Feature interview: World in Conflict

Massive’s Niklas Westberg discusses the developer’s new action RTS, World in Conflict.

Did the world have a rough time of it during the Cold War? One would think the threat of an all-out, nuclear-fuelled conflict would have caused more than a few heart palpitations during those tense years of uncertainty and fear. Fortunately, we managed to get out from under that potential cloud of radioactive particles; now we just put up with your run-of-the-mill rain-filled ones that don’t demand the services of a lead-lined umbrella.

As with any major fork in history, authors and filmmakers have seen fit to explore the events that could have taken place had the Cold War continued. Visit your local bookshop and grab Tom Clancy’s Red Storm Rising or Robert Ludlum’s The Scarlatti Inheritance for a few insights or, if the old literary glands aren’t up to the task, pretty much any James Bond film. For those who want a taste of something more poignant, you can’t got past the 1960’s Fail-Safe, available in both novel and film form.

With games having achieved a degree of maturity and sophistication in recent years, the media is more than capable of handling its own ‘what-if’ scenario involving a prolonged and violent Cold War. Massive Entertainment feels that it is the studio to attempt such a project, naming the endeavour ‘World in Conflict’. We had the opportunity to speak with Niklas Westberg, technical director on the game, about some of the specifics of the title.



Say no to NATO
‘World in Conflict is a tactical strategy game that takes place in 1989, in a fictional universe where the Cold War didn’t end,’ explains Westberg.

‘In this scenario, the Soviet Union decides, for a number of reasons, to attack Europe and the United States. The game is very fast-paced and action-focused, with an emphasis on teamwork.’

The nitty-gritty of the story sees the Soviet Union desperate for global supremacy, the Communist-based superpower struggling under the weight of its economy. Its solution is to attack Europe along with the US, embroiling the world’s most prominent continents in war. According to Massive, all of the aforementioned nations are available as theatres of conflict in the game, with the first missions of the single-player campaign concerned with retaking small parts of the United States.

World in Conflict is a significant thematic departure for Massive, with its most recent games being the Ground Control series, set in outer space and involving aliens and sci-fi technology. The gameplay between the titles however is similar, with tweaks here and there.

The biggest change is the removal of resource gathering. While it was never a major element in Ground Control II, it was still a concern for the player. With World in Conflict, players are provided a set amount of resources at the start of the game, which determines how many units they can call in. As these units are destroyed, the player will slowly recoup resources, but never more than they originally started with. According to Westberg, Massive did not, at any point during development, consider adding resource management, or other staple RTS mechanics, such as base building. Massive had a fairly good idea of what it wanted early on.

‘The game design process is a hard one, and you rely on feedback from numerous people. But at one point, you really just have to let go of all the ideas and start the focused development. By then, the game designers’ words are law, and the plan is pretty much set,’ he says.