Hi everyone, this is what we’ve all been waiting for. So let’s go straight to it, then:

   Sokal wrote:Krollspell
    and the staff over at Wolfenstein Zone have put together a list of
    questions from the community regarding Wolfenstein multiplayer so I
    went right to the source of the latest Wolf MP, Endrant Studios. Thanks
    to all of those who submitted their questions, and of course, many
    thanks to Matt Wilson from Endrant for taking the time to answer the
    questions.

Sokal was took the questions we submitted, and did the Q&A with Lead Game Designer Matt Wilson of Endrant Studios.

Sokal:
Can you tell us a bit about the development timeline for Wolfenstein
MP? Some fans heard that Nerve Software was involved in the beginning,
so could you tell us about the different developers that have been
involved in the development of Wolfenstein MP? Whose work made it into
the final product?

Matt Wilson:

There have been big changes to pretty much every aspect of the game
over the last year, whether it was the veil, classes, weapons, map
layouts pretty much everything is new, redone, or tweaked. Nerve is a
long time id development partner, but they did not work on Wolfenstein.
The development work from Threewave was the launching point for certain
aspects, but we have moved forward to match single player in look, and
to more closely match the original Wolf and Wolf Enemy Territory in
game play flavor.

Sokal:
The multiplayer of Wolfenstein has been in development for some time
now, and as you mentioned it has changed a lot throughout development.
How did it look one year ago, six months ago and even three months ago,
compared to now? What crazy stuff did you try out?

Matt Wilson:
Multiplayer did not yet have Veil in it when we first started working
on it, so that’s been a major addition during our time on the project
both in gameplay and effects.

The game has had a variety of
different weapon, item and Veil power unlocks - some close to those
found in singleplayer, some completely new. We went through a number of
iterations before arriving at a selection which fit the setting
established by the singleplayer universe but still worked in
multiplayer.

There hasn’t been anything too crazy - the focus
has always been on creating a balanced, credible Wolfenstein game, so
any ideas that are too wacky tend not to make it off the drawing board.
Most of the changes have been related to features not being fun enough,
not being distinct enough in their own right, or not providing enough
of an advantage to be worth using.

Sokal: Is a Linux client in the works? And if so, when would you expect it to be released?

Matt Wilson:
The singleplayer game runs under DirectX, which would preclude a full
linux version of the game. It would be possible for the multiplayer
game to be ported as it uses OpenGL, but it’s not something that is
currently being pursued.

Sokal: Can you tell us about the engine for Wolfenstein MP?

Matt Wilson:
Wolfenstein MP is built from a recombined branch of ET:QW that includes
all the work Nerve did to the 360 version of ET:QW, plus the patches up
to version 1.4 (the last official Activision patch). Amongst other
things, we’ve added soft shadows and depth of field to bring the
visuals up to parity with the work Raven have been doing for
singleplayer (though you can disable both via cvar if they’re not to
your taste on PC).

Sokal:
Some people had issues with the feeling of the ET:QW engine. The main
complaint was that the game didn’t feel smooth, like the idTech 3
powered games in the past. Have you taken steps to improve the netcode
/ hit registration of the ET:QW engine?

Matt Wilson:

It’s hard to answer this without specifics. ET:QW could perform less
than optimally if one part of your system wasn’t up to the task of
running the game. Wolfenstein should be more forgiving in this respect
as there are no vehicles, player counts are lower and it uses maps
which have optimized layouts for performance. We’ve also benefited from
having Sony and Microsoft’s PS3 and Xbox 360 approval teams bashing on
the game, which has a direct effect on stability and polish for the PC
since we’ve been working on all three platforms more or less
simultaneously.

Sokal: How
many objectives are present in a map on average? Is the game more like
RTCW MP, where you often only had a single required objective and
several optional ones that open up different paths to the primary? Or
is the game more like W:ET, where you have to complete several
mandatory objectives before you can attempt the primary?

Matt Wilson:
The game is probably more like RTCW - the maps really only have one
primary objective each, but there’s usually something you need to do to
get to it (such as blow one of three possible entrances open so you can
enter the objective building). The default time limit is 10 minutes, so
imagine what you could do in that time and you have a good sense of the
level of complexity each objective has. Previous games have had a lot
of side objectives and tasks, and while they’re great fun we really
wanted to focus the action on the objectives this time around. Working
as a team is more satisfying if you’re all trying to achieve the same
thing.

Sokal: Can you give fans a quick overview of the gameplay in Wolfenstein MP?

Matt Wilson:
There are three game modes - Objective and Stopwatch modes both make a
return, and we’ve also added a Team Deathmatch game type. When playing
Team Deathmatch, additional map routes are opened up and some areas are
sealed off to ensure the maps have good connectivity and bring players
into combat in good places. We didn’t want it to feel like a ‘practice
mode’ or just mindless free-for-all, so we introduced a kills-based
team score to replace the objectives. We also tried to keep it true to
Wolfenstein gameplay - for example, reviving is still a vital part of
strategy, because it means the other team doesn’t get credit for the
kill.

There are persistent stats - there’s a brief overview in
the main menu for the game, which shows you bullets fired, accuracy and
so on. There will be a more detailed stats website available at launch
which will take the same stats and turn them into more meaningful
comparisons (your favourite map vs. your best map, and so on).

The
game has three classes - Engineer, Medic and Soldier. The Engineer
completes objectives, the Medic heals and the Soldier gets to use the
heavier weapons. Each class has a Veil power which is tailored to their
role within the team (the Medic gains the ability to heal multiple
people around him, for example).

The weapons available to
players in Wolfenstein MP are the MP40, Kar98, MP43, Panzerschreck and
Flammenwerfer. Every class also gets a Luger pistol as a backup weapon.
The MP40 and Kar98 are the primary weapons available to every class,
while only the soldier can use the more powerful MP43, Panzerschreck
and Flammenwerfer.

Sokal:
How is the player movement? Can you sprint and strafe at the same time?
Can you sprint and shoot at the same time? Can you sprint, strafe and
shoot at the same time?

Matt Wilson:
Shooting will pull you out of sprint, but you can sprint and strafe at
the same time. ET:QW limited sprinting to forward movement only, in
that you could sprint as long as you were moving forward by some degree
- strafing alone wouldn’t trigger it. We’ve expanded that to let
players strafe and sprint without having to be moving forward directly.

Sokal: How fast is the movement speed compared to ET:QW?

Matt Wilson:

The base forward movement speed is about three quarters as fast as
ET:QW. This is a good fit for the scale of the maps and the distance
between spawn areas and objectives, and gives the game a similar pace
to previous Wolf games. We have increased the strafe speed to be as
fast as running forward so you can strafe and dodge more effectively.
Sprinting is as fast or faster than ET:QW, so there’s quite a noticable
burst of speed when using it.

Sokal:
How is the weapon spread in Wolfenstein compared to RTCW / W:ET /
ET:QW? And how much will moving your mouse quickly, crouching or
jumping while shooting affect the spread?

Matt Wilson:
Weapon spread is tighter than ET:QW, and probably on par with W:ET.
It’s a little hard to compare directly because of the ability to aim
down the sight, which has a different effect on accuracy depending on
the weapon. Our aim was to make gunplay with the MP40 possible over
regular combat distances without needing to use the sights, but you’d
almost always want to sight a Kar98 shot unless you were standing
completely still or opponent was at very close range. The MP43 sits
somewhere in the middle, depending on your choice of unlocks.

Crouching
increases the accuracy of your shots (although again, the extent to
which your accuracy improves depends on the weapon you’re using).
Jumping dramatically decreases your accuracy. Moving your mouse quickly
has no effect on accuracy, but firing in longer bursts has a
detrimental effect. There are also unlocks which affect recoil,
depending on the weapon.

Sokal:
What is the weapon damage at both close & long range, and from hip
& scoped on all weapons? Do you have a weapondamage table you can
show?

Matt Wilson:
Telling you the weapon damage wouldn’t mean much outside the context of
the game (especially if it didn’t include other variables like fire
rate, accuracy, the headshot damage modifier the game uses and so on).
All the weapons have an effective range, through which they do maximum
damage. Beyond the effective range the damage starts to fall off, but
you shouldn’t really experience that unless you’re using a weapon
outside of its intended role (e.g. trying to single-shot snipe with an
MP40). More powerful weapons like the Kar 98 and MP43 have a longer
effective range.

Sokal:
Will the game ship with a competition mode, or an option to make one?
If so, are these competition cvars available? Pause, Speclock,
Teamlock, Ready, Readyteam, Disable/Enable/Limit Heavy weapons,
Disable/Enable/Limit Veil powers, Disable/Enable Muzzleflash,
Disable/Enable Muzzlesmoke (If revives are slower than RTCW & ET)
Disable/Enable Instant revives?

Matt Wilson:

The game has competition support, although not to the extent you’re
describing. Revives are instant, so no cvar is needed there. The
ability to disable muzzleflash is not strictly a ‘competition’
requirement, although I can understand why it’s included in your list
(and on that subject, we really feel that muzzleflash is meant to
reinforce the understanding that you’re firing your weapon, not act as
a penalty for having done so. The muzzleflash effects in Wolfenstein MP
are suitably conservative).

There is this age-old problem we
have to contend with, whereby everyone has a different opinion on what
would make the game better. If you cater to all of them you end up with
100 servers all with different settings and rules, which is a nightmare
for a newer player who has expectations of how the game should play and
doesn’t understand why he can’t use the Panzerschreck any more on this
server, or can’t even join a team on another. Ultimately, the
competitive community is best placed to decide what you guys want out
of a competition mod, not least because you can react much quicker and
be exact in the preferred changes.

Sokal:
We have said in the past that there will only be one type of server.
Can you elaborate on this and touch on how this will affect custom
content?

Matt Wilson:
There’s one type of dedicated internet server, which supports player
ranks and persistent gold and unlocks. There are no restrictions on who
can run one, and it doesn’t lock out custom content. The game also
allows you to run dedicated and non-dedicated LAN servers without
persistent ranks/gold/unlocks, should you so wish.

Sokal:
Custom features: mods, maps, skins, WolfTV - have you been thinking
about this, and will Wolfenstein MP be compatible with all this from
the begining?

Matt Wilson: I don’t believe any details have been announced yet.

Sokal: Thanks so much for your time Matt.

And
a big thank you goes out to Sokal and Matt Wilson from Endrant, and
thanks to all the people who submitted questions for this Q&A.

Activision n'est pas content du tout de voir la bêta multi de Wolfenstein circuler sur le net. Afin de s'attirer la sympathie de ses futurs clients, Activision a décidé de bannir du forum officiel Wolfenstein tous les fans qui ont admis avoir joué à la bêta :

Earlier today, Peter Sokal confirmed there will be a patch on Wolfenstein's release date fixing some of the issues the PC version has. A changelog has just been released, adding new features and fixing some bugs from the leaked build.
 
- Fixed issue causing the Healing icon to remain after dying.
- Sprint functionality has been modified so user can sprint longer, but has longer duration before being able to sprint again (pm_Stamina changed from 5 to 10, pm_StaminaThreshold changed from 1 to 5)
- Quick voice chat can be binded to keys via the console (the new binds are _needEngineer, _needMedic, _needSoldier, _needHealth, _needAmmo)
- Control options now feature separate binds for Use (resurrect, objectives) and Item (Ammo, Health, Satchel)
- Reduced how far packs are thrown
- Reduced how far grenades are thrown
- Added ability to change cross hair appearance through the menu
- Global chat now disables properly if disabled through the Ser...

- When on the purchase upgrade confirmation screen, ESC now cancels the purchase instead of returning to the menu.
 
- Sounds added for navigating menus.
 
- In order to prevent names from running off the screen, character limit has been reduced to 10 characters on names
 
- Fixed issue causing the Healing icon to remain after dying.
 
- Sprint functionality has been modified so user can sprint longer, but has longer duration before being able to sprint again
 
- Global chat now disables properly if disabled through the Server Launcher.
 
- Fixed bug causing the grenade ammo indicator to reflect having one more grenade in your inventory.
 
- End-of-round countdown voice-over takes priority over objective status voice-overs.
 
- When a round ends, the scoreboard will default to the chat window.
 
- Truck model in Canals has been updated so it is easier to complete the objective
 
- Clan Tag text box in the Options Menu has been realigned  
 
- Audio countdown has been readjusted  
 
- The kill ticker color has been adjusted to the proper team color
 
- MP43 melee attack speed has been slightly decreased
 
- Added Quick voice chat that can be binded via the console (the new binds are _needEngineer, _needMedic, _needSoldier, _needHealth, _needAmmo)
 
- Both teams should now be able to mute users properly
 
- Soldier arm when holding Kar 98 has been improved
 
- Reduced how far packs are thrown
 
- Reduced how far grenades are thrown
 
- Removed a chair near the crucifix in Canals to prevent the crucifix from dropping into an area where it could not be reached
 
- Control options now feature separate binds for Use (resurrect, objectives) and Item (Ammo, Health, Satchel)
 
- Choosing a random map rotation will work properly now
 
- Added ability to change cross hair appearance through the menu
 
- Fixed issue causing the crouch icon to remain after dying