Q: Who has the honor to speak with us? State you name, rank and occupation!
My name is Dan Dimitrescu, I am the Silent Hunter 5 lead designer here at Ubisoft Romania.
Q: What is new in Silent Hunter 5?
DD: The real question is ... what is old in Silent Hunter 5 :) Not much! If we’re talking just about the new dynamic campaign system, the fully modeled submarine interior and the new crew interaction system, its a whole new game – and a whole new world to immerse in.
Why have you returned to the German campaign?
DD: Silent Hunter 5 is the moment the series takes another evolutionary step forward. We’re improving our technology and making stuff possible that simply was out of our hands before. It doesn’t really matter whether its subject is US or German boats – we love them all the same anyway. Of course we’ve had US boats as focus point for our last game so its time to give the U-boats a facelift ;)
Q: Can you describe for us the nature of the new campaign?
DD: The new campaign is event-driven. It’s dynamic and changes on multiple levels in relation to player’s actions and results.
Q: How will SH5 will accommodate different players in terms of simulation realism?
DD: As always, the game is customizable in terms of realism and technical depth, to suit each players taste. Is full manual shooting too in-depth for you – you can opt out. Want realistic map updates and limited external camera? Check the realism menu!
But the big change is, we took a big step in redesigning the interface to make the action understandable to the new player. Its clearer now, and we’re also adding a tutoring system that will have the players up and running and experiencing all those great u-boat moments before they know it.
Q: How detailed will the simulation be?
DD: Silent Hunter remains a simulation and we’re not taking shortcuts around that. We care too much about what makes our game great – and you can expect some improvements in the enemy sensors systems, for example.
What U-boat models will be playable?
The type II, VII and IX u-boats are the main types available to the player. For the complete sub-types list, you’ll have to wait.
Q: How does the new FPS view work? Will the U-boat be fully accessible?
DD: We call it the FPS view because its actually pretty similar to an First Person Shooter or modern RPG interface. It allows the player to interact with items and crew while moving around the submarine – which on the other hand is fully modeled – bow to stern. Because of the level of interface interaction required, you can bring the mouse cursor on the screen at any time, but its pretty seamless.
Q: How much can the player impact the course of the war as a U-boat captain?
DD: About as much impact as the sinking of the SS Ohio by the Italian submarine Axum would have had on the course of the Mediteranian Campaign.
Silent Hunter 5 is scheduled for release in Early 2010.
More articles about Silent Hunter 5