How to Make a War Video Game: Development Guide

Phase 1: Concept & Scope

• Subgenre: Tactical FPS (Insurgency), Mil-Sim (Arma), Arcade (Call of Duty), Grand Strategy (Hearts of Iron), Survival (This War of Mine), RTS (Company of Heroes).
• Setting: Historical (WWII, Vietnam, Cold War), Modern, Near-Future, Alt-History, Sci-Fi.
• Core Loop: Shoot → Move → Communicate → Secure → Extract. Or: Plan → Execute → Adapt.
• Tone: Heroic, Gritty, Anti-War, Sandbox, Narrative.

Phase 2: Tech Stack

• Engine: Unreal Engine 5 (visuals, networking), Unity (accessible), Godot (open source), Custom (Frostbite, IW, Snowdrop, Anvil).
• Networking: Dedicated servers (authoritative), Client-side prediction, Lag compensation, Rollback (fighting), P2P (small co-op).
• Physics/Destruction: Chaos (UE5), Havok, PhysX, custom voxel.

Phase 3: Core Systems

• Ballistics: Hitscan vs Projectile (drop, drag, penetration, ricochet).
• Damage Model: Hitboxes, armor plates, organ systems, bleeding, fractures.
• Movement: Stance, lean, vault, mantle, prone, sprint, inertia.
• AI: HTN/GOAP/Behavior Trees. Squad tactics (flank, suppress, bound). Civilian logic.
• Vehicles: PhysX/Chaos simulation. Crew positions, damage states, physics interaction.
• Audio: HRTF spatial, occlusion, dynamic range (gunshots vs footsteps), VOIP integration.

Phase 4: Content & Narrative

• Maps: Real-world GIS data → heightmap → art pass. Chokepoints, cover, verticality, spawn logic.
• Weapons/Gear: Reference kits, photogrammetry, animation rigs, attachment systems.
• Campaign: Scripted missions, branching objectives, character arcs, moral choices.
• Multiplayer Modes: Conquest, Breakthrough, Firefight, Extraction, Battle Royale.

Phase 5: Responsibility & Authenticity

• Consult Veterans / Historians. Avoid glorification. Depict consequences.
• Accessibility: Remappable controls, visual/audio cues, difficulty sliders, colorblind.
• Legal: Trademarks (weapon names), likeness rights, export controls (ITAR/EAR for mil tech).

Phase 6: Live Ops

• Seasonal content, battle passes, anti-cheat (kernel/user), telemetry, community management.

Start small: **Vertical Slice** (one map, two weapons, one mode, working netcode). Iterate.