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Their glorious victory stopped the wave of the invasion and became the turning point of the war of the Union nations against the forces of aggression.
US President Franklin Roosevelt about the Battle of Stalingrad
It is difficult to recall when the last time communication with the developer caused such a gamut of experiences. The first thought related to the announcement Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad : how Americans can make a serious game about our war? Just a few hours later it turned out that Alan Wilson, vice president Tripwire Interactive , – Historian, for almost thirty years he explores the Great Patriotic War, studies archives, corresponds with other scientists. In preparation for the creation of the game, he personally flew to Volgograd to collect materials. A lesson in tolerance, the question of where patriotism borders on nationalism, and tolerance, on the contrary, reaches a civil crime, is where the conversation about his game led us. Otherwise, probably, it could not be, because the sequel Red Orchestra is completely dedicated to Stalingrad.
Red chapel
That's exactly how (see. subtitle) translates the name of the game. Many must have known that the network of Soviet residences was also called in the German rear. Published in 2006 Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 had little in common with intelligence – where does this name come from? Initially, Red Orchestra was a mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 , which in the earliest stages was conceived as a spy action. Then they abandoned this idea in favor of a multi -user shooter, but the name took root.
After the release, the modification became very popular in narrow circles, and then a significant event happened, which we mentioned more than once: Red Orchestra won the Make Someting Unreal contest. A solid monetary prize ($ 50,000) was supplemented by a license for Unreal Engine 2.5 and (which is important!) Unreal Engine 3.0. Having received all the necessary funds at your disposal, Tripwire Interactive created a full -fledged game.
Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45-this is, at first glance, a rather shameless clone Battlefield 1942 : World War II, Capture of Locations, Military Equipment, Classes Separation. Everything is identical, except for one – prohibitive realism of military operations.
A detailed system of wounds, complex handling of weapons, finely calculated ballistics and complex operation of heavy equipment – a more reliable game about the Great Patriotic War is difficult to imagine. In no other game, the usual machine gun did not inspire such horror: this rumbling monster forced you to instantly fall to the ground and crawl to the nearest shelter in a panic, dreaming not to catch a crazy bullet.
The explosion of a grenade even over long distances caused a light concussion, from the bullets whistled over his ear, the screen twitched the blue – in the heat of the battle the player was almost always semi -shabby, stunned, completely bewildered, and a little later – dead.
It was very difficult to get used to Red Orchestra, but those who did not desert after the first hour of the game underwent an elite shooting training.
Not a step back
The events of the new game unfold exclusively in Stalingrad. “We would love to talk about other great battles of that war, for example, about the battle of Kursk (on it I recently conducted research). But in this case, we need such scenery that any person could find out in the world, ”Alan explains.
The battle for Stalingrad in total lasted eight months. In the game, it is modeled almost entirely: the game will include operations "Uranus", "Ring" and "Small Saturn", German plans Blau and Wintergewitter – just imagine the scope of the reconstruction! Misses will take place in different weather conditions (from -40 OS to +40 OS in the summer), there will be furious city battles and large -scale battles in open areas.
Specific locations are still secret, but it is worth hoping that we will see Mamaev Kurgan, and the tractor factory, and other places of military glory familiar from school. The developers were shocked by the intensity of city battles, where each meter of territory was given at the cost of huge losses, and want to reconstruct them in their game. “Nothing can convey the sensations that the participants in those events experienced. But we will try to recreate that critical moment of defense when there is nowhere to retreat, ”Alan continues.
Interestingly, the popular staging duels of snipers (after the film “The Enemy at the Gate” included in almost every shooter about the Second World War) in the game … are not planned. Yes, we may have a rifle with an optical sight at our disposal, but any duel, if it is destined to happen, is not a scribbled scene, but a random military sketch. Tripwire distance from classic Hollywood stereotypes as much as possible, and the main example of this is the plot campaign.
In Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad will be a full -fledged single -user regime. Two equivalent stories are provided: for the Soviet soldier and for the German. “We remember the atrocities of the fascist regime, but for the fighters who fell on the forefront, politics lost its meaning. There is a German cemetery in Volgograd in the murals – a tribute to German soldiers. We also consider them victims of our regime. For several years now, there has been the opportunity to play for the Wehrmacht soldier in various multi -user projects, but there is still a taboo on the plot campaign. We are independent developers, and we can defeat this stereotype, ”the head of Tripwire Interactive John Gibson comments on his decision.
The West has long learned to perceive human history separately from the history of political. In Russia, any attempt to think about the fact that a simple German soldier was fulfilling the order given to him, inevitably stumbles upon aggression and rage. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine that one of us will be able to enthusiastically play for a German soldier near Stalingrad-this is still too personal history. But Heroes of Stalingrad is a serious step towards tolerant thinking, which in Russia today is so missing.
Like in war
Unreal Engine 3 technology, which very successfully got Tripwire Interactive, allows you to raise the level of realism in Red Orchestra to some prohibitive heights. In addition, Heroes of Stalingrad will be a game much more friendly to the usual fan of shooters.
First of all, we are talking about the ability to overcome obstacles. In the original Red Orchestra, the dilapidated straw fence withstand the direct hit of the tank shell and at the same time was an irresistible obstacle. There is no more place for such a shameful convention – the obstacle can be bypassed or jumped away, as in Brothers in Arms: Hell ’S Highway.
Otherwise, the game will only become tougher and more true. A full -fledged system of shelter in the first person will appear. Today, fall to the wall, without changing the subjective camera to the usual view of the third person, only heroes can Killzone 2. Red Orchestra, apparently will become the second game. And she needs such a solution much more than PS3 blockbuster. Despite the realistic parameters of the weapon, the fights in Ostfront 41-45 sometimes looked ridiculous: cardboard men ran around a wooden toilet, periodically shooting at each other. Thanks to the shelter system, the battle in Heroes of Stalingrad will gain the correct, plausible rhythm.
Two pillars Red Orchestra: Damage and ballistics system. They are also waiting for changes. The soldier wounded in the stomach will now expire, the injured leg will not be able to run, and a slight wound will practically not affect the combat characteristics. “If your ear was shot, it will hurt and blood will go, but you can shoot in response” – such “minor” damage is in the game.
It's hard to believe, but the most complex system for calculating the bullet flight will be improved! In the original Red Orchestra, the trajectory was calculated taking into account the initial speed and air resistance, which is why, when battles at distant distances, it was necessary to shoot a “canopy”, correlating the opponent’s position with an arc of flight. Now, using binoculars or optical sight, you can accurately determine the place of falling a bullet.
Finally, another one will add to the parameters indicated – penetrating ability! That is, in a wooden surface of the bullet will enter much deeper than, say, into concrete. Hardcore lovers of shooters, we devote these lines to you!
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Surprisingly, the main part of the work on this article was exactly the ninth of May – the announcement of Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad became an almost festive gift. It is even more surprising that a complex, expensive and truly interesting reconstruction, the restoration of our historical memory today are occupied by the Americans enthusiastic about history, and not Russians at all. We have a continuous one on this subject so far " True about the ninth company ".
P . S . A detailed story about the adventures of the Americans Tripwire Interactive in Volgograd read from the next page!
We will wait? The sequel of the most reliable action about the Great Patriotic War, completely dedicated to the Battle of Stalingrad.
Percentage of readiness: 40%
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In the summer of 2007, three developers from Tripwire Interactive spent a week in Volgograd: they climbed abandoned factories, stooped up the steppe, visited the places of combat glory and personally convinced that Russia is a country of contrasts where a striking desire to help is adjacent to an impenetrable bureaucracy. Tripwire Interactive Vice President Alan Wilson told us about his adventures in Russia.
Being a historian and having studied a lot of profile literature, I roughly imagined what they were Russian. War, hunger, repression, severe discipline, militarization, cold war, finally … I rode to Russia and knew who I would see. A harsh person, full of determination and inner power, worthy of a descendant of Zhukov and Chuikov, the unfriendly and at heart unhappy – here he, a typical Russian, thought to me. But it turned out that the victim of the Cold War is me, not the Russians: there was no need to watch films about Soviet spies in such quantities.
Real, living Russians turned out to be completely different. Insanely pleased with our arrival, insanely helpful. Smiling, funny. As soon as we asked anyone – a random passerby, a saleswoman at the checkout, old women at the store – and they were happy to drive us around the city all day. But what works it was worth convincing people that we are not ordinary tourists here, hunting for souvenirs, but historians!
Hardcore story
All my life I have been engaged in the history of the Great Patriotic War (namely the Great Patriotic War, and not just the Second World War.- Approx. "Gambling" ). And I am not just some American who arrived from the other end of the world and sticks his nose into a glorious Soviet history. I grew up in the UK and for thirty years I have been deciphering the diaries of Soviet battles, I rummage in archives and with a magnifying glass I am looking at military photos. In other words, I am a hardcore historian. And I want to R ED O Rchestra: H Eroes of https://pyramid-spins-casino.co.uk/ S Talingrad Everything was reliable, it was like then, seventy years ago.
Modeling military Stalingrad is very difficult. For example, one of the key places in the game is the railway station. The building was captured and beaten many times, constantly bombing eight months – how to understand what wall collapsed earlier, which later? Have to engage in historical fortune telling. We have aerial photography, there are even pre-revolutionary photos-we found out that they constantly attached something to the station. So, you can’t just outline the building from the photograph, you have to select the desired shape of the columns and the “correct” color of the stone for the facade, and check with the reference books of a particular era.
Even worse with the interior of the buildings, with the situation on the streets, generally with the details of small objects. I saw pre -war photos, saw the post -war – I have 20,000 images in the archive, but they have little use. After the first bombing from many houses, only the skeletons remained. How to fill the burning ruins? What chairs were there, what tables? Where the bed usually stood, what color the wallpaper was? I have black and white pictures. Or here are flower beds on the streets, front gardens – what kind of flowers grew there?
Before the trip to Volgograd, I had no idea that in Russia there is a culture of painting houses. I heard that by decree of the tsar some buildings were painted yellow, others in green … But it turned out that this is a whole color scheme, and it is radically different from the usual Western one – we use completely different combinations. Now we will now have to break the head separately, how to maintain historical reliability, paint our Stalingrad in the right colors and not push Europeans and Americans at the same time.
One hundred grams for courage
Once we got away to the steppe to look at the terrain around the village of Orlovka – at the end of 1942 the Germans settled there and the Red Army several times tried unsuccessfully from there to knock them out. We met the owner of the earth – a young guy on a new brilliant "Landrover". At first he asked about what we were doing here, but as soon as he heard that we were historians, and not just cool down, he immediately drew up. He broke into a smile, offered to show where the excavations are still being conducted, with the heat he began to talk about the soldier ..
It was important for the people we met that we were interested in their history. They bloomed and thawed simply before our eyes … I don’t know, maybe the whole point is that we arrived in the summer, and in winter we would all be thrown at us? True, we were enjoyed everywhere: we were on a huge grain -processing complex, where the Russians and the Germans came across almost their nose to the nose, on the Mamaev Kurgan, which one or the others beat off several times several times. When we visited the Stalingrad Battle Museum-Panorama, the director of the museum was so moved that he offered us a farewell to the front-line one hundred grams.
But people here do not feed the illusions why the Red Army heroically held the city: everyone here knows about the order “not a step backward!". When you ask what happened in this place, you invariably hear: there was a platoon number … They kept this height … There was a fighter here … What does it mean “stood”? "Standing" is something truly Russian. We, the people of the West, never understand how it is to stand to death, stand like a Red Army stood near Volgograd. Stand for every bush, for every meter, for every small village.
Soviet soldiers are lying here
Let them talk about the strategic significance of Stalingrad, about Hitler’s ambitions and about Stalin’s desire not to give “his” city at all costs. Let. I know that first of all this battle is not generals, not the commander in chief, but ordinary soldiers-both fascist and Soviet.
The Germans approached Stalingrad with triumphs: still, the invincible 6th Army of the Wehrmacht, which crushed Hitler all Europe from Paris to Kyiv, is now at the Volga, almost on the border with Asia! But the longer the Germans trampled on the right bank of the Volga, the more they disassembled in their own indestructibility. And when in October 1942, after three months of bloody massacre, German soldiers captured 90% of the city, but could not take it entirely, they fell in spirit.
The Soviet fighters had no choice at all: they simply could not hand over the city and bled into this land. How they did it, where they took refuge? After massive German bombing in the summer of the 42nd, a fifth of all buildings survived in Stalingrad-burning ruins remained from the city. This, by the way, served the Germans in poor service: the technique stuck on the streets littered with debris, and Soviet snipers hid in dilapidated entrances, in the maze of houses – after all, it was their hometown.
Bureaucratic machine
The stronger the ordinary Russian people helped us, the stronger the state bureaucratic machine snapped. Russian bureaucracy is an impenetrable three -hundred -ton black gorilla.
The tractor factory at which the workers repaired the tanks right during the battle is now guarded. We needed to go to the archive, and even in the States we all agreed with the director. We had printouts of the necessary documents with us. We show the guard:
– Nyet.
– Why no "no"?
– We do not have your documents.
– Yes, there is – here I have copies.
– Nyet, we do not have your documents.
“But your director ..
– This is not my director. Nyet.
We were wrapped right on the passage – a stone's throw from the factory archive. So insulting.
Quintessence of Russian life
- Cursed bureaucracy. You can't do anything with her. You just learn to shrug your shoulders and come up with workarounds.
- Sushi in Volgograd? Well … yes, why not?
- Damn the heat, damned heat, especially when five men got into a hot "Lada".
- Kvass is, sorry that? What?! Bread?
- Lyudnikov’s observation post is amazing. We could literally trample on the place where the Soviet warriors stood, and we would not let us here and for a shot. A tall fence would be around, they would follow every footpower.
- All these soldiers, whose bodies are still found in the steppe, are so many!
- Big city. BIG.
- These Russians are so rude, so direct: “No. You are wrong. Fool " – why not say the same, but with a smile?
- The grain elevator is a huge, dusty building, the spectacle is simply stunning, especially when there is such a heat that asphalt melts and not leaning against the iron. We climbed up, got out onto the roof – eight floors above the ground – breathtaking!
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We were at the artillery factory "Barricades". There is an island of the Earth where the Germans did not step, where a half -dried division survived under the command of Colonel Lyudnikov.How? From the point of view of the military, this is just a funny piece of earth. What the Germans thought? They had nothing to go through – and they surrendered. I tell you, it was the battle of soldiers, not generals. And German soldiers did not find the strength in themselves to gnaw this land from the Russians in the final impulse. Only having been to Volgograd, I really felt it. We will have a game not about how two modes clashed, but about how the soldiers fought for shreds of scorched earth.
P. S. If you have photos of Stalingrad in the 1920-1950s and you want to help Tripwire Interactive , Please send them to the box leka@ igromania. ru Marking "Photos of Stalingrad".