Today we are proud to introduce Frontline Stories, a new series of features written by Relic Entertainment staff! Company of Heroes is great because of its ability to tell unique stories. "Every battle tells a story" is a line we frequently use to describe the game, as we often find ourselves rushing to talk to each other to share stories about what we experienced after playing a match. The unique experiences generated by the dynamic gameplay of Company of Heroes are unlike anything seen in other RTS.
Frontline Stories are articles written by the testers, designers, programmers and directors of Relic Entertainment. These pieces will tell the tales that Relic staff have experienced while playing Company of Heroes 2 over the time of its development. From learning new things about Cold Tech to silly bugs giving advantage, we hope you will enjoy this candid look into Relic Entertainment and catch a glimpse of why we all love Company of Heroes 2 so much.
Winter's Betrayal
Quinn Duffy, Game director
When we first put in the tracks in the snow, we had hopes for how it would be used by players, but couldn’t be sure. But one of my first games with the new snow tracks revealed that the feature worked completely as intended when I played a game with one of our FX artists. This took place on one of our early test maps based on the town of Shlisselburg, just north east of the city of Leningrad, and a site of key battles as the Soviets tried to relieve the beleaguered city.
I had an early Soviet infantry force, including a sniper, and I was probing into the town. I heard the sound of an engine in the Fog of War, so I started to pull back my valuable sniper (at this point, snipers were single units as opposed to the 2 man teams they would become). We played cat and mouse in and amongst the buildings and I caught the occasional glimpse of a German SdKfz 222 scout car. Its 20mm cannon would shred my sniper, so I started pulling my troops out, infantry one way and my sniper the other, separated by the scout car. My sniper reached the edge of the town leaving me with but an open field to cross. Undaunted, I crossed the snowy field to an area of cover where my sniper could camouflage.
Out of the town came the scout car, following my perfectly presented footsteps in the pristine white snow. A single set of footsteps. Very obviously from a sniper. A beautifully legible trail right to where my sniper was hiding. Like a bloodhound on a scent, the scout car nosed closer. I had nowhere to run, but I tried. A quick rattle of 20mm fire eliminated my sniper, and instantly revealed to me how effective our snow tracks were going to be. I loved the tension of that moment.
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