As if that wasn’t enough they also released a new audio sample that’s close to ten minutes long, you can download it Here or Here.

What I can tell you:
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1. We will be hiring a fulltime lead programmer to ensure that the game is constantly developed.
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2. We have a new lead animator who is going to help, along with the other animators to develop all of our content.
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3. We are outsourcing most of our texturing work.
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This all helps move us forward, and we have addressed our major development issues.

At this point, how happy are you with the progress of the game?
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Well I could lie, and see we are the most dedicated, most hardworking team that ever graced this planet. (Hi Five’s all round to 1944 team, we are gods greatest game developers, we just have to sit here, and chat on MSN all day and the game just makes itself, Yeah we rule…. Woooo Hooo)
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But then again, everyone knows I am upfront and care less of public perspective and more about honesty. So as you can imagine with a game of this size and scale it’s alot of work. Like any team we have trouble finding dedicated team members that do what they say they will do. For those of you who can view the trial members section, just one quick look will see the exact issues we come across. (For those un-aware we have a trial member section where any person wishing to join the team must complete tasks. This was to weed out those people who really just liked the idea of making games. It’s been good so far and has helped the team focus on their tasks)
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We have introduced an incentive scheme, where the team member (s) that work the hardest, get paid a small incentive each month. This comes out of Chris Hunts pocket (while I contribute when possible). This has definately shown a boost and well deserving members have gotten the rewards. Bryan, Mike, Titus, Jona, Paul, Ivon and infact the entire core team put in a huge effort each month and develop well over 5 tasks per month. While it may not be stellar progress, it’s all accurate and it’s all done right.
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Obviously where the team falls short and infact where many teams fall short is on the Texturing Side, Animation Side and Programming Side. So we combat this by outsourcing alot of our texture work, I put my hand in my pocket, whip out that credit card and max it out 3 or 4 times a month. With Animation we have hired a Veteran Animator with over 10 years experience who is paid a full salary and starts in June. We have also looking to hire a lead programmer who will ensure that the game is worked on every day.
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Engine wise, well that’s another kettle of fish, we are looking at some big name engines and I won’t name drop because everyone will speculate as to what they are but we are working through ensuring that we eliminate our choices to those engines that most suite 1944.
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Personally I am happy with the progress, nearly everything is modelled, we just need to do the high polies, and of course the textures and animations. Yeah things are good, they could always be better but when you have 30+ guys working really hard in their spare time, it’s very had to fault it. Especially when larger developers with 70+ development staff are afraid to tackle something on the same scale as 1944.

What sets 1944 D-Day apart from other World War II games?
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Most WW2 titles focus on a very particular scenario, while 1944 D-Day takes the Operation as a whole. Accuracy, Every unit, Every Nation all selectable, to the average player this will not mean much but to the hardcore gamer and re-enactors this opens up all the possibilities of being able to take part in all those elements that are left out of all other games. Logisitics the entire world is based on the management of logistics, keep the lines open and ensure that the logistics can be moved freely and readily around the map.
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Scale, the entire map of Normandy is accessible, and available to the player. Every unit on the map is selectable at any given time the player has access to around 250,000 units. During the course of the operation the player has access to over a whopping 13 million units. Over 200+ vehicles, over 100 weapons and over 35 different unique unit classes. The online system allows for 128 – 256 co-op play, with every other position being replaced by AI. Consider it a large scale Co-Op System.
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The game is AI driven, the player doesn’t factor into this, the world goes on around the player even if they do nothing. Nothing is scripted and the world is ever evolving. The player does not assume one role or a specific unit, instead the player selects a unit typically controlled by the AI and assumes the role and life of that unit for as long as they wish. Once they are bored or had enough they can jump to another unit.

So what will you get for this?

Well firstly

We will tell you exactly what your contribution is going towards. Which texture, model, animation etc.

Secondly we will keep you updated on it’s progress and let you know.

Thirdly we will credit you ingame, and we will put your name beside the weapon in the credits.

eg: The Sherman Texture was sponsored by: INSERT SOME NAME

You will be listed on our site as a supporter and contributor to the 1944 Effort

Finally you will receive a copy of the playground, and every build that we make from here on out. Obviously this is subject to an NDA and will be feature limited but it will still be more than enough for you to play with.

When the game is ready for release you will be assigned the relevant account relating to your level of contribution.

Well I will let you in on this now, Ogre was a decoy so that we could get on with the job at hand.
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What we need to try and convey to people is just how little an engine can impact the visual quality of content and just how much it can impact it.
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People tend to mix things up alot. When a game has terrible art they comment on the engine, and when an engines lighting and performance disguises terrible art they comment on the art work… so it’s really a mixed bag. Not that anyone would listen to me anyway, they’d rather take those scrappings of information they find online, or second hand information they get from someone online. Sit down and start to write your own engine, chances are you will get somewhere but have to restart it over and over to get performance up. But on the flip side you will most likely have terrible art because no artist will lend their hand to you until you have something to show, it’s a vicious circle
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Good art is good art no matter what engine you use. Where an engine comes into play is by offering features, effects and performance. The engine we are working on now, has the ability to rival anything out on the market, infact I would even be as brave as to say it could tackle crysis with a little bit of work. Oddly enough it isn’t actually a game engine but was developed for medical simulations (MRI Rendering etc were some of it applications) As you can imagine such software needs to be exact and precise and incredibly efficient at what it does.
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Thus 1944 benefits from being on such a pure engine. There is no shit behind it where a game team or alternate company has come in and demanded fixes or changes. It simply does exactly what it says it would do and at blinding paces.
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Our latest tests with it saw around 4000 buildings, fully textured with parralax mapping, full scene HDR, full scene bloom and all the bells and whistles that you would expect from an engine and it did all of this at 400 fps on an 7800 card.
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A little tip for you, if you put shite in you get shite out. The reason some games look so bad is most likely the art work was terrible. Good lighting can safe a game, bad lighting can kill a game.
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We may release some shots soon in this section so everyone can see what we are talking about. But we will have to see how it goes. Most likely we will release shots of the graveyard as it should not allow too many peoples minds to wander…. it’s just a graveyard after all so allows people to focus on effects and performance not on other menial areas such as how each blade of grass does not cast a shadow….

I’m pretty sure I know which game engine Ronan refers to, but I’ll wait for definite confirmation before I post anything.

So how exactly does this relate to 1944? Well I did the old right click to see what other pics I could find of his, and I realized the images were being hosted by a fellow Splash Damage artist, Stellan Johansson. So of course I dig around Stellan’s portfolio, and see a nice Panzer III and an Opel Blitz that look vaguely familiar. Being the inquisitive person I am, I read Stellan’s resume, and lo and behold his experience directly prior to being hired by Splash Damage was ’1944 D-Day – Operation Overlord – Environment texture artist’.

You can view Stellan’s portfolio Here and the work-in-progress thread for his Opel Blitz Here.

Q: How many voice actors in the sample?

A: 3 but we can use more of course, we certainly don’t have alot of VA’s, only a dedicated half dozen actors. We’ve placed ads in voice acting forums but without much luck. If you’d like to have a go, contact me and I will forward you our basic voice command sheet and information/advice on recording your samples. But it has to have good potential, we can’t use crap. We need 2 American, 1 German, 1 French and 2 British voice actors to fully complement the crew we have now.

Q: The MG42 sounds odd, does the ROF need adjusting?

A: Someone mentioned that the German MG42 sounds like tearing paper. It was actually referred to as Hitler’s zipper for obvious reasons. However this term was used by the Allied soldiers and they were hearing the MG42 at range, not actually standing next to it. I think very few of us have actually stood behind and fired a MG42 with live ammo. Our German specialists have’nt given any indication it is wrong. We can always tinker with the ROF and make adjustments.

Q: What was the crying/whispering part in the middle of the sample?

A: That was an American soldier, crippled by shellshock and overwhelmed by the might of the German war machine, hiding and praying in the ruins of Normandy while the German propaganda was in full swing to convince the ‘Ami’s’ to give up. This was added as a theme for the Christmas season.

The British L86A2 is based on the SA80 Family and is the LSW (Light Support Weapon) for British squads. It has a longer barrel for improved muzzel velocity and this, combined with the free-floating nature of the barrel and the optical performance of the SUSAT, this makes the L86A2 extremely accurate.