The whole earth is supposed to simulate Outerra World Sandbox and offer you maximum freedom in how you have fun there. In this interview with Microprose, we take a closer look at the wild promises.
This trailer up there caused a sensation: When a video with a technically demanding simulation of the entire globe appeared in October, the Internet was amazed – and the GlobalESportNews community was also bursting with curiosity. But the game – or rather, the platform – behind this impressive video called Outerra World Sandbox did not only cause storms of enthusiasm. Your comments on the topic often revealed a healthy dose of scepticism.
That”s why GlobalESportNews spoke to publisher Microprose about Outerra World Sandbox – more specifically with CEO David Lagettie. In case the name doesn”t ring a bell, Lagettie was formerly the head of Bohemia Interactive Australia, which was responsible for Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim) – the professional simulation division of the studio aimed at real-life military personnel, most familiar to gamers for Operation Flashpoint and Arma.
After BISim moved to Prague, Lagettie founded TitanIM (Titan Integrated Military) and used Outerra as an engine for professional simulation products. If you”re interested in flight simulation, you”ve probably heard of Outerra. Outerra is an engine capable of reproducing an entire planet in full-size detail, including the near-Earth orbit. The engine is thus predestined for the representation of environments of realistic simulations.
As early as 2012, a developer of addons for Microsoft Flight Simulator X had imported one of his models into what was then an alpha version of Outerra. But flight simulation is only one aspect that Outerra wants to cover. Those who prefer to travel by car on country roads or explore the oceans by ship should also get their money”s worth with Outerra. So it”s not surprising that Outerra has been in development for almost 15 years (2008).
After all: With (Anteworld) there was a playable demo in 2015 that already covered the entire world, including OpenStreetMap-based development. In Anteworld, you could already fly well at that time, such as in the following video of a flight in a Cessna 172 at Talkeetna airfield (Alaska):
2019 David Lagettie acquired the rights to Microprose and now wants to make Outerra more known to the general public than before. In this interview, we tried to find out how this is supposed to work and what to make of the full-bodied promises of Outerra World Sandbox. The questions were answered by e-mail.
Where does Outerra come from and what is it supposed to offer?
GlobalESportNews:Outerra has been developed since 2008 and the company has existed since 2010.How, why and when did the Outerra developers and Microprose decide to work together?
David Lagettie: Yes, Outerra was in development for over ten years, but when you”re developing a product that can render the whole planet and you can use pretty much any kind of vehicle with it, it takes that time. In a truly spherical world, there are also enormous challenges.
The CEOs of Outerra and Microprose have been friends for a long time and have had a close business relationship for ten years. Microprose has always had ambitions to release Outerra”s rendering technology and their first product is Outerra World Sandbox. Without going into too much detail now, Microprose has plans for many future simulation games that will use the Outerra technology.
GlobalESportNews: Is there a gameplay loop in Outerra World Sandbox, for example that we have to collect resources first to build something, or is it purely a sandbox to get creative?
David Lagettie: The beauty of Outerra World Sandbox is that you can do just about anything with it – you have the entire planet, every road, every river, even buildings and cities come in different forms. You as a user can replace the generic buildings with real, region-specific ones and share them in the Steam Workshop.
Users can create their own little features and games in Outerra World Sandbox, but the idea is that all users (no matter their experience level) contribute to a growing community in the Steam Workshop. We are very excited to see what players will create and share.
GlobalESportNews: What does Outerra World Sandbox have to offer to players who don”t want to create something themselves, but mainly want to have fun with creations from other players or from developers?
David Lagettie: We are implementing extensive support for the Steam Workshop as well as corresponding tools that we will be expanding – from vehicles and buildings to locations and terrain. So, for example, if you want to make a famous hiking trail in the Rocky Mountains, that”s easily possible and can then be shared with the community. Or maybe you want to build your own airport as a base, with hangars full of your own planes, or a garage of cars, and so on. Maybe you want to fly a U2 spy plane to the edge of space – it”s all possible.
Tools, physics, system requirements and release
GlobalESportNews: What are the concrete tools in Outerra World Sandbox to create content? Are they easy to learn and use?
David Lagettie: Outerra World Sandbox comes with all the necessary tools to import models, edit terrain and place objects on a map editor in real time, such as buildings. Even tools to build roads and railway lines, runways, vegetation and more are included.
We plan to expand the product almost endlessly. And all the things you create can be shared, and if you don”t want to edit or import anything yourself, you can download other users” creations from the Steam Workshop. We hope to create a large community and we are planning a series of high quality addons for users.
GlobalESportNews: In Outerra World Engine, do you also simulate the physics needed for flying and driving?
David Lagettie: Yes. Outerra World Engine supports the bullet physics engine, and you can drive, travel by ship, fly and walk. [Editor”s note: Also, Outerra has so far used the JSBSim library, which is also used in the open-source flight simulator FlightGear].
GlobalESportNews: Overall, Outerra World Sandbox sounds less like a game and more like a fairly open simulator. Can educational institutions use Outerra World Engine?
David Lagettie: Yes, it is possible, and we also want to encourage it and support it as much as we can.
GlobalESportNews: Does Outerra World Sandbox need a permanent internet connection to stream scenery and content, for example?
David Lagettie: There are several modes, but it is possible to download terrain data and then stay completely offline. But there are advantages to being online: it gives you access to map data, real-time data and many online services that are integrated.
GlobalESportNews: That all sounds quite extensive and also technically complex. What are the estimated system requirements?
David Lagettie: We can”t answer that exactly until the release is a bit closer, but most players should be able to play it.
GlobalESportNews: When is the release planned? What will happen after that?
David Lagettie: We plan to release Outerra World Engine as Early Access in the next six months. It is too early to say anything about the release of the finished game. However, I can assure users that there will be constant updates, both until the full release and afterwards. We see Outerra World Engine as a product that is always evolving – probably forever.
GlobalESportNews: Besides users in the Steam Workshop, can professional third-party developers share or sell content? For example, I”m thinking of flight sim developers selling airports and planes, or rail sim developers offering train types, stations, and tracks?
David Lagettie: Of course they can develop and share just about anything. Whether content can also be sold is something we still have to think about; it”s a bit too early to commit to that, but it might become possible after Early Access.
GlobalESportNews: Finally, I would like to know what pricing model you are planning?
David Lagettie: We are still discussing the price at the moment. But we will make sure that people can afford Outerra World Engine and that there is good value for money.
Editor”s verdict
Aircraft, railways, ships, cars and walking tours, all in our real world, which we can also customise to our liking – Outerra World Sandbox sounds like a real simulation paradise on paper.
The suspicion that Outerra could be vaporware is refuted by the fact that the engine already exists and is being used. With Anteworld, there was already a playable version in 2015 and Lagettie”s company TitanIM has shown that the product can be used for simulations. For this reason, too, the concept reminds me a little of Lockheed Martin”s Prepar3D simulator, which is primarily perceived as a flight simulator outside the military community, but which can actually do much more.
Outerra World Sandbox also seems to have great potential – I can well imagine it being used in schools and universities. For players, however, the question will ultimately be less whether Outerra works as such, but whether it works as a game. This also includes the question of whether the Outerra World Engine will make a visual leap forward by the time it is released (at the moment it still looks quite similar to Anteworld), and how accessible Outerra World Engine is if you don”t want to develop it yourself, but just want to fly or drive a bit. It will depend on this – as with any complex simulation – whether the interplay between mere users and talented modders and possibly interested professional developers that is necessary for longevity will materialise.
