Q: Hello Sergey Burkatovsky, can you please
say something about yourself, it will be nice for our players to know who is
this man and what he doing in World of Tanks?
A: Greetings! First of I’d like to apologize for
the delay with answers. We are currently working on three major projects in
three different cities of three different countries (that’s not including a
number of small projects) which means I, as lead game designer and producer of
Wargaming.net, have to travel a lot, visiting all our studios.
Thus through asking for apologies, I have
already introduced myself. J I can only add that my main responsibility is to define the vision
of all our games, starting with World of Tanks.
How did you get in Wargaming.net especially
into World of Tanks?
Q: What was your first position in this company?
A: I joined Wargaming.net as lead game
designer when the team had been working on WoT for half a year. At the time
being, as I have mentioned it above, I am responsible for game design of all
our projects (of course each game has its own lead game designer, while I
merely share with them the successful experience of WoT)
Q: You are like a boss of World of Tanks and
your position is very important for all players, because you makes decisions
for developing. Is that hard and stressful work?
A: Well, I’m not quite a boss, my position is
definitely not the highest. :) I just communicate a lot with RU players. As for the work, yup, it’s
rather hard. I’d say, sometimes it’s really mind-blowing, and I’m that tired
that can’t even make to my bed, especially after 2-3-4 train trips or flights
in a row.
Q: How long time you work during the day?
Please describe to us you day on work.
A: Our working day is not strictly limited,
and my job is not a routine, but related to decision-making in various spheres,
mostly gameplay issues. That’s why one day in not like another one, they all
are unique. I think, the most ordinary are business trips, though it may sound
odd. I arrive to Kiev or Saint-Petersburg, where are studios are located. By
the way, I prefer to travel by train, spending less valuable night time, since
trains from Minsk to these two cities go exactly one night. In Kiev or
Saint-Petersburg I take part in 2-3 meetings with local game designers, voice
my opinion and give recommendations, then go to the hotel or back to the train
station.
In between those meetings I play WoT or WoWP to be aware of how things
stand in both games.
Q: How much you play WoT during the day?
A: About 20 battles a day.
Q: What you don’t like in the game?
A: The lack of team play.
Q: Where and what are you worked before
Wargaming.net?
A: Long time ago in Moscow I. V. Kurchatov
Institute of Atomic Energy (or The Kurchatov
Institute. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurchatov_Institute - Overlord). After that - there were lots of places,
including game industry in Russia. However, I didn’t have any project that
could be compared to WoT.
Q: Before World of Tanks, your company had
around 150 people, now you have over 800 developers, designers, producers,
managers, supporters and many other workers. Will you move all your man and
girls into some more bigger building? Can we expect that Wargaming.net work
space looks like Blizzard’s buildings?
A: Office space is our sore point.
Unfortunately I can’t give any ETA on this, but some day we will have our own
skyscraper, I hope. :)
Q: You are very active on RU forum, how you
can find a time for discussions on forum? Have you in plan to create account on
EU, and start to discussing on EU forum?
A: Informal communication on RU forums is a
part of my job, it helps me get better understanding of what is on the players’
minds. However, to make the communication truly informal (otherwise it’s
useless) you have not only to be perfect in with language, but know the
cultural background as well. And I’m far from that point, by the skin of mine I
can communicate in German and English, but that’s really is heart-tearing, I
must say. And for sure my knowledge and understanding of both American and
European cultures are limited.
Q: Which servers will get new Chinese tanks
and will we get full tech tree?
A: Sorry, no comments on this for now.
Q:When can we expect new parts of Clan War
Map for EU server?
A: After the RU server. Sorry, but the density
there is much higher, that’s why the expansion will take place there first.
Q: What is the future of Clan Wars, when you release
this very popular part of the game, what can we expect new in final version?
A: There won’t be any final version of the
global map until the project is alive – we will always come up with something.
In the near future we are planning to introduce several features that will
limit the possibility of taking control over certain territory and safe
long-term farming. Details will follow via official news, but the common trend
is to make the CW battles more dynamic.
Q: How many maps you will add in 2012.? Can
you tell me something about that maps?
A: On average we add 2 maps per update.
Assuming we get 8 updates annually, it makes 15 maps all in all.
Q: Will you add tier X for Tank Destroyers and
Medium tanks? Also will you grow up lines for Heavy tanks and artylery?
A: Sorry, I was slow. Tier 10 TDs and MTs are
already available. We are not planning to extend HT lines, as for SPGs we are
going to stretch it out, thus, current tier 8 SPGs will be at tier 10.
Q: When can we expect British tanks in game?
And what will happen with some premium British tanks in Soviet tech tree?
A: Brits are expected to arrive at the end of
the year, the first British premium tank (Matilda Black Prince) is currently in
testing.
Q: Will you post some news about Japanese and
Italian tanks? When can we expect that tech trees?
A: Sorry, can’t say anything certain on this.
The work on the trees is in progress.
Q: Players can see on World of Tanks site full
release of tech trees for all nations, but will you make some changes in tech
trees?
A: Tech tree changes will be carried out as
long as the project is alive.
Q: Which nations you have in plan to add in
the game? And can we know when that will happen?
A: Great Britain and Japan – for sure, the
rest is uncertain.
Q: Players are very interested for physics?
Can we expect physics before end of 2012.?
A: Yes, physics is highly-anticipated. We hope
to release it in early autumn.
Q: Is there any chance to find out will you
ever upgrade game engine for multi core support and when will that happen?
A: Multi-core support depends on some
middleware we use (Umbra - Overlord).
If we eventually find how to replace it or get a new version with multi-core
support – it will be enabled.
Q: When you implement physics in the game,
will the game use more than one processor core or we will play game on only one
processor core?
A: Physics in game is server-side, it’s aim is
not to provide some nice visuals, but to make the calculation of vehicle
movement correct. Thus, it doesn’t load the game client. “Nice” physics,
something in Havoc-style is likely to be added later.
Q:
When can we expect dynamic lighting for the
game? Can you say something more about that?
A: Dynamic lighting will be added in 8.0
update in early autumn.
Q: I can see on the forums some posts about EU
tech tree? Is that true and when can we expect that?
A: EU tree is not finalized yet. What I can
say for sure is that it will comprise Hungarian, Swedish, Swiss, and
Yugoslavian tanks. We are still thinking about Italian and Polish trees, if we
manage to extend them to tier 10, we will make them separate. Otherwise – they
both will be a part of EU tree.
Q: Will you create bigger maps then currently
maps which we have in game?
A: Currently we are experimenting with 3x3 km
maps with 30-45 tanks on each side. If everything is ok, bigger maps will allow
us to introduce bigger battles.
Q: Can you tell me when will you add Brummbär
and Sturmtiger in the game and in which line you will put those tanks?
A: We have decided to form a separate subline
of assault guns with these vehicles. This subline is not finished yet, as soon
it is, we will announce it to players.
Q: Will you really remove T-50-2 from the
game? Why, when, will we get some replacing for that tank?
A: Yes, T-50-2 in-game is not like it was in
RL, thus we will replace it with a totally crazy vehicle.
Q: Maus has two guns. One doesn’t work can we
expect that this little gun start to shoot?
A: It’s possible but not soon. On the one hand
– there will be little use of this gun in most of the battles Maus fights.
That’s why we think it’s not really a high priority.
Q: Why you changing place of transmission on
some German tanks? (You don’t need to answer on this question if you don’t want
to do that)
A: We have carefully studied all the
documentation related to E-series available. Based on the sketches given in
Spielberger-Doyle book, the leading wheel of all E-series tanks was in the
front. Mr. Doyle himself thinks that the rear transmission layout wasn’t
researched well enough. Thus, for tier 9 tanks – E50 and E75, we moved the
transmission to the front, while for tier 10 E50M we introduced rear
transmission.
Q: Can we expect you presence in World of
Warplanes or even in World of Battleships?
A: I think so.
Q: Do you know something about WoB? When can
we expect start of Alpha version?
A: Yes, I know a bit. :) Two
days ago, July 29, we have carried out the second focus-testing of World of
Warships, it was successful. However, the alpha test dates are still uncertain.
Q: Will you create 4th game to
continue story of Tanks, Warplanes and
Battleships?
A: As of now, we are not planning to expand
the trilogy, though it’s possible that there will be some related projects. For
example, card game WoT: Generals.
Q: What is the future of World of Tanks? Future
development in few sentences.
A: To be short: we are developing. :)
Q: Can you tell me how many players you have
from ex-YU region?
A: Ex-YU accounts for about 4-4.5% of EU
players, Serbia and Croatia are the biggest two - Overlord.
Q: Can you please say something to Balkan
Community? :)
A: Hm, what can I say. Let our game bring you
fun, and real life – no disappointment.
Q: Thank you Mr. SerB for this interview I
hope that we will meet once!
A: Thanks you too! Good luck!
Link to the original post.
Longitudinal plan
