Is the top rivet in the right place? Games Workshop takes every detail of Warhammer seriously!
The question of size comes up again and again in social discourse. How important is it really? Does every centimeter really matter? Or can you just turn a blind eye as long as you’re having fun?
What are we talking about? Well about Space Marine 2 of course, what were you thinking about?! The Warhammer 40k shooter takes its size very seriously, more precisely the license holder and lore keeper Games Workshop.
The armor is too small!
In conversation with IGN Tim Willits, CCO of the space marine studio Saber Interactive, recalled some interesting details from the game’s development period. These mostly resulted from the fact that the Warhammer bosses don’t take any fun when dealing with their world and the characters.
Among other things, Willits says that the developers had to rework an important detail of Titus’ servo armament because it did not have the correct dimensions.
The ankle guard we designed was the wrong size and [Games Workshop] told us that was incorrect.
14:53
Space Marine 2 – test video for the effective Warhammer 40k shooter
Now you could of course say: It’s your own fault, you have a template in the form of numerous characters, books and comics, so just stick to it!
But it’s not quite that simple. As Tim Willits points out, be Implementing the armor as a moving part in a game is quite difficult:
The guy who invented the little space marine on the table 45 years ago probably couldn’t have imagined that [der Space Marine] 45 years later being animated in a video game. And I can tell you that it was hard to implement.
I mean, when you’re running and running and fighting as Titus, it feels so good. But you’ve seen people dressed up as Space Marines, right? They can’t even walk down a hallway without falling.
Tyranids don’t attack like that!
The armor’s practicality wasn’t the only instance in which Saber Interactive received a reprimand from Games Workshop’s lore keepers. There was also a criticism on another point – and rightly so, because this is where the fun really ends for Warhammer fans!
[Games Workshop] helped us get the project on the right track. And even when we came up with Tyranid attacks, they said, oh, this Tyranid doesn’t attack like that, or this Chaos Marine can’t really do this and that. So we had to adjust things. […]
By the way, Tim Willits doesn’t want his statements to be misunderstood as a complaint about the high standards of the Warhammer Guardians. For him, this demand for accuracy is actually laudable:
They are very protective. But they have to be. When you have a universe as big as Warhammer, you have to protect it like it’s your baby, because it is. And there are millions of people who love this franchise, and if we mess up an emblem or get a chapter wrong, it’s just embarrassing.
Words that will probably make Warhammer fans swing their Power Sword with joy. How are things looking for you? Do you understand why Games Workshop takes this task so seriously?
