Everyone’s had time to try out the new Roumanian map that recently arrived in Tannenberg, and we’ve had a lot of positive feedback about it. In particular, people liked that it’s quite different from the other maps in the game so far. Let’s talk a bit about our process for building new maps and where we get our inspiration and reference materials. But that’s not all - read on for topics from sounds to spelling!

Researching Roumania

Our latest update added the new Roumania map to the game. We put a lot of time and effort into creating maps that capture the reality of WW1, while often bringing together elements from several different places in a cohesive whole. This culminates in the ‘moodboard’ you see above! But how is the overall concept of the map formed, and where do those images come from? We started out with the goal of making a map which would be different from the others in Tannenberg so far. The Roumanian front in 1917 was ideal for this, since it had effectively become classical trench warfare - something that wasn’t represented in Tannenberg yet. That meant we could include trenches and heavy destruction of the surrounding area. Videos and images are very useful for both inspiration and reference, of course. Here are a few example posts.
However, written reports (by contemporary historians or memoirs) can also be highly effective at giving a sense of what it was like to fight in particular battles or areas. This excerpt from Erwin Rommel’s Infantry Attacks talks about fighting for Mount Cosna. He mentions details like grenades thrown down against attacking Romanian troops rolling further than intended, or how to shoot down you needed to expose your head and upper body which was far from ideal. This might not help with creating props or creating authentic trench lines, but it’s invaluable for understanding what kind of situations you are trying to create with your map design.
A sketch made by Rommel. Stories and accounts of significant combat actions are often a great starting point for deciding what to include in a map. The fighting for Mount Cosna provided the starting point for the Roumania map, which meant putting the peak of the mountain at the center of the battlefield. From there the rest of the map could be planned based on ‘mini-themes’ like the trench lines, an artillery position, the clear slope leading up to a treeline, and so on.
Finally, we base our maps on other maps… meaning paper maps, of course. Well, some more modern online maps too. Everything from plain maps showing height and terrain to detailed battle plans can be useful in different ways.
What do you think of the new Roumania map?

New sounds in Tannenberg

The FMOD sound effects were implemented in the main release version of Tannenberg in the same update as the Roumania squad and map. As well as improved individual sounds, the sound system itself changed in a few subtle ways. The most notable difference is probably being able to hear which directions sounds are coming from more clearly, as well as having a better sense of the distances between sounds. We’ve had feedback from the Romanian community that our current voices are too ‘commercial’ sounding and we will look in to re-recording the Romanian voices so it does not break the immersion. Thanks to the native speakers who let us know their thoughts! Testing of the FMOD sound update for Verdun is ongoing - you can try it yourself and leave feedback via this thread on the Steam Hub.

Romania or RoUmania?

We’ve had a lot of questions about the spelling on our new Roumanian squad and map. The issue comes from the difference in how various foreign countries spelt the name during the early part of the 20th century. Of course the modern day spelling is Romania, we aren’t arguing that. However, during World War One, it was commonly spelled differently outside of Romania itself, alternating between Rumania and Roumania, as discussed in this thread. Names change over time, and we thought that using the older spelling would create a better sense of period than using the modern spelling. We didn’t intend any offense, and if you think it should be changed, please vote on the topic we’ve made on our support website.

War Correspondent Winners

Our first War Correspondent competition finished earlier this week, and we had a lot of good entries! But there could only be two winners… here they are: Player Votes Winner: Thomas Friedrich Grump
"War Correspondent: Today the German High Command announced plans to combat recent British gains in Ypres with Unrestricted Submarine Warfare" Mods and Devs Choice Winner: SOVIETDOGE
"OUR WAR CORRESPONDENT IN FRANCE - Our French allies have commenced their attack to retake the fort of Douamont. Over the top mon amis!" Another War Correspondent contest will be starting soon - keep an eye on our social media or Steam Hub to find out when. For now, check out both entries on our Facebook album.

[ 2018-06-08 11:12:00 CET ] [ Original post ]