Posted December 31, 1969 by Scott Parrino

GamePlasma has recently had the pleasure of interviewing the Development Team from Stormregion on their upcoming title, Codename: Panzers. We not only asked them about the development of this World War Two real-time strategy game, but also about the past and future.

: Thank you for spending time to answer our questions! To start off, your last project was S.W.I.N.E., an RTS that pitted rabbits against pigs. What made you go to World War II?
Stormregion: S.W.I.N.E. was a really good RTS that included lots of funny things, but its acceptance was really diverse because of the not so common theme, a war between rabbits and pigs. We had to find a new trail for our games to reach more success, and it was not so difficult. We are all fans of WWII games and World War II itself, so the project Codename: Panzers was born.

: Looking at S.W.I.N.E. and Codename: Panzers, the two game engines look similar. What were some new features brought to the new engine for Panzers and did you retain any old aspects?
Stormregion: We started the work based on the technology and gameplay elements of S.W.I.N.E.. It provided very good basics for a greater volume project, and we knew its weaknesses that we needed improve, and good parts that we could improve further. Panzers uses the new feature-packed version of our in-house developed engine. Gepard 3D has all of the advanced 3D technologies of today; it supports vertex and pixel shaders, dynamic lights and shadows, self-shadows, 3D grass using LOD, skeletal character animation (MOCAP) and much more. Some of the breathtaking visuals are integrated into the game engine itself, like the particle system, water/waterfall effects, and weather system.

: Codename: Panzers joins the lineup of World War II RTS games. Unfortunately, a majority of these games are sub-par. Did you look into other World War II RTS games to see what went wrong and avoid those problems in Panzers?
Stormregion: We had our well defined concept to create a successful World War II RTS, but it's always better to learn from others' faults, so we continuously follow other titles and industry news. But the most important thing is to avoid committing the same mistakes again yourself, and we think we learned this lesson.

: Currently, one of the top 3-D RTS games out is Command and Conquer: Generals. Did you plan on going head-to-head with its newest add-on, Zero Hour, or put Panzers up against the other World War II themed RTS games on the market?
Stormregion: We don't wish to put up Panzers against any other games on the market. There is room for many games and if your game is good enough and the players like it, you don't have anything to worry about. I think Codename: Panzers is not just good enough; it's even better, if not the best in its category.

: After S.W.I.N.E., were there any other projects the team at Stormregion wanted to work on other than a World War II RTS? If so, do you plan on working on it or sticking with a RTS style of games?
Stormregion: As I mentioned earlier we are all fans of WWII history and games, so it was an easy decision to go to this direction. We believe that concentrating on one genre and historical era results in better and better games, so we will continue this way. But we have plenty of other ideas and plans as well. We don't wish to affix ourselves to any one genre or topic, and to become a mass factory of WWII RTS games. We prefer quality over quantity...

: Were there any problems that came up with the Gepard Engine for Panzers that you overcame?
Stormregion: Gepard 3D served us well earlier, and even better today after its improvements. Naturally during development we faced some minor problems, but there were not any critical ones; we have brilliant coders on board.

: What was the team's favorite part to work on in Panzers? The graphics, the physics, the landscape, the single-player story, the multiplayer or the units?
Stormregion: We liked very much the creation of in game cutscenes. It required close cooperation between the designers and artists, we had great fun together during all the production phases and we enjoyed the MOCAP recordings as well. We became really professional actors to the end, and it's a great joy to see all of this in the game…

: If Codename: Panzers becomes a big hit, will the team work on a sequel or an add-on, or perhaps apply the engine to another war theme?
Stormregion: Codename: Panzers is already a big hit in Germany where it was released first. It has continued to be on the top of the sales charts since its release. We are in the middle of development on the first add-on, and we are sure about the sequel to come. The engine is capable of handling and running other games as well, but it's too early to say more about it.

: Did the team get to check out the actual tanks and vehicles of World War II to model in Panzers? What about uniforms and infantry weapons as well?
Stormregion: During development we created a huge resource work to provide authentic missions, vehicles, units and weapons to the players. We have a huge collection of archive newsreels, movies, books and pictures, and we found the best sites on the Internet as well. I think this work was worth all efforts, the result is fantastic.

: I would like to thank the team at Stormregion to allow us the pleasure of interviewing them, and for the final question, would the development team like to say something special to it's readers and players that come to GamePlasma?
Stormregion: Greetings for all GamePlasma readers! We had so many joys and fun during the development of Codename: Panzers, that we never dreamed about. And it was not over after completing it. We are still having fun with it every day, and we hope you will do the same! Have fun!