We recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with a few members from the 3d world war II team.

<3D WWII Team> Well, here are the participants of the interview – Randall, Oscar and Andrew from LippieSoft are the developers of the game. Dennis is the project manager from the game’s publisher, GameActive Networks

<PCShooter.com> Tell us a little about the game and where the game concept came from.

<3D WWII Team> Randall: Well let me tell ya, I have a couple of little soldiers of my own, Chance and Chase. And with all the different types of toys on the market, they are in to GI Joe. And when I was growing up GI Joe was very popular. And in today's marketing scene, they have expanded the range of characters and accessories that are available. One of the newest types of soldier you can buy was from the WW II era. And when I saw these toys I remembered growing up and I thought how cool it would be to play a game with these types of real world characters. And that is when we decided to go into full production of our upcoming title of 3DWW II…

<PCShooter.com> Will the game feature only the single character Jack Crusher, or will the player be able to eventually control a whole squad?

<3D WWII Team> Randall:  Our game is FPS only! And we have no plans on making the game a strategy type scenario. We are from the Duke Nuke'm batch of gamers, and love the FPS type of action. 

<3D WWII Team> Dennis: Well, the game isn’t exactly a tactical Rainbow 6 clone. It’s about the raw action and the adrenaline involved. Even though currently we are working to make the game realistic (in such aspects as weapons damage, models, etc...) we still want it to be an action game.

<PCShooter.com> Under the features section of your page you mention amazing script coding. Can you tell us a bit about the scripting used and what the end result will be for the players?

<3D WWII Team> Randall: Well the script coding had to be redeveloped many times to get where we are now. We are still working on making the code as perfect as possible. We could probably spend all our time in the development of the codes we use to animate and control the AI'S. We will continue to make the code as clean as we can to ensure the best performance for all the gamers. The time we have spent on the code has greatly improved the AI'S as well as the overall game speed and action. So it will be a real treat for anyone who buys our game.

<3D WWII Team> Oscar: Because we used 3D Rad as our game engine, we have a powerful easy language. As soon as you learn the script you can do almost everything with it. From the beginning I made a game of my own, then after I learned the script I joined Lippiesoft. In ten hours I got Jake Crusher to walk, turn, strafe, jump. After a while he could climb, swim and now even drive a tank…

<PCShooter.com>In the multiplayer mode how many players can the game support? How does this tie into the story? Does multiplayer take place outside the storyline and if so is it death-match only or are there several multiplayer options such as capture the flag, etc?

<3D WWII Team> Randall: 3DWW II will support up to 4 players in the death-match mode. We will eventually up it to 8 players. Well as in UT, it is a blood fest, no real mission but destroy your fellow mates, and become the best action game hero in the world. We have not decided how far into the death-match game aspect we will develop, but we will keep our minds open to suggestions for future releases of the game.

<3D WWII Team> Oscar: For now it is four player max. This is more like training for the players. When the players compete with each other they get better and improve their skills in the game.

<PCShooter.com> How long is the game? Are there already plans in the works for an expansion pack?

<3D WWII Team> Andrew: The game will consist of 12 different levels. You must complete the first level to gain access to the next mission. In the death match mode you may chose the map you want to play and challenge your buddies in an on-line blood bath.

<PCShooter.com> Will the player be able to drive vehicles in the game? What type of vehicles would be available to the player?

<3D WWII Team> Andrew: Yea you sure can drive. Right over the top of your enemies. You will be able to drive a German tiger tank, as well as a personnel carrier. We are still thinking of adding new vehicles to the game as an expansion pack or upgrade package.

<3D WWII Team> Oscar: Yes, a tank. The game will allow tank in multiplayer also.

<PCShooter.com> How important is the story to the game? Are there going to be ties between the missions to make it feel like you are playing a story?

<3D WWII Team> Randall: Well it is important to know your mission, as well as to stay alive. Jack Crusher is full of piss and vinegar, which makes him a hard ass character. It is up to the player to take on the role of such a character and to save the world from its destruction.

<PCShooter.com> Will those players still using a 56k modem be able to play this game?  If not, what is the minimum connection speed you recommend for optimum performance?

<3D WWII Team> Randall: Yea modem play is ok to use, but we suggest using DSL or other high speed to ensure the best game play you can get.

<3D WWII Team> Oscar: Anything faster than modem is recommended, because there are a lot of data that will be sent and received while playing. 

<PCShooter.com> There seems to be quite a few World War 2 games coming into the game market, why do you think this is and how is 3D World War 2 different and better than the others that have come before?

<3D WWII Team> Randall: It’s very simple: its cheaper... Plus the overall fun.

<3D WWII Team> Dennis: Well, to start, there aren’t many action oriented WWII first person shooters on the market right now. Sure, Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Medal of Honor will be out sooner or later, but right now the market is empty. What we offer the gamer, is a bit of the same Wolfenstein action-oriented gameplay, with awesome multiplayer capabilities and a fair price. And finally, the game has some fairly low requirements for our times; the final version should be able to run on a p2-300 w/64mb of RAM. How many of the upcoming WWII based first person shooters can offer that?

<PCShooter.com> I noticed on your web site the game is being offered at the unheard of rate of $19.99. In a game market where low prices are generally considered to be in the mid $30 range I have to ask, is this thing stolen? *grins* Seriously though the price of many games reflects a high production cost, how were you able to keep your production costs so low? I think many game companies could learn a lesson from you.

<3D WWII Team> Dennis: Oh no, he’s discovered our secret! *turning back and yelling to the development crew*: “Run guys, run!”. Just kidding, but there are a few ways to keep the production costs low. First off, we do not spend millions of dollars on publicity on TV and other expensive publicity methods, and that’s where most of the marketing budget of big games goes to. Publisher X can easily spend 1 million dollars on publicity of its new game, but then they want their money back, and that’s when they raise the price. Second, we don’t have huge offices with tenths of people involved in the project. Secretaries that make coffee and answer your e-mail are while still an attractive option, are not a necessity. That’s why GameActive Networks doesn’t have any. Furthermore, LippieSoft has around 3 people working full-time on the actual game development, although there are quite a few part-time helpers. That way we keep the expenses related to human resources on minimum. Third of all, 3D RAD, *not* a very popular 3D engine, was used as a core to the game (although it has been heavily modified), which saves quite a bit of money opposing to licensing a brand engine, such as Quake, LithTech or Unreal engines. And finally, we are aware that the casual gamer will make the biggest portion of the game’s audience, and he would much rather buy a $19,99 title instead of a $29,99 one standing next to it. As we all know casual gamers would prefer a cheaper title, rather than an expensive one. So this is simple math: it’s better to sell let’s say 20,000 copies at $19,99 each, rather than 10,000 copies at $29,99.

<PCShooter.com> Are there any secrets or hints that you would like to reveal to our readers?  

<3D WWII Team> Oscar: We  have implemented a cheatcode in the game…

<3D WWII Team> Andrew: The only secret that I can divulge is Jack Crusher is AWESOME! This is a big secret so use it wisely.

Thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview.  We look forward to hearing back from you soon.

<PCShooter.com>Thank you for your time.  We really appreciate you taking the time for this interview and wish you the best of luck in the future.

Visit their website @

http://www.gameactive.net/