to the date of App Store creation (July 10, 2008). So, we may say that
DAVA is a peer of the most popular iOS apps store.
While others were examining the newly
appeared service, the young studio was already developing products for it and
was among the pioneers on the newly-formed market.
DAVA had for co-founders: Andrew
Karpiuk, Vitaly Borodovsky, Dmitry Bobrovnichiy, and Alexander Fomenko; as well
as six key soldiers: Ivan Petrochenko, Alexey Prosin, Stepan Drozd, Kirill Poliakov,
Victor Kleschenko, and Alexey Alexeev. This were the “bones” of the young
development studio. Nobody in Belarus had developed anything for iOS befor DAVA
was founded. And obviously WoT Blitz is not the first product the team has worked on. They
had produced quite a few games and apps (with over 10 mln downloads and over a
million purchases) before they started working on WoT Blitz. The team used to work as a subcontractor for Electronic Arts, iWin, Freeverse, and other publishers.
The audience of DAVA own product users is about 9 million with a lot of apps
and games to appear among TOP100 in free and grossing charts.
Some of the DAVA products include:
Modern Weapons: Small Arms (encyclopedia)
Jewel Quest Mysteries
Space Storm
Wargaming has been in touch with DAVA
for quite some time. There even were a few ex-Wargamers working for DAVA. The acquisition finally took place in 2011. The first major game project - World of Tanks Blitz - was started in spring 2012 (first prototype) and officially greenlit in December 2012.
The mobile department of Wargaming currently consists of 3 independent teams:
-
The WoT Blitz team distributed in Minsk and a few Ukrainian cities.
- Framework team (cross-platorm game engine development)
- The Service Apps team developing apps assistants World of Tanks and World of Warplanes
Vitaly Borodovsky - tech director
UX/UI design in progress
Designing maps for Blitz
GD is thinking over a new feature - agile board in the background
As for the game, WoT Blitz, it has been demoed at multiple gaming shows throughout 2013 and early 2014, including public gaming areas during G-Star 2013 in Korea and Taipei Game Show 2014, which means that the game in nearing closed beta with iOS release scheduled for first half of 2014.
A couple of new screenies below.
A couple of new screenies below.
The map is called "Mines". Should be recognizable
From another perspective with HUD
Another map - Copperfield
Any date?
ReplyDeleteNothing more accurate than the last passage.
DeleteChcesz fajny HACK do World Of Tanks na złoto?
DeleteZnajdziesz go tutaj: http://dlagier.com/hack-world-of-tanks-zloto/
I dunno.. no offense, but I can't imagine playing Blitz. It really seems like a solution to a problem no one has.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of what? Audience? Genre?
DeleteWell, when I think about playing games in situations that would lend themselves to a tablet I think of puzzle-type games for the most part. More generally, I think of games that either don't have a time constraint to begin with or are pausable. It seems to me that most of the situations that would meet the criteria for a game of WoT Blitz also fit the criteria for a game of regular WoT.
DeleteWe do rely on short and fast-paced battles here. However Im not denying that producing a game like Blitz is risky. There are very few if any success stories of a similar kind.
DeleteI just love how they decided spit on all android users and give minor apple user group so massive advantage, 2 months after game come out, its crazy....
DeleteJust two reasons:
Delete1. Devs are greedy. iOS has ~3 times more money comparing to Android, and this ratio is even higher for tablets.
2. Devs have a particular expertise. It's easier to develop for iOS generally (lower fragmentation) and the current team has always specialized in iOS - the team has been started as iOS developer in the first place.
Devs are greedy and thats why they wish for 81% of smartphone market to hate them and not pay ingame, thats really smart way to make money. Until now ive used 20-50€ per month on WG products on different servers, i doubt i will continue...
DeleteSmartphones are a secondary market for Blitz. As for tablets, situation is far more difficult there.
DeleteThreats, that's cute indeed :)
I doubt this blog comments will reach WG anyway so there is noone to threat here, you got me wrong there. It was just written to point out fact, that i am only one of 81% smartphone users, i wonder how many others think like me and making them lose money instead? So being greedy to lose money, not a valid reason :)
DeleteGo go go Betatest!
ReplyDeleteYou focus too much in tablet players. The true success will be the smartphone users, quick matches in places where a much portable machine is held; not everybody carries its tablet anywhere.
ReplyDeleteBut i have the feeling that WG is forgetting about proper smatphone friendly gameplay and performance.
We do think smartphones are too small for that kind of gameplay. 5 inches is probably the minimum for comfortable play.
DeleteThats exactly what makes me angry, i dont want to carry my pad everywhere (though i doubt ill ever buy a iOS tab, they seem crap), i want to play mobile games, when i am on move and randomly have sudden free time. Mostly that would mean i have to carry the tab on me, which i dont. But always i have my phone in pockets, telling they are too small for that kind of gameplay, yes iPhones are, which again comes to fact you cannot normally play the game, when it comes out....iPhone screens are good for tetris maybe...
DeleteEasy. Don't buy/use iphone.
DeleteImho smartphone screens are too small. I can imagine playing Blitz on iPad/aPad but I am not fond of the "two thumbs" steering mechanism (I am too old I guess).
ReplyDeleteAny information what generation of pads will be needed to run (iPad 1 & 2 are out I guess)?
Controls do take some time to get used, though it doesn't usually take more than a few battles.
DeleteOnly ipad 1 is out. The rest is fine.
I wouldnt say smartphone screens are too small, ive played many games, that also need alot on screen controls, like gta san andreas, nba 2k14, some RPGs that need many hud's, havent seen any trouble, sure 10'' would be better than 5,7'', but my phone is always in my pockets and easy to carry.
Delete5.7 is quite alright for Blitz in terms of screen size. Not every phone is that huge though.
DeleteRoll on iPhone 6 and larger screen, then I can tank day AND night. :P
ReplyDeleteWhen will we find out about joining closed beta? Any preference given to WoT players?
Quite soon. We need one more iteration to prepare the closed beta version.
DeleteWe will be selecting players with different backgrounds. Naturally we expect a lot of WoT players to apply. Those who have iDevices will have preference.
Any support for higher fidelity levels on really high-end devices? (Like the 4-core Samsung Note 2014?). It has pretty decent power that could allow getting higher texture resolutions and maybe also some extra details like foliage. The question is just HOW many graphical options will we get there? I am pretty much an android oriented person as I just do not like apple products, but somehow I get a feeling here that I will be forced to use only lower fidelity product due to some compromise that is downscaling to some really weak levels.
ReplyDeleteplease tell me I am wrong :)
Right now Blitz runs in almost the same quality on all supported devices, however it's likely to be changed in future. Top hardware will get some delicious graphic features. Most likely we will start with specular and normal maps for tanks, might add extra high-detail LOD for tank models.
DeleteI think world of tank blitz is a great game to play when you have free time why you dislike the game so much?
ReplyDeleteWorld of tanks blitz strategy
ReplyDeleteChcesz fajny HACK do World Of Tanks na złoto?
ReplyDeleteZnajdziesz go tutaj: http://dlagier.com/hack-world-of-tanks-zloto/