Warhammer 40K: Space Marine footage leaked

Company
THQ Studio Australia

The Warhammer game that THQ Studio Australia are working on now has a name and in-game footage to go along with it. It's called Warhammer 40K: Space Marine, and Gametrailers have some early in development build footage of it with a commentator walking through some aspects of the game. Warhammer fans are gonnna freak because it looks pretty awesome!

Apparently the demonstration wasn't meant for the public, but Gametrailers managed to make a mirror of it before the original source went down, so check it out while you can.

Ok, that didn't last long. There's a copy on youtube, however.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 05/09/08 - 8:42 PM Permalink

I'm curious about the constant gunfire from people in the distance that you can't avoid. Are you meant to stand there and take the damage, and risk being killed without any hope? Or will there be cover in a more Gears kinda way?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 06/09/08 - 8:24 AM Permalink

The narrator said that Melee is the games focus, thus the goal is to avoide ranged fire and 'get in close' to enjoy the core gameplay.

The Designers have added 'bullet trails' as an extra visual cue, and the bad guys miss sometimes too, which is another good design decision.

I really like that giant spaceship outside the window flying past and making the camera shake, a good sign of a Level Designer who understands his art.

Marty

Submitted by Lantree on Sat, 06/09/08 - 9:23 AM Permalink

Not just camera shake, but you see particles fly throughout the room when the shaking occurs so it shows more environmental "shaking"

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 06/09/08 - 10:00 AM Permalink

Camera shake and environmental effects from a spaceship are a sign of a good level designer? REALLY?

Oh i really like the layout of combat room-> empty hallway -> combat room -> empty hallway, signs of a good programming team!

On a more serious note, atmosphere and lighting look great.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 06/09/08 - 2:48 PM Permalink

Intimate brutality?

Cinemaction?

Ballet of death?

OMG!

LAME

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 06/09/08 - 5:09 PM Permalink

..it is a good sign of a Level Designer. You just learned something.

Myself and 'Lantree' don't have the time to explain.

Trust us :)

Compelling, fun and rewarding moment to moment gameplay encounters - mixed in with scripted sequences or 'events'. Gives the action a rythm, its like a 'peak' in a piece of dramatic music, before dipping again.

Players really enjoy 'wow, cool!' moments in games. Breaks things up. Adds spice. Unpredictablity. Surprise. Visual interest. Whatever you want to call it...

Marty

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 08/09/08 - 1:53 PM Permalink

It depends on how you want to organize the game dev team, I guess, but I wouldn't call camera shake and particles part of Level Design. Or at least not a central part. Level Design is all about the game play, the actions the player does and what he interacts with. In this game that means the layout and the enemies. Camera shake and pretty particles are fluff, and are better left to the Art team. Depending on how the team is organized it could be done by a Level Artist, a specialized FX artist or maybe even a programmer. Or it could be the Level Designer doing it. But it really shouldn't be, since it's not intregral to the game play.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 06/09/08 - 5:16 PM Permalink

Just buzzwords to get people talking. Arouses interest. Purely a media thing.

Its already working :)

Its a clever games industry strategy, the buzzwords dont particualarly mean anything other than being the 'label' that the Designer has put on a particular feature.

These kinds of things are usually internal 'Intimiate brutality' etc. Nicknamed by the team to pump up morale, solidy a 'vision'

Gamers are always looking for something new and fresh, a buzzword gets people talking about a particular feature, or game 'hook'

Marty

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 06/09/08 - 5:57 PM Permalink

"iPod" is a buzzword. "Cinemaction" is a cheap, cringe worthy and corny label for a non-interactive animation and is far from something that's "new and fresh".

Didn't hear you defending "Ballet of Death" :)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 08/09/08 - 11:23 AM Permalink

We haven't been around that long, remember? Compare us with hollywood, or novels. So yes you will cringe. We're a young industry.

I said gamers are always 'looking' for something new and fresh, i didn't say that this game provided that.

I wasn't defending anything. I was providing an explanation as to what buzzwords are and how they work.

Marty

Submitted by tojo on Sun, 07/09/08 - 1:23 AM Permalink

i dont mind the buzzwords... im easily sold like that...

i think the game is looking great... better than what i was actually expecting....

only crit is that the enemy are kinda stading around a bit too much at the moment, just waiting for you to go kill them... maybe this is something that will be sorted out, or maybe its something you knda dont really notice whilst playing the game..

either way.. the game is looking really appealing..

Submitted by Bunny on Sun, 07/09/08 - 7:04 PM Permalink

...cinemaction is a cringeworthy PR buzzword but really, criticising this kind of stuff in an internal pre-alpha vid is silly. They're selling the concept to their team, this wasn't intended for anyone else. And 'ballet of death' is a common figure of speech, cheesy or no. For the state it's at it is pretty impressive. About damn time someone made a space marine game.

Submitted by Neffy on Mon, 08/09/08 - 3:39 PM Permalink

Looks really nice guys =D I wish you could play as a Sister of battle lol but I'm silly like that !