WW1 kick starter

Phil101

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/595044156/ww1-virtual-trench

There is hardly anything about WW1 in games these days and since the centenary for WW1 is next year I imagine this kick starter is going to be quite and interesting one. There's something about that conflict that has always interested me in terms of the technological advances that came from it.

Paradan

ever read "The Guns of August"?

Phil101

Oh yeah, I remember that. I think this kick stater is meant to comprise most of the iconic parts of WW1 such as Studdy by the US army dog. Now the story about that dog is incredible, most highly decorated animal of all time, he even caught a German spy and survived the war.

War Horse eat your heart out lol

VelvetElvis

They need to cover the tunnel mines used at the battle of Messines.

"On 7 June 1917, nineteen (of a planned twenty-one) huge mines, containing a total of over 455 tons of ammonal explosives, were set off beneath German lines on the Messines-Wytschaete ridge. The explosion, which killed about 10,000 Germans, was heard as far away as London and Dublin. While determining the power of explosions is difficult, this was probably the largest planned explosion in history until the 1945 Trinity atomic weapon test, and the largest non-nuclear planned explosion until the 1947 British Heligoland detonation (below). The Messines mines detonation killed more people than any other non-nuclear man-made explosion in history."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunnelling_companies_of_the_Royal_Engineers

Phil101

I'm pretty sure that's included with the sappers part. Another really cool bit is the poison gas example. Its basically explains how truly awful some of this stuff was that they were fighting with. Stuff like Phosgene that would only show symptoms and kill you 48 hours after exposure.

The stuff with the undermining is fascinating though. The craters are still visible today in Messines, they were some of the largest audience used in WW1. I sure wouldn't of wanted that job, having to dig under unstable ground that's almost constantly getting shelled top side while you go down there holding tonnes of explosives.

cptSwing

^ Wouldn't want to have sat on top of them either

Phil101

^ True, would be a quicker death than gassing though lol

MainManiac

Interesting.

I loved Red Orchestra 2 which was world war II, and Maymayev Kurgen or whatever was a pure trench map. It was _the_ most frustrating map in the entire game. Trench warfare is terrible and honestly not something i'd want to experience again for entertainment. But if they can make it be fun it will be neat

cptSwing

I think it's a serious game, so fun isn't on the top of the agenda.. Great way to experience and relate the horrors of war if it works. Art looks fairly good!

peanut™

Hey, just recently i was wondering about that too, why is there not more ww1 games since its going 100 years next year.

MainManiac

cptSwing wrote: »

I think it's a serious game, so fun isn't on the top of the agenda.. Great way to experience and relate the horrors of war if it works. Art looks fairly good!

Red orchestra was very serious but fun in the sense of how immersive it was. I dont mean BF/COD "fun"

cptSwing

Yeah, my reply might have seemed a little odd. Storming the normandy beaches can be "fun" as well, even if ya die 200 times per half hour.

Hey, just recently i was wondering about that too, why is there not more ww1 games since its going 100 years next year.

Well, it was a pretty static war all in all.. the first and last campaigns notwithstanding. Though there were more innovations than are commonly known (the armored stormtroops, advanced artillery firing techniques, tanks of course..)

Phil101

Something I learned about WW1 is that it appeared static but the boundaries were actually changing on almost a daily basis. This was actually a very dynamic war with lots of action but just in a very small area.

Its not technically a stalemate, it was only until vehicles really came to the fronts in heavy numbers that wars with heavy machine guns were fought over a wider area.

The proof of this theory is in the Masino line. At the start of WW2 France was determined to not have a repeat of what happened in WW1. Many of their top brass were older men who fought in WW1, so they focused all their resources into a small area of France that would be so heavily defended, it would stop the Germans in their tracks and even stop them making their own trenches.

The problem was these old military men failed to consider the advances in German tank design and production since WW1 along with the Luftwaffe. They were basically expecting another infantry war when of course vehicle mobility and speed had greatly improved since WW1.

But I guess it didn't help that they dithered on if Belgium would declare neutrality or not.

Gmanx

This looks like being a great project, I wish them every success.

World War One saw the birth of the tank. There are some wonderfully dramatic stories about armoured warfare on the Western Front, particularly the Battle for Cambrai - which saw hundreds of British tanks attack as a single unit to break through the massive belts of German barbed wire. They advenced 6,000 yards in one day. My grandfather was part of that attack, and I'm producing an animated short of his experiences.

I think there's plenty of material there for lots of different game types, if game devs would take on the subject. WWII has been done to death so, why not?

cptSwing

I can imagine a shock troop assault at weak points in the enemy trench system, advancing under a creeping artillery barrage can be quite fun. Or maybe a look at some little known areas of battle (russia, the alpine trenches, the ottoman empire, submarines)..

igi

Battle of Gallipoli,in the dardanelles strait where the British and French naval forces sunk by Ottoman and almost a half million of people in total fought on a small peninsula called Gallipoli.That was a very intense war.I mean in the museums you can see many bullets that clashed on the air and fused.Which shows that war is one hell intense one.In some places the distance in-between the trenches was too close something like 8-10 meter.Also that war is not only about trenches, there was warplanes,battleships,aircraft carriers,submarines and even cavaliers. That subject actually has a lot potential.One reason of lack of wwi games is I think lack of involvement of usa to the war.

Phil101

I saw the Passchendaele film last night which was about the Canadians role in WW1. Its well worth a watch, It stars the guy who was the mounty in Due South. I just wish someone would do a film about Stubby now.