Warhammer: Mark of Chaos (gamespot)
Real-time strategy games have come a long way since the early days of simply gathering resources, building up a base, and then commissioning an army as quickly as possible to flatten your enemies. For starters, tabletop game heavyweight Games Workshop has gotten its Warhammer properties involved--such as with the new strategy game Mark of Chaos, which lets you fight massive battles in the Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play setting. The development team shares its final thoughts on the game's development.
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Mark of Finality
By Warhammer: Mark of Chaos Development Team
We've come a long way since we first conceived of a Warhammer real-time strategy game a little more than two years ago. The team is really happy with the way the game turned out, and we at Namco Bandai are too. Working with a new team on the other side of the world was undoubtedly a challenge, but the excitement we all felt in watching the game unfold over the last two years made it go by quickly.
When we first approached the folks at Black Hole in 2004, we asked them to make us a quick test map to get a feel for how the units would look running around the environment. Our original model, a goblin, was quickly put into a squadron and some basic running and walking animations were put into place. It was less than a month before the Black Hole team put together a pretty cool environment with hills and grass and our little goblins scampering around. We showed this early concept off to some press back at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 2005 and received a very positive response to the look and feel of the game.
From this, we had begun to draw up how we imagined the final game would behave and set out to scope the design for the campaign and for the multiplayer aspects of the experience. Our design for the game had a lot of different genres in mind. We liked the idea of adding some role-playing and adventure aspects to the game, but we all agreed it was to be an RTS at its core. The campaign took form when we met with Games Workshop to discuss the title. By sitting down with those designers and writers, we crafted a story that focused on the Empire and Chaos and quickly decided that two campaigns were needed to tell two different sides of the story. On the forums, we started to see people splitting into camps of either Chaos or Empire supporters--some of this happened on the dev team, too. This division stretched out to the point that we decided to make two boxes for the game, one for Empire and one for Chaos.
So, we all dusted off our Warhammer armies and even made some new ones to refamiliarize ourselves with the aspects that made the tabletop game so great. We knew that we didn't want to re-create the tabletop game outright, but we wanted to bring over the look and feel of the universe, as well as some of the balancing and nuances that make the universe so appealing.
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On the multiplayer side, we had a lot of voices contributing. At Namco Bandai, and at Black Hole, we have many RTS veterans, and we had a lot of ideas about how to best use the game we had in mind to create a great multiplayer community. From this, we created the hosting options, clan support, and ladder rankings that you see today. Balancing the multiplayer by using the points system from Games Workshop gave us unprecedented freedom to allow for customization of armies and units in a multiplayer environment. We added resource maps and capture-and-hold siege maps to appeal to those players who want more than just battling. We pretty much let players set up their battles any way they want to, and we think they'll really indulge themselves with our custom map editor.
The single-player campaign changed direction a lot over the course of development. Early on, we tinkered with the notion of a cooperative campaign but decided that the map editor would allow players to craft some of this themselves--and that we'd rather focus on making a good single-player experience for both Empire and Chaos. We weren't sure if a wide-open campaign was going to work early on, and we had a few prototypes to try this out. We found that the story fell apart when we let players wander all over the map, so we compromised on a mostly linear campaign with optional missions in each chapter to allow for some variety. We added the "taint" feature to the map toward the end, since it just looks cool to see the map get corrupted as Chaos progresses (and cleaned up as the Empire dominates).
Custom Armies of Rat-Men!
We had a really rough start to our multiplayer beta test over the summer. Routers and firewalls were preventing many of our beta testers from playing, not to mention creating a lot of lag for others. The Black Hole team rallied and resolved these issues before the beta ended last month, but we think it left a bad taste in the mouth for the poor souls who got frustrated by this. On the upside, the beta did let us get the networking side of the game tuned up, and the much-needed balancing feedback from the beta testers was enormously helpful. It's better to find this stuff in a beta than in the final product, after all.
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Siege battling in multiplayer is one of the most rewarding experiences we've had in RTS gaming. Siege maps usually take a bit longer to complete, and there are two different types. Some require attackers to take and hold certain points around the castle to claim victory, while others just require players to destroy the enemy. The use of siege towers, battering rams, cannons, and flying units sallying forth from the gates make this one of the best experiences to be had in Warhammer: Mark of Chaos. The first time we saw a cannon blast take down a wall and our troops falling to their demise amidst the rubble sold us on this aspect of the game.
The game has a couple of features that really set it apart. It does a great job of combining elements from both real-time strategy and real-time tactics gameplay. Players control hundreds of units at a time, but with the ease and function of smaller squad-based games. The game also lets you use tactics like flanking and charges, along with changing formation, and even using battlefield psychology, since the game models morale and stamina for your troops. We also feel that other elements, like the way hero units can gain levels and skills in talent trees, and can also access magical powers and items, really help bring out the RTS and RPG portions of the game.
Warhammer: Mark of Chaos also offers an unprecedented level of customization. Every unit can gain levels and can be equipped with better armor and weaponry. Standard bearers, musicians, and champions can be added to regiments, which increasing each regiment's power. Heroes can equip magical items that can easily turn the tide of battle. Every army can be painted custom color schemes, for every unit, so that players can bring a consistent-looking army to the battlefield. Each regiment within the army can be modified, and each individual unit within the regiment can be given a different look.
The game takes place in the Warhammer backdrop, which is an incredibly dark and violent place. Fans can expect to see brave champions lead armies into battle against magical creatures and massive war machines. We let you play as the setting's distinct races: the magical high elves; the vile, ratlike skaven; the brutal Chaos hordes; and the noble Empire. Mercenary units such as the menacing orc and goblin army, stubborn dwarfs, and even the drunken giant can be hired, and each of these armies, and their background and lore, are featured on the campaign map.
We think players will really get into the storyline of the campaign, which was written by Gavin Thorpe, one of Games Workshop's lead designers. On the Empire/high elves side, you play the role of Stefan von Kessel, a captain in the army of Ostermark trying to overcome the dark past of his family, which has been incriminated as Chaos followers. On the Chaos/skaven side, you play as Thorgar, an aspiring champion rising through the ranks to kill all who stand in his way of becoming a daemon prince. Both of these campaigns intersect each other, and players have the opportunity to really play out both sides to a great extent.
After playing through both campaigns, we think players will dive into the army creator and jump online for some fierce multiplayer action. We know that some players will likely spend a lot of time in the army creator customizing their army's color and modifying their units. Depending on their play style, players may specialize their armies in a particular fashion. Some players will create really strong heroes with great armor and weapons, with many points in the duel skill tree to make them hero killers. Other players may add only a few heroes with points in the command tree, along with a much larger force aimed at overwhelming their opponents with sheer size and force. And other players may strike a balance with moderately strong heroes and a small but fully upgraded army.
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We also think that players will make lots of army templates based on specific maps. With siege maps, attacking players will likely bring artillery, siege towers, and battering rams into play. Their regiments should be equipped with ladders to scale walls and explosives to blast through walls. Defending players should pick up ranged units to line the top of their walls to prevent ladder carriers making their way inside.
On reinforcement maps, where capture points are crucial for victory, players should bring fast cavalry to take the capture points quickly. Scout units that can stealth also help players keep an eye out on the battlefield without the enemy noticing. For expert players, handicap two-versus-one and three-versus-one modes will be available. These modes will let players create massive forces with up to 30,000 army points to fight against multiple players with smaller armies of about 10,000 to 15,000 points apiece.
And we're not done yet! We plan to provide community support and ongoing updates for the game for some time. You can expect to see some nice new features added, more balancing passes, and more maps made available. And there are even more things to come from the Warhammer: Mark of Chaos team in the near future. Enjoy the "Chaos!"
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