Wolfenstein MP details

[CptStern]

yesterday there was a leak of Wolfenstein MP map screens which caused a flurry of activity on the interwebs. the leaker provides a few details about the game and the engine:

Wow. I didn't mean to set off a bomb here, but its great that you guys love Wolfenstein so much!

I have read through the forums here and it seems there were already some misunderstandings about what I had posted. So here's more:

Firstly, Raven had no involvement with the MP game, except for modeling Axis and Resistance player models.
When I said (very generally) that the ET:QW engine was optimized for online play, I meant that only as it is an engine built by Splash Damage for multiplayer, versus the Wolf engine built by Raven for the Wolf SP. In other words, Raven's Wolf engine was simply impossible to use for the MP game. Part of Activision's contracts between Splash Damage, Raven, and Threewave involved sharing knowledge, technology, and in-game assets. Through this combination the decision to develop Wolf MP as a mod of Quake Wars made perfect sense. I wasn't critiquing the ET:QW engine, I was just explaining that at the start of the MP development there was a choice of going with either Raven's wolf engine, or with Spash Damage's ET:QW engine, and it was decided (with Activision's support) to use the ET:QW engine. Wolf MP was being developed simultaneously with ET:QW. Threewave finished their work on the MP game last year and now as you all know Endrant is completing it. I find it highly doubtful Endrant would have the time to build a new game from scratch (speculation).

I would like to repeat strongly that Threewave was not taken off the project. As I mentioned before, Raven was being poked by Activision to measure up to Threewave's work. Its odd to think of them as just a maker of CTF mods...that was 8 years ago!

There seems to be a great deal of dislike here for ET:QW in two forms- the game and the engine. You must remember that those are 2 very different things. I mentioned before that only the engine was used. The game includes very typical Wolfenstein objectives.

To address other things that were mentioned:

There are no vehicles in the MP game.
There is no use of megatexture, since...
Map sizes are roughly on par with RTCW maps (settings like Chemical Factory, City Canals, Hospital, Downtown Bank Plaza, etc.)
Objective based gameplay remains (Destroy the wall, bunker door, fire the cannon, steal the documents, device, etc.)
Sub-objectives possible to aid Axis or Resistance (build the MG42, construct a ladder, pick the lock, repair the bridge, blow the bridge)
Players earn XP during campaign mode that can be used to upgrade to other weapons, build deployables, etc.
Player count is smaller than RTCW, 8 vs. 8

http://www.wolfenstein-zone.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=137&p=1349#p1349

some of it sounds freakin awesome (objective based), although it seems to borrow more than a bit from RTCW ET and less from QW: ET (no vehicles) which is a good thing

8 vs 8? what's this 1998?

 

[Lucid]

8v8 gives me a bad feeling, that's like... console numbers.

 

[CptStern]

I played for years on a 12v12 RTCW server ..also a 16v16 ..12v12 was better for rtcw

 

[Lucid]

I honestly didn't play RTCW online a whole lot, Wolf:ET came out a year after I got the game I think.
I miss the beach map.

 

[Warbie]

8 vs 8? what's this 1998?

RTCW was actually best 6 vs 6

 

[Iced_Eagle]

Oooo sounds interesting

I'm actually trying to get an internship at Raven for the summer, so if I do, I might finally have the upper hand with the leet hacks I would program into it only for me!

 

[Mr Stabby]

I remember reading somewhere that RTCW2 was being devolped primarily for the 360, then will be later ported to PC.

 

[tschumann]

I remember reading somewhere that RTCW2 was being devolped primarily for the 360, then will be later ported to PC.

Yeah, I think I've read that before as well, though if I recall correctly I heard it 4 or 5 years ago.

 

[Lobster]

I played in a clan for RTCW for a while, great gameplay when you get used to it, im so glad they are sticking to the original style, as Quake Wars really didnt do it for me, it seemed to drop everything unique about Enemy Territory and turn it into Battlefield Quake.

8v8 does concern me a little for publics, as 32 player Market Garden is a strong memory!

 

[Jammydodger]

Yeah im a big fan of the old RTCW too, was in a few clans back then and ran a ETQW site for a while so I know both games pretty well, Im pleased that they are using the QW engine as its a solid platform IMO. I really hope they dont concentrate all their energy on the console side of things tho as it could ruin a classic.

I'll see if I can get a answer from 1 of the devs about the multiplay numbers.

 

[CptStern]

anyone play the xbox version of RTCW? it was horrid and the mp was a pale imitation of the pc version

oh well if they consolise Wolfenstein there's always hope id will release the original RTCW as a browser game like they're doing with Quake LIVE



oh and:

In March 2008, the United States Department of State published a report to Congress, "Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism", that described Return to Castle Wolfenstein as an "anti-Semitic video game" with no qualifications.[5] The report picked up on an article originally written in 2002 by Jonathan Kay of the New York Times regarding the recent introduction of "Nazi protagonists" in the online gaming market (referring specifically to Day of Defeat and Wolfenstein)

what's next? Counterstrike is anti-establishment because you can play as a terrorist?

jews see freakin nazis and anti-semitism everywhere

 

[Lobster]

Hopefully the 8v8 is a console limitation that may be changed via a wolf pro mod or somthing like that, id certainly like to see 12 vs 12 again.

It would be cool if they added Enemy Territory to the quake live interface, i do miss my MP40.

 

[Sir Phoenixx]

8v8 gives me a bad feeling, that's like... console numbers.

To be fair, it's more of a "Xbox 360 numbers" thing, as the PS3 exclusive shooters don't have that problem, their maps are all regular-large player size.

 

[Warbie]

I don't get the popularity of large scale MP fullstop. More players equals less teamwork and more random spam and chaos. There's a reason why RTCW/ET and games like TF2 are played 6 vs 6 competitively.

I'm hoping the limit of 8 vs 8 is an indication of tight maps and a teamplay focus, which would make a damn nice change from the current crop on online fps around at the moment.

 

[CptStern]

there were a few maps in RTCW that needed more than 6v6 to play. Operation marketgarden being one of them, the cable one being another. I agree to an extent; some of the maps that shipped with rtcw were better with 6v6 or 8v8


my fave map was probably one where you're the size of a gi-joe and the map is someone's bedroom/upstairs, complete with toilet and remote control toy car. 6v6 on that map felt like a ghost town. i also played almost exclusively on a clan server so teamwork wasnt a problem ..probably the last game I've ever had that level of teamwork in

 

[tschumann]

anyone play the xbox version of RTCW? it was horrid and the mp was a pale imitation of the pc version

Yes, but not the multiplayer. I tried multiplayer on PC and enjoyed that though.

 

[knut]

I don't get the popularity of large scale MP fullstop. More players equals less teamwork and more random spam and chaos. There's a reason why RTCW/ET and games like TF2 are played 6 vs 6 competitively.

I'm hoping the limit of 8 vs 8 is an indication of tight maps and a teamplay focus, which would make a damn nice change from the current crop on online fps around at the moment.

Project Reality (yeah, it's me plugging PR again, I know) does large-scale combat really well, but then they really do mean large scale maps when they say it. The environments are so big that you often fight squad vs squad miles away from another skirmish which is goddamn awesome in my eyes. It's like four different RTCW battles going on in one round, all in different places.

Need to play both of them again sometime.

 

[3ssence]

I don't get the popularity of large scale MP fullstop. More players equals less teamwork and more random spam and chaos. There's a reason why RTCW/ET and games like TF2 are played 6 vs 6 competitively.

I'm hoping the limit of 8 vs 8 is an indication of tight maps and a teamplay focus, which would make a damn nice change from the current crop on online fps around at the moment.

I agree with this statement whole heartedly. I'll take smaller teams and more teamwork any day of the week over sheer numbers and mayhem. Although there are exceptions to this i'm sure, the battlefield games pull off the big numbers whilst retaining a good element of teamwork. But for me, i much prefer smaller numbers.

 

[Mr Stabby]

I liked the xbox version, back then I also liked xbox live.