CVG was fortunate to sit down with Graeme Devine, the lead designer on Halo Wars. If you're not sure what to expect from this RTS set in the Halo universe, read on for a brief look at what makes this game so special.
In addition, the team says they already have some downloadable content ready to go but are holding off on releasing it in order to "sustain interest" in the title.
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You say the controls are better than PC RTS games. That's quite a bold claim...
Graeme Devine: Yes I realise that, and you're going to back that up for me when you play the game. It's a brash thing to say but I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it.
We spent the first year of this project just working on the controls. There was no Halo IP, there was no concept of this becoming a Halo game. Without the controls working it's pointless even doing the game.
So we actually took Age of Mythology and we set ourselves a target. One of our testers, who's a hardcore RTS PC guy came over and told us that it's easier to play with the controller than it is with a mouse and keyboard.
At that point, we gave ourselves the green light. It took about 12 months of playing with the controller to hit that milestone so at that point I felt it was ready. I've seen enough people converted to be pretty confident about it.
Being a console strategy game, how have you designed it to be accessible to the RTS virgin?
Devine: The cool thing about Halo Wars is that it has got to appeal to two sets of people. Strategy fans have to learn to love playing a Halo game. Halo fans have to learn to love a strategy game. For the mainstream player, we have to be able to introduce them into the game gently.
We start off simple and slowly introduce more and more complexity. If we've done a really good job, you'll be able to do more complex tasks and get really good at what you're doing.
Graeme Devine: Yes I realise that, and you're going to back that up for me when you play the game. It's a brash thing to say but I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it.
We spent the first year of this project just working on the controls. There was no Halo IP, there was no concept of this becoming a Halo game. Without the controls working it's pointless even doing the game.
So we actually took Age of Mythology and we set ourselves a target. One of our testers, who's a hardcore RTS PC guy came over and told us that it's easier to play with the controller than it is with a mouse and keyboard.
At that point, we gave ourselves the green light. It took about 12 months of playing with the controller to hit that milestone so at that point I felt it was ready. I've seen enough people converted to be pretty confident about it.
Being a console strategy game, how have you designed it to be accessible to the RTS virgin?
Devine: The cool thing about Halo Wars is that it has got to appeal to two sets of people. Strategy fans have to learn to love playing a Halo game. Halo fans have to learn to love a strategy game. For the mainstream player, we have to be able to introduce them into the game gently.
We start off simple and slowly introduce more and more complexity. If we've done a really good job, you'll be able to do more complex tasks and get really good at what you're doing.
In addition, the team says they already have some downloadable content ready to go but are holding off on releasing it in order to "sustain interest" in the title.
"I think the thing with DLC is that, if you release it all, how do you sustain interest in the game? One of the ways of sustaining interest in a game is with [the timely release of] DLC. So I think it it's there for that purpose and does a good job."
Devine went on to justify: "I think if you get it all it's like a massive blitz of content in your face and you don't get all the value of everything we've put into the game. I think the game contains an awful lot in the box already so DLC is a good way to be able to add to that experience."
Devine went on to justify: "I think if you get it all it's like a massive blitz of content in your face and you don't get all the value of everything we've put into the game. I think the game contains an awful lot in the box already so DLC is a good way to be able to add to that experience."
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