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Part 1: A much more important personal side
Subsim: I'm speaking with Dan Dimitrescu, Lead Design on Silent Hunter 5, aka Mr. Silent Hunter, and Alex Gris, Producer. I've met with Dan in San Francisco, Houston, and Copenhagen, we are well acquainted. He was the game designer for SH3 and , lead game designer for SH4 and SH5. So, Alex, let me get some history on you, what's your background in games?
Alex: I started in Ubisoft in 2004. I was a programmer for HAWX, and then I moved to Silent Hunter 4, also as a programmer. Since Silent Hunter 4, I worked for the Silent Hunter series ever since. After Silent Hunter 4 was finished, I was lead programmer for the Silent Hunter 4 add-on, and right now I'm working on Silent Hunter 5 as producer since last year.
Subsim: With any game, people are always saying 'I think they should add this, it should be pretty easy, it shouldn't take much time' and as a programmer, you probably look at that and laugh don't you, because you know it's probably a lot harder than it looks?
Alex: Yes, it totally is, and even with our expectations, you think 'it's hard', but again it usually proves to be harder.
Subsim: And you have seen Das Boot?
Alex: Yes, of course.
Subsim: Okay. we can talk.
(laughs)
Subsim: First of all, what's the status on the game? Is it still on track to be released in March?
Dan: In March, yes, not sure the exact date. First part of March.
Subsim: I think there was an announcement from Ubisoft that some of their games will be delayed, I wasn't sure if Silent Hunter 5 was one of those games or not.
Dan: Nope, Silent Hunter is not delayed.
Subsim: This is the fifth game in this franchise, what would you say is the overall theme, the philosophy driving the development of this game, compared to the previous Silent Hunter sims?
Dan: Well, you know how we see the campaign as being one of the main features of the game, generally speaking, so if you want to talk about the philosophy of Silent Hunter V, it's that the campaign is both dynamic and put into context. I mean, we're using the campaign to teach the player why certain events happened in the world, they're no longer just happening, they're happening because of some actions the player took or didn't take, or some result that the player achieved. If you study history and philosophy you may understand that certain famous battles were not just stuff of luck, or didn't happen just because events are happening in the same place at the same time, it just because one side or the other side tried to achieve a certain strategic goal. and this led to that development. So, this is what our campaign and what our game tries to portray.
On the other hand, of course, the philosophy is that the game takes a more personal approach, it puts the player in the center of events, in the captain's shoes, in among the crew, inside the submarine which we have fully modeled as you have seen at the Subsim meet in Copenhagen. You are able to interact with your crew, they have some storyline, a personal side so you can see how the war actually affects them and how they viewed the world thru their own eyes. So, there's also a much more important personal side to the game, not just the war, not just the mechanical side, which doesn't lose its importance to us, but there's also the personal side to the war, and to the game.
Subsim: So, this game is going to have more role-playing elements, based on that personal approach?
Dan: Yeah, it's kind of like U-boat missions, it's not identical, but we have these kind of features in the add-on. It's something that we've always wanted to do with Silent Hunter, we always experimented with various approaches to the crew. And we think that the RPG-like elements are one way of portraying various aspects which you can actually read about in history books.
Subsim: In addition to playing the game, the player gets a more of a learning experience back from the game, more as compared to previous Silent Hunter games?
Dan: Yes. We also think that the game becomes deeper, with more ability to it.
Alex: Neal, you know, you mentioned Das Boot, it was about the submarine but also about the crew inside the submarine, and we wanted to take this game a little bit closer to what Das Boot did, so this is why we picked the crew's development a little bit further than it was in Silent Hunter 3 and 4, and also design the first person perspective and the full interior of the U-boat.
Subsim: I suppose it goes without saying we've already had U-boat subs with Silent Hunter 2 and 3, so to make another Silent Hunter 3 over again...that would be covering the same ground?
Dan: Yes, Silent Hunter 5 is about U-boats again but of course it's not the same story line. It's a different portrayal than Silent Hunter 3, I'd say and definitely Silent Hunter 2, which was a string of missions that the player wasn't able to keep or adapt to according to his actions. So ,Silent Hunter 5 is a dynamic campaign, it's the story line presented in a way that may be a little different than Silent Hunter 3, mainly because it's more dynamic, the events in history are portrayed better this time, and the player's actions mean a lot more. So, you might actually affect a little bit of history, as it would have been possible. Actions happen one way or the other in history, we are using one version of history and maybe if somebody would shoot a torpedo a little differently, or take a different patrol route, they would create another version of history. Not necessarily significantly altered, but different anyway.
Alex: Basically there were two theaters of operations for submarines in the world, and they were Pacific and the Atlantic. And these two theaters of operation can host an immense pool of events and resources for creating a great game.
Subsim: Does Silent Hunter 5 use the same game engine as Silent Hunter 4 and Silent Hunter 3. Does it build on it or is it more of a new game engine and code structure?
Alex: As a game programmer, I can answer that (laughs). Silent Hunter 4 which was based on mostly of Silent Hunter 3, and we started Silent Hunter 5 as a normal evolution from Silent Hunter 4 because there was already already a wealth of elements there. However, in order to improve the game, we need to make some architectural changes, needed to change a lot of the engine, so we end up with quite a different architecture and game but still holding some key elements from the previous titles.
Dan: If you'd say Silent Hunter 4 was basically Silent Hunter 3 adapted for US fleet boats, I'd say Silent Hunter 5 is the next evolutionary step in the series. It's the one that actually brings a lot of value, there are changes not just into the way the game looks and the fact that we have a fully modeled submarine for the first time, or the crew is much more important right now but in the technological side, and we think the engine is much more powerful now.
Alex: Yes, that allows us to put many more ships in the dynamic campaign because we optimized the engine, we re-engineered it in most places, and even the graphics look much better. It's a big step, and of course, the complete submarine--the first person (perspective) was not at all present in previous title and we had to development it from scratch.
V is for VII
Subsim: So, this is a new kind of FPS, a first person submarine; which submarines will the player be able to take command of? Type VII , Type IX, Type II?
Dan: It's a Type VII submarine. We think that we have modeled all the significant versions, meaning Type VIIA, which we didn't have before, Type VIIB, C, and C41. We think this time we went much deeper with the Type VII than we did before. For example, the Type VIIA didn't have reloadable torpedoes in the back, so with just one shot and you'd have to come back home to reload, and this is now done in the game and we corrected other little defects with the class.
Subsim: So, this is going to be more
NARROWBAND in scope for the player but the submarine itself will have more access and accuracy in how it's modeled?
Dan: Yes.
Subsim: The crew morale, I've been reading some of the questions about it, there are ways to improve the morale, like success out in the battlefield, long patrols can harder on the crew--can the crew morale force the captain to end the patrol before all the torpedoes expended? Usually in these games, the player plays until they run out of torpedoes, or fuel, but usually torpedoes, then he returns to base. Can crew morale have that impact?
Dan: Not that drastic, but you would definitely feel a problem if you stay at sea too much, and when you don't have success. So yeah, the idea is for you to do your objective and keep doing so to keep your crew happy and if you stay too much at sea, the crew will not be performing so well because of the morale. So you can tell if your crew is not serving you so well even though they will do their job. They are a military crew, they will always do their job, it's not a question if whether the submarine operate or not. But in order for your crew to excel, they will need that morale to be high, and the longer you stay at sea, the lower the morale will be.
Subsim: Dan, will the capacity for more crew morale grow over several patrols? Usually these games have what they call the green crew, the veteran crew, the elite crew, and if you're successful over several patrols, will the crews morale improve at a higher level?
Dan: Yes, it will.
Subsim: What about the crew animations, I guess when the submarine is on the surface you'll have the crew on the bridge, When you actually give the command to dive, instead of just 'popping' off the bridge, they actually go down the hatch?
Dan: At the moment no, they don't actually go down, they just take the first step, then they will disappear into the sub.
Subsim: What about the captain, the player, he's gonna be in first person mode on bridge of the U-boat, will he have to go down the hatch?
Dan: Yes
Subsim: And the submarine won't dive if the player does not go down in the hatch?
Dan: The submarine won't be able to dive if the player is left there, what we are trying to do is take some usability steps to help the player. For example, if you are looking at the map, the map is fullscreen, and if you order a dive, then the game will take the player into the submarine.
Subsim: Is that similar to Silent Hunter 3 and 4, then? If you're on the bridge and you press the 'P' key --
Dan: That's just an example, there are no other shortcuts. It's not possible for the player to be in the command room and press the keyboard for UZO and jump to that station. In order to use the UZO, you'll have to go to the deck and just click on it. In order to use the observation periscope, you go to the command room and click on the observation periscope. It's just for the dive, when you are ordering the dive and maybe you are using time compression, in those cases the game moves the player into the command room.
Subsim: So, you're saying there are no shortcut keys to change screens, that you have to manually do it?
Dan: You know we were thinking, maybe a lot of folks might say, "Oh my god", it might be a problem, so let's put something in and see how much of problem it is. Given, as you know, as the captain you stay in the command room, normally you stay there, all the stations are kind of close to you, so that's not much of a problem.
Subsim: The damage control, in this game, there will actually be graphic representation of flooding?
Dan: Yes, there will be, you'll be able to see flooding in the submarine, you won't be able to drown in 3D or swim around like that, but there will be a graphic representation definitely.
Part 2: Battle of the Atlantic
Subsim: What kind of tutorial system will this game have compared to the others? You guys are adding features to the game to make it easier to play for people that aren't into submarine games, which should help appeal to people that aren't diehard submarine players. What kind of tutorials will be available to learn how to play the game?
Alex: So, the tutorial is based on a patrol. There's a guiding system to the tutorial which will help you understand the basic mechanics of the submarine, and what you have to do in order to sink ships, in that patrol. So, even completing the tutorial we believe will be rewarding and it matters in the program for the campaign, the tutorial is part of the dynamic campaign.
Subsim: It's not a separate part, not a training mission?
Alex: No. It's the initial part of the story in the campaign.
Subsim: Speaking of the campaign, when does the game start? When you start a career, what year, what month does it start? September 1939?
Dan: Yes, the start of WWII.
Subsim: After war has been declared?
Dan: Yes, exactly.
Subsim: And as you build your career, you're gonna be in charge of a Type VII U-boat at the very beginning, and you're gonna progress through the torpedo failures, the Happy Times, Operation Drumbeat... all these phases of the war until the end of the war in 1945?
Alex: You build your career through these phases, but the game ends in 1943.
Dan: The game actually ends after Black May, which we feel is the real climax of the U-boat war. We tried to portray more carefully, in more detail, the golden years of the U-boar war and what has led up to the real Black May. Neal, If you remember a few months before May 1943, they had the highest scoring month in the war, and then just a month later, they lost the most submarines because the Allies introduced some real effective countermeasures against U-boats. And then Doenitz was forced to retreat his U-boats from the Atlantic because they never actually challenged the Allied sea powers the same way as before. So for now, we felt we wanted to concentrate on the early years and maybe later to give the same attention to the the late war years we think should come with some professional approach. For example, if you remember Silent
Hunter 3 we had the late war game with the Type XXI U-boat and everything, but we never actually did portray the Allied side of the anti-submarine warfare, as we should have. You know there are really advanced weapons that were used, like aircraft dropped torpedoes and magnetic anomaly detectors that if you wanted to do a real simulation of the late war years against U-boats, you gotta have those in. So, we don't want to just put on the box of the game 'oh, it's the whole war', it's the first part of the war really where we are concentrating.
Subsim: So, what is the subtitle of this game going to be? Silent Hunter 5: Type VII U-boat simulator, The Early Years?
Dan: (chuckles)
Alex: It's called 'Battle of the Atlantic'. I really like it, because it gives a certain romantic feeling after the game, because the first years were the success and just ends over there when the wheel turns for the German Navy. It's pretty neat.
Subsim: I think I understand, but I guess the question I know you are probably anticipating from every single player, will the player have the option to continue on? Like Dan said, the Fido and some of the other advanced weapons may not be in the game, some of the technology advances may not be in the game but from the perspective of just seeing numbers on the calendar change, and repeating patrols, will there be any option or way to mod the game for the player to think he's still playing until May 1945?
Dan: In the game, the way the game will be launched, there won't be any way to be able to continue the campaign past 1943, but there is nothing stopping the modders from keep adding more content, which comes afterwards. There's no hardcore limit for how far you can play in the world, it's just how far OUR campaign goes.
Subsim: I know you guys are probably anticipating this, this won't be any surprise to you, if I publish this interview and I say, "The game campaign spans September 1939 to May 1943 and ends"... I don't think you're gonna see a lot of people saying, 'Oh great, I'm glad the campaign ends in late 1943'. I was wondering if there are any optional ways to make the campaign continue if the players want to do it.
Dan: No, there won't be any option for that, and given we've changed the campaign system, how the ships work in the campaign, it's not possible just to take the data from Silent Hunter 3 and put it on the field. And we think for the player, and the playing experience, its' not a bad thing. You know the game is called Battle of the Atlantic, and the battle was lost by the German U-boats.
Alex: And during the first years of the game, the number of missions you have to accomplish, is much higher than the previous titles, even though the game span is a shorter of period of time, the amount of richness that can be found in the game is overwhelming compared to the previous games. In order to achieve this density, we have to reduce the scope.
Subsim: So, this is going be a more specialized version of the typical U-boat game then?
Dan: Yeah, it definitely is more specialized and we think that the level of quality over the model is actually higher than before.
Subsim: Will the player begin the campaign as the Captain, or as a lower rank officer?
Alex: The player will enter the game as an XO and will complete an introductory part of the campaign. After that, he will be take command of the U-boat as the Captain.
Cry wolfpack
Subsim: Now its time for the dreaded 'W' word: wolfpacks. This is something everyone's been talking about since Silent Hunter 3, and we had this idea that maybe Ubisoft would release an expansion to Silent Hunter 3 with wolfpacks.
Dan: We definitely have AI U-boats in the game. The level of interaction with them right now is limited, but there is a role for them in the campaign, so basically they will help the player accomplish his goals, but that is all I can say about it right now.
Subsim: Will there be shadowing objectives? Where the player gets a command from BdU to go in a certain grid, to look for a convoy and shadow it, staying in contact but not attack? And of course the objective is, the gameplay element is that the player has to stay close enough to not lose the convoy but not so close that the escorts detect him and drive him under and he can't maintain contact. Is anything like that gonna be in the campaign?
Dan: Right now, it looks unlikely that we will have shadowing convoys in the game. As in, having a very special mission for the players, but actually it'll kinda work this way in the game: If the player shadows and keeps contact with the convoy, then wolfpacks will actually attack the convoy, too. There won't be as much interaction with BdU as opposed to reality.
Subsim: So, that's a more self-enforced thing, if he wants to do a shadowing objective, he'll just have to do it on his own, the game won't reward him or penalize him if he doesn't do it well.
Dan: The player doesn't have much direct interaction with the wolfpacks, with the AI boats, but if he keeps shadowing convoys and keeping contact with the convoys in the area that the wolfpacks operate, then the AI boats will also join the battle. The wolfpack will have an operational area and if you shadow convoys in that area, the wolfpacks will be able to react.
Subsim: That does sound like there is going to be a wolfpack type battle that wasn't in Silent Hunter 3 at all, that if a player reports a convoy, that AI U-boats may show up and attack, so a player might actually see a ship torpedoed by a wolfpack U-boat.
Dan: Yeah.
Subsim: Will the game include Q-ships, where the player encounters a merchant sailing alone, decides to save a torpedo and close for a gun attack--and the merchant throws off covers and opens up with guns?
Alex: There are no dedicated Q-ships in the game but some merchants will be armed to the teeth. However, the player will be able to see some German merchant raiders in action.
Subsim: Will there be a calendar posted somewhere showing the lunar phases? (like SH2 had)
Alex: No, there are no lunar phases displayed anywhere in the game...except for on the moon itself.
Subsim: Remember when Silent Hunter 4 came out, there was a problem with anti-aliasing, is that gonna be a problem this time?
Alex: No, it's perfect. (laughs). No, no problem with the anti-aliasing.
Subsim: So, this game wont have the jagged edges in the higher resolutions and bigger screens this time?
Alex: No, there shouldn't be any problems.
Subsim: What kind of multiplayer can we expect in SH5?
Alex: Co-operative mode.
Subsim: Essentially the same as Silent Hunter 3 then?
Dan: Yeah.
Subsim: Modding, everybody asked me about this, the games before have been open to a certain extent to mod, and modding is a big thing, a lot of credibility on modding. How open is this game to modding?
Alex: Modding? Let's say like this: the modders will be extremely happy with Silent Hunter 5. It's quite a bit more open than the previous, and you surely will find some nice surprises.
Subsim: That sounds good. Any kind of construction kits?
Alex: Not really, the file types will be more open.
Subsim: If Silent Hunter 5 is a commercial success, and let's say that it sold well, and the corporate office is happy, what is the next step? Another add-on, with additional U-boats, campaigns, maybe as DLC, downloadable content?
Alex: Well, we are thinking about that but it's much too early to say, we have to first of all see how the game performs. We'd need also to gather some feedback once the game is out, to see what the community says, so we can focus our attention on this also.
Subsim: Last question: copy protection; what kind of copy protection scheme will SH5 use? Some kind of serial number, a program, or will the game be linked to Steam, or Uplay?
Alex: We cannot comment on that either right now.
Subsim: Is it under discussion or is it just finalized and you aren't going to go into details?
Dan: We... cannot comment on that right now. (laughs).
Subsim: I appreciate your time, guys.
Okay, thank you, Neal!