HD LinkHi everyone, we hope you are in good health at the moment. At Barbedwire studios everyone is okay, and we are still working hard to produce the best game possible.
Today’s update is about two subjects. First, project decisions and second, methods we use for producing content.
We are aware that people are a bit anxious about the future of our project - that’s why we want to tell you more about what we’re up to.
We also know many people would be interested in making content for GoH, so we also want to give you an insight in our methods that will make Gates of Hell rather realistic, independent of engine choice.
The project
Since announcing our move away from our publisher we have been rather quiet. We were (and are) not yet ready to tell you the path ahead because we have to make important decisions first; hence the long radio silence. First of all, we are still very determined to publish our game. The process of engine choice is now under way. We are working hard to get this over with! We will announce this in June. These are tough decisions to make and we want to make absolutely sure that we get it right.
We want to thank the community for all the support we have received, in whatever shape. It feels great to have so many supporters. We will not let you down!
How do they do it?
This part will be a little bit like the popular Discovery Channel programme that shows how stuff is made. Since we will offer full workshop support - regardless of which engine we will use - this might be nice to know for those that intend to make mods and other content for our game.
Ideas
First step is to come up with an idea for a mission that seems achievable as a historically correct scenario. We have a number of elements to check before we start:
- Did this story actually happen?
- Can we view the historical location, in person or using Google?
- Has this story been covered by other games?
- Can a scenario be made that is entertaining?
These and other factors are used to decide whether we want to make a mission on the subject.
We start up with a shared document for use within the team. This document is then used to collect all data, visuals, historical annotation and anything else that is related.
History
Every scenario we develop needs research. There are many elements that we need to find out. First off, we use documentation from our own library and augment that with whatever information or images we can find in online sources.
- Find out all dates and times
- Find out which unit numbers and names are connected
- Find the historical location
- Find out the equipment used in the battle
- Find related photos of the battle
If we can check these boxes, we have an idea how to make things look.
Many times, reality is almost beyond imagination and we absolutely need that look at the real thing.
This is one of many photos we used to compare ruins of StalingradObjects
We create all our models according to modern industry standards. This includes a variety of optimization techniques to ensure maximum performance and beauty are achieved.
All objects in game are modeled with use of real life references, with extensive attention to detail. For some objects in game we use the so- called photogrammetry technique.
This tree stump was made using photogrammetryMap making
When the history and location have been approved, we can start making a map that is as close a copy of the real location as possible. Also, we need to look at the battleground and decide which part of it will be in our map. Nobody likes a featureless map with no cover, so we select the interesting parts of the historical battlefield.
To make sure things look natural, we then find out what kinds of vegetation and what kinds of housing/ buildings are common in the area. Not every region has the same trees, bushes and houses, so we take a close look at that to make sure the natural part looks right.
We also use old photographic material as much as we can, reproducing elements from those like road pavements, village layouts, bridge shapes and the like. Sometimes we can even model specific buildings that can be found in real life, because they survived the war.
The Tikhvin locomotive shed still stands today, making for a perfect example which we worked fromThe next step is to make the map and the environment look like the real thing as closely as possible. To achieve this, we need all of the things we mentioned earlier, plus a height map of the area.
The height map, obviously representing the landscape perfectly, is then imported into the engine and used for further development, offering maximum realism.
height maps can be imported in the editor, using external data like from GoogleWhen the map is finished, it is time to implement the scenario that turns it into a mission. We do that by combining the map with the assets and the right kind of units - according to a scenario, which in turn is based on the historical events. This basically allows us to re- enact whatever took place in the real location as closely as possible.
The result is a finished mission, representing something that actually took place 75 or more years ago.
Using these methods, we want to achieve a very important quality level, because we want Gates of Hell to play out on real locations, based on real historical battles.
What’s more; as we mentioned, we plan to offer full workshop support! This means you could use part of these methods (or all of them) to recreate battles that you want to bring to the attention of the world.
So, this is “how we do it”. Does this make you look forward to it?
Next steps
We want to make the next announcements in june. After that, our next devblogs will probably be about things like features (a feature list) and the path ahead. We will also launch our own Discord server, probably this summer. This all depends on what we decide and on what happens next, of course. We are still on it, and
we will publish. Despite the move away from our publisher and the hard road ahead, we are trying our best to make sure we release this year as planned.
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That’s it for now. Thanks for your support! Stay safe, and stay tuned.
