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Platoon

by James Sterrett

Article Type: Interview
Article Date: September 16, 2002

Product Info

Product Name: Platoon
Category: Real-Time Tactical
Developer: Digital Reality
Publisher: Strategy First and Monte Cristo
Release Date: November 15, 2002
Sys. Spec: Click Here
Files & Links: Click Here

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Real-Time Tactical Setting

In Platoon, the player is cast as Martin Lionsdale, who slowly rises through the ranks as battles and a story unfold through the years from 1965 through 1968. Produced by the Hungarian team Digital Reality that also brought us the Imperium Galactica games, Platoon boasts maps and missions modeled on actual action in Vietnam, in a real-time tactical setting. Players control their soldiers, and can also expect to control M-48 tanks and M-113 APC's.

We gained enough security clearance to ask a few questions of Pascal Héry, Platoon’s producer at Monte Cristo (one of the game’s two publishers), Nabil Yared, the producer for Platoon at Strategy First (Platoon’s second publisher), plus commentary from Tamas Daubner, the project lead for Platoon at Digital Reality.

A Pastoral Scene with Peasants

James Sterrett (J.S.) What do you hope to do in Platoon that has not been done before in a Vietnam game?

Nabil: We wanted to create a tactical game that captures the spirit of the Vietnam War. Our goal is that by playing Platoon you will feel as if you ARE in Vietnam.

Tamas: The atmosphere and the story will be two key elements in Platoon.

J.S. Why did you acquire the license to the movie "Platoon"? How does the movie's short time span fit into the game, which covers 1965-1968?

Pascal: Following the cinema release in 1986, “Platoon” was widely acclaimed as the most important Vietnam movie ever produced. Sixteen years later, Platoon on PC will go a paddy field further by capturing all of the uncertainty, drama, sweat, fear and horror of this Oscar-winning classic into a masterpiece of real time strategy gaming. As “Platoon” influenced the movie industry, we hope that the game will influence other industry members to make something other than a FPS out of a blockbuster movie.

Contact!

J.S. How does the plot interact with the missions? Does the player have any control over what mission happens next? If the player is inserting into the combat zone via helicopter, is the insertion zone under the player's control?

Tamas: As a player, you could play either the Single Player Campaign, in which case mission order is predefined; or you could choose to play the completed missions in Scenario Mode, in which case it is up to you which of the 12 missions to choose from. In Multiplayer Mode, you can play on 4 specially built maps against one other human player. Insertion zones are for inserting the player in, but they are usually near hostile territory...

A view of the full interface

J.S. Do the nifty visual effects include the ability to destroy terrain? Can we knock down trees and buildings, or create LZs for helicopters?

Tamas: No, terrain is something that cannot be affected, nor trees. Instead you could destroy buildings and other objects! LZs are in predefined spaces.

J.S. How do you approach balancing realism with "fun"? Is it necessary to sacrifice realism, or is realism in simulation a source of fun all by itself?

Nabil: Realism vs. fun; this is the dilemma of the computer game industry. I believe you can achieve a balance between the two without sacrificing too much from either. You have people who go for fun over realism and vice versa. In Platoon I believe we reached an acceptable balance.

Trucks and Tanks and M-113s!

Tamas: The game is visually very appealing, with great graphics - spectacular lightning is employed in an RTS for the first time! - a very friendly GUI interface and stunning special effects. It also has wonderful voice acting, brilliant soundtrack from a BAFTA-award winner composer - music will change according to situations, events and places, too. These make it a fun and entertaining game as they provide a deep immersion into the era and the setting of the various missions. But also, it stays realistic as you have a lot of elements in gameplay that allow the player the use of different tactics. A lot of research was done to reach that level of realism with weaponry, clothing, units, Vietnamese AI and so on.

Clearing mines

J.S. Are enemy units entirely script-driven? How completely can they react to the player's moves? Does the AI have any special abilities, or is it limited by line-of-sight and fog of war to the same extent as the player?

Nabil: The AI is certainly an important factor in Platoon, as the game is very tactical. The enemy would not only see the player's men, but also hear them and respond differently to each and every situation. We plan to push this bracket further, though: the enemy will always act after elaborating each and every consequence of the actual situation.

Tamas: We used scripting to enable the player to "see" the differences between the AI driven units. Some of them would only stay and hold position, some of them would try to retaliate and get help from others, some of them would even follow the player's men if attacked, and so on. Hearing is a key feature in the AI, it could cause a lot of stress to the player, but enhances the game towards being more real.

VC deploying for an ambush

J.S. How does the player control the soldiers? Could you explain your philosophy on using or restricting the ability of players to examine the map and give orders while the game is paused?

Nabil: Each soldier has his own personality. You can control them as a whole (squads and formations) or individually. With the choice of different type of infantrymen available to the player, there is more then one approach to solving a mission.

Tamas: While in Pause Mode, the players won't be restricted: they could elaborate the situation and give out orders taking as much time as they wanted.

A VC fireteam in the palms

J.S. Do the soldiers in the player's unit continue from mission to mission? Are they rated for abilities that increase the longer they survive?

Tamas: Your men won't gain experience points, but they will go on from mission to mission. Heroes are your main characters; the story is built around them. Their abilities and statistics are higher than the average grunt. By the way, each unit's abilities will differ - that was one of the key points in the design of Platoon.

Aerial view of a hamlet

J.S. How does your experience in developing the Imperium Galactica games and Haegemonia help in the development of Platoon?

Tamas: Platoon is a "first time" for us, as a first date in a new relationship. We had numerous experiences from our previous titles, we could use some of them, but many obstacles came in the development phase that we had never seen before. Of course, we had to start from scratch; we've built every tool for ourselves - because it is a completely new setting breaking away from the space-RTS genre.

J.S. How is developing games in Hungary different from developing games in the "West"? What different perspective does it provide to your games?

Tamas: In the true sense of the term, developing here still has some "drawbacks": in Middle-Eastern Europe games are developed by artists and people who are self-educated. In the West, people were educated in special schools by experienced people! That is a key difference, but in no way does it mean that our games are not up to the quality of the Western ones…think about Imperium Galactica II, Mafia, Hidden and Dangerous, Operation Flashpoint and the new breed of games coming from here! Due to this, Eastern European games have a special "feel" or "touch" to them, it's not like a mass-produced game from the West.

J.S. If you could change one thing about the game industry, what would it be, and why?

Nabil: That is a very good question. If I got to choose one thing it would be to get things more standardized. The amount of hardware out there is mind-boggling and not all use the same standards. I strongly believe that it is that lack of standards that is hurting the consumer.

Tamas: I absolutely agree with this.

J.S. Thanks to all three of you for your answers. COMBATSIM readers can expect to see this title in mid-November 2002; and, of course, our review shortly thereafter!



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