Interview: Josh Olin of Treyarch
Posted by Molotov Cupcake on August 14th, 2009
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, you can’t dispute the success of both the Call of Duty: World at War map packs or the game itself. I had a few short questions to offer up the very gracious Josh Olin, community manager of Treyarch, about some various WaW-related topics and he was nice enough to respond with some very candid and informative answers that I think all of you World at War fans should enjoy. So, call the dogs! We’re sitting down with Josh Olin. Stick around here at Spawn Kill afterward, and you might be able to win a little something, too!
Molotov Cupcake: The zombie maps seem to keep evolving into a fleshed-out experience, even adding character bios and real playable characters to take control of rather than faceless soldiers. Is this a hint toward a move to creating a separate Nazi Zombies spinoff title?
Josh Olin: CoD:WaW’s Zombie mode is a really long story… The short version is: we never really knew how popular it was going to be. It started as just a side-project for some of the developers here during the development of CoD:WaW (like a mod), but rapidly began growing in popularity within the studio. It got to the point where most people were spending their free time playing it, so we decided it would be cool to dedicated some resources to polish it up and put it on the disc for all to enjoy.
After the game shipped, we quickly realized just how much of a Zombie epidemic was sweeping our online community. It became very clear that we had the opportunity to really blow the feature out with downloadable content.
So that’s precisely what we did with Verruckt, Shi No Numa, and most recently Der Riese. Each Map Pack brought this iterative improvement over the last, and continued to add more new features while retaining those features introduced in the previous pack.
Candidly, there has been talk about what we want to do with our Zombies moving forward. I don’t think we’ve even got that decision made yet, much less are ready to discuss it.
Molotov Cupcake: Are there any more planned map pack releases after Map Pack 3?
Josh Olin: Anything is possible; I guess it all depends on the success of Map Pack 3, as well as how our agenda here at the studio pans out. As developers, we love downloadable content, as there is always something we can improve upon or iterate on with another go. It’s all just a matter of timing.
Molotov Cupcake: What inspired Treyarch to implement devices such as teleporters in Der Riese?
Josh Olin: The teleporters are just a fun way to move around the map. The idea is, you never know what might be on the other side, but in most cases it is probably better than the overrun swarm that you may be facing prior to teleporting. Of course there is a certain story element to all the trinkets in our Zombie levels, but we don’t want to give all of that away.
Molotov Cupcake: What determines when a new map pack will be released and if it will be - demand by players, sales, or simply the desire to keep pushing more content to keep people playing?
Josh Olin: All three, actually. Of course if nobody is buying it, then that’d be a good sign to stop making it! Fortunately in our case, that hasn’t been an issue. So to us, it’s more about timing; how long it takes us to collect the feedback from the prior pack, and incorporate that feedback into our next DLC. Take Breach, for example (1 of 3 new MP maps in Map Pack 3) – players wanted larger infantry-based maps, that were not sniper-fests. We created Breach as this dense Urban environment with lots of buildings, flank points, and obstructions that allowed for that larger Objective based game mode to play really well, without forcing the players to just dodge sniper fire the whole way through.
As entertainers, we always want to ratchet that bar up. We’re not blind to reality – CoD:WaW was not a perfect game, and there was a lot we wanted to do that we just didn’t have time to. When you have a deadline you can’t move (ship date) some things you may have really wanted to do get sacrificed.
DLC is a way to bring those things back to life. Nazi Zombies is a perfect example of that – we put a lot of effort into the original level that shipped with the game, but didn’t have time to do nearly as much as we wanted / imagined. Our MP content too; Nightfire (from Map Pack 1), for example, was a level we were originally developing to release with CoD:WaW. We just didn’t have the time to finish it, polish it, and put it in the box - but we were able to make that vision into a reality by way of DLC.
Molotov Cupcake: How did you come to be community manager at Treyarch? Was it always your dream to join up with them or did you happen upon it out of luck?
Josh Olin: I always wanted to be in game design in one form or another; I even started my own PC modification for Call of Duty 2 back in the day. Over the years, as just an everyday gamer, I began to latch onto blogging, and took a real interest in getting my voice out there as a critic. That slowly evolved into operating one of the largest Call of Duty fan sites on the ‘Net.
Before I knew it, I was flying out to preview events for the new Call of Duty flavor of the year, and breaking bread with some really awesome industry insiders. One day the call came; Treyarch was seeking a community manager for CoD:WaW, and I was a recommended candidate.
I’ve come to learn that game studios love pulling from their community for talent. If you’ve made a great mod, it hasn’t gone unnoticed. If you’ve made a gripping independent Machinima trailer, it hasn’t gone unnoticed. That kind of self-motivation & passion in an individual speaks really loudly to recruiters in this industry.
So do I consider myself lucky? I don’t like to call it luck – I worked hard to get my work out there, and it paid off. Am I fortunate? Absolutely!
Molotov Cupcake: What do you have to say on the fact that many gamers turn a disapproving eye to World at War and claim that Infinity Ward did it “better”?
Josh Olin: I think every game has critics. Selling more than 13 Million copies of World at War worldwide, as well as a few million map packs and counting is a resounding testament to the fans who do enjoy CoD:WaW. No game is going to fit every gamer’s taste. If any developer tried to accomplish that, all their games would really suck =P.
Molotov Cupcake: Be honest - the Monkey Bomb or the Wunderwaffe?
Josh Olin: Monkey Bomb, definitely. The Wunderwaffe is a fine weapon if using the proper strategy, but I find myself more interested in a Ray Gun + Browning combination anyhow. The Monkey Bomb, however, is universally clutch for every player. If you’re at a high level, and a teammate goes down – you let loose a Monkey Bomb while you revive your teammates, or you’re dead.
![[Post to Twitter]](../../../../wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-twitter-micro3.png){kind=icon}
![[Post to Digg]](../../../../wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-digg-micro3.png){kind=icon}
![[Post to Reddit]](../../../../wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-reddit-micro3.png){kind=icon}
![[Post to StumbleUpon]](../../../../wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/icons/tt-su-micro3.png){kind=icon}
Tags: Call of Duty, Interview, Josh Olin, Treyarch, World at War
Loading ...
They should do a tanks only level, where everyone spawns already inside a tank. Maybe for Map Pack 4? I loved Tokyo Wars in the arcade. Someday, after I build a new PC I will get W@W for PC so I can make my own map/mod.
Nightfire is probably my favorite map pack level btw…
Awesome interview, I have friends who swear against Treyarch CoD games, It is there lost W@W is awesome.
Damn you should of asked him if the of sawed off shotgun with grip and type 99 was in Der Riese.
They should make the tanks a kill streak reward, where you reach a certain kill streak and you get keys to the tank to activate it. or make it like how it was in halo where you can hi jack the vehicles. tank grenade + 2 satchel’s/bazookas arent really enough to destroy a tank and imo it ruins the game play where everyone just straight up runs to the tanks in the beginning of the map
can u make ur own maps on pc
Just a little response to Kevin, if you want to take out a tank really easily then just get some what close to the tank and throw a satchel underneath of it and blow it up. One satchel will destroy a full health tank.
Is there actually going to be birds that you will hve to shoot down? That would be sick… Kinds like RE5 eh, anyway I just love zombies and you totally can’t stop making the zombie maps!!! Thanks.
I want to start with i love nazi zombie and is my favorite game or side game and i would like to see a standalone nazi game on its own disk. Also im tired of this beading around the bush stuff i want flatout answers. When is the exact for sure release date of map pack for and what is going to be on it?
Hey, great interview! my friends and I love nazie zombies and play every night. We really need a new map though. The great thing about it is. it doesn’t matter how much it cost. I will have it and so will my friends. A seperste game would b bad azz. U could have police zombies, judge zombies, iranian zombies, orr even zombies in pink bunny costumes. Whatever u pick to take sum frustration out on. To tell u the truth, whether its a new map pack or full game I know it would sell! Just please give us info on a release cuz I can speak for everyone when I say the anticipation and just not knowing if its over is killing us. And also F**k the haters , keep doing ur thing!
Oo yeah, and please don’t ruin it by making it a full story game. A survival game with a lot of boards and different things u can do would b perfect and I think there would one day b a great nazie zombie series of games. And one thing that would be great is if u get past like level 20 u should be able to choose to start at level 5 or 10 on just that next game cuz those first few levels get boring after a 2 hour game .
their is no map pack 4 because its 18th october and there is no news of it on the callofduty website or any website . sum bunch of 10 year olds have started this rumor about it being in area 51 and coming out in september and u lot have believed them ! GET A LIFE !!!
add me psn CrAzY_KillER14
cant wait 4 mw2 much beta than cod 5
NO MAP PACK 4 GET A LIFE !!!!!
two stickies w/fireworks on the back of a tank and its toast.
they should make a amm-o-matic machine and a perk that makes you unsee able for like 60 seconds or somthing they should also make a upgraded magic box with upgraded wepons
Hay, I want to get my voice heard to so here it goes. Map pack 3 was probably the best DLC ever made so w/ the Der Riese added teyarch showed its potential. From what I read online about the new map pack and At the loding sean in the begining you should show treyarch’s opinion on the story behind Nazi Zombies. I Hope that in time trey should make a game devoted solely to Nazi zombies because I think that it is a spectacular game.
I would love to have a full Nazi Zombies game. The game has so much potential and the things they could add are endless. I normally play games by myself and think it would be cool if they added a cloning machine to Nazi Zombies. Where you could clone yourself on solo and have a computer ai to play along and help you. It would base it’s decisions off your style of playing. I don’t preorder games ever either and this would definitely be one I would.
Hey, nazi zombies is the shit.
Don’t stop making it.
Treyarch could make bank if they sold a Nazi Zombies game.
Oh yeah, you should make it to where cats on 360 and ps3 can download maps like on PC version. that would be dopeeee.
they should definitely make a full length nazi zombie game. imagine trying to fight your way out of a zombie infested germany with three friends. but keep the zombies simple as is and make headshots an instant kill. its stupid to have the zombies get stronger. body shots dont hurt zombies,but headshots from any weapon should be instant death…i know i would buy it.
ye i agree with anonymous, if someone loves using the kar98k, when zombies get stronger,if they still have the kar98k, they will probably die soon, however if instead of makign zombies stronger, they just increase the number of zombies and their strenght, the game will be harder as rounds pass and players will play with their favorite weapons
PLEASE MAKE ANOTHER MAP PACK OR A FULL NAZI ZOMBIE GAME! there are sooo many people that would buy it and its not like treyarch would loose anything. all the haters of WaW just don’t like the multi player part. everyone i talk to on xbox live says there is nothing wrong with nazi zombies, its the multi player they hate. at least half of the people who play MW2 would probably buy the new Nazi zombie game if one came out. Like others have said, the possibilities are endless in the game play of zombies. it would definitely be a top 10 seller of the year. and, if anything will be coming out i also agree with everyone and i say at least tell us there will be a new game/pack. we are sick of waiting. we dont NEED to know when its coming or whats going to be in it, JUST TELL US IF IT IS COMING. i could type this all day and go on and on and have lots of people agree with most of the things i say.