Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War is a revolutionary science fiction real-time strategy (RTS) game set in the violent, post-apocalyptic universe of the 41st Millennium. Utilizing the exceptional game design skills of Relic Entertainment, Dawn of War provides an immersive entertainment experience of epic proportions. Command hardened troops, deadly vehicles and high tech weaponry with one goal in mind, the complete extermination of the opposition.

Whether you lead Humanity's finest - the Space Marines, the diabolic and villainous traitors of man - the Chaos Space Marines, the brutal and savage beasts - the Orks, or the psychic and technologically advanced alien warriors - the Eldar, you control the action and the fate of your race!

With Relic's revolutionary 3D engine and zoom in features, each game is certain to provide awe-inspiring, visceral frontline combat never before depicted in an RTS.

Features:

• Visceral cinematic melee and ranged combat
• Four Unique Races
• Cutting Edge 3D Engine
• Story Driven Single Player Campaign
• New Multiplayer Features
  • Customizable squad colors, banners, badges, insignia and names
  • Observation mode
  • Ability to ally with other players
• Innovative Resource Model
• Pioneering Tactical Gameplay
• High Resolution Support

GCM:	Thank you for your time. Would you care to get us rolling by introducing both yourself and the team at Relic behind Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War?
Jay Wilson:	Hi, my name is Jay Wilson, and I’m the Lead Designer on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War at Relic Entertainment. Dawn of War is the latest RTS game Relic is making, and the team is made up of veteran members of Relic from several of our previous projects including Homeworld, Homeworld 2, and Impossible Creatures.

GCM:

For those unfamiliar with its fiction, please introduce us to the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Jay Wilson:

It’s the 41st Millennium, and there is only war. That’s the Warhammer 40,000 tagline and it’s a good description. 40,000 years in the future, mankind has spread itself from one side of the galaxy to the other. But unlike our hopes for a positive future we have discovered that the universe is a harsh and violent place, filled with horrific creatures would happily destroy humanity, body and soul. It is a universe where mythical super-humans fight in the trenches alongside normal men, against demonic, aliens, and the worst of all, humans who have allowed themselves to be tainted by their own corrupt nature. It’s not pretty, but it’s a great place if you like a lot of fighting.

GCM:

Please tell us a bit about the story driving Warhammer.

Jay Wilson:

The player takes control of a company of genetically modified super-humans known as Space Marines. Unlike most military operations Space Marines are not beholden to anyone but the head of their Chapter (the name for a Space Marine organization), and generally companies operate independently, fighting threats to humanity as they see fit. The player faces a planet overrun with an invading force: Orks, a brutally savage race that lives for war. As they join in the desperate struggle to protect the population and resources of the planet they quickly find that there is much more at play when they encounter the mysterious Eldar race, and the sinister forces of Chaos, humans turned to evil through their own corrupt nature. The story explores ideas of corruption, faith, doubt, and redemption, but twists them with the unique perspective of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, a place where destroying a life is preferable to seeing it fall forever to evil.

GCM:

How important has Warhammer 40,000’s plot been to the development team and how it will it unfold (CGI, in-game movies, etc.)?

Jay Wilson:

Our focus from the very beginning of the project has been on getting the Warhammer 40,000 universe right. Lots of games have been made in this universe, but we felt that very few have captured the true spirit of the universe. Our story was a big focus, as it was our opportunity to explore some of the core concepts of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Concepts like corruption, vigilance, and faith. We focused on writing a story that would be approachable to anyone, but familiar to those who already know the universe. We tell our story in the same way as other Relic games, with cut scenes that make exclusive use of our in-game engine. However, we have foregone our previous use of animatics (2D animated cut scenes used in Homeworld and Impossible Creatures) in place of a more technical looking briefing screen that we feel fits the tone of the universe better. We also have a surprise in the works for our opening intro, but I’m only allowed to tease people about that right now, not actually say what it is. :)

GCM:

Although obviously an RTS, how would you define Dawn of War’s gameplay on a more individual level?

Jay Wilson:

Dawn of War is a snapshot of a small but critical section of the front line of a great war. We wanted to bring to life the look and feel of a brutally violent engagement in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. The player takes control of a small group of elite warriors, maintains their support infrastructure, and then out-maneuvers, out-tactics, and plain out-fights their enemy for strategic control of their territory.

GCM:

Please give us a breakdown of the unit types that players will have control over.

Jay Wilson:

Dawn of War features 4 unique races: the super-human Space Marines, savage and war-like Orks, fast and mysterious Eldar, and the daemonic and corrupt forces of Chaos. Each race has around a dozen units you can control. The Space Marines focus on elite, power-armored infantry, a host of tanks and heavy weaponry, and specialty units like the two-legged mechanical dreadnought, a behemoth driven by the soul of a heroic Space Marine too grievously injured to live outside of the Dreadnought’s armored sarcophagus. The Orks are a brutal force that live for the excitement of fighting up close and personal with their enemies. Their entire culture is based on war, and their technology is crude, but efficient. They focus on units with strong close combat abilities, like basic Orks who are brutish, axe-wielding creatures. They also make extensive use of fast-moving vehicles that can deliver an enormous amount of punishment on anyone who gets in their way. Whoever gets to the fight first wins as far as Orks are concerned, so they even have Orks who strap rockets on to their backs and bound over the terrain to get into combat faster with enemy units. The Orks believe bigger is better, so they also have the largest unit in the game, the intimidating Squiggoth, a giant lizard-elephant creature that tramples everything in his way. The Eldar rely on speed, firepower, and their enormous psychic powers to win fights. Their infantry are highly specialized towards specific tasks, like the close combat oriented howling banshees. The Warp Spider infantry utilize jump packs that allow them to teleport constantly around the battlefield, popping up where they are most needed. All races have a commander unit, a leader of the army that is more powerful than the rest, and the Eldar’s Farseer commander can literally level armies with the power of her psychic gifts. Chaos, while using some similar units to Space Marines, relies heavily on massed infantry to overwhelm their enemy, like cultists, and specialized killing machines, like the daemonically disfigured Possessed. Their Obliterator infantry are hulking giants, 10-12 feet tall and able to form a weapon to fight almost any threat. Chaos also have the most powerful unit in the game, the Bloodthirster Greater Daemon, a horrific 30-foot daemon that requires the sacrifice of a commander or leader unit to create, and can rip through entire armies single-handed.

GCM:

In terms of recourse management and base building, Warhammer 40,000 falls somewhere between the traditional (Age of Empires) and the minimalistic (Ground Control). Please give a feel for how this system will work and how it was decided to take this route.

Jay Wilson:

Our main goal with our resource system was to maintain the pacing and economic strategy of a resource-based RTS, while losing the micro-managing and peon-killing exploitation that exists in most resource-based RTS’s. To accomplish this we’ve gotten rid of harvester units: weak wood-choppers or collectors whom your entire economy is relied upon. In the Warhammer 40,000 universe the warriors are indispensable, the hired help is expendable, not the other way around. Instead resources are acquired by using your infantry to capture strategic points on the map. The more points you have, the more of the map you control, and the more resources you acquire, allowing you to expand your base facilities and requisition more troops. This system creates a non-centralized economy that cannot be taken out in one quick blow by a sneaky opponent, and encourages players to fight each other, rather than sidestep military and exploit a weak, centralized economy created by the typical peon/harvester system.

GCM:

What can players expect in terms of unit and camera control?

Jay Wilson:

Like every RTS that Relic has done to this point players will have full control over their camera, and will be able to freely zoom, rotate, and declinate their camera so they can view the battlefield from any viewpoint. We have all the advanced UI and control features players would expect from a current RTS, and also lots of new features, like our Overwatch system that allows players to set their squads or structures to auto-produce a particular upgrade or reinforcement.

GCM:

Please give us an idea of what multiplayer options will be available to the player.

Jay Wilson:

Players will be able to play multiplayer games of up to 8 players at once. Options include all the normal things you’d expect in an RTS, like teamplay, cooperative against AI’s, and lots of settings to tweak how you play the game (starting resources, game speed, etc.). Players can play over Lan or connect online via our in-game matchmaking service. We’ve also focused heavily on creating a game that has multiple win conditions and a focus on enabling teamplay. We have over a half dozen win conditions from commander assassination to economic victory. Two win conditions that we’ve focused on (and are on by default) are Control Area and Take and Hold, and allow players to win by holding critical locations or controlling a majority of the map for a defined period of time. This allows players to put the pressure on a turtling opponent and win through a more strategic method than just wiping out the enemy. On the teamplay side we’ve got an easy system that automates the creation of teams, and puts teammates together in the map. We also have a new feature called resource sharing that causes all your resourcing to be sub-divided amongst all your teammates. This option makes you more reliant on your teammates, but less vulnerable to having your resource production culled by the enemy.

GCM:

What can you tell us about the engine driving Dawn of War’s graphics and audio?

Jay Wilson:

Dawn of War uses a re-vamped version of the Impossible Creatures engine. We’ve made some significant changes that allow us to have much higher detail models, higher detail terrain, and a new shadow system. We also changed the LOD system (which handles the reduction of polygons in models from a distance to optimize performance) so that instead of being a dynamic system like the one used in Impossible Creatures it uses set LOD levels, which gives us a higher level of control over the final look of each model.

GCM:

What were your priorities in terms of what visual aspects of Warhammer 40,000’s graphics would receive the most attention?

Jay Wilson:

The real stars of the Warhammer 40,000 universe are the units, from Space Marine infantry, to the towering walking Wraithlord. The universe is filled with giant tanks bristling with turrets, 30-foot demons, elite warriors, and brutish monsters. The focus of Dawn of War was bringing these elements to life. We did work on the engine so it could handle more units, more FX, and render those units and FX at a higher detail. We put an enormous amount of time on unit animations to allow units to look like they are really engaging one another.

GCM:	Thank you again for your time. Would you care to close up this Q&A with any last impressions for our readers?
Jay Wilson:	With Dawn of War our main goal has been to bring to life the brutal front line combat of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and take the first step towards evolving RTS’s to a more dynamic and exciting portrayal of battle.

---