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This interview is with Troy Heere, Director of Engineering for Ultimation, Inc. Troy is Designer and Lead Engineer for Destroyer Command, one of the simulations in the historical element of SSI's Digital Combat Series.
Q: Can you tell us where you gained your interest in historical
naval combat?
Troy: World War II has always been of great interest to me. My
grandfather and both of his brothers fought in the war, though
they never talked about it. As a gamer, some of my favorite
games were set in that conflict, including the flight simulators
created by Lucas Arts years ago.
While finishing Panzer
Commander for SSI, I picked up a copy of Morison's The Two Ocean
War and read it cover to cover after they expressed an interest
in a destroyer game. I couldn't put it down! The battles of the
Pacific theater in particular captured my imagination-- the
sheer terror of those night battles, the grueling watches and
horrifying kamikaze attacks. The men who fought that war have my
deepest respect.
Q: After looking at Destroyer Command I have to say I am pretty
excited about this title. It reminds me of a high res and
tactically enhanced version of Task Force 1942, the
Microprose game released back in 1992. But DC allows much greater player involvement, and in fact shares more in common with Silent Hunter II than with Task Force.
Unlike Fighting Steel, this is a true simulation rather than
a strategy game. DC takes place primarily on the first person
and tactical level. Also unlike Fighting Steel, DC has a very
immersive environment graphically, including clouds and
weather and sea states. Aren't you worried that some people
are going to go out on this rolling deck and beeline for the
nearest head?
Troy: If they do then I think we will have succeeded! We've been
considering including a package of dramamine in every box...
But seriously, Destroyer Commmand is intentionally modeled more
after Silent Hunter than any of the higher-level tactical
simulations like TF1942 or Great Naval Battles. We felt that the
focus on destroyers dictated a more immersive approach.
At the same time a
solid command and control interface was also necessary if we
were to have division and squadron-level operations. So DC is
really kind of a hybrid, with the CIC interface providing the
tactical control and the other stations providing the nuts and
bolts "simulation" interface.
Click to continue
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Q: Thinking back to 1992, I remember loading up Task Force: 1942
and setting up a night encounter between two battle groups.
As they came within range the starshells began to burst
overhead and the big guns began to let loose from my
cruisers. I could almost smell the cordite and salt air. Tell
us what this scene will look like from an outside view in
Destroyer Command. Will we have opportunity to provide escort
for a battle group?
Troy: Absolutely! Our AI programmer is focused right now on providing
decent task force-level tactics and behavior. We want the
battles to feel real and we want the player to have the
experience of screening the big boys in a major conflict.
As for night battles, the Solomons really are the centerpiece of
the Pacific campaign, so the night battles are a crucial element
of the game. If there's any place where we will be pushing the
3D envelope it will be here. Expect to see star shells, flares
and even search lights, as well as the flash of the big guns
being fired and the flames of burning ships on the horizon.
Q: Tell us about the command structure and how we earn
promotion?
Troy: There are still some tough challenges here. Our intent is to
allow the player to play the game as a ship commander, a
division commander and a squadron commander (1 ship, 4 ships and
8 ships, nominally.) Promotion is largely a function of
objectives completed and we've taken the approach of providing
both primary and secondary objectives for each scenario,
weighting them by difficulty.
What we're also doing, which I think is kind of unique, is to
allow the player to decline promotion and continue at his
current level if he so chooses. If you want to finish out a
campaign as a ship commander, you are perfectly free to do so.
This allows us to cater to the player who wants to focus on
learning the ship's systems and "fighting his ship", while also
supporting the armchair admirals out there who want tactical
command of a larger group. It's kind of a logical outgrowth of
our hybrid approach-- part immersive simulation and part
strategy game.
Go to Part II.
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