Warhammer 40K: Space Marine Interview

20 Apr 2011 at 18:00:00 by John Robertson

Developed by Relic, the studio responsible for the excellent Dawn of War series, and packing the Warhammer 40k license, expectation is justifiably high for Space Marine.

We recently sat down with Creative Manager Daniel McGuffey to talk Gears of War comparisions, the success of violence in videogames and the difficulty in pleasing the both the knowledgeable Warhammer fan as well as those experiencing the universe for the first time.

IncGamers: What’s your grand vision for Space Marine? What do you want to achieve?

Daniel McGuffey: Our broad goals are to introduce Space Marine and the Warhammer 40k universe to two diverse audiences. Firstly, we want to make sure that newcomers to the universe can pick up the control pad and immediately have fun without having prior knowledge of the universe. Secondly, we want to make sure that long-time fans looking to experience something new from the 40k universe will be able to get all of the fan-service and attention to detail that they’re probably expecting.

IG: How difficult is it to go about pleasing both of those audiences?

DM: It’s really not that much of a challenge to us because, firstly, it’s cool to be a Space Marine. Even just looking at them, if you’re not aware of the universe at all, Space Marine’s have very bold appearance and it’s a very cool persona and it makes people want to identify with them.

As for appealing to the hardcore fan, everything’s already there for them. We worked really closing with Games Workshop to make sure everything has their approval, everything is there the way they know it, the way they expect it and the way they want to experience it.  

Certain decals and vehicles that adorn the landscapes, those are things that fans are going to recognise as a Valkyrie or a Kill-Cruiser but, newcomers won’t need an explanation for them being there because they’re just bad-ass and fundamentally awesome to look at.

IG: Games Workshop has been creating this stuff for 25 years. How do go about deciding where and when in that expansion universe you want to set your story?

DM: The team, the writers and everybody involved is very up-to-date with the lore. As Warhammer 40k has evolved, certain units and weapons have been decommissioned or abandoned and not used anymore. So, we’re not backpedalling and using anything that Games Workshop no longer endorses. Everything is based off of current ‘rules’ and current lore. The narrative we’ve come up with is completely unique and has been created specifically for this game, as has the character of Captain Titus.

IG: We know that the game's primarily enemies are the Orks and the Chaos. How did you come to settle of those two races? Do any other races make an appearance?

DM: I can’t comment on whether any other races are included.

In terms of why Orks and why Chaos… when we established our core mechanics, the combination of ranged and melee attacks, we wanted to be able to make sure we concentrated on forward-momentum – it’s all about charging forward and being able to address enemies with remarkable ability for crowd control. We wanted you to be flanked from all sides and still not feel overwhelmed, still make sure you feel like you’re in control at all times. The perfect enemy to facilitate that experience is the Orks, because of their mob like nature.

Chaos is a much more menacing threat in terms of how durable they are and their employment of horrendous tactics. It’s a great dichotomy that gives us a lot of room for designing levels and enemy encounters because the two sides function so radically differently.

If we went for Orks and Tryanids, for example, they’d be too similar and the players would just be constantly dealing with swarms of ‘fodder’ enemies. We wanted fodder and chaotic as well as something much more direct and menacing.

IG: Considering that almost all of Relic's games are firmly rooted in the RTS genre, has Space Marine (being a third-person action game) been particularly difficult to build?

DM: The good thing about the company’s background is that the team have a wealth of experience working with the Warhammer 40k license – their respect for the lore and the universe is unparalleled. In order to deliver the experience we’re looking for [with Space Marine], the team has recruited talent that has worked on God of War and even Gears of War. This is now a team that knows how to deliver a fantastic action experience and has a fantastic background in Warhammer 40k games.

There were some initial hurdles with technology, and that’s why the game has taken a while. Getting the engine to where we wanted it to be has taken time, but we’ve overcome some big hurdles and the game now looks fantastic. We borrowed some technology from Vigil Games along the way, so there is some underlying structure borrowed from Darksiders.

IG: The public’s perception of Space Marine seems to be that it’s very similar to Gears of War – resulting in the Gears of Warhammer tag. Considering that perception, why would someone choose Space Marine over Gears? Especially when you consider that Gears is already a very well established franchise with a large fanbase.

DM: Because it’s a different experience. It does get that comparison drawn, but the Space Marine itself is the template from which several other games been inspired. Being around for 25-plus years, Warhammer 40k's Space Marines have been emulated frequently but this is the first game that we feel really encapsulates the feeling of being a Space Marine – rather than feeling like a Space Marine-inspired protagonist.

I think once people really understand what it means to be a Space Marine, and what that feels like and how empowering it is to command a battlefield as one of these guys, and they understand that it’s a game about momentum and movement and huge set-pieces--. That’s something that needs to be messaged more and more, but we’ll get there.

IG: Your ‘catchphrase’ for Space Marine is ‘visible violent death’. Why does death and violence translate so well to gameplay?

DM: When you attack something, or shot something, there’s something really positive about seeing such an immediate response. Life is about persuing goals without any immediate indication of whether or not you’re achieving or failing. When you’re attacking, pulling a trigger or experiencing action in a game you’re getting immediate feedback that you’ve vanquished your foe or completed your objective – whether it involves violence or not.

Violence to me is just a great feedback loop that quickly signifies whether or not you’ve been successful. In Space Marine, that’s exactly what it does – it indicates success and a feeling of unstoppable power. It’s rewarding because it indicates that what the player is doing is having an impact in the world and that their presence is being felt.

IG: Is there any kind of multiplayer element to Space Marine?

DM: Absolutely. We’re not talking about it but, we do have multiplayer and we do have co-op. Right now we want people focusing on the combat and how the core mechanics of the game work. We will be talking about multiplayer very soon.

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