Space Marine director talks combat without cover

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine director Raphael Van Lierop explains the design decisions behind the game's hybrid melee-shooter combat.

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After recently getting my hands on a couple of hours worth of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, I had an opportunity to speak with game director Raphael Van Lierop in more detail about the deliberate decision to not include a cover system, and how that directly influences the rest of combat.

When you're a Space Marine, you're not hiding behind stuff. You're doing the exact opposite. You're putting yourself in the middle of the battle, and that just fits in with the sense of being that confident hero and being super-human, and being almost god-like in your fighting prowess.

That's not to say that that a cover system was never on the table, but Van Lierop notes that it wasn't compatible with other aspects of Space Marine's combat system.

We played around with it, but we knew right away that one key pillar of our combat system was pretty much incompatible with a snap-to-cover system. Actually, two things: Immediate switching between melee and shooting was very difficult to do, and that responsiveness of being able to jump into combat and swap instantly - and have it feel seamless - was not compatible with the idea of being stuck to something.

Van Lierop explained that because seven-foot, one-ton Space Marines are not known for hiding, regenerating health and armor also work quite differently than they do in other games.

We've made some very deliberate decisions in terms of how the different pieces of our combat system fit together, to encourage players to stay in battle. To give you a concrete example, in almost every shooter that you've ever played, when your health is low, your reaction is to run away. Take cover. Get out of the field of fire so you can regenerate.

You can do that, but in Space Marine, the better option is to execute a guy. Pick a guy that's close to you and saw him in half, or stun him and get him exposed so you can do that, and that's going to give you health. So, it's like, "Ok, I'm running low on health. I'm going to do something even more aggressive than what I'm already doing."

Instead of, "Oh, now I gotta hide, and I don't feel very Space Marine-y right now because I'm hiding behind a pillar," you're just like, "Fuck yeah! I'm just gonna get in there and kick some more ass, otherwise I'll die."

Though I've only played a couple of hours worth of an early build of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine so far, I can confirm that the unique melee-shooter hybrid formula Relic is attempting to deliver already feels fresh and intense.

Keep an eye out for my full interview with game director Van Lierop, coming soon.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    May 5, 2011 3:30 PM

    Jeff Mattas posted a new article, Space Marine director talks combat without cover.

    Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine director Raphael Van Lierop explains the design decisions behind the game's hybrid melee-shooter combat, and why

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      May 5, 2011 3:40 PM

      "Ok, I'm running low on health. I'm going to do something even more aggressive than what I'm already doing."

      SOLD!

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      May 5, 2011 3:51 PM

      I like what I'm hearing from these guys. It sounds like they are trying to create a new experience with this game, not just another CoD or GoW clone.

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        May 5, 2011 4:12 PM

        Relic are awesome. This is exactly what they did with Dawn of War as well (and company of heroes, of course), they took the tired old RTS formula and added shit to it until it felt fresh again.

        I cannot wait for Space Marine :)

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          May 5, 2011 8:40 PM

          Dawn of War was basically CoH with Space Marines wasn't it?

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            May 5, 2011 9:02 PM

            DoW 1 was, yeah. DoW 2 was it's own beast.

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              May 6, 2011 6:32 AM

              The DoW1 series hit before Company of Heroes. Also, the two games were quite different. DoW was still about having the larger army, whereas CoH is all about unit positioning and control, with territory control being the most important aspect.

              CoH and DoW2 have more in common than DoW and CoH.

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        May 5, 2011 4:14 PM

        Agreed. I despise the snap to cover system. It doesn't "feel" right in any game I've played due to it lacking a sense of fludity.

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          May 5, 2011 4:35 PM

          Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2 handled it beautifully. They had a great cover system implementation.

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            May 5, 2011 4:51 PM

            This is true and one of the few exceptions.

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            May 5, 2011 4:53 PM

            Yeah, this is the only cover system I liked. It was great

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            May 5, 2011 4:59 PM

            Rainbow Six is supposed to be a tactical shooter, though, right? So a cover system makes sense.

            GoW just did it 'cause they thought it looked cool.

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              May 5, 2011 5:20 PM

              The Vegas line of R6 games are hardly tactical shooters, not in the way that the original R6 games were, anyway.

              Also, I think gears of war did it because it's a game and it was fun.

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                May 5, 2011 5:27 PM

                Vegas was just as tactical, if not moreso, than the previous Rainbow games, and yes, I played the shit out of all of them since the original. Yes, the planning was gone, but that was a strategic element, not tactical.

                It had just as many weapons, and just as many gear choices, yet a whole armor system where you could pick different armor classes for all body parts that had different weights and protection ratings. The cover system did not impart invulnerability, in fact, a lot of cover was purely visual cover and not bullet cover.

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                  May 5, 2011 5:29 PM

                  oh yeah, I'm mistaking tactical for strategic :(

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                  May 6, 2011 2:19 PM

                  +1

                  Vegas 2 is king of kings and lord of hosts in tactical shooters.

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            May 5, 2011 8:14 PM

            That's quite possibly why I have my current standpoint...I didn't play either of those games.

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          May 5, 2011 5:35 PM

          Kill.Switch begs to differ.

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            May 6, 2011 12:39 AM

            Agreed. One of the original, not surprising it was also one of the most well executed.

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          May 6, 2011 2:34 AM

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          May 6, 2011 6:37 AM

          [deleted]

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      May 5, 2011 3:53 PM

      That sounds fucking awesome.

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      May 5, 2011 4:06 PM

      Hell of a day for frontpage!

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      May 5, 2011 4:20 PM

      This game is gonna fucking rule so much dicks in half.

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      May 5, 2011 5:21 PM

      I've said this in every Space Marine article, and I'll say it again.
      GOTY 2011.

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        May 5, 2011 7:02 PM

        You should probably wait until it's released.

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        May 5, 2011 8:17 PM

        For the Emperor and all that but GOTY is either Skyrim, BF3, Portal 2, or LA Noire.

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          May 5, 2011 8:49 PM

          FOOL! An open mind is like a fortress with it's gates unbarred and unguarded. Let only the light of the Emperor guide your path!

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      May 5, 2011 8:45 PM

      If you ever read SM book you find out that Space Marines aren't fucking bulletproof. That said I don't mind the no-cover system they are implementing.

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      May 5, 2011 9:44 PM

      I don't know, in the novels Space Marines are very far from being that invincible. In the table top, cover is commonly used as well. They should just use the, "And they shall know no fear." as their reason for not retreating to regen health.

      That said, I cannot wait for this game at all.

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        May 5, 2011 11:12 PM

        in the table top Space Marines do not need cover saves like most other armies do, and well if no one died in the books they would be pretty lame.

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        May 6, 2011 6:30 AM

        I think they'd prefer for their game to not look like some sort of alt-universe Gears clone. I applaud the different design decision. In the end, it's aimed at making a more fun game experience and making you feel like a badass.

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      May 5, 2011 11:33 PM

      It's not that much about cover or not, if you will read about the combat in the books then space marines unload their bolter rounds and then charge in to chainsword everything with bullets blazing around them, there is no way to implement that on the gow gameplay mold.

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      May 6, 2011 2:37 AM

      [deleted]

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