Starting a series (hopefully) of interviews with WG employees with this entry.
Interview with Piotr
Bityukov, gamedesigner and Wargaming Pioneer.
Piotr Bityukov is one of WG ‘aborigines’.
He is one of those who can give an insight into how ‘an MMO about tanks’
appeared.
— You are one of the oldest
employees of Wargaming. How did you get acquainted with the company? When did
you join the ranks of WG?
— I got acquainted with the
company accidentally. I’ve been keen on stand modeling since my childhood. In
1997 I was trying to master dial-up Internet connection using a low-speed
modem and decided to surf the net for information about different models.
While checking out one of the sites I noticed an announcement about the testing
of a new game called Iron Age. I got hooked by the fact that it was my
favourite genre – turn-based strategy – where you had to fight against
real opponents over the Internet. It was something like ‘play by e-mail’ but
all moves were sent out and kept on a server. Though the game was pretty light
– about 2 MB, it appeared to be rather fascinating.
A little later I learnt that my first opponent was… one of the first game
developers – Viktor Kisly. We started our correspondence. At the beginning it
was about our battle. Later we talked about what to change or improve in the
game. When Viktor found out that War history was one of my interests, he
offered me to participate in creating a web-site about armoured vehicles
in English. And that was how tanks first appeared in Wargaming’s history.
— Wow! And this web-site… Is
it still alive?
— No, the site does not exist
any longer. Its design became outdated and the data was old and they decided
not to renew it. Instead, there appeared the whole game about tanks with its
tank wiki. J
— You mean to say that
Wargaming was developing games even before DBA online... And what about the brand? Was that very
company called Wargaming then?
— As far as I know Iron Age was
developed by students. At the final stage of development Wargaming started
to form as a company. DBAOL appeared under Wargaming.net brand.
— The development of which “old”
game did you participate in? What was your role?
— DBAOL. I participated as a
tester and later was assisting in its promotion. Also I was organizing
different tournaments and championships based on the game.
— DBAOL and Iron Age, how
similar were those games?
— Iron Age was full of original
gaming ideas and was not based on any authentic historical events or any
existing area. DBAOL was an online version of a table game (not even table, it
was rather a floor game J) popular in Europe and the
US. The similarity between the two games was in how they both were operated:
each move was sent to a server and the opponent received them when connected. I
mean it was not necessary for the two parties to be online simultaneously.
Their battle could last for days or weeks, unless they were receiving and
sending the moves quickly, in which case the battles of course were faster.
— Well, it looks like Wargaming as company has roots in online gaming, and World of Tanks appeared as a kind of turning point of it?
— Definitely. By the way, the
company was named Wargaming.net because of the web component of their games.
Later we started the
development of Massive Assault net version with extended functionality. Massive
Assault Network was aimed to be spread via the Internet. Massive Assault:
Phantom Renaissance development was the next step: it was a disc version with improved
graphics, new units and game modes and maps. Its Internet version was called
Massive Assault Network 2.
— It seems that Wargaming
understood well the psychological portrait and needs of an online player.
Namely a PvP player.
— A distinctive feature of all
Massive Assault games was the minimal influence of randomization in battles.
Spread of countries-allies over the map was the only random thing in the game.
Just the player knew their locations, and the opponent had to plan everything
not possessing all information. The results of shooting were defined and
foreseen… So, it was long time before the Great Belarusian Random appeared (RNG - Overlord) J
Wargaming’s next game was
Galactic Assault. This game was all about single players and offered several
scenarios. There was an opportunity to play with a real opponent over the
Internet too. Since ‘the fog of war’ introduced in the game affected the
results of battles, they had to be fought in real time. Despite this, the
rivals were making their moves one by one. Thus, while one player was making a
move, the second one had to be online and wait for their turn. Possibly that
was the reason why the network mode of the game never proved popular.
— Was this game ordered by a
publisher?
— Yes, as far as I remember
the publisher acquired the rights to develop a series of games based on
Strugatskiys’ (link - Overlord) works. Wargaming was developing a strategy.
— What was your role in all of
those projects?
— Well, I seem to have told
you everything about DBAOL. As for the
first Massive Assault, I was one of the testers. I also organized different
tournaments, was instructing newcomers, preparing tutorials, writing
alternative scenarios for the first version of the game. My role in the
development of Massive Assault: Phantom Renaissance was different. I
participated in different stages of the campaign and wrote single-player
scenarios. After that I also tested scenarios and the game in general.
— Were you in game design team then?
— Yes, but I also helped to
support the released projects. As I have already said, I organized tournaments,
including the League – tournaments that lasted almost a year and were divided
into one-month long stages/rounds.
In Galactic Assault I
participated in testing scenarios and the whole campaign, wrote single-player
scenarios, alongside Kirill Mal (lead Clan Wars developer - Overlord), a gamedesigner, and was testing the in-game
balance.
— How many people were
involved in those projects?
— Iron Age was developed by a
few people, less than 10. About 20 people were working on DBAOL. Then I wasn’t in Minsk yet (he lives in Moscow - Overlord) and I was not familiar with the situation in detail. I was regularly communicating with 10-15
programmers, artists and admins. While we were working on Massive Assault, a lot of new people joined the team. They were programmers, artists, sound specialists and guys working on special effects. I believe Massive Assault was
developed by a few tens of people.
— You were always working
remotely. How did you feel about that? Have you ever thought about moving to
Minsk?
— Yes, I was working remotely
most of the time. I first came to Minsk after World of Tanks was released. I
quite liked the city. I have thought about moving to Minsk but there are some
difficulties.
— You know, it seems that some parts of Massive Assault
reviews can actually be used for World of Tanks now and it will sound
completely natural. In your opinion, what has World of Tanks inherited from the
old games developed by Wargaming?
— I believe the most important
thing here is the attitude of staff to what they do. The company develops games
that developers themselves are eager to play! And that’s important because when
you are working on the same project for a long time, not everyone would want to
spend their free time playing the game.
— According to these old reviews it seems that all WG games have a lot in common: PvP, high addictivity, easy controls, intensity of gameplay, strategic component and of course unexpectedness, i.e. Wargaming develops something that doesn’t exist on the market. This cannot be said about Bagration and Order of War, perhaps, since they were pretty standardized. Apparently Massive Assault and
World of Tanks have got most similarities in comparison with other games.
— Yes, I think so. It was pretty hard to invent
something in RTS genre but the series of games
that included Massive Assault and World of Tanks were initially based on new
and original ideas. While working on them we were trying to lower barriers to entry as much as possible, but the game was meant to become more difficult giving
an opportunity to improve and perfection players’ skills.
— Were you the person who was
the first to pronounce aloud the idea to develop an MMO about tanks which
shocked everyone at first? Could you give the details of that Eureka-moment?
— The chronology was as
follows: in 2007 when we were wrapping up the development of Bagration and
Galactic Assault we started discussing our future plans. The near prospective
then included Order of War but it was important to decide also what was going
to come after it in the long run. We knew then that the game would be online but what kind of
game and in which setting – that was the question. Opinions differed.
In the middle of 2007 I tried
a relatively new Korean game just released in Russia – Navy Field. In autumn
2007 I sent my preliminary ideas about an MMO game with infantry and equipment
from Bagration. The guys found my ideas interesting but the final decision was
not yet made. We got a little tired of tanks and were thinking of developing a
game about ‘orcs and elves’ and at the same time brainstorming other
ideas. Later I started to gather statistics of players’ activity in Navy
Field.
The turning point was the
meeting at my place on December 12, 2008. Victor Kisly (CEO - Overlord), Marat Karpeko (COO - Overlord), Slava
Makarov (Lead Producer - Overlord) and me – this was the list of participants. All together we
brainstormed a lot of options and versions of game setting for the future MMO,
their pluses and disadvantages (partially the ICQ log is published here - Overlord). And then we decided that our best idea was
developing an MMO about tanks. It was more creative than coming out with some
fantasy game and we were well familiar with the topic.
— What are your
responsibilities today?
— I am a historical
consultant. I prepare materials for future tank and plane models. I also
participate in development of branches and trees of WoT and WoWP. I take
part in discussing in-game changes, introduction of new modes and so on. So,
it’s more or less the same all the time – game design. The most important part
of course is gathering materials to create models and ways of progression. After
all, it’s vital that designers’ wishes coincide with the historical properties
of the vehicles.
— Which WG game do you prefer
as a player?
— If we are talking about all
our games, then my personal best is Massive Assault 2 Network which I still play from time to time and the last but not the
least…World of Tanks! :)
Originally posted here.
Originally posted here.
