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C3 Exclusive Interview | CDV on Panzer DS and Nintendo Wii Support

on 06.10.2006 at 21:00 User Icon Posted by Adam Riley (jesusraz)
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Mario Kroll, CDV
Interview by Adam Riley :: Thursday, 5th October, 2006


CDV is well-known for its wealth of PC games, such as Blitzkrieg, Cossacks and various Panzer titles. Now the team has widened its net to encapsulate Nintendo DS development, with Panzer Tactics DS due out in Q1 2007. Cubed3 decided to catch up with CDV's Mario Kroll to get the inside scoop on what we can expect...

Cubed3: Could you please tell us a little about your background and what games you previously worked on?

Mario Kroll: I started at CDV as an Associate Producer and PR Coordinator about two years ago. I now serve as Director of Marketing and Public Relations for North America. I previously was the founder of Wargamer.com, a large online website dedicated to covering military and strategy games and related content.

I have worked on and with all of the products CDV has published in the past two years, starting with Codename: Panzers, Phase One up to the upcoming Panzer Tactics DS and War Front: Turning Point. Rather than just a company spokesperson, I'm an avid gamer and am passionate about our games and, along with others on my team, provide a lot of suggestions and tweak ideas for the games we make.

The heavy lifting, of course, is all done by our excellent producers, designers and developers. In this case, the producer is CDV's veteran Guido Eickmayer; the developer is Vienna, Austria based Sproing. Matthias "Sidi" Siedlaczek, a seasoned gamer and researcher that formerly worked for Wings Simulations (the makers of Panzer Elite) helped polish the game as senior design consultant, while the lead designer is Sproing's Christoph Quas, a veteran gamer whose passion for both strategy games and Nintendo will be recognizable in the game.

C3: What was the reasoning behind choosing the Nintendo DS for Panzer Tactics?

MK: There are many reasons. But ultimately it comes down to accessibility and programmability. The Nintendo DS is the richest and most suitable of the handheld devices out there. The breadth of means for interacting with the Nintendo DS, including the touch screen and the dual screens simply make it an ideal platform for designing a compact but significant turn-based strategy game.

C3: A lot of effort seems to have gone into making your games as historically accurate as possible, are there actually war enthusiasts amongst the team or was it merely a process required for creating a realistic experience for the game?

MK: The whole team consists of folks that have played most of the old SSI titles and, as I said in the introduction, contributed to a number of key World War II products. We prefer our games historical. Plus, there is no other title on the Nintendo DS at present that sticks to history. We think that makes Panzer Tactics DS a unique offering.

C3: How many man hours went into researching all the various information sources to make your games as historically correct as it is? And how long has the game actually been in development?

MK: From design to current pre-alpha stage, the game has been in development for roughly one year. It's been a labour of love for the designer and the development team, so they want to make sure they get everything right, and include everything that's possible, or at least important, despite the constraints of the handheld.

C3: Were there any units you wished to include but have not made it into the final game? And have there been any other restrictions, be it from the hardware of in the form of time constraints?

MK: Originally there were more than 350 units on the drawing board. We reduced this to roughly 150 unique units for two primary reasons. The constraints of the Nintendo DS screen makes it very hard to differentiate that many different units visually. Further, and perhaps more importantly, since this game is to appeal to both the more serious war gamer and the casual gamer, such as Advance War DS fans, we needed to make sure each unit truly was noticeably different from the others.

For example, if we allowed the player to have both a Panzer IIIG and IIIH as unit choices, it would become much more difficult to clearly explain how they are different and then to abstract that into gameplay impacting results. Instead, we've devised each unit type, such as tanks, into three categories: light, medium and heavy. The three units available will be upgraded as in-game time advances, so early in the war you might have
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٩๏̯͡๏)۶ Reply Quote #1 

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Number of comments 3326 379 Number of comments 20.09.2006 Wi-Fi Name <(^o^)>

aaaarrrghhh

too much text...

I'd rather get Advance wars if i was going to buy that type of game...
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on 05.10.2006 at 16:12 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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ZeroSimon said:
aaaarrrghhhtoo much text...Id rather get Advance wars if i was going to buy that type of game...


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Nice interview adamSmilie

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on 05.10.2006 at 16:17 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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Excellent interview, some really detailed stuff! Smilie

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on 05.10.2006 at 16:18 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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MGE Reply Quote #4 

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This looks interesting and when I get my DS it'll be on my shopping list.
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on 05.10.2006 at 17:16 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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350 units? Smilie

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on 05.10.2006 at 21:04 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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A much better intreview than the previous two. I didn't think much of those. Smilie

This time around the interviewie seems to be more intrested in the gameplay and actually more into Nintendos consoles as well. I hadn't heard about this game before hand. Look forward to its release.

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on 06.10.2006 at 12:54 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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jesusraz Reply Quote #7 

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The game has been pushed back until sometime in February 2007, unfortunately. But the delay is a positive one to make it more perfect.

I love how he hints at more DS games by telling us how the engine should be re-used. Lots more strategy games on DS would be great!


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on 06.10.2006 at 20:39 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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So are we getting Panzer games on Wii then?
on 06.10.2006 at 21:58 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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Online plan sounds good! That's exactly what Mario Kart DS needed!



on 07.10.2006 at 05:57 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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jesusraz Reply Quote #10 

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Number of comments 10927 437 Number of comments 22.01.2003 Wi-Fi Name none

Indeed it does - this really sounds like such a fun title!

By the way, CDV has now sold the rights to the game and 10tacle are looking after its European release. Don't know if it's allowed to be 'officially' talked about, so I won't be doing a news story on it Smilie

Q1 2007 is the date, with a vague 'February' being rumoured...


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on 15.10.2006 at 10:04 Games | Blog | Wii Codes | Message Me

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