Silent Hunter III interview

The U-boat has always been both feared and adored. It has fascinated and it has scared. It has been a killer and it has been killed. U-boat/submarine games have always been popular, as have films featuring these machines of war. However, new games are few and far between for some reason. Thus great excitement surrounds Ubisoft's Romanian team, which is as busy as diesel engine engineers during a convoy attack, working on Silent Hunter III.

They've promised great features. Stuff like highly detailed damage simulation, in-depth crew management, incredible graphics bordering on photorealism, spectacular 3D water modelling and multiplayer with both cooperative and competitive modes has captured the attention of the genre's fans. We've talked to Tiberius Lazar, the game's lead designer in order to probe whether the guys will deliver everything they've promised and we’ve managed to salvage some exclusive screenshots for your viewing pleasure in the process!

If you don't know much about the game, yet, we can highly recommend this preview, before you start reading the interview, but basically Silent Hunter III lets you join The Battle of the Atlantic as a German submarine captain.

Boomtown: Please give us a few details about your past in the gaming industry.

Tiberius Lazar: Being from Romania, I was lucky to get a break in the game development industry at all.

I started to work as game designer and 3D modeler back in 1996, for a Romanian independent developer. We developed a real-time strategy game in a fantasy setting (it was in the WarCraft II era) called “Rival Realms”. It took about two years to finish the project. We didn’t have a publisher, but eventually the game came out under a French game publisher.

In 1999 I went to work as game designer for the Ubisoft studio in Romania. Since then I worked on racing and chess games for PC, PlayStation 2, Dreamcast and even Game Boy Advance.

The game's graphics are many times better than any submarine game before.

Boomtown: Being involved with a submarine game, one would imagine that you are a fan of the genre. Which game has been the best so far in your opinion?

Tiberius Lazar: My passion for submarines goes way back before the PC era. Ever since I was twelve I was interested in naval warfare, reading every bit of written information I could get my hands on. The first submarine simulator I played was a NES version of Silent Service, in 1988.

After that, I played quite a few naval and submarine simulators: Silent Hunter 1 and 2, Aces of the Deep, Great Naval Battles series, Fighting Steel, Jane’s 688, Jane’s Fleet Command, Sub Command, Enigma and others.

To answer your question, my favourite old submarine simulator is Silent Hunter 1. But I have to say Silent Hunter 3 is my newest passion :)

Boomtown: What are the most important factors when designing a submarine game?

Tiberius Lazar: For me, the most important factor was to be passionate about it. When I found out I was to work on a submarine simulator it felt like a dream come true! Beside that, the team played a major role – they are highly skilled dedicated professionals. This was the decisive factor making it possible to implement in the game all kind of unique features.

The Silent Hunter III team visiting the Das Boot museum.

Boomtown: Did the team have the opportunity to visit real WWII U-boats to get to see how they looked like in reality?

Tiberius Lazar: Some of us had the chance to visit real WWII U-boats. We managed to visit all the U-boats in museums across Germany. We got a chance to make a thorough tour of U-505 in Chicago. From all these ‘expeditions’ we returned with a lot of pictures and some videos to help our graphics and design teams. In addition, we acquired a small library of specialised books, both technical and historical about U-boats, naval warfare, naval technology, etc. We also used some sites that hosted a lot of information about U-boats – important dates, key people, famous operations, specific equipment, etc.

However, the most fascinating experience was talking directly with one of the few surviving U-boat commanders, Mr Jürgen Oesten. He kindly offered us insightful first hand information about the life aboard a U-boat during the war. (Jürgen Oesten commanded U-61, U-106 and U-861 and sunk nineteen ships totalling some 88,970 gross tons during World War II, ed.).

The team talked to one of the last surviving U-boat captains - Jurgen Oesten.

Boomtown: Could you give me one concrete example of something Mr Jürgen Oesten told you that you've implemented in the game?

Tiberius Lazar: Mister Jurgen Oesten has told us about a number of important aspects of U-boat warfare: details about the crew - captain relations; operational procedures like U-boat mining operations; evasive procedures versus sub hunters; attack procedures versus varying targets - lone merchants, convoys; details about the monsoon boats operations - search for targets; Far East bases; technical support; and specific U-boat types (like IXD2).

For example, Mister Jurgen Oesten told us that he as U-boat commander had no way of telling when his boat was passing a thermal layer and he was not aware of any device (other than improvised ones) allowing a U-boat captain to take advantage of the thermal layer when evading sub-hunters. We decided then to not make this information available to the player during the game. The layer will be there with its associated effects, but the player will have no clue other than sub-hunters losing him or miscalculating your position.

Another thing was the way a U-boat captain was looking for good crewmembers and how they did everything to keep the veteran members of their crew. In our game, during the career, the player will be allowed to keep his crew as well as being able to add new members to it. This will be done on the prestige basis - the better he performs, the easier it will be for the player to gain access to better crew. And not only crew, but also prototype weapons and equipment.

The hunter has become the hunted.

Boomtown: During E3 you clearly stated that Silent Hunter 3 would not feature a dynamic campaign, because the team wanted the gamers to experience history not alter it. But after you consulted the fan base, the decision was made to make the game dynamic after all and that actually caused a delay to the game's release. Can you give us some insights into how much you had to change in the game in order to make that shift?

Tiberius Lazar: A lot of new stuff has had to go into the game to make the dynamic campaign possible. From terrain generation to specific AI code, a bunch of new features had to be squeezed in, because we set some very ambitious goals for the campaign. We are still devoted to our initial scope – the player should experience the historical facts, not alter them. We want to set the stage for a realistic and immersive incursion in the WWII naval conflict seen through the eyes of a U-boat commander.

Boomtown: How will the dynamic campaign influence the game compared to the historic mission-driven campaign you planned to use?

Tiberius Lazar: Essentially, the biggest gain will be a very high “replayability value”. This is crucial for our target gamers. Instead of having a branching campaign with scripted missions including random factors for variations, we are broadening the “mission level” to the entire Atlantic Ocean (plus the Mediterranean Sea, Arctic Ocean, Caribbean Sea)! Imagine the degree of liberty and the amount of variations possible in such a vast area!

For the first time you must manage your crew, too.

Boomtown: Can you tell us to what extent the player can alter history? For example, would it be possible to win the Atlantic War?

Tiberius Lazar: There will be no way to win the Atlantic Battle for Germany. It is our firm conviction that one single U-boat could not change significantly the outcome of that battle. Of course, the player will be able to achieve better results that the real U-boat commanders. In addition, the players may sink famous warships that in reality survived the war. Nevertheless, the big picture will remain unchanged. The player will go through an initial “happy times” in early war to “living hell” in the late stages, when simply surviving a patrol will be an achievement in itself.

Boomtown: Will you still include certain historic missions like the Scapa Flow attack?

Tiberius Lazar: Since we no longer have scripted missions in the dynamic campaign, during the career the player will have the freedom to try it on his own. If the player is good enough, he will be able to achieve similar feats of great daring. Anyway, this type of historical mission will be present in the game as a single mission.

You'll have to coordinate Wolfpack attacks with other submarines.

Boomtown: How will the game simulate the operation of wolf packs? Can the player coordinate with AI subs?

The Wolf pack operations will feature prominently in the campaign. The player will have to coordinate with AI U-boats playing various roles – shadow and report convoy position, join in attacks, etc.

Boomtown: The team has promised features that fans of the genre have only dreamed of. Do you think the team will deliver the ultimate submarine simulation? :)

We are confident our game will offer a special treat to the fans of the genre. However, it will be up to the players to judge and give the final verdict.