Questions and answers.
Straight answers about Contact: Wait Out, an ops room command game, and the two people making it.
What is Contact: Wait Out?
Contact: Wait Out is an ops room command game for PC, in development by Warfighter Studio. You are the operations officer of a small patrol base. You never leave the room and you never see the fight cleanly: everything arrives late and imperfect, over two radio nets, a drone feed, helmet cameras, a chat log and a sand table you plot by hand. You give the orders. The platoon on the ground carries them out.
What does the name mean?
"Contact, wait out" is what a section says on the radio in the first seconds of a firefight: it is in contact, and a fuller report will follow when it can send one. That gap is the game. The ops room knows something has happened, and has to wait to find out what.
Is it a strategy game, a shooter or a simulator?
It is a command game. You never control a soldier, aim a weapon or see the whole battlefield, so it is not a shooter, and not a strategy game in the usual sense. The challenge is deciding on information that is late, partial or wrong, and living with what follows.
Is it out yet? When is the release date?
Not yet. Contact: Wait Out is in development for PC, and no release date or price has been announced. Every playtest is shown on the devlog, and the mailing list hears first when there is something to play.
What platforms is it on?
PC. No other platform has been announced.
Is there multiplayer or co-op?
The first release is single player. We hope to add co-op later, with friends in different seats in the same ops room, but that is an ambition, not a promise.
Where is it set? Is it based on a real war?
It is set in an invented theatre. The places, units, people and operations in the game are fictional. The ops room and the job are drawn from the designer's own service as an operations officer.
Who is making it?
Two people at Warfighter Studio, the games studio of Warfighter Digital Ltd, a UK company. Tom (Maz) designs the game and builds its engine; he served for over a decade in the British Army, regular and reserve, including as an operations officer. Ryan (Razak) builds the world and the art; he co-founded Mercury Arts and worked on the relaunch of Post Scriptum.
How realistic is it?
The room, its procedure and its pressure are drawn from the designer's own service, and the drills and reports follow how they were taught. Where strict realism would make the game worse to play, the game comes first. Every soldier is simulated, with water, ammunition and fatigue, but you never see a number: you hear about it, as an ops officer did.
Do I need a microphone?
No. You can speak your orders into the handset if you want to, but voice is optional and every order has a button.
Is it connected to the Ministry of Defence or the British Army?
No. Contact: Wait Out is an independent game. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Ministry of Defence or the British Army.
How can I follow it, or play a test build?
Join the mailing list on the home page and keep playtest invitations ticked: we will write when there is a build for people outside the team. Until then, the devlog has every playtest video, the podcast Making Contact tells the build in the open every fortnight, and the Discord is where to talk to us.
Is there a store page or a wishlist?
Not yet. When there is, it will be linked from this site.