Threewave originally started Wolfenstein MP a few years ago

Endrant Studios has continued Threewave's work by matching Wolfenstein's SP look and matching RtCW/ET's gameplay

Originally, the veil was not in Wolfenstein's MP

Multiplayer could be ported too Linux as it used OpenGL, however "it's not something that is currently being pursued"

Wolfenstein MP is based on Nerve's ETQW engine for the Xbox 360 along with the PC patches up to 1.4.

Wolfenstein MP should be more flexible in terms of performance, due to "no vehicles, player counts are lower and it uses maps which have optimized layouts for performance"

In terms of objectives, Wolfenstein MP is more like RtCW

There will be 3 game modes - Objective, Stopwatch and Team Deathmatch

Stats will be available from the main menu

There will be 3 classes - Engineer, Medic and Soldier

There will be 6 weapons - MP40, Kar98, MP43, Pistol Panzerschreck and Flammenwerfer

Each class can choose between the MP40 and Kar98

Each class will have a pistol, just like RtCW/ET

The MP43, Panzerschreck and Flammenwerfer are only available to the soldiers.

You cannot shoot and sprint at the same time

You can sprint and strafe at the same time in any direction, unlike ETQW

Weapon spread is similar to ET

There will be iron sights in MP

"Our aim was to make gunplay with the MP40 possible over regular combat distances without needing to use the sights"

There are unlocks which affect recoil

The game will have competition support to a certain extent

Revives are instant

"Ultimately, the competitive community is best placed to decide what you guys want out of a competition mod, not least because you can react much quicker and be exact in the preferred changes."

There have not been any official announcements on mods, maps, skins or WolfTV

1.) Sokal: Can you tell us a bit about the development timeline for Wolfenstein MP? Some fans heard that Nerve Software was involved in the beginning, so could you tell us about the different developers that have been involved in the development of Wolfenstein MP? Whose work made it into the final product?

Matt Wilson: There have been big changes to pretty much every aspect of the game over the last year, whether it was the veil, classes, weapons, map layouts pretty much everything is new, redone, or tweaked. Nerve is a long time id development partner, but they did not work on Wolfenstein. The development work from Threewave was the launching point for certain aspects, but we have moved forward to match single player in look, and to more closely match the original Wolf and Wolf Enemy Territory in game play flavor.

2.) Sokal: The multiplayer of Wolfenstein has been in development for some time now, and as you mentioned it has changed a lot throughout development. How did it look one year ago, six months ago and even three months ago, compared to now? What crazy stuff did you try out?

Matt Wilson: Multiplayer did not yet have Veil in it when we first started working on it, so that's been a major addition during our time on the project both in gameplay and effects.

The game has had a variety of different weapon, item and Veil power unlocks - some close to those found in singleplayer, some completely new. We went through a number of iterations before arriving at a selection which fit the setting established by the singleplayer universe but still worked in multiplayer.

There hasn't been anything too crazy - the focus has always been on creating a balanced, credible Wolfenstein game, so any ideas that are too wacky tend not to make it off the drawing board. Most of the changes have been related to features not being fun enough, not being distinct enough in their own right, or not providing enough of an advantage to be worth using.

3.) Sokal: Is a Linux client in the works? And if so, when would you expect it to be released?

Matt Wilson: The singleplayer game runs under DirectX, which would preclude a full linux version of the game. It would be possible for the multiplayer game to be ported as it uses OpenGL, but it's not something that is currently being pursued.

4.) Sokal: Can you tell us about the engine for Wolfenstein MP?

Matt Wilson: Wolfenstein MP is built from a recombined branch of ET:QW that includes all the work Nerve did to the 360 version of ET:QW, plus the patches up to version 1.4 (the last official Activision patch). Amongst other things, we've added soft shadows and depth of field to bring the visuals up to parity with the work Raven have been doing for singleplayer (though you can disable both via cvar if they're not to your taste on PC).

5.) Sokal: Some people had issues with the feeling of the ET:QW engine. The main complaint was that the game didn't feel smooth, like the idTech 3 powered games in the past. Have you taken steps to improve the netcode / hit registration of the ET:QW engine?

Matt Wilson: It's hard to answer this without specifics. ET:QW could perform less than optimally if one part of your system wasn't up to the task of running the game. Wolfenstein should be more forgiving in this respect as there are no vehicles, player counts are lower and it uses maps which have optimized layouts for performance. We've also benefited from having Sony and Microsoft's PS3 and Xbox 360 approval teams bashing on the game, which has a direct effect on stability and polish for the PC since we've been working on all three platforms more or less simultaneously.

6.) Sokal: How many objectives are present in a map on average? Is the game more like RTCW MP, where you often only had a single required objective and several optional ones that open up different paths to the primary? Or is the game more like W:ET, where you have to complete several mandatory objectives before you can attempt the primary?

Matt Wilson: The game is probably more like RTCW - the maps really only have one primary objective each, but there's usually something you need to do to get to it (such as blow one of three possible entrances open so you can enter the objective building). The default time limit is 10 minutes, so imagine what you could do in that time and you have a good sense of the level of complexity each objective has. Previous games have had a lot of side objectives and tasks, and while they're great fun we really wanted to focus the action on the objectives this time around. Working as a team is more satisfying if you're all trying to achieve the same thing.

7.) Sokal: Can you give fans a quick overview of the gameplay in Wolfenstein MP?

Matt Wilson: There are three game modes - Objective and Stopwatch modes both make a return, and we've also added a Team Deathmatch game type. When playing Team Deathmatch, additional map routes are opened up and some areas are sealed off to ensure the maps have good connectivity and bring players into combat in good places. We didn't want it to feel like a 'practice mode' or just mindless free-for-all, so we introduced a kills-based team score to replace the objectives. We also tried to keep it true to Wolfenstein gameplay - for example, reviving is still a vital part of strategy, because it means the other team doesn’t get credit for the kill.

There are persistent stats - there's a brief overview in the main menu for the game, which shows you bullets fired, accuracy and so on. There will be a more detailed stats website available at launch which will take the same stats and turn them into more meaningful comparisons (your favourite map vs. your best map, and so on).

The game has three classes - Engineer, Medic and Soldier. The Engineer completes objectives, the Medic heals and the Soldier gets to use the heavier weapons. Each class has a Veil power which is tailored to their role within the team (the Medic gains the ability to heal multiple people around him, for example).

The weapons available to players in Wolfenstein MP are the MP40, Kar98, MP43, Panzerschreck and Flammenwerfer. Every class also gets a Luger pistol as a backup weapon. The MP40 and Kar98 are the primary weapons available to every class, while only the soldier can use the more powerful MP43, Panzerschreck and Flammenwerfer.

8.) Sokal: How is the player movement? Can you sprint and strafe at the same time? Can you sprint and shoot at the same time? Can you sprint, strafe and shoot at the same time?

Matt Wilson: Shooting will pull you out of sprint, but you can sprint and strafe at the same time. ET:QW limited sprinting to forward movement only, in that you could sprint as long as you were moving forward by some degree - strafing alone wouldn't trigger it. We've expanded that to let players strafe and sprint without having to be moving forward directly.

9.) Sokal: How fast is the movement speed compared to ET:QW?

Matt Wilson: The base forward movement speed is about three quarters as fast as ET:QW. This is a good fit for the scale of the maps and the distance between spawn areas and objectives, and gives the game a similar pace to previous Wolf games. We have increased the strafe speed to be as fast as running forward so you can strafe and dodge more effectively. Sprinting is as fast or faster than ET:QW, so there's quite a noticable burst of speed when using it.

10.) Sokal: How is the weapon spread in Wolfenstein compared to RTCW / W:ET / ET:QW? And how much will moving your mouse quickly, crouching or jumping while shooting affect the spread?

Matt Wilson: Weapon spread is tighter than ET:QW, and probably on par with W:ET. It's a little hard to compare directly because of the ability to aim down the sight, which has a different effect on accuracy depending on the weapon. Our aim was to make gunplay with the MP40 possible over regular combat distances without needing to use the sights, but you'd almost always want to sight a Kar98 shot unless you were standing completely still or opponent was at very close range. The MP43 sits somewhere in the middle, depending on your choice of unlocks.

Crouching increases the accuracy of your shots (although again, the extent to which your accuracy improves depends on the weapon you're using). Jumping dramatically decreases your accuracy. Moving your mouse quickly has no effect on accuracy, but firing in longer bursts has a detrimental effect. There are also unlocks which affect recoil, depending on the weapon.


11.) Sokal: What is the weapon damage at both close & long range, and from hip & scoped on all weapons? Do you have a weapondamage table you can show?


Matt Wilson: Telling you the weapon damage wouldn't mean much outside the context of the game (especially if it didn't include other variables like fire rate, accuracy, the headshot damage modifier the game uses and so on). All the weapons have an effective range, through which they do maximum damage. Beyond the effective range the damage starts to fall off, but you shouldn't really experience that unless you're using a weapon outside of its intended role (e.g. trying to single-shot snipe with an MP40). More powerful weapons like the Kar 98 and MP43 have a longer effective range.

12.) Sokal: Will the game ship with a competition mode, or an option to make one? If so, are these competition cvars available? Pause, Speclock, Teamlock, Ready, Readyteam, Disable/Enable/Limit Heavy weapons, Disable/Enable/Limit Veil powers, Disable/Enable Muzzleflash, Disable/Enable Muzzlesmoke (If revives are slower than RTCW & ET) Disable/Enable Instant revives?

Matt Wilson: The game has competition support, although not to the extent you're describing. Revives are instant, so no cvar is needed there. The ability to disable muzzleflash is not strictly a 'competition' requirement, although I can understand why it's included in your list (and on that subject, we really feel that muzzleflash is meant to reinforce the understanding that you're firing your weapon, not act as a penalty for having done so. The muzzleflash effects in Wolfenstein MP are suitably conservative).

There is this age-old problem we have to contend with, whereby everyone has a different opinion on what would make the game better. If you cater to all of them you end up with 100 servers all with different settings and rules, which is a nightmare for a newer player who has expectations of how the game should play and doesn't understand why he can't use the Panzerschreck any more on this server, or can't even join a team on another. Ultimately, the competitive community is best placed to decide what you guys want out of a competition mod, not least because you can react much quicker and be exact in the preferred changes.

13.) Sokal: We have said in the past that there will only be one type of server. Can you elaborate on this and touch on how this will affect custom content?

Matt Wilson: There's one type of dedicated internet server, which supports player ranks and persistent gold and unlocks. There are no restrictions on who can run one, and it doesn't lock out custom content. The game also allows you to run dedicated and non-dedicated LAN servers without persistent ranks/gold/unlocks, should you so wish.

14.) Sokal: Custom features: mods, maps, skins, WolfTV - have you been thinking about this, and will Wolfenstein MP be compatible with all this from the begining?

Matt Wilson: I don't believe any details have been announced yet.

Sokal: Thanks so much for your time Matt.