It’s been a while since we last did a community questions update so we felt it was high time we put that right. Once again we’ve trawled through the many questions we receive from the community and penned answers to some of our favourites.
Will you release a dedicated server to the community?
Of course! We will be releasing a dedicated server pack on Windows for community admins which, like the game, will be free. If we can bring support for other operating systems in the future we will.
Will there be tank interiors?
Realistically, we don't expect to have tank interiors when armour is added. It would be great but at the moment it would take more time to implement than the feature is worth. Maybe in the future however.
Will soft material be penetrable or destroyed (wood & thin metals for example)?
Of course! Realistic bullet penetration is an important realism feature. Hiding behind a wooden fence isn't as effective as a steel door in the real-world and it shouldn't be in the game. A wooden fence might still be good at hiding you from the enemy but a piece of wood won’t save you from a bullet.
What’s your stance about a HUD in a realism game?
The HUD is a vital way of giving the player important information about themselves and their surroundings most of which in real-life they would know by instinct. Even a minimal amount of information overlaid over the game screen however is quite distracting. This dilemma of immersion vs. information is one all realism games face.
Our solution is the HUD by default is hidden unless you press the HUD key on the keyboard. Individual elements of the HUD show themselves when they might be needed (e.g. number of magazines left after reloading) but most of the time the HUD is hidden - unless you want to see it. You can read more about it in our last HUD dev blog.
What does it take to become a TWDEV?
In simple terms you need to be skilled, dedicated and as enthusiastic about the project as we are. We have no specific requirement for how much time you can put into development each week but we expect team members to be active participants in the process.
We genuinely interested to hear from developers who are interested in joining the family so if you are interested please take a look at our recruitment page to find out a bit more about who we are looking for and what might be involved.
Will there be an open-alpha/beta?
At this point it looks unlikely there will be an open pre-release version of the game.
The game is divided into different chapters which will build upon each other, “OVERLORD” the first chapter of the game is just the first step. You could imagine the chapters each as a well-polished beta of the final game rather than a DLC add-on to the game.
If/when we are looking for people to join the closed testing programme we will be sure to let everyone know. In the meantime however applications to be a Traction Wars Tester are closed.
Will there be a way to balance the way a map is rendered on low and high settings?
Ensuring the game is fair for all players is clearly an important aspect in any multiplayer game.
When optimising the game for lower-spec machines we need to minimise the load on the machine whilst at the same time ensuring that no-one is left peeking out between the leaves of a hedge that only they can see. Similarly no-one wants to find themselves being shot at by a player who can see a greater distance than they can themselves.
That’s all we have for this time but should you have any questions of our own we're always watching the thread for new questions to feature so ask away!
Really? Is this why people like minimal HUDs so much?
I never had a problem with HUDs, if I need the information, I get it, if I don't, I don't even notice it's there.
You could make an option so that we can choose if we want it always showing or not, it's pretty minimal already, so it would be better to give the choice to the players.
Nah mate, if you can live with the HUD then realism is not your type. What info do you need? Magazines? Count them in head. Bullets in your mag? Feel it! Direction of your friendlies? Stay in touch with them (TS/Voice chat). A compass or a map? Well yeah..... in most games we get these on the HUD but it would be much better if we had to equip them. Your positure? If you are standing, proning, I think those are pretty visble without a HUD. Kill messages? Unrealistic. In game chat, unrealistic but a must have. Seriously what do you need the HUD for except than Chat and maybe a compass?
I'm impressed by how you are capable of discovering the gaming preferences of a person by simply reading 3 short sentences that focuses on 1 specific trait of games. Congrats!
Now, sarcasm aside: I like realism in games, but I think people exaggerate by wanting minimalist HUDs in basically every single game (and I'm not referring to realism-focused games).
If I didn't like realistic games, I would not be tracking this game, nor many others I track here on ModDB.
Is it realistic to have ammo and mags counters? No, but there is no way I can look-at-them/feel-the-pocket-with-my-hand to have an idea of the amount of mags I have. Can I mentally count the amount of bullets I've fired? Yes, but besides that soldiers know the weight of their guns loaded and empty, this helps give an idea, and there is no way I can feel the weight of a virtual gun. They can also pop the mag out to see if it's low (I don't know if this could be done on WW2 guns, though), I would love this feature on games.
About the map, if you read the "Heads Up" Dev Blog, you will know there will be a physical map, just like in Far Cry 2, which is one of the many features I love of that game.
About the posture, I never needed anything to tell me that, most games don't even have that. Only a minority of games have that, I have no idea why.
Next time, try not to decipher a person's likes/preferences if you don't know said person, nor has the necessary information to do it, it makes you seem like an arrogant person that thinks you know everything, even if that wasn't your intention.
I dislike pretty much every single piece of HUD for the distraction it creates.
i lost the count of how long i've following this game