Producer's Notes: September 20th

Pilots!

Development on World of Warplanes continues, and based on the number of beta signups, the interest is only growing! In an effort to inform the many players that have not yet been accepted into the beta, we would like to start showing you some of the features that are being dropped into each update.

We will continue to post these Q & A style updates until the start of open beta. We will also continue to add more closed beta testers as needed, so please sign up at the World of Warplanes website if you haven't done so already.

Join the World of Warplanes Beta

We sat down with our North American World of Warplanes Producer, Jinxx71, and asked him a few questions about the latest version of the World of Warplanes Beta.

Q: As we move closer and closer to launch, yes we know it's not any times soon, but what are some of the smaller brush strokes you're adding to the game?

The development team has done a great job at continuing to add new content while polishing content already available. For example we have added a new map in this latest update and and the same time have gone through all the current maps and made modification to lighting, textures, and ground objects. Some maps are on the 4th pass of polishing. We also continue to add new sounds and rendering effects into the game, to really make you feel like you are in the middle of a dogfight. I am very pleased in our effort in this area and we will continue to see more as we get closer to open beta.

Q: Not everyone is going to be able to jump into the game and be an ace pilot, what sort of tutorials, if any, are currently in or planned for the beta?

We are adding in several tutorials covering everything from basic flight, to bombing and strafing ground targets. The goal in the end is to have a system in place that even a novice can learn to fly and be prepared for combat by the time they finish.

Q: It's been mentioned that the tech upgrade system utilizes pre-made modules sets to upgrade each plane, can you elaborate on that a bit?  Is this system still undergoing revision?

Everything is constantly in revision based on our excellent beta tester feedback.The module system is something that the World of Warplanes team has evolved to make it even easier for the new player that may not have previous World of Tanks experience. Players will have a choice of modifying their planes based on historical presets or take the more advanced route of fully customizing their plane.

Q: The beta so far has primarily been about testing the flight and combat gameplay, but what about the economic system?  What has been put into the beta so far?

We have made our first pass on the economic system adding gold, xp conversion, and credit buying for the first time. We also now have the familiar tech trees in the game, and will continue to modify the economy until release.

Q: It's a difficult process, building a game from the ground up, what do you see for World of Warplanes in the near future?

We are excited with the current development of World of Warplanes and it has been an amazing experience--watching it all come together. While there is still a while before open beta or release, we are excited to be able to work on the second part of the "World of" trilogy, and are thrilled by the enthusiasm it has generated. I also want to thank all of our alpha and beta testers whose valuable feedback has and will continue to shape the game.