Armored Warfare Interview: Tank Tactics

Armored Warfare is a game about tanks battling each other and is similar to titles such as World of Tanks. With an emphasis on PvE elements along with PvP, the game has set itself apart for its tactical gameplay and being available for free. One of the challenges facing the game’s developer is in setting the game apart from its competitors.

To find out more about the current status for the game and regarding its future, Gamingbolt spoke to Jacek Pudlik who is a Producer at My.com.

"Armored Warfare has done many steps to stand out from the crowd of other tank games out on the market. The recent successful expansion of PVE content with more story-driven missions is one of those points of separation."

Armored Warfare started in a very interesting way. It was first handled by Obsidian Entertainment and then transferred over to My.com What are your thoughts on the game’s journey thus far?

Armored Warfare has had a very interesting journey so far, and the hardest moments of transferring the entire development over is already past us. The development team is currently working hard to make it even more interesting in the future. With the launch of brand new PVE content, as well as Ranked Battles, we are looking forward to the exciting things to come this year.

What is the basic premise of Armored Warfare and how does it separate itself from its main competitor, World of Tanks?

Armored Warfare has done many steps to stand out from the crowd of other tank games out on the market. The recent successful expansion of PVE content with more story-driven missions is one of those points of separation.

How much content is currently present in the PvE portion? Is there enough to keep solo players going for a long time?

The PVE cooperative content is more than just solo-player content. Naturally it can be played without much dedication to finding friends, thanks to matchmaking with other random players, but it can be played by an organized group as well. The PVE content, especially the recently added missions, can keep players engaged for a very long time due to the newly added difficulty level, which makes it more demanding than ever before, requiring cooperation from members of the team and great precision in execution. Additionally, we plan to be systematically adding more content of this kind throughout the year, based on results of the missions already implemented in the Caribbean Crisis update.

What can you tell us about the tank variety in the game? How much work went into accurately modelling each vehicle?

The tank variety is very diverse right now, with multiple tanks from different nations available in the game already, each offering unique playstyles. We also have plans to expand on our tank offerings in the future, but I can’t comment on the specifics of that at the moment. On the second part of your question – there is a lot of work going into each tank produced. Designs are studied and modelled into tanks that very closely resemble their actual counterparts.

PvP has gotten a major boost with Global Operations which is similar to Battlefield’s Conquest mode. What do you feel changes about this kind of structure when tanks are present at all times?

Global Operations changes a lot to the overall experience. A significant factor to a player’s tactical approach on the battlefield is impacted by the ability to come back to the same battle or not. Respawns allow multiple approaches to the same problem and a more casual playstyle. With that said, Global Operations offers players with a wealth of tactical options to consider beyond respawn rates. Players have theoption to gather and deploy special upgrades, such as the bunkers and bomber support which can help balance gameplay when facing an enemy’s direct line of fire. Also, the changing location of main capture points makes it impossible for players to maintain a constant high-ground. All this makes Global Operations an extremely exciting and dynamic game mode.

"We are passionate about what we do, and we love games. Naturally, this means that we want to deliver the great game experienced by millions of people to even more people, and expanding to the PS4 was great step in the direction of achieving this goal."

What are your thoughts on complaints about optimization on PC? How are you working to improve the game’s performance on a wider range of systems?

Optimization of the PC version of Armored Warfare is a constant work in progress. We are doing our best to bring our product to the widest possible audience, but at the same time we remain committed to maintaining a high visual fidelity of the game.

How effective have monetization strategies been for Armored Warfare, especially in this day and age with controversies surrounding microtransactions, loot boxes and whatnot?

I cannot comment in detail on financial performance of Armored Warfare, but I can say that we are happy with the results of recent changes in our monetization strategy and expanding the permanent store offering. We aim to improve how and what kind of monetization we offer to our players, and to maintain the game as a truly free-to-play environment, while listening to the feedback and suggestions of our players on what they’d like to see available for purchase.

What prompted development for the PS4 version? What are some of the challenges you faced in getting Armored Warfare running on the console?

We are passionate about what we do, and we love games. Naturally, this means that we want to deliver the great game experienced by millions of people to even more people, and expanding to the PS4 was great step in the direction of achieving this goal.

Is there any potential for cross-play support down the line between PC and PS4 users?

Not at the moment. The PC version of the game is not identical to the console version, and we do not see them being merged in the foreseeable future. What is more likely, is having more differences rather than less, to make Armored Warfare PS4 a game tailored for console players, while keeping the PC version developed for the PC audience. The needs of these groups are vastly different.

Is there a specific reason why this game is not launching on the Xbox One?

We are not excluding such a possibility in the future, but at the moment we are focusing on the PC and PS4 versions. One step at a time.

"At the moment the PS4 and PS4 Pro versions are identical, but the game naturally does run smoother on the Pro version."

What kind of support do you have planned for the PS4 Pro version? Any additional visual enhancements over the base PS4 Pro?

At the moment the PS4 and PS4 Pro versions are identical, but the game naturally does run smoother on the Pro version. We are currently putting all our effort in optimizing the game overall for the PS4 environment, but over time we don’t exclude the possibility of utilizing the extended possibilities of the PS4 Pro hardware.

In a recent interview, Mark Cerny, the lead engineer of the PlayStation 4 Pro claimed that converting a base PS4 game to PS4 Pro version is just 0.2 Or 0.3% of the overall effort. What is your take on this? Do you think that the extra work required to develop an additional Pro version is actually bigger than the number quoted?

It’s hard to assess how much actual work would go into developing a special version of a game for the PS4. It depends on whether it’s just accessibility on the PS4 Pro, which AW actually is available on, or developing brand new features.

Where does Armored Warfare go from here? What significant content updates are being planned? 

The Early Access stage of the game, which will last until February 20^th, is only the first stage of our efforts. We will continue to put major effort into the development of Armored Warfare after it moves into the free-to-play stage and hope we will deliver entertainment to everyone who enjoys modern vehicular warfare.

Is there anything else you want to tell us before we let you go?

Thank you for this interview. We put a great deal of work into making the Armored Warfare PS4 version ship. We have hope that it will provide a great alternative to other shooters available on the platform and will do our best to improve the game in the coming months and years, bringing in new content, features, and optimizing it on the platform. We are also very grateful to everyone who has shown faith in our efforts to bringing our great modern tactical tank shooter to the PS4 and purchased founder packs during the early access stage.

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