Isonzo News

It’s time to talk about the second half of Moschin! Let’s not dawdle and start things off with the big announcement.

[h2]The Moschin update will release on April 24th![/h2]

The update will include a new DLC, two new weapons and of course the Moschin map itself! You’ll have to wait a little longer to find out more about the DLC and weapons, but we’ll dive deeper into the new map right here, right now.

[h2]Watch the full Moschin flyover here: [/h2]

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We’ve looked at the first half of Moschin two weeks ago, including the history, and today we’ll continue where we left off. So if you haven’t already, be sure to check out part 1 first:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1556790/view/521959859806011444

[h3]Pushing forwards[/h3]

Once objectives A and B are captured, it’s time for the push to the final capture point. After a brief tussle with a row of barbed wire, the trees make way for plains, ridges for flats and fire for… fire.

This section features one large open plain in the middle with a series of trenches covering the approach towards the objective. On either side of this plain you’ll find two flavors of sneaky routes to surprise those who focus too much on the middle part.

Defenders’ perspective

From the attackers’ perspective, the route on the right has you brave the heat and use the cover of the flames to catch the Italians unawares. You’ll need to take risks, maybe even do some light parkouring to find the best route and likely use a bandage or two.

On the left however, there are a bunch of pathways through a forest already turned to ash. The biggest of these paths leads directly to the objective, but the Italians are likely to see you coming. Sneakier options present themselves further down the slope – options you’ll have to discover yourself. Just don’t wander too far off the deep end!

Defenders’ perspective

[h3]Final gambit[/h3]

Objective A is where single trenches turn into a base of operations. This web of trenches houses many supplies, several artillery pieces and a couple of gun nests the Italians will want to use to strike the Austro-Hungarians during their approach. Once the battle moves into the objective however, it becomes one big game of wack-a-human. Chaos ensues.



[h3]Historical Aftermath[/h3]

That’s Moschin! In the actual battle in 1918, the Austro-Hungarians did end up capturing Col Moschin, though not without severe losses to the 11th Army. The Italians counterattacked the position with the IX Arditi Assault Battalion on June 16th, just three days after the Austrian assault, and took back Col Moschin.

The Italian recapture is not part of the map in Isonzo. However, it is a truly impressive tale and one of the Arditi’s greatest feats of the war, so we’ll be sure to dedicate a blog to the full story after the release of Moschin.

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In two weeks, we’ll do something a little bit different! You’ll get your first look at the cosmetic DLC that’s coming with Moschin. See, this pack is quite unique in a way; something that’ll make it even more exciting if you’ve been supporting us for a while!


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We just released a small update:

- [LINUX] Fixed Linux users sometimes not hearing game audio or not being able to start the game
- Improved internal error code reporting
- [v60280] Internal telemetry hotfix

v60244 download is expected to be around 80mb and v60280 around 45mb.

While we already explored the Austro-Hungarian assault at Montello and Nervesa della Battaglia, the Second Battle of the Piave River featured many battles along the river. One of such battles was the battle at Col Moschin where the Austro-Hungarian 11th Army, led by Generaloberst Scheuchenstuel, pushed in the direction of Bassano del Grappa.



It’s the late Spring of 1918 when the Austro-Hungarian 10th and 11th Armies moved from the north through the Grappa massif along both sides of the Brenta river. The goal was to breach the Italian defenses at the western and eastern end of the massif. Once through, they could outflank the Italian deployment along the Piave river.

Italians pulling a field gun up Col Moschin.

In the middle of the night of June 15th, the Austro-Hungarians commenced a heavy bombardment on the Italian defenses on the Grappa massif to follow up with an infantry assault. However, having gathered intelligence on this plan, the Italians bombarded the approaching infantry while they were still moving into position. This proved particularly effective on the eastern side, severely weakening the 11th Army.

Col Moschin forest, or rather what was left of it.

Early in the morning, the infantry assault commenced. The 10th Army had great successes on the western side, but the weakened state of the 11th Army on the eastern side meant they had a much more difficult time getting through the Italian defenses at Col Moschin.

[h2]Introducing: Moschin[/h2]



Your eyes do not deceive you, Moschin is indeed an upcoming night map! It’ll be tougher to spot your enemies in the dark, so be sure to bring other tools to help pinpoint them.

However, just because the sun has gone to get some cigarettes doesn’t mean there’s no light at all. The sky is clear and the moon does a decent job of illuminating the battlefield, so you’ll still be able to see where you’re going. Also, in case you haven’t noticed, half the battlefield is on fire. That helps.

Today, we’ll explore the first half of the new map!

[h3]Initial approach[/h3]

While Moschin isn’t necessarily mountainous, there’s still a fair degree of elevation here. From the attacker’s perspective, the right side of the map will often be able to overlook the left side and the Austro-Hungarians will have to advance one ridge at a time.



Approaching the first ridge, the attackers will have to get through a line of barbed wire. This is easier said than done, as the Italians will be defending from the trenches right behind it. There’s a patch of fire slightly off to the left, separating the approach until you reach the trenches.



[h3]Sector #1[/h3]

Once through with the trenches secured, it’s quite a walk towards the first capture points. You can opt for the left side, where there’s little fire and you get a good amount of coverage from the trees. This offers a more tactile approach to advancing. Or, if war isn’t hell enough for you, use the sea of flames on the right side to cover your advance. Embrace the chaos and let the fire fuel your fury! Disclaimer: fire hurts.

Objective A is a cow farm down the slope, with a couple of buildings and trucks that provide excellent cover for the Italians. The treeline clears around this capture point and the defenders will have a clear shot, so the approach may prove difficult if they know you’re coming.



Objective B however, requires the Austro-Hungarians to destroy a cannon that’s surrounded by flames. As if there’s not enough destruction already, you’ll have to plant explosives to explode the Italians’ explosives. I’m sure this won’t set even more things ablaze.



After a final ridge, the terrain starts to flatten a bit, but we’ll save that for part 2! Spoiler alert: there’s more fire.

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You all really seemed to enjoy getting to know Seyfettin in the last blog and we have a ton more peculiar characters in the team for you to meet!

If you're eagerly awaiting to learn more about what's next for Isonzo, you won't have to wait too much longer! We'll have exciting news to share come March.

We announced the winners of the WW1 Memorabilia contest! Find them here.

As a final point, the behind the scenes gifs you'll see below were recorded during the development of Isonzo prior to launch. Now, let's get started!



[h2]Meet Ned![/h2]

[h3]Hello! Could you introduce yourself?[/h3]
I’m Ned. I live in Snowdonia in the far flung reaches of North Wales, which is a rainy, wild and beautiful part of the UK. I work remotely from a farm house where I have an assortment of pets including several sheep!

I started my career as an indie developer, when I co-created the game ‘DEATHPIT 3000’ (which you can find on Steam!) alongside a friend. The game is a top-down, bullet-hell, twin-stick, co-op shooter, and through it I cut my teeth in coding and game design, as well as experienced what it’s like to release a title on Steam. I’ve also taught Unity and coding at the National Film & TV School near London, helping mentor students in their game development Masters degrees. I have a love of history, having studied it at university and worked on several historical screenplays, two of them set in the First World War, so working in the WW1 game series is a happy confluence of my interests.



[h3]What is your role in BlackMill and when did you start working here?[/h3]
I first discovered WW1 Game Series when I bought Verdun on its release, which I enjoyed a lot as it was refreshing to see the First World War represented in an FPS. I actually joined the team in 2019, just before development on Isonzo started, and so was involved in the whole development life of the game.

I am a programmer, focussing mainly on gameplay systems and weapon functionality. I work a lot with our lead animator Guido (who was in one of the previous meet the dev blogs), and between us we deal with introducing new weapons in first-person (which is somewhat distinct from the third-person implementation in a multiplayer FPS series like ours). I’m largely responsible for weapon handling and features, which is often complex as our weapons are old fashioned and we make a point of keeping them historically accurate, so they are frequently idiosyncratic and have exceptions to how they each operate. It’s often a challenge to balance out fun gameplay with historical authenticity, but that’s part of the enjoyment in making them too.

[h3]Where did your passion come from?[/h3]
I’m a lifelong gamer, some of my earliest memories are playing on the NES and Mega Drive when I was very young. Then when I was a bit older I discovered PC gaming through Command & Conquer, and completely fell in love with the platform. I remember the challenge of getting those early online multiplayer games up and running in the days of dial-up internet, which was the main motivation that got me learning about computers and networking as a kid. The idea of actually making video games was just a dream for a long time, and initially I pursued a career in screenwriting. But eventually I discovered Unity and found that making my own games was actually very achievable and immensely satisfying, and from that I began my career as a game developer.

[h3]What is the first thing you made in Isonzo as well as the most recently released?[/h3]
The first big feature I worked on in Isonzo were the mortars. It was soon after a previous programmer left the team and I was asked to take over implementing the ‘static weapons’ (our name for the weapons which are fixed in place). The basis of these weapons had been setup in Tannenberg with the HMGs, so I was able to use some of that functionality in the mortars, but I quickly discovered there were some very finicky differences between them, not least the fact that our mortars all pivot around different points and each in different ways, which was a bit of a nightmare to get right at the time!

Thankfully, after walking through fire with them I established an approach which meant when I came to setup the field guns it was much easier and smoother. I still think of the mortars as the difficult troublemakers whereas the field guns which are my pride and joy! The mortars did make up for it with some laugh out loud moments though…



The most recent thing I’ve worked on in Isonzo was adding the ‘manual deploying’ for the light machine guns, which is something I always thought would be an improvement to the way they handle. I was very happy to be able to make it happen!

[h3]What is a memorable moment for you in the development of Isonzo?[/h3]
I think the most memorable moment for me in Isonzo was when we finally completed the Villar Perosa. We always knew it was going to be a difficult weapon to get right as it is so unusual. It was also clear that it was going to be an iconic weapon of the game, so I wanted to go the extra mile and make its functionality as realistic and in-depth as possible. It was hard going as the weapon has twin barrels and twin clips, either of which can be loaded or unloaded, and the weapon can be deployed or undeployed, which means the weapon can be in a lot of different states and ended up having no less than three unique reloads! It was certainly worth the effort though as I think it turned out well and is one of the most memorable weapons in the game.



[h3]Can you show off some of your work process and tell us what you’re doing?[/h3]
I work a lot with the first-person rig, which in a multiplayer shooter like ours is actually just a pair of arms. The first-person and third-person models are quite different and sometimes what looks good in a first-person shooter doesn’t actually correlate to what is totally realistic. For example, as there is a lot of focus in our game on authentic historical weapons and the fantastic models our artists put together for them, that means the guns are our centrepieces and so we want to make sure they are held up high and occupy a lot of screen space. However, this has to be balanced with realistic handling and aiming motions.

One mechanic I’ve put a lot of time into getting right is our ‘sway system’, the goal of which is to try and provide a motion which both follows a realistic breathing pattern but which also doesn’t throw off the aiming sight picture of the weapon, as that would just be frustrating for the player. Finding the right balance between these kinds of gameplay versus realism questions is definitely one of the most challenging but also rewarding aspects of my work.



[h3]Which other game dev/studio inspires you, and why?[/h3]
These days I am most inspired by indie devs, as I find so many of the most interesting games out there are made by small and passionate teams who actually have the least resources but end up taking the biggest risks, just like the founders of WW1 Series when they took a chance on Verdun right out of university. Indie games like CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience and Empires of the Undergrowth have really challenged my preconceptions about what a game can be. They show that you can make an engaging experience about unlikely topics which are also thought provoking and even affect the way you see the everyday world. I’ve also been blown away by the recent indie game Against the Storm, which is a masterclass in what a small team can make.



[h3]Favourite game at the moment or something you’re looking forward to?[/h3]
I’m currently obsessed by Beyond All Reason, which is a completely free open source reboot of one of my all-time favourite games Total Annihilation. The engine it operates on is next level and feels more polished and professional than any RTS I’ve played in the last few years, which is just wild for a completely free game that isn’t even on Steam yet! Beyond that I’ve also recently been enjoying Sins of a Solar Empire II, IXION, and of course Baldur’s Gate 3. I’m looking forward to the new Vampire the Masquerade as I was a big fan of Bloodlines back in the day, but like everyone I’m unsure if it’ll ever actually show up.



[h3]Is there something you like to do when not working or playing games?[/h3]
I try to make the most of living in such a beautiful part of the country by pursuing outdoor hobbies like scuba diving, paragliding and sailing. However the Welsh weather means that even in the summer those activities can be quite limited, so I also enjoy a lot of indoor social activities like board-gaming. I also genuinely get a lot of enjoyment out of game development, almost more than playing them, and so always have one or two side-projects on the go for the fun of it.

[h3]Anything else you want to share?[/h3]
I just want to thank the community for their continued feedback and input on the series. For instance the recent manual bipod toggle was directly in response to player requests, so we really do listen to what our player base want, and that in turn makes our games better and better.

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The weapons of the Great War were more than tools of conflict, they are symbols of an era that reshaped the world. We invite the collectors and enthusiasts of our community to participate in our WW1 Game Series Field Rations Pack Giveaway!

[h3]How to enter: [/h3]

Share a photo of your favorite piece of WWI history from your collection. This could include field gear, weapons, uniforms or other historical relics/memorabilia from the era. Share with us why it is your favorite piece and how you found it. That's all!

You get two entries for this contest: 1 by posting an image in our Discord in the dedicated channel and 1 by posting one on our Reddit with the `WWI Props & Relics` flair. These should not be the same item, so be sure to pick two of your favorites! We'll select 3 winners across Discord and Reddit. One person cannot win on both platforms and the contest will be closed on February 27. Good luck!

[h3]The prizes![/h3]

The 3 lucky winners will receive a WW1 Game Series Field Rations pack which includes:

• A handy thermos bottle to keep your drink warm in the trenches
  
• Mints in a custom tin to keep your breath fresh
  
• Postcards to send home to your family
  
• Poppy seed grenades to plant for the fallen soldiers
  

Good luck and we can't wait to see everything you've collected!