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Hi everyone,

we hope you had a safe start to the new year!
Now that 2019 has started, and the dust from our previous announcement has settled, it’s time to show you what we have developed in the past weeks.
We had a second and third look at 300+ beta tester applications and took all of the associated process steps.
We have notified everyone who applied for the beta test via e-mail.
As you probably remember, we can start the beta only after important software changes are made. However, progress is good.

On to the title subject of this update. As we promised in our dev update at the start of october we want to show you our BM-13 Katyusha in this edition.
As far as artillery goes, the BM-13 is an iconic weapon that can’t be omitted from our game for obvious reasons.
Let’s go back to its origins first. Where did this weapon come from?

The origin of rocket launchers as artillery dates back to the 15th century, when Leonardo da Vinci designed his version of a multi- barreled field gun. Rocketry as a scientific field got really popular in the modern era after World War One, and in the 1930s the military started to be interested in this new technology. In the summer of 1938 an idea by general Kotskov was being worked out secretly. It was inspired by ideas of Giuseppe Marco Fiesci, but this time using the RS-132 rocket which had been developed for use by aircraft. The rocket would have been used as an air to air weapon against bombers, similar to the German R4M 'Orkan' that appeared later during the war.

Several prototypes were built using ZIS-6 trucks. Configurations varied from 14 to 48 rockets per vehicle, the RS-132 rocket being adapted and re- named M-13.
In 1941, a smaller aerial rocket (RS-82) was also adapted for use on the ground and this one was used on a wide variety of vehicles as well, such as the T-40 and T-60 (BM-8-24), 36 and 48 rockets (BM-8-36 and 48) and the BM-8-72.


M-13-16 (RS-132) on a ZIS-6 and M-8-24 (RS-82) on a T-40

The new weapon was to be used in new special divisions - they were named as “guards mortar units” (as secret), as these were considered the right choice to keep the weapon secret. It’s military designation remained secret until WW2 ended so nobody knew it was officially called the BM-13; as a result, Soviet troops called it “Katyusha” after a popular song about a girl, and the German troops called it “Stalin’s organ”.

The first time the Katyusha was used was in 1941 at the town of Orsha. The seven BM-13’s that were deployed fired at the town’s market place and caused panic and many casualties.
The appearance of this weapon was a great shock to the Germans, some German infantry reports called it the most fearsome asset in the Soviet arsenal.


This wintery Katyusha (BM-13N) just opened fire.

On many occasions, Katyusha’s were a big factor on the battlefield. No wonder! Whereas one needed just four BM-13 launchers to fire 4.35 tons of HE into a 400,000-square-metre (4,300,000 sq ft) impact zone, no less than 72 conventional artillery guns would be required to achieve the same. The comparatively slow reload meant however that Katyusha barrages were not conceived to deliver continuous fire like conventional artillery. The Katyusha excelled at delivering a very dense saturation barrage over an area in a very short amount of time to stun the enemy: perfect just before an assault.

In Gates of Hell this one is obviously a must- have! The one we show you here is a very common variant of the BM-13. It’s the one that was built on a Studebaker truck. The salvo it fires is 16 rockets; 8 below and 8 on top of the launch rack. The official designation of this specific configuration is the BM-13N as it’s on lend-lease truck.
Here’s some screenies of it; remember, it’s still work in progress:


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The gunner rides along


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This battery has deployed and is firing


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Transit to the front

We plan to add a number of katyusha systems, fitting for the different war stages. In addition to the BM-13N shown here, the BM-8-36 mounted on a ZIS-6 platform will be a devastating early war carpet bomber. As the war progressed, the T-60 became outdated and was converted to mount the RS-82 rockets too, resulting in the familiar BM-8-24. Towards the late war the monstrous 310mm BM-31-12 will make an appearance, paving the way to Berlin.

These rocket platforms are modeled to be as inaccurate as they were in real life, but unlike the German Nebelwerfer types, accuracy is not as important when you can unleash such a massive battery of rockets.

Well, do you like our new artillery asset? Let us know in the forums! Meanwhile, let us know which rocket-propelled piece you’d like to see next for the third part of the ‘It’s not rocket science’ series. Thanks!

Did you know?

• At the end of WW2, 518 batteries of all kinds of rocket launchers were in use in the Soviet army
  
• The maximum range of the BM-13 was just over 8.700m (9.500 yd.)
  A special long range version of the rocket achieved 11.800m (12.900 yd.)
  
• Countries around the world have continued to build and operate Katyusha-like systems well into the 21st century

Well, that’s it for the moment folks. Thank you very much for your support, please let us know what you think of our Katyusha and don’t forget to like & share!

Let’s not beat around the bush. It’s not the kind of thing we want to tell you, but owing to a number of major factors we will need to postpone EA.
In this update, we will explain why.
There are several reasons; an important one is that we have raised the bar on content in the day 1 release, having decided that the number of missions in EA should be higher, after we intensified the specifications for the development of singleplayer missions.
In addition, our publisher BestWay is continuously developing vastly improved versions of the game engine for the different platforms. BestWay is currently engaged with all their resources in the development of Soldiers: Arena.
For Gates of Hell, it means we will not start the closed beta test until the publisher’s updates to the engine have been completed, because testing without the software upgrades means we would have to go through all the tests again after the update.

So what do these facts mean for our development and release?
• We will be delivering a more stable game on a more powerful platform, at the cost of starting the beta test later than expected.
  
• You will enjoy having much more singleplayer content on day one of the release.
  
• EA will be postponed to mid 2019

We see the community growing, and since a lot of time has passed since we announced this game, it is time to make a clear statement and remind everyone about what we want to achieve with it.
It has been developed totally independently. We are developing Gates of Hell on the Gem 2 engine and technologies that Best Way has provided to us, but we don’t have any relationship to MOW franchise. Best Way helps us to develop and publish our game. We build at the highest possible quality level within technology constraints and this results in a greatly extended development time. We are crafting Gates of Hell with historical settings and realism as the supporting pillars, aimed to give you atmospheric battles with a strong singleplayer component. As you can this project is merely by concept already very different from what's out there.


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• It’s historically accurate.
  Some examples: correct engine sounds, correct 3d models and paint schemes, correct animations, correct hitboxes, correct equipment limitations, correct ballistics, etc.
  
  
• Includes maps of real places and missions built on real history. For each mission, we put in a tremendous research effort, trying to get historical and geographical details right, whilst attempting to achieve enjoyable gameplay and within the constraints of the game engine.
  
  
• Mission duration is longer, for instance there are resupply times and logistic issues to be considered. Tactical decisions must be considered with greater depth, for mistakes will not be forgiven. Knowledge of WWII strategy and tactics will give you an edge in this game.
  
  
• Emphasis is placed on atmosphere, sense of place and immersion. You will not see graphical elements that downgrade the view of things. Effects and sounds are designed to enhance the visual and acoustic experience.
  
  
• Multiplayer combat will be cooperative-based and asymmetric unlike most RTS games. Maps to play as PvP can be considered closer to a single player mission, with historical setups on both sides where terrain, unit line- ups and strategic advantages are not necessarily balanced. The only “balanced” term is in the victory conditions, so both sides are likewise able to achieve victory, within their completely different situations in terms of numbers, momentum or situation.

Did you know?

• During internal testing, one of the feedback points was about the T-34 which was performing badly in a hilly section of the map, because it did not have enough gun depression compared to the enemy Panzers when fighting through the hills and valleys. This is another historical detail which comes into play when considering your tactics in GoH. “It’s not a bug, it’s historically correct”.
  
  
• Our team of 20+ develop this game in their spare time.

Well, that’s it for now. As you will understand, we would rather have given you other news. However, we think it’s a blessing in disguise for we will now be able to bring you a game that will be more stable and new, the EA being a bigger package than planned. We are confident we can achieve our planned ideas.

We want to thank the community for its valuable contribution in 2018, and we wish you a happy end to the year and a healthy start to the new one. We will be back with more in 2019!


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Hi everyone, it is time for an update!
First, we would like to thank everyone who applied for the beta test. Subscription for the beta was closed as of 01-dec-2018. We will be sending all of the applicants a message in the next 2 weeks.
Meanwhile, We have been working on new scenarios and lots of other stuff. One of the things that we would like to show you is typical of what we want for Gates of Hell, in terms of scenario building and realism; a truly hellish and epic battle.

This battle took place in the autumn of 1941 and marked the farthest point of advance of the Germans during “Operation Typhoon”. We have a super realistic map and scenario for you. But before we show you anything, let’s go back to the freezing cold of 1941 and set the scene.

Near the town of Volokolamsk, close to Moscow, fighting develops near the end of october.
This will be the decisive part of operation Typhoon; the Germans must reach Moscow or get stuck in the gruesome winter weather without reaching the main goal of operation Barbarossa.


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The rasputitsa may have been a slowing factor, but now German forces launch an attack on Volokolamsk, which is being defended by the Soviet 316th Rifle Division. This is a crucial fight; if the defenders fail, the Germans will be able to reach nearby Moscow virtually unopposed. The stakes are high, but supplies are low.
The Soviets do everything to stop the German advance. The Germans, from their side, are pushing like hell in an attempt to take Moscow; they desperately need quick results. They can only use one road and they know it. The defenders know it, too.

So here you are, commanding the last men of the 316th Rifle Division that retreated from Volokolamsk. It just started snowing. Civilians have toiled through the ice cold day to build defensive positions. They have now gone and it’s time for you to man the trenches.
But you have to do it NOW! Tank sounds up ahead are getting louder. Tell your men: not a single step back!


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Soviet defense plan

At the break of day, the first artillery barrage destroys the Soviet dummy AT guns. Then, the first combined tank/ infantry attack takes place.
Russian artillery rains down on the attack, but Stukas force the artillery crews to withdraw and take cover.
The German tanks are being stopped by the 316th’s AT guns and AT rifles, and they withdraw as well.
A second German artillery bombardment begins; this time it hits the trenches, killing the majority of Soviet soldiers.
The few survivors are now the only ones left to fend off the attack, which they barely do.


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The 316th moves into position during the night and digs in.



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Then the Germans arrive and storm their position. The 316th fights back.

In real life, Volokolamsk fell on October 27th 1941 and the 316th were forced to fall back to the east of the town. The division’s 1075th rifle regiment set up defences at Dubosekovo railroad station. On the morning of 16th November they were attacked by the German 2nd Panzer Division, and by 10am the German forces had control of the villages of Petelino and Nelidovo. It is reported that they managed to destroy "some" tanks and suffered over 100 casualties.
The 316th had some 130 men left, who were also ordered to dig trenches at the Dubosekovo railway station. The only anti- tank weapons they had left were a few light AT guns and molotov cocktails. For a few days, they were at work digging trenches and setting up dummy AT guns and emplacements with the help of locals; they hoped that these would fool the enemy recon aircraft and draw a lot of fire. This would turn out to be true.
The first German attack came and went; German artillery bombed the defenses and a second attack was launched; by this time, there were only 28 men left to fight off this local attack. Only a few survived. The Germans held Volokolamsk for a while but in the end, operation Typhoon failed here because on december 20th the Soviet 331st rifle division drove the Germans out of Volokolamsk during the great winter offensive, which had started on december 5th.

Panfilov's Men are described in Wikipedia as “a group of soldiers from the Red Army's 316th Rifle Division who took part in the defense of Moscow during World War II. According to official Soviet history, they were all killed in action on 16 November 1941, after destroying 18 German tanks and stopping the enemy attack on Volokolamsk. The Twenty-Eight were collectively endowed with the title Hero of the Soviet Union.”
So far, so good! This is one of those stories we must base our scenario on, right?
Not really. After the war it turned out that the story was a fabrication. It was impossible to tell what the 28 men had really achieved, since only 2 German tanks were reported destroyed that day. Worse still, one of the survivors was taken prisoner but escaped, and later volunteered for the German local militia in his home town to escape deportation.

Looking at the battle and the outcome, it has to be said that the 316th put up a truly fierce and heroic defence at Volokolamsk - Panfilov or no Panfilov.

Did you know?

• Many Soviet and German medal registers survived the war. Because of that, medals that are found post- war in some cases can help identify the original owner.
  
• In the original German planning for Barbarossa, the capture of Moscow was supposed to happen within 4 months after the start, so before the end of october.
  
• Some sources state that British Matilda tanks were used in the defense of Volokolamsk.
  
• One week after the Volokolamsk battle, the big Soviet winter counteroffensive started. It used troops which had been moved away from the east, after soviet intelligence confirmed that the Japanese had decided not to attack Russia, and that the attack on Pearl Harbor was imminent.

That’s it for this update. We will have another one for you soon! Meanwhile, let us know what you think and please like & share, thanks.

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Hello everyone, here we are with a fresh update.
This time we want to tell you about something completely different, something very important in every game: animations.

As suggested by the community, we need to do something about the animations, as they are extremely important for immersion.
That is how we see the subject. It’s the reason why we are developing all- new animations for human models. We don’t want to keep animations for humans from the older game; everything has to go! We will make a start with this for EA and complete it in the full version development cycle and beyond.

The translation of “we want better animations” is that we want to

• Make soldiers look organic in their motion.
  
• Make animations fluent so they don’t break up or look buggy, eg. moving their hands about at Mach 3 when they loop or switch animations,
  
• Prevent soldiers from starting oscillations of animation strings that makes them look like they are ‘dancing the samba’.
  
• Make soldiers look realistic when they are idle - they will squat down to get some rest, switch their weapon from one hand to the other, look around every now and again (facing forward ALL the time is not how a soldier is instructed to behave, situational awareness for the AI will now be better).
  
• Give humans realistic movement limitations. In previous games released for ‘Gem2’ game engine, soldiers INSTANTLY rotate and shoot at the enemy without aiming.
  In GoH, the swivelling of head/ hip/ arm/ legs takes time, soldiers are no longer instant turn- and- shoot machines.
  
• Introduce AI reaction time (current setup is 0.2-0.5 seconds for the soldiers to analyze and “react” to sudden events).
  
• Make soldiers have custom animations for boarding or unloading of vehicles, so they move around the vehicle much more naturally.

It’s obviously nice to know what you want, but let’s complete this thought with what we really do not want to see:

• Robotic-looking animations and weird postures
  
• Soldiers that look like statues pointing their rifles in general directions all the time
  
• The cliché that for a strategy game ‘a basic set of animations will do’
  
• Soldiers disappearing in the middle of nowhere as they enter vehicles because they use a generic boarding animation that does not match the hatch/ door positions of the vehicle, so the animation finishes halfway outside the tank as the soldiers vanish.

We’re quite sure you will have seen these odd things in some games; in due time we will make them become a thing of the past….


Animations and behaviour have quite an impact on gameplay; besides the fact that we will make sure the animations look better, obviously, gameplay will improve considerably on a number of counts.

For vehicles we have strong improvements in the pipeline, too.
We are working to have custom animations for every individual vehicle (in the full version, not in EA), something that has rarely been done in any game before. This is a very long process, which will take years to complete, so a lot of animation work will be done post-release. We want to make soldiers synchronize seamlessly with the motion of vehicle doors/hatches and avoid “floating” soldiers or the like. One cosmetic feature we are working on are animations for boarding vehicles. Soldiers will holster/ unholster their weapons, ready to go for a drive when they board a vehicle, or ready go into action immediately after getting out.

For soldiers we will have a more natural reaction to changes in every situation; players will need to adjust to different reaction times. Your troops need to react + turn + aim at the target before shooting. Having one soldier taking care of your flank might not be enough to stop a sneaking raid. You will be able to discover a sneaking raid earlier than before, due to soldiers looking around every now and again to observe the surroundings will make it much harder for you to sneak past them.

These are very ambitious plans, and we want to become even more ambitious if we have the resources for it from our publisher; however, it takes a lot of time to make animations look good and we have to do a lot of them, so we won’t be finished any time soon.

Note that the less aimbot-like characteristics, swivelling times for human rotations, and other features spoken previously in devblogs, such as progressive aiming (zeroing), all knit together to create a slower-paced but more realistic gameplay style. In this slower environment there is more time for the player to emphasize the use of the features of our game engine that make it so unique: Scavenging inventories, resupplying your guns, having a look around; And in the case of Gates of Hell: Completing secret objectives.

So here is a small collection of animations we’re working on. NOTE: all of this is work in progress in alpha/ beta stage and will be subject of improvement:
https://youtu.be/a1KttCjW6Tk
With this video there are 2 footnotes:
1) Weapon animations for infantry do not move weapon mechanisms as of now. We will very soon address this problem and come back to you in the next blog with the results of our work.

2) The bayonet attack features a voice callout, re-used from old resources. We are looking for Russian voice actors to re- record the remaining 33% of the Soviet faction. Interested? Apply here: http://barbed-wire.eu/join/


We intend to include quite a number of new infantry animations in the EA package, and a fair number of fully-finished vehicle infantry animations. After EA it evolves into the full release (6-12 months after day one of EA), and we will continue to produce new sets of animations.

One possible extension of our plans would be weapon-based animations for each individual firearm, or a group of them; for instance, reloading the Sten gun with the sideways-facing magazine should not play the same animation as reloading an MP40; likewise, reloading a belt-fed MG-42 shouldn’t look the same as replacing a DP-27 pan-shaped magazine. Whether we manage to complete this or not depends on how well received the changes are, and we would be achieving these features with joint efforts with our publisher Best Way.

As you can see, the ambition is there; we are pushing like hell! Which brings us to the question: are you the animator which can help us speed up the process? Check out the vacancy on our website.

• The Sten gun was prone to clip the little finger of the soldier firing it, if the firing action made the top of the little finger slip into the slot on the side of the body where the cocking knob ran.
  
• The magazine of the Sten gun was a direct copy of the German Erma MP38 magazine.
  
• Soviet troops, especially behind enemy lines, enjoyed utilising german ‘Schmeissers’ for their low weight and controllable bursts. On the other hand, German frontline soldiers often looked for Soviet PPsH submachine guns, which very rarely jammed.

That is it for the moment. Tell us what you think; are we on the right track?

Hi everyone, here we are with some new stuff we want to show you, and also we have an announcement to make. Things are getting closer and closer to being finished and the excitement is going up slowly but surely.

First, let’s have a look at a specific piece of weaponry: the Nebelwerfer 41. Let’s start with a bit of history.
“Nebelwerfer” is the generic German name for this type of weapon. Some sources state that the name was given to it because it’s rockets created dense smoke trails that could be seen for miles. This is not true; it’s because of the original (main) task of laying smoke screens that these specialist units had. In the campaign in France for instance, successful Nebelwerfer smokescreens blinded enemy artillery observers on several occasions when German troops were crossing rivers or attacking sections of the Maginot Line.

Before 1941, the “Werfertruppe” had two models of the 10 cm Nebelwerfer at their disposal (the 35 and the 40). The collection was expanded by a new model in the summer of 1941, which was not a 10cm but a 15cm “Werfer”, which was named Nebelwerfer 41 in accordance with the then current naming convention in the German army.
It was intended for firing 2 types of rockets; smoke and HE. Eventually, the units were used almost exclusively to fire HE rockets.
There were 5 regiments of rocket artillery when operation Barbarossa started, “Werferregiment” 51, 52, 53 and 54 and the “Werfer- Lehr- Regiment”. These served in close support, right at the front line. They provided a dense bombardment and were quite effective; German army commanders liked the weapon very much. Notable battles where the Nebelwerfer played a role were the battle at the Stalin line and the Perekop isthmus, both in 1941. Its characteristic loud noise made British & American soldiers call it “Moaning Minnie” when they opposed them in Africa and Italy.
The Nebelwerfer 41 stayed in production until the war’s end.




In Gates of Hell we will have a completely new Nebelwerfer 41 for you.
What’s new about this one?
Well, as you know by now, the rockets used for this weapon left dense smoke trails that could be seen far beyond the normal line of sight. This will also be true in GoH.
Also, it will feature a support at the front to stabilize the Werfer before it can be fired.
It’s crew will duck & cover their ears when the weapon is being fired, to avoid going deaf with the astonishingly loud noise.

This is how it looks (by the way, everything you see in our blogs and on facebook & VK is work in progress):


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Note: WiP alert! The flame effects and the animations are due to GIF limitations and do not represent the actual in- game effects.

For historically correct game design purposes we researched how the rockets (Wurfgranate 41) were designed and manufactured.
Two features of this design are different compared to the soviet rocket equivalent - the Katyusha’s M-13. Having found that stabilization fins were no option, the rockets were designed with tilted nozzles that made the rocket spin as it travelled, offering gyroscopic stability, similar to the rifling in gun barrels. Another difference is that the explosive was at the back of the (31,8 Kg/ 70 Lb.) rocket, whereas Soviet rockets had the explosive load at the front.
The result was that the Nebelwerfer rocket was more accurate and had a more effective shockwave. However, the BM-13 fired way more rockets (16 vs. 6) per salvo.


One remark about development balance; what we see here is a German piece of artillery. But this rocket science series of blogs is not over yet! Our Studebaker-mounted Katyusha rocket systems are moving to texturing stage. We plan to have them suited up for the next rocket artillery update.
Having said that, you can see we are busy putting these rocket launchers in the game. So how can we be sure that will they work? By testing, of course.


We are gearing up for the beta and so we need testers.
Since we are a small studio, it would be very unwise to take hundreds of testers on board; we would simply be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of feedback.
We think the beta can be successful if we have a very strict selection of about 15 testers.
Probably the most important asset for a tester is the ability to explain issues to the devs, and our internal communications are always in English. We’re really sorry for those who come from many countries and who do not speak English, but we must prioritise efficiency at work.

Overall, this is what we look for in our beta testers:

• You speak English
  
• You are at least 18 years old
  
• You will be available for testing at least 5 hours per week
  
• You have a Steam account
  
• You are able to attend discord meetings at Central European times
  (This does not mean you have to live in the CET zone)
  
• You are prepared to sign a non- disclosure agreement prior to the test

We kindly request that if you can not comply with all the above, you do not apply.
If you can tick the boxes, go to the application page on our website: http://barbed-wire.eu/beta-tester/

Well, that’s all for now. We hope you like the fact that we are getting closer to a releasable game & we hope you like what you see! If you do, please let us know. Meanwhile, we will brace ourselves for the beta and go back to work. If you have any suggestions to make, tell us in the Forums: https://steamcommunity.com/app/400750/discussions/

• The Nebelwerfer 41 was of larger calibre than the weapon it succeeded, but it was much cheaper to build: they were 3350 Rm. each.
  
• Nebelwerfer production peaked in 1944, with 2336 new units being built. When production ended, 5769 had been built.
  
• Range for the Nebelwerfer could be set anywhere between 200m and 6900m

Hi everyone, it’s time for an update and here we are.

There are lots of things being developed in parallel, some things more interesting to write about than others; so we picked something that will be available in early access, and describe how we made it and what it will look like.

The struggle at the Vistula spit happened right at the end of the war, after a campaign that had seen unbelievably bitter fighting under extreme conditions, with staggering loss of life on both sides.

The Vistula spit and the Curonian spit are sandbank formations that are emblematic for the geography of the Baltic coast between Gdańsk (Danzig) and Klaipėda (Memel). As German units became cut off from the rest of the German Army (which was retreating towards the Oder during the Soviet offensive of january 1945) two pockets of resistance emerged around Königsberg (Kaliningrad) to the east and Danzig to the West, only linked by the Vistula spit after Soviet troops reached the Vistula lagoon at Heiligenbeil.

The situation became similar to the Courland pocket further east: the bulk of the Red Army was focused on breaking the Oder-Line and reaching Berlin, while efforts were made to contain and slowly destroy the German pockets. For the Germans “holding at all cost” had become the usual official mantra, and the evacuation by sea of civilians, wounded and valuable equipment didn’t mean the position would be abandoned. The evacuations took place mostly by ship and were supported by the Kriegsmarine. Many civilians and soldiers were evacuated in the extreme cold, and evacuations continued during spring. After the major ports of Königsberg and Danzig had been lost the only real alternatives for evacuation by ship were the small ports of Pillau and Hela.


Civilians and soldiers line up to be evacuated in Pillau, 1945.

A tank ditch was dug across the peninsula north of Pillau to defend the city. What seem to be the remains of the defensive line can still be seen today; copy/ paste the coordinates (54.719827, 19.945084) into google maps to find it. The Lochstädt (Lochstedt) castle was the pivotal defense point of the German defenses north of Pillau in april 1945, it was defended by guns of the 18. Flak-Division and fell after heavy fighting on the 23rd of april. Pillau itself fell on the 25th of april.


Part of a German situation map, indicating Pillau had a “fortress command”

After the fall of Pillau, remnants of the German 4th Army - various surviving units and civilians - fled across the Pillau Strait.
Soviet troops of the 11th Guards Army pushed hard to pursue the fleeing Germans, harassing them with aircraft and building a pontoon to cross the strait. At the same time soviet troops used boats to land on both sides of the Spit to cut off retreating German troops. The main landing took place on the 27th April and was supposed to be a synchronized attack on both sides of the Spit, but the timing was off and Germans troops managed to push the Soviet troops back.

German infantry held blocking positions along the Spit, the northernmost part held by the 28. Jäger Division made up of remnants of the LV. Army Corps, while the remnants of the 5th Panzer Division and the “Grossdeutschland” Panzer Division served as mobile counterattack forces with the very few vehicles that were still operational.
Wounded soldiers, civilians from Pomerania and East Prussia and all sort of support units were now stuck on the Spit. The fighting continued until the 8th of May, the day the German troops on the Spit surrendered (2. Army on the nearby Hel-Peninsula surrendered only the next day).

The mission in Gates of Hell will be set in the aftermath of the fall of Pillau, during the gruelling last days of the war in Europe. Desperate German units trying to hold on and Soviet troops determined to end the war once and for all clash in the spring weather of 1945.


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The geography of the area is unique and very different from the plains, cities and snowy battlefields of the Soviet Union. Instead the spit is heavily forested, giving great cover for infantry to hide from the ever watchful eyes of the Soviet air force. And of course sand, a lot of it (it’s coarse and rough and irritating obviously). This interesting mix of terrain is why we chose to look at this battle for Gates of Hell.

The mission we’re designing for the map will rely on these geographical features and the context of the last days of the war unfolding to provide an engaging fight for the player. The map can be roughly described as being composed of three distinctive areas that blend into each other: the shore on the baltic sea, the forest, and the dunes on the vistula lagoon shore.


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The baltic shoreline is thin and offers little cover. An improvised road follows the shoreline: the only north-south road on the spit was quickly congested by the military traffic and especially civilians but also military units used the sandy shore as an alternative road. This worked well during the winter when the sand was firm from the cold but when spring came around the loose sand became the last resting place for more than one German vehicle.


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Most of the spit is covered with pine forest. The sandy and mossy ground offers little resistance to tracks and so the only road going through the forest was of strategic importance. The almost straight road offers little cover, so beware if you want to rush your tank down that road, anti-tank crews and panzerfausts are lurking in the forest!


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In the forest itself, German troops are seeking refuge from the constant Soviet air presence; here they can fortify. For Soviet soldiers it will be no simple task to drive them out, it will be a bloody forest fight.


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Then the forest and the dunes on the eastern side of the spit start to blend. Sand and greenery mix and create a playground for infantry ambushes. Flanking attacks to outmaneuver the fortified forest positions will have to come through here.


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The dunes are open terrain, suited for long range fighting. Here tanks can deploy all their firepower, although the bumpy, sandy terrain doesn't make for an easy ride. The wavy dunes also provide great cover for sneaky infantry attacks. But beware, from above the mighty Soviet air force is always watching - and who knows what danger might come sailing in from the lagoon?

Did you know?
• Before and after the surrender, food was in short supply. Even though potatoes were available, these were not handed out immediately because they were needed for planting new crops.
  
• In the last weeks of the war, German light FLAK units were almost exclusively used in ground battles, for which they had to conserve ammunition; with the Luftwaffe already incapacitated, the VVS (Soviet air force) not only had complete mastery of the air, but the FLAK also stopped shooting at its aircraft.
  
• The side streets of Pillau were littered with big piles of equipment in those last weeks. Soldiers were told to leave behind their guns, gas mask drums etc. to save space on the evacuating ships.
  
• The Teutonic Order built the castle at Lochstädt. You can still visit the ruins of the castle today. In Pillau itself you can find a war museum as well.
  
• We post regular WiP screenshots on Facebook:
  https://www.facebook.com/gatesofhellgame/

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Hi everyone, here we are with a development update! The last update was quite general; this time we want to present something really specific. In fact, what we want to show you is a historical scenario we’ve been working on: the battle of Tikhvin.


In October 1941, the defenses of Leningrad appear to be impenetrable to the German attackers. Instead of attacking frontally, German high command decides to concentrate its efforts against the city’s supply lines. The focal point is the railway line linking Leningrad to the eastern regions supplying the Road of Life, and the offensive will target it’s largest railway node: the town of Tikhvin. After a devastating aerial bombardment, disabling most of the infrastructure, the German forces advance on the Volkhov sector to conquer the town and cut the supply line to Leningrad.

When the Germans reach the outskirts of the town on the 8th of November a blinding snowstorm starts, slowing the attackers and concealing the enemy positions. The few Soviet guns still present in the area fire at the panzers at point blank range, and the Germans have a hard time breaking through the Soviet lines. The fighting stops when Soviet troops retreat. Afterwards, Soviet High Command organises a counter offensive with fresh reinforcements and latest version T-34s.

Because this battle was unique at the time, we felt it deserves a place in Gates of Hell. For this scenario we even built a very special vehicle; completely historical of course.




The mission starts after the German attack on Tikhvin. Soviet aero sleds are commanded to recon the area in preparation for the Soviet counterattack. The Germans are establishing logistics and defenses of their own, which makes the perfect scene for sabotage and observation operations.


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The player [soviet] will have to fight his way through the German rear and jeopardise the supply columns and other vital strategic assets. There is room for plenty of secondary tactics to be employed, from sabotaging communication lines to denying the enemy a chance to call for reinforcements and preventing partisan executions. We have modelled the logistics and communication setups as accurately as possible.


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The player will have to micro-control his small squad and keep key members alive - resembling the classic gameplay of the original games of the series. Despite the numerical inferiority, two factors are strongly in favor of the player: the element of surprise and the crucial use of NKL-26s. While the Germans struggle to cross the deep snow, your aerosleds will be speeding on the surface, and the Germans won’t know what hit them.
With this setup, we want to bring something new to the table and ensure each mission is unique and has something special and new.


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The Soviets eventually took back the town on December 8th, making Tikhvin the first place where a Soviet counteroffensive actually repelled the Germans. In doing so, they reopened the supply line to Leningrad, albeit for a very short period of time. The Leningrad blockade was one of the most cruel events of WWII. Through our game, we wish to pay tribute to the soldiers and civilians who endured the brutal struggle. In the future we plan to develop new scenarios depicting the ‘Road of Life’ and other key events where the Soviets faced Army Group North.


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That’s the battle of Tikhvin for now. In the background we are working on a lot more scenarios such as Mount Elbrus (check the screenshots on Facebook and VK) and the battle of Tula (around Kondrovo), and we will make sure there is a good score of scenarios when we announce the EA later this year.
Do you like what you see? Let us know!

Did you know?

• A few days after the Germans captured Tikhvin, the temperature fell off to -40°c. At this temperature, any contact with metallic objects immediately burns the skin. Because of this, both armies were forced to halt operations as men were dying of cold and most equipment was frozen.
  
• From the end of 1941 to February 1942 the only food available in Leningrad was a ration of 125 grams of bread per day, which contained more than 50% sawdust and other inedible materials.
  
• In 1942, the Soviet army tried to break the Leningrad siege for the third time. The plan was called the Sinyavino Offensive and for the first time involved major forces. The Germans had also been preparing an offensive in the same month and the same region, called Operation Nordlicht (Northern Light). They were both unaware of the enemy’s plans. This offensive also saw the first involvement of Tiger tanks, although technical failures and swampy terrain prevented them from actively taking part in the fights.

Hello everybody, today's news is one of our job ads, which we wanted to share with you! Please spread it to those who might be interested! Our next content dev blog will follow shortly in the next 2 weeks! See you in the comments!

LOCATION: REMOTE WORK
LEVEL: EXPERIENCED
DEPARTMENT: LEVEL DESIGN
PAYMENT: AFTER RELEASE

As a Level Designer at BWS, you are responsible for providing immersive, high quality maps:

• You will recreate the battlefields of WWII with stunning historical accuracy and immersion, based on research and verified sources, including correct map sizes/scales, extracting hightmaps and being able to pinpoint locations of different objects/environments such as houses, landscape elements, flora, etc. While said work is planned, you will also take care of producing project documents to note down important information before you go hands-on.
  
• You will be coordinating your work with the mapping team as well as your team lead to increase your skills, to develop new mapping techniques and to share innovative ideas with everybody, in a continued ongoing process.
  
• You will regularly developing test areas in the GEM editor to find the best mapping and design techniques before you adapt the result into the final project.
  
• The process of creation of a map is long: You will be an active member of our team, driven by passion and willing to run the required miles to fulfill our self set targets and standards.

• You are skilled in level design and you understand basic art principles.
  
• You got solid experiences with the GEM Editor and you are able to work with all its tools (highmapping, colour tool, polygon edit etc.).
  
• You are committed to learn and use Discord (communication means), Git (version controlling & every mapper can see everybody's work) and Trello (organisation).
  
• You are open minded (also for feedback/critics), willing to work in an international team.
  
• You are fluent in english so you are able to communicate with us.

We are an international, innovative and homegrown team born out of dedicated enthusiasts - our target? We strive to build an RTS that unlike all others, puts both historical value and atmosphere upfront to deliver a product that both an immersive game and a loyal portrayal of WWII. Thus, we are looking for people who share our passion. We grew up watching the classic war films, reading the books and travelling to the places where modern history was forever shaped. Is this your cup of tea? Then please get in touch with us now, right here.

Note: When sending us your application, please make sure to attach your CV and references from your mentioned work, as pictures or Steam Workshop/Youtube Links. (References are required to evaluate your skills in level design).

We look forward to receive your application!

Hello everyone!

We have been very busy in the past weeks, working in all kinds of directions. For instance, we were setting up parts of the process to facilitate future beta testing. We also did some testing of our own. But now it’s time for a development update!
This dev blog is more about general game updates. Of course we want to show you some nice stuff we’ve been working on. Here is a collection of screenshots with the developer’s notes.
Have a good look, we hope you like them!



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If you take a close look, you can see this particular King Tiger has been in a fight. Two shots from T-34/85’s have scarred the upper glacis plate and one has bounced off the (Pre- production type) turret. It’s gun has been fired a number of times, blackening the barrel around the muzzle brake with burnt gunpowder. It also shows white stripes around the barrel, indicating that this tank has destroyed 8 enemy tanks. The screenie was taken “somewhere in Western Poland”. Note that the trees, bushes and grass are all new.



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We showed you a number of things from the Wintergewitter scenario in devblog #66. Here’s another scene from that scenario; note that the Panzer III has side skirts (and rather muddy ones). The tracks on the Panzer III were easily damaged - even by Soviet AT rifles - making this model one of the first German tanks to receive “Schürzen” for that reason.



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As you can see this Tiger is firing its gun. The flames, like they would in real life, go sideways thanks to the muzzle brake. At the front it’s mostly smoke. The spare track sections on the turret add armor protection in-game, but they can be shot off as well. Note the additional camouflage, mostly attached to the extra bits of track.



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This tank was a nasty surprise to the Germans in 1941. Its extremely heavy armor made it almost impenetrable, at least from the front, for most German AT guns. Some accounts will tell you that a handful of KV tanks could stop a large group of Panzers. In august 1941, a company commander, lieutenant Kolobanov, reported that his company destroyed 42 enemy tanks in 1 day, with just 5 KV tanks. Note that this screenshot clearly shows the infantry riding along, something the KV-1 offers plenty of room for. Also note the bolted armor on the turret.

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Here’s another angle; a maximum of 7 infantry can ride along.



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Here’s the Soviet ROKS flamethrower unit. As you see, the flames are one step up, and so is the coding behind it. It will be much harder to burn yourself with the new algorithms, which is something that had always been a nasty problem with flamethrowers in the game engine, and “farshooting” exploits in multiplayer are not possible any more. Its accuracy is also different; your aim will need to be more precise than before. Also note the volume of smoke.

Did you know?

• The King Tiger from the tank museum in Saumur, France has a non- historical paint scheme according to some people, so we don’t use its color scheme; however, we will use its sound in-game, as it is the only running example in the world.
  
• You can find more on our Facebook and VK pages. Like & follow us so you are sure to miss nothing, for instance when we open applications for our beta this summer!

Beta testing (15-20 testers) will be open for applications this summer (summer in Europe) and we are still on schedule to have EA in 2018.

That’s all for now. Do you like what you see? Let us know!

Hi everyone, here we are with the next update!
We have some new stuff we want to show you and get your opinion on.

This time it’s all about human models & uniforms. These go together because we want to show you stuff that is completed; not just human models and not just uniforms but both.


As always, we research before we design. In case of the Gates of Hell uniforms, a vast amount of effort went into consulting many different sources such as “Uniforms and insignia of Red Army 1918-1958 (Kharitonov O. V.), “Manual on fitting, assembly... of the marsh equipment of Red Army” (1941), orders of introduction of new items of equipment along the years spanning the war and many others. This was done by Artyom Kazarez who is our in- house historian for this subject.


This photo, said to have been taken in Stalingrad, shows off some accessories nicely (e.g. PPSH drum pouch, spade, shoes with puttee’s), but we can’t trust the colors because they may have been added later.

A number of Soviet uniforms are uniquely shaped. On some, the jacket does not open in the middle from the belt down; the reason for this being unclear. Does anyone of you know?
Anyway, sometimes uniforms seem to have been designed for anywhere but the battlefield. Some Soviet soldiers wore overalls; while these kept out dust and dirt, they must have been a total nuisance in the latrine.



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We will post more screenshots of the soviet models on Facebook in the coming days

As you can (maybe) see, there is much more detail modelled into these than you will find in most games.
The soldier on the close-up belongs to a cadre division of the Red Army from pre-war service. He is fully equipped with Y-straps, bread bag and marsh boots. You may note he is sub-machinegunner, so he has two PPSH drum pouches.
Sadly the image of a Soviet soldier in full gear with all equipment, backpack, marsh boots, etc was only a common sight in 1941. Big losses endured in the first months of war lead to tremendous losses of equipment. So during the Battle of Moscow, the standard soldier’s uniform and gear had many differences, and often most of the equipment was poorer than before. E.g: most bread bags and a substantial amount of Y-straps were lost in the summer & autumn of 1941.
This will be shown in the game - in 1942, soldiers will have other arrangements of equipment.

The more polygons you use in the design process, the better your models look, but a lot of time needs to be spent in optimising the mesh for performance reasons.
The “flipside” is - perhaps obviously - the amount of time it takes to finish and texture them all correctly. This is possibly the main reason why we are not developing at a break- neck pace. We use the “highpoly” method for human modelling, creating a model that contains millions of polygons, accurately simulating different cloth materials and down to the very moles on the soldiers’ skin. Later, the sculpture is broken down to just a couple of thousand polygons, something that the game can handle. The wrinkles of cloth and other tiny details that were once contained in the million-polygon mesh are transferred to the texture, giving a natural appearance to all details.

After the modelling is done we need to add something else to get a sense of realism: we should have a wide cross- section of all the different peoples that made the Soviet army a multicultural place by any standard. We have designed our 3D soldier models to represent just that. Note that the faces of the 3D models here only show a fraction of the total number of different faces, and we have collections of them for different nations.


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Besides that, we need to add texture variations that make the uniforms recognizable. Our historical advisors have made a specification catalogue to track the different uniforms that we will make, and all the separate pieces that conform it. We will be producing approximately 30 uniforms per nation for Early Access, which is not only a record for any MoW game, but perhaps for any RTS out there - we would have to check!
All in all we hope you can see that we are not only progressing but always choosing for ways that add to the quality. Do you like the result?


Quality, realism and historical correctness take time to integrate. Since all our devs are developing the game in their spare time, it is only logical that the game is not yet finished; however, we are progressing nicely toward release. At the time we write this, a huge volume of work is already finished and our goal for EA this year is realistic.
In one of our summer dev blogs we will announce the start of beta testing, the logical next step in any game development cycle. Make sure you keep following us and, when the time comes, subscribe as a tester. We are currently setting up the process for it. By the way, beta testers will receive a game key from us; they will not need to buy the game when it’s released.
Would you be interested to be among the first that see these uniforms and models in- game?

• Some Soviet items were looted off Soviet soldiers by default; the felted boot, for instance, was much better for cold conditions because it lacked the cold- conducting iron nails the German soldiers had in their boot soles.
  
• The “winter lesson” the Wehrmacht had to learn in 1941 was the absolute necessity to wear the uniform trousers over their boots to prevent snow from gathering in them. This could mean the difference between keeping or losing a foot.
  
• Many Soviet soldiers on war-photos have one interesting peculiarity: they have the lone belt without pouches, the foxhole spade or other items. It’s usually so, because many photos were staged and not taken in battle conditions. On the other hand, there’s many photos of soldiers in full gear as well.
  
• Every soldier should have a gas mask bag with it’s corresponding gas mask. It’s interesting to note that from the beginning of the war many soldiers dropped their gasmask and used the former bag for carrying other items - ammo, food, tobacco, etc. Below is a war-time picture showing the usual cargo of a gas mask bag in 1942.