Gaming Battleforge Interview: Volker Wertich

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2008/05/14/battleforge-interview-volker-wertich/1

Volker Wertich isn't a name you often hear bandied about, but since he created the original Settlers and Spellforce games we figured he might be more than deserving of our ear - especially when it comes to his new, just-announced RTS, Battleforge.

 

Sounds somewhat interesting. Settlers was good back in the day, spellforce was interesting, though a little flawed/frustrating in some ways. This might well be worth a look

 

looks great graphics wise and sounds kewl awesome game mechanic, i can see the top rankers thinking about what cards a known opponent will bring and try to change there deck to gain advantage....hope its realsed next year
if theres a monthly charge I wont be playing.

 

Never played spellforce but I loved Settlers, this sounds like quite an interesting concept, I'll keep my eye on this one

 

Interesting.

I like the focus on Co-op play and the fact that it's tagreted at lower spec machines (which means that it will have real gameplay and not just be another graphics demo). On the other hand, the gameplay looks pretty samey. Is there anything beyond "big things and little things fighting on fairly wide-open enviroments"? I'm also worried about the shift to online play. It seems like a lot of studios are trying to use PvP and online as a substitute for developing longer and more varied games. It's almost as though they want to make half a game, charge you for a whoile one (plus a monthly subscription) and then let other players fill in the rest of the expierience.

 

I only played Settlers III. Although, I sometimes found it frustrating to achieve all the right mining and food growing capacity to make new tools and weapons, I thought the settlers' interaction with their environment was amazing. The fact that the forester can plant trees and you see them grow over time. You see the tree actually fall after being chopped and its remains diminish as the woodcutter takes the logs away. The paths that the settlers wear into grass, etc. Truly, I enjoyed watching them work as much as I enjoyed playing it. I have yet to play a RTS game based on resource gathering that was as detailed as Settlers III. Not saying their aren't games out there that detailed or more, I just haven't played one like it to this day.