If you're eagerly awaiting to learn more about what's next for Isonzo, you won't have to wait too much longer! We'll have exciting news to share come March.
We announced the winners of the WW1 Memorabilia contest! Find them here.
As a final point, the behind the scenes gifs you'll see below were recorded during the development of Isonzo prior to launch. Now, let's get started!
Meet Ned!
Hello! Could you introduce yourself?
I’m Ned. I live in Snowdonia in the far flung reaches of North Wales, which is a rainy, wild and beautiful part of the UK. I work remotely from a farm house where I have an assortment of pets including several sheep!
I started my career as an indie developer, when I co-created the game ‘DEATHPIT 3000’ (which you can find on Steam!) alongside a friend. The game is a top-down, bullet-hell, twin-stick, co-op shooter, and through it I cut my teeth in coding and game design, as well as experienced what it’s like to release a title on Steam. I’ve also taught Unity and coding at the National Film & TV School near London, helping mentor students in their game development Masters degrees. I have a love of history, having studied it at university and worked on several historical screenplays, two of them set in the First World War, so working in the WW1 game series is a happy confluence of my interests.
What is your role in BlackMill and when did you start working here?
I first discovered WW1 Game Series when I bought Verdun on its release, which I enjoyed a lot as it was refreshing to see the First World War represented in an FPS. I actually joined the team in 2019, just before development on Isonzo started, and so was involved in the whole development life of the game.
I am a programmer, focussing mainly on gameplay systems and weapon functionality. I work a lot with our lead animator Guido (who was in one of the previous meet the dev blogs), and between us we deal with introducing new weapons in first-person (which is somewhat distinct from the third-person implementation in a multiplayer FPS series like ours). I’m largely responsible for weapon handling and features, which is often complex as our weapons are old fashioned and we make a point of keeping them historically accurate, so they are frequently idiosyncratic and have exceptions to how they each operate. It’s often a challenge to balance out fun gameplay with historical authenticity, but that’s part of the enjoyment in making them too.
Where did your passion come from?
I’m a lifelong gamer, some of my earliest memories are playing on the NES and Mega Drive when I was very young. Then when I was a bit older I discovered PC gaming through Command & Conquer, and completely fell in love with the platform. I remember the challenge of getting those early online multiplayer games up and running in the days of dial-up internet, which was the main motivation that got me learning about computers and networking as a kid. The idea of actually making video games was just a dream for a long time, and initially I pursued a career in screenwriting. But eventually I discovered Unity and found that making my own games was actually very achievable and immensely satisfying, and from that I began my career as a game developer.
What is the first thing you made in Isonzo as well as the most recently released?
The first big feature I worked on in Isonzo were the mortars. It was soon after a previous programmer left the team and I was asked to take over implementing the ‘static weapons’ (our name for the weapons which are fixed in place). The basis of these weapons had been setup in Tannenberg with the HMGs, so I was able to use some of that functionality in the mortars, but I quickly discovered there were some very finicky differences between them, not least the fact that our mortars all pivot around different points and each in different ways, which was a bit of a nightmare to get right at the time!
Thankfully, after walking through fire with them I established an approach which meant when I came to setup the field guns it was much easier and smoother. I still think of the mortars as the difficult troublemakers whereas the field guns which are my pride and joy! The mortars did make up for it with some laugh out loud moments though…
The most recent thing I’ve worked on in Isonzo was adding the ‘manual deploying’ for the light machine guns, which is something I always thought would be an improvement to the way they handle. I was very happy to be able to make it happen!
What is a memorable moment for you in the development of Isonzo?
I think the most memorable moment for me in Isonzo was when we finally completed the Villar Perosa. We always knew it was going to be a difficult weapon to get right as it is so unusual. It was also clear that it was going to be an iconic weapon of the game, so I wanted to go the extra mile and make its functionality as realistic and in-depth as possible. It was hard going as the weapon has twin barrels and twin clips, either of which can be loaded or unloaded, and the weapon can be deployed or undeployed, which means the weapon can be in a lot of different states and ended up having no less than three unique reloads! It was certainly worth the effort though as I think it turned out well and is one of the most memorable weapons in the game.
Can you show off some of your work process and tell us what you’re doing?
I work a lot with the first-person rig, which in a multiplayer shooter like ours is actually just a pair of arms. The first-person and third-person models are quite different and sometimes what looks good in a first-person shooter doesn’t actually correlate to what is totally realistic. For example, as there is a lot of focus in our game on authentic historical weapons and the fantastic models our artists put together for them, that means the guns are our centrepieces and so we want to make sure they are held up high and occupy a lot of screen space. However, this has to be balanced with realistic handling and aiming motions.
One mechanic I’ve put a lot of time into getting right is our ‘sway system’, the goal of which is to try and provide a motion which both follows a realistic breathing pattern but which also doesn’t throw off the aiming sight picture of the weapon, as that would just be frustrating for the player. Finding the right balance between these kinds of gameplay versus realism questions is definitely one of the most challenging but also rewarding aspects of my work.
Which other game dev/studio inspires you, and why?
These days I am most inspired by indie devs, as I find so many of the most interesting games out there are made by small and passionate teams who actually have the least resources but end up taking the biggest risks, just like the founders of WW1 Series when they took a chance on Verdun right out of university. Indie games like CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience and Empires of the Undergrowth have really challenged my preconceptions about what a game can be. They show that you can make an engaging experience about unlikely topics which are also thought provoking and even affect the way you see the everyday world. I’ve also been blown away by the recent indie game Against the Storm, which is a masterclass in what a small team can make.
Favourite game at the moment or something you’re looking forward to?
I’m currently obsessed by Beyond All Reason, which is a completely free open source reboot of one of my all-time favourite games Total Annihilation. The engine it operates on is next level and feels more polished and professional than any RTS I’ve played in the last few years, which is just wild for a completely free game that isn’t even on Steam yet! Beyond that I’ve also recently been enjoying Sins of a Solar Empire II, IXION, and of course Baldur’s Gate 3. I’m looking forward to the new Vampire the Masquerade as I was a big fan of Bloodlines back in the day, but like everyone I’m unsure if it’ll ever actually show up.
Is there something you like to do when not working or playing games?
I try to make the most of living in such a beautiful part of the country by pursuing outdoor hobbies like scuba diving, paragliding and sailing. However the Welsh weather means that even in the summer those activities can be quite limited, so I also enjoy a lot of indoor social activities like board-gaming. I also genuinely get a lot of enjoyment out of game development, almost more than playing them, and so always have one or two side-projects on the go for the fun of it.
Anything else you want to share?
I just want to thank the community for their continued feedback and input on the series. For instance the recent manual bipod toggle was directly in response to player requests, so we really do listen to what our player base want, and that in turn makes our games better and better.
Follow our socials:
YouTube Discord Reddit X / Twitter Bluesky (New!)
