RPS: So, you haven’t released a great deal of information on the game yet. Is this going to be a traditional MMORPG?

Tim Campbell: We look at it like, there’s two layers to an MMO. There’s the upper layer, which is progression, merchants, getting abilities and all that kind of stuff, and we have some twists and turns in there but for the most part it’ll be quite similar to the other MMOs out there.

Where we want to innovate is in the basic, moment-to-moment gameplay. The first thing we realised is that if you try to do traditional MMO combat with guns, it doesn’t work. You have like, a tank with a gun? It doesn’t make sense. And because the IP is really visceral and powerful, we wanted to amp the action up. So, it’s much more action-based. But we don’t want to talk about that just yet.

What I will say is that walking through these halls, you can spot an MMO from forty feet away. There’s something about ‘em. They’ve got a million buttons, and you target enemies and attack them, and the whole thing is so easily identifiable. But because of our presentation and interface, if you walked by our game on the show floor, you wouldn’t think it was an MMO. At that level, it doesn’t play like an MMO.

RPS: There’s a lot of vehicular combat in the trailers you’ve released. Can you talk about that?

TC: That’s definitely one of the pillars of our game, in addition to action combat. Vehicles in MMOs are usually pretty poorly implemented. You can’t get out, there’s no real physics. But the vehicles in our game, you can jump in and out, they react to the environment. I mean it’s not like, super-hardcore physics, you can’t really crash the vehicles. I’d call it “part-physics”, if that makes sense. You can still ram other vehicles and stuff, but you can’t tip over.

RPS: How exactly are you using the 40K universe?

TC: It’s our goal to make players feel like they’re actually inside the 40K game world. The races and classes we’ve chosen are all really iconic. I mean, so far we’ve revealed Space Marines, but that trend’s going to continue. We’ll reveal all the high-level bullet points of the IP.

RPS: I feel like the 40K universe distinguishes itself with a degree of… not maturity, but violence and depression. Bleakness. It doesn’t seem to be on the same wavelength as most MMOs, which strive to be accessible to absolutely everybody.

TC: Personally, I feel there’s a difference between accessibility of gameplay and accessibility of content. I’ve played 40K for 25 years. It’s daunting at first to sit down with someone and show them the universe, but there are a lot of accessible, acceptable, identifiable themes in 40K.

A lot of sci-fi can be weird, with no points of reference. But 40K has loads of points of reference. You’ve seen it in pop culture all over the place- it’s fantasy, it’s sci-fi, it’s horror, but it’s not unidentifiable fantasy-sci-fi. The idea of a Space Marine isn’t weird. Fighting demons isn’t weird. You’ve seen it in a bunch of fantasy games. I think Games Workshop’s great at producing a ton of fantasy content that resonates really easily.

RPS: I suppose what I’m talking about is that most MMOs tend to market themselves at a younger audience than you’d expect from 40K.

TC: I think if you look at our last game, Darksiders, you’ll see that we didn’t “gimp” the setting there. It wasn’t ridiculously dark, but we didn’t shy away from those elements and that’s our style as a studio.

RPS: So, ranged combat’s what you’re using to differentiate Dark Millenium Online?

TC: Well, ranged combat, the universe, and a couple of other things we’ll be talking about at a later date before the end of the year. There’s a lot of things that fall out of ranged combat that make the game not play like a traditional MMO.

RPS: How do you feel about Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning?

TC: I played it, I enjoyed it. I don’t really like to talk about other people’s projects, but I think that did fall into the category of a more traditional MMO, and we don’t. You go on missions and you gain levels; we have all the trappings that make you feel attached to the game and the community, but what you’re doing- the thing with an MMO is that you never talk about what you did in the game. You might say that you got cool loot, or you killed this boss, but you never say- like, if you’d played Left 4 Dead, you’d be like “We were in the carnival, and a guy shot the car, and it was crazy, and one of the Smokers got one of our guys who got dragged off on his own!”

The physical acts you did. That’s what you’re talking about. And in an MMO, you say- “I pulled a mob and killed it”? Everybody does that in every MMO in every hallway. You just never talk about it.

RPS: So you’re shooting for something more instanced? More scripted?

TC: There’s still an open world. One of the things I can talk about is that we’ve carved out a little system in the universe where we set our game, and some of the planets are contested, some aren’t. Some are just outright battlefields. So there’s a lot of open, explorable space, but there’s also a lot that’s personalised and scripted.

RPS: Okay. And will the shooting be skill based? Do you aim with the mouse?

TC: Ah… I will say it’s more action oriented. One thing we wanted to make clear is that it’s not hardcore shooting. The weird analogy that I always give is that on one end of the melee combat spectrum you have WoW, and on the other end you have Devil May Cry. But there’s stuff in the middle, like Diablo. It’s not WoW, but it’s not Devil May Cry. Translate that to ranged combat and you can maybe start to see what we’re doing here.

RPS: Will we be able to play Inquisitors?

TC: I can’t answer that, but I will say that I love Inquisitors. I dunno.

RPS: Thanks for your time.

Source

Discuss this Interview

Awesome not just 1 planet (maybe even space combat)

...does 'iconic classes' include Guardsmen? Ah the suspense. I bet they don't do Guard, I bet they don't <bites nails in worry>.

However! This interview has allieved my worries I had. They do seem intent on doing something different, something that plays differently & something that sticks in your head. I...think this might be the first MMO I'll be looking forward to in a few years. I might even be able to stomach not being a Guardsman to play.

Guardsmen will be in DMO otherwise it would break the path to becoming a space marine. Some other things I have heard also includes that Commisars will have the ability to execute guardsmen.

The path of being a space marine would come from a scout, the imperial guard are for the people who can't be the super soldiers no?

Where did you hear that comisar tidbit

You dont just right away as a scout you have to prove yourself to even be recruited by a chapter.So once you prove yourself you receive an invitation from a chapter. I got the commisar tidbit from a friend who used to do some stuff for ign, but no promises since it has not been confirmed.

Some questions and things to note

1. Size. As far as we know, the Black Templars are a fleet-based chapter possessing significantly more marines, scouts and other assets than normal chapters, although the Chapter will rarely ever be one sizeable force, but many 'crusades' across the galaxy. This would be a logical choice for a game which at the minimum will have tens/hundreds of thousands and potentially, millions of people playing it.

2. Lore, Design and story. It's a ruthlessly religious and strict chapter which bars the use of Psyker and hunts the xenos tirelessly. One think to note is, if this game is going to be Order v Disorder, how are the Eldar going to be fighting along side them? In the lore, they would be slaughtered before any agreement was made. Plus the the BT have been one of the most 'popular' chapters in the sense that GW has always had a part of their heart held for them, just like the Space Wolves, Ultramahreenz, Blood Angels, Dark Angels and so forth. I remember the 3rd edition box set art had some nice Black Templar art on it. Also, how are Librarians going to be incorporated into the chapter? Unless Black Templars are not the only chapter choice. I wouldn't want it to clash with the lore and I doubt the guys at Vigil Games want it to either.

3. Pretty. Quite a simple marine choice for colouring and art. Black and White with the odd spec of Red. It's quite easy rather than more complex colour schemes. Bold, simple and stands out.

I find the whole Scout > Marine thing a little boring. I prefer the Space Wolves method which goes Human Initiate > Blood Claw > Grey Hunter > Long Fang whilst the Scouts are a lone wolves such of thing which prefer to operate by themselves and come from all three major groups.

BTs are both a good and bad choice for those reasons... however, we don't have all the info yet. So until such time we do know exactly what they've got planned as far as story and lore goes, we can't really condemn the se of the Black Templars as the SM chapter. We'll just have to wait and see.

And BTW... Lone Wolves are Space Wolves with no objective what so ever, aren't they? Their only mission is to avenge the death of their fallen squad members, which imo would be an awesome little mechanic in the game if the Space Wolves were the SM chapter.

The Imperial Faction only has a Black Templar Space Marine Class. None of the other 4 are Black Templar affiliated, this includes the Primaris Psker. Given how the Ordo Xenos Chamber Militant the Deathwatch has once consorted with Eldar to fight "a greater threat", the Black Templar would logically do the same.

One thing, I'm not sure if you're aware but in another interview not posted here on this site we have this:

PM: What kind of class, or how will you be using the Space Marines in the game; what kind of class will they be?

DA: The Space Marines are, you know, they kinda vary from Chapter to Chapter. so In this particular instance, the Black Templar are, they have er, you know, all space marines are awesome, super warrior, so if you imagine if there was a warrior class for the imperium it's definitely Space marines. In addition to that the Black Templar have a tendency towards melee weapons, you know they still use bolters and stuff. But that's their flavor of Space Marine.

-- [David Adams (General Manager, Vigil Games)/ Peter Martensson (Gamesreactor) @ Gamescom '10]

We are glad, for we are yet to see Black Templar fighting alongside Xenoforms.



Given how Black Templar initiates look like this:


It's not really an issue as the site makes it out to be. I'm sure branch forms will be available.

Only Black Templars?? I wanted to see some Dark Angels stuff....