The Eastern Front mod for Company of Heroes was released back in January, the culmination of the effort of a very talented group of fans.  Quite a few COH players mistook the mod for a genuine product from Relic Entertainment, and many of us here at Relic were very impressed with dedication it took to create a new faction for the game, the Soviet red army. 

We dropped a line to the creators of the mod, who we had been in contact with off and on during its development, and asked if they would submit to a few questions about their team, their work, and their future plans for the Eastern Front.  WartyX was pushed into the spotlight to speak for the team, below is the result of our conversation with him:

Can you tell us who you are and what you do on the Eastern Front mod?

My name is Dave Horler (also 'WartyX' on the forums) and I am a student from the United Kingdom. As well as being a 2D Artist and Localisation Lead for Eastern Front, I also like to act as the Community Manager for posh times like this.

Congratulations on the launch of the Eastern Front mod, there was a great deal of excitement surrounding it.  Let’s go back to the beginning though, where did it all start?

In 2006, the idea of creating the Soviets started when William Toth discovered the modding potential of Company of Heroes. William wanted to create a new rocket artillery unit for the Allies - similar to the Axis Walking Stuka or the Nebelwerfer. After some brief research he learnt of the Katyusha, as well as an array of many great vehicles and tanks that the Soviets had used during the Second World War. This led to the rather crazy idea of making a whole new faction. William proposed this idea to a friend called Tim Douglas, who then agreed to help get the mod up and running.
 
After releasing some renders of vehicle models on the RelicNews Forums, several people joined the team to contribute - including the current Lead Developers, Dominic 'Dragon' Cassidy and Rikard 'Rizz' Blixt. With Relic's promise of future modding tools, the only work that could be done was basic art and basic coding. Despite this relatively major hitch, the development team continued to grow. The mod only began to mould into what we see today in early 2009.

There are certainly some very talented people on the team, judging by the end product.  Are many people on the team programmers or artists in their day jobs?

Some of the artists occasionally do freelance work as a secondary income, but other than that, our sound engineer and infantry skinner are the only people who do actually use their mad skills to pay the bills. But for all of us, modding Company of Heroes is just a fun hobby that we enjoy doing. It's fair to say that some of us want to end up working in the media and game design industries eventually, so we have always taken this project quite seriously (some one-way tickets to Canada would be great, by the way).

How did the team grow as development continued? You guys are volunteers, so I’m wondering if there was much turnover or if everyone stuck with it.

We have a core team of around fifteen dedicated developers, which isn't including our community translators and mappers. People come and go, some give much more time than others. Regardless, around fifty people have directly been involved in the development of Eastern Front.
 
The last three months has seen the team lose two core members. MrScruff (who was responsible for creating just about every Soviet vehicle in Eastern Front) was tragically killed in a road accident just before the New Year. Also, our lead developer Apex retired shortly after the release of Eastern Front, so there have been important shifts in management and leadership.

Was there a moment during development where things really started to come together, maybe a jaw dropping moment when you guys first got a new unit working?

There were two or three moments like this actually, and they all took place within the last twelve months. The first was when we got a fully animated T34 tank into Eastern Front. Nobody really knew how to use certain modding tools, and this truly was a breakthrough. Another was when we got custom infantry weapons in. Initially, we were just going to settle with reskins and model-mixes, so seeing the infamous PPSh SMG rattling into the distance with its signature drum clip was a real event at the time.

What do you think is the greatest accomplishment achieved during the development of the Eastern Front mod?

For the first time in Company of Heroes history, we have produced a completely unique custom faction with its own new vehicles and infantry. This in itself is one hell of an achievement. We have been responsible for breakthroughs in Company of Heroes modding - we have proved that original content is possible to implement. Not only has this been great for our mod, but it has thrust the game back into the modding spotlight; it is fantastic to see so many mods thriving with new tanks and infantry. It is no lie that mods are vital for PC games to live on (just look at Half Life), and all it takes is some continued support from Relic Entertainment and we could be looking at one of the most successful modding communities in history.
 
There have been some coding limitations which prevent custom factions re-crewing heavy weapons and being able to level up in Relic Online. We appreciate Relic's commitment and continued support for modders and gamers alike, we are hoping that you can help us overcome these limitations in a bid to help the whole modding community. That is something which is very important to the players and developers alike - and it would make all Company of Heroes fans very happy!

What are your future plans for the mod?  I believe you guys have stated your desire to add the Ostheer, is that right?  What is the Ostheer for those who might not know?
 
The Ostheer (German for 'East Army') is a the third Axis army which will be brought into the Company of Heroes universe. A lot of people really expect us to just make a reskinned Wehrmacht, but we assure them that this will not be the case. The real Ostheer used vastly different technology from the Wehrmacht in France, because the enemy was completely different and the supply chain varied. There is a lot of fancy stuff that Germany and her allies developed and used that we have yet to see in Company of Heroes. Additionally, like with our Soviet faction, we haven't tied ourselves down to a specific date, so you will see a unique mix of early-war efforts and last-ditch desperation, and everything in-between.
 
Looking in the nearer future, there will be constant patching for the mod because that has gone down really well with the players. In terms of DLC, there will be the much-requested Reward Units, but you will probably have to adjust your sights just a little further if you want to get a shot of the really ace stuff. I'm not going to promise anything too much, but there is a whole tonne of fantastic work going on behind the scenes.

Those of us at Relic were quite impressed with your work, and we're certainly excited to see where you take this mod in the future.  Good luck and thank you for your time!