Mag-log in bilang miyembro
Nakipag-usap kami kay Dave Petry tungkol sa lahat ng ginawa para gawing Total War: Warhammer 40,000 Creative Assembly's pinaka-ambisyosong titulo hanggang ngayon.
"Hello everyone, I'm Alex, I'm here at Gamescom. I've been checking out, if you can tell by the background, Total War Warhammer 40,000. I'm here with David, Dave, whatever you prefer. I've just had an hour in the game, I was telling you I got to the point where I had to get tapped on the shoulder and I turned around and it was like, everyone's gone, the lights are about to be switched off. Yeah. But it's so immersive and so investment and I think a lot of that, especially as someone who comes from Total War, Warhammer in general, comes from this new engine. Could you talk a little bit about that, what it brings, the level of detail that's provided in that? Yeah, I mean, lots. There's so much to go into. So I mean, so the campaign, underlying of the campaign itself has basically been rebuilt to be able to handle Context."
"Context Context, Context, Context, Context, Context, Context, Context, Context, Context, Context Detail That's something that I wanted to talk about as well."
"Something that you touched on there was the scale of the universe. This is going to be something that's built up and built up and built up. But how did you go about finding that pinpoint? I mean, Armageddon's a pretty good start, but finding that like pinpoint of what are the factions we're going to bring? Who are we going to include?
And how are we going to make it feel like tabletop in some ways? Yeah, I see what you're saying. Oh, there's loads of stuff to latch on to there. So so I'll start I'll start with the tabletop because I think that's a really good one to dive into. So we We aren't necessarily lifting and making a tabletop experience. We're trying to represent the lore and the universe, if that makes sense. And of course, that means that there's going to be loads of ties to names and familiarities within the tabletop. And of course, it's a huge source of inspiration for so much stuff. It's kind of like the beating heart of Warhammer 40,000. Context I can't remember, if I'm honest. And I want to talk about the campaign. Do you want to?
I can't remember anything. No, let's talk campaign for a minute because I think that's something that's really interesting as well when I was looking at that is that the way that you've changed a lot of things quite subtly will initially maybe feel unfamiliar, I think, as someone who's played Tuttle before. Like I didn't just get to go, okay, I'm going to build my, you know, my wheat farms especially because it's not Context Context Context Context, Context, Context, Context, Context Context, Context, Context, Context, Context, Context, Context, Context, Can I say something? I've remembered the thing. It was bringing the galaxy into that small scope of, or sorry, the starting scope, I should say, of where it's going to grow out from and hand-picking that from the game. The most difficult thing about all of this is that there truly is no right answer to the factions that you pick, right? Because there are so many pros and cons to all of them. Where we went with this is that we wanted to make sure we captured the really core science-fantasy starting point, right? And some of them, it's like you have to ask the question, could we do this without them being there right away? And the answer is no. So, you know, the Orcs, Astromelotar and Space Marines, they absolutely got to be there. Aldari Context As someone who collects Dark Angels, Eldar and Orcs, I can just say, I think you've got them all, you know. Awesome. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, actually, I'll put it out there because people always, like, talk about Chaos, because Chaos is present all the time, right? Like, it's always something, and Chaos is going to be present in a form within the game, right? You know, and so, and they're not going to be absent. And they, yeah, we'll be seeing them soon. That's interesting because it was on to my next point about narrative and it's something that I think took orders really well in allowing you to have something that drives you forward to complete a campaign and get having that sort of final story, the moment that everyone works towards, but it also allows you to really build up your own meta narrative. This is, I think, bigger than ever with the customization options and things like that. What's the process behind giving players that ownership of their own story within the battles as well as the campaign? Yeah, I mean, so, oh wow. So, I mean, we felt like you kind of can't approach this universe without being able to put your stamp on it in some form, right? You know, again, it was coming from someone who's, you know, played the tabletop since they were wee, you know, like, it's... Making and customizing and adjusting and fiddling, that's always been part of what the heart of the experience is. So being able to pick up a known faction and play as them, absolutely, absolutely that is an important thing. Do you want to make your own chapter? Absolutely, you can do that. Make your emblem, give them a cool name, give them a fun name if you want to."
"like, you know, like within reason. So, you know, make it make a clan. You know, it's we felt like it just absolutely had to be there to make it feel unique and to be able to let you sort of, you know, insert your own story into into this universe. And of course, you know, we're going to start with the with the Armageddon campaign theater, which is going to be, you know, a big a big theater of multiple campaigns."
"We're going to fight across multiple solar systems, ultimately culminating in Armageddon itself. But we wanted to be able to, you know, do this with different campaign theatres and allow you to, you know, take your faction, your customised gang, or, you know, follow a known faction through, like, multiple stories across all of these. And if you want to connect these together as part of your sort of headcanon that they were there and there, like, that's all part of it, right? Like, that meta is all part of it. So, yeah, getting to take them on multiple adventures and, you know, yeah, that's all part of the fun, right? So, yeah. Is that something that you learn with lessons from the past campaigns within Total War Warhammer?
Because I understand they're both called Warhammer, but they're so different that I imagine it's quite difficult to take one campaign's philosophy and apply it to the other one of the new sci-fi setup. I mean there's, so I have to get, like he says candidly and then Ciarán goes, ah, it's like, so obviously I'm the battle guy, so I don't want to misspeak at all, but like the There's it's been it's been a big sort of a change to work with the new tech and then to make sure that we are working on, you know, this like a connected sort of planet to planet gameplay. So it is it is a very different sort of core feeling. But what we did want to make sure is that that that heart of Total War is is still there. Right. Ultimately, you might be bringing your fleet, which is a really important thing, having your fleet present on your, you know, nearby at hand to be able to support you in battles and throughout your campaigns. But also you are going to be landing troops on the ground and working across planetary surfaces. And frankly, once you're on a planet and you're fighting your way across, you know, the regions within that planet, it's going to feel, you know, quite familiar, frankly. So, yeah, although like the core philosophy hasn't necessarily had to change so much as like the fitting of it, you know, like to make it fit and the dressing of it has to make it fit. We didn't want to lose like the core, you know, like ultimately we are. Battle-wise then, something that I think is a real great fix as well as something that creates loads of cinematic moments is strategic reserves. And I was wondering if you could talk about how they came about. Obviously they're in the tabletop as something that people can bring in, but I think the way they work in the game is a lot different. for just a very niche tabletop hack for you. You can't just drop units on people's heads in the tabletop, but you can in this game, which is loads of fun. So, yeah, so we wanted to make sure that, yeah, you you can have fun and that there's there's appropriate sort of risk rewards doing that. Because, yeah, OK, we thought, do we want to ban you from dropping a drop pod on someone's head? And the answer is like, no, because it's because it's awesome. But, you know, do you want to do that in a spot where then your intercessors might be in a real hot spot or bother? Context Context But a well-timed drop pod to the head is an excellent way to get an enemy to die and or run away. So doing it at the right time is super. But I guess speaking more broadly about strategic reserves, it's all very importantly linked to your campaign situation, right? So like where your forces are, who's in the neighboring regions, who's up on your fleet. They're all playing a part in who can get involved in the battle, right? Context Context I think it's something that, like, it fixes a lot of the reinforcement cheese that I would use and exploit in Total War Warhammer when I was playing, because I tried to... I brought in one tank to start the campaign battle, I think, just to sort of, like, see where's the reinforcements going to go and if I can just sort of, like, flank everyone from the back, and I couldn't, and I had to sort of make a, you know, a win out of an absolute mess to start with. So do you think it sort of fixes that I guess in a way and are you looking at things that people do as maybe like a bit cheesy and how do you tone that without I guess... Context if it could happen, should you be able to do it, right? And this is where Total War is so fun because I think like, you know, like sometimes things can end up being cheesable, but like that's almost like part of like how if we're doing it right and we're authentically representing things, like how it can end up being right. So yeah, there's kind of two questions to answer there. But whenever we look at a problem like that, yeah, we will take into account like, was it cheese? And did we think that that was like bad cheese? There's sometimes there's good cheese, you know, like there's delicious cheese out there. Was it something that was degenerative and was causing players to actually not have fun? Or was it actually quite fun? And then there is also, are we representing the way that this should feel and should operate? Obviously within all technical constraints and everything that we try and do. So yeah, it's like a two-pronged problem. Speaking about negotiating things and working collaboratively, you've not just worked with the community as Creative Assembly over this decade of Total War and Warhammer, you've been working with Games Workshop the whole time. How has that relationship developed over the past decade to the point where it feels like we're now culminating, even though it's the start of something new? Yeah, I know. I mean, you know, first of all, what a wonderful thing to, I guess, be trusted with, right?
Because this is a huge thing to get to work with. And yeah, I think we're really, really lucky to have spent so much time working with Games Workshop in the past, because that relationship and that ability to talk with each other and work our way through, you know, sort of like how do we get to the best represented thing in terms of like a fun game that also captures the lore in the right way. You can only really get that through having just like a really special relationship where you are able to talk frankly about how we want to try and manifest something and how that can fit and all of that. It's a really great relationship. They're fantastic people. They are so passionate. And it's great because I think there's a lot of There's a lot of Lawhammer out there, right? And I think there's a lot of different opinions about what Warhammer 40,000 is. But of course, the Games Workshop are the key holders to it, right? And being able to actually go to them like, OK, we want to try this. How do you feel about it? And they'll be like, Hank, that brushes against that a little bit. That doesn't quite work. But we've got this thing. And you'll be like, Dave, that's all I've got for you apart from one more question. When can people check out Total War Warhammer 40,000 and I believe they can check it out on consoles as well as PC."
"They can check it out on consoles as well as PC. But our closed beta is happening later this year. So please just go and sign up, get involved. And there will be more information on exactly when that comes out soon, but later this year. So yeah, go press the button or scan the thing or whatever it is that gets you to the link. However you do it. I'm sure it's... That would be great. Well, thanks. It'll be on my face."
