Interview By: WoLf | Posted: 05/09/2007
1. Hey Saaz, can you briefly outline for us at Games Xtreme the kinds of things you have to do for the project. What would you describe is a typical 'project day' for DoWPRO?
Hello. Well I do a lot of stuff. First of all I’m a coder, most of the time I’m doing raw programming, and then Korbah does his corrections or changes, according to the new changelog, and burns the final data. Secondly, when I have free time I end up just browsing data files in search of some bugs or trying to create some new things and methods that could be used later. Thirdly, like everyone else on the team, I give some thoughts, views and ideas on current gameplay and balance. Typical project day… hmmm 90% of the time between the patches is “gather feedback” time, so basically imo typical day of project – people playing mod and having fun.
2. What kind of challenges are there coding for the DoW Engine, are there any features that you really wish you could have or change?
There are so many limitations with it and the list of what I would like to change probably will take couple of pages. Don’t get me wrong, DoW Engine is probably most open engine in the RTS genre (for example you cant modify original models in Warcraft III), but it still got its limitations and with each day they get more and more annoying. Overcoming those limitations via some tricky workaround is fun and interesting however.
3. What are you the most pleased with in terms of the project?
It's hard to tell… perhaps the entire process. I like to see how this mod evolves, when I joined team there were so many things to do, so many bugs, unfinished and planned only stuff. Now its getting better and better each day, many new things added, the content team working really hard to add that special glow, AI team, modelers, everyone.
4. What would you say is your biggest gripe with Relic's game/engine?
I don’t know if any of those things make sense to any reader, but here some - inability to create auto possess to structures entity, lack of requirement types and lack of requirement tables on some extensions. Do I have to continue? =)
5. What do you most like about the DoW Engine, if anything?
Graphical part. I love how battles look like, all those big booms, synch kills, Fx’s, randomized animations and models, well you got the picture. This is how battles should look like, good visualization make games more intense. So far I saw better visualization of combat only once - in CoH, but basically CoH is polished DoW, so that’s doesn’t count. Also I like how it’s all organized, entities, tables, extensions. Very logical and most important – stable (while 60% of modern games require 10 patches just to work without crashes), relic programmers did awesome job there.
6. What do you think is the utmost best feature of DoWPRO and why does it stand apart from other mods out there?
This question can cause a war between mods =) DoWPro features entire new and very competitive gameplay, what many stand alone RTS lacks. It’s not just a “new race” or “balance” mod. Our mod unites all best features from all competitive games: hard counter system - Starcraft, squad based units – DoW, resource system – DoW, Ground Control, unit scaling and mixing – Warcraft III. Every aspect of our gameplay is well thought, for example many games suffer from boring gameplay thanks to “spam single unit type” strategy, in DoWPro this is limited because similar units builds slower. Such combination of great engine, fantastic graphics and overall design made by gamers and for gamers is very strong.
7. Have you had to work with the SkirmishAI code much, if so, what challenges did you face with integration into DoWPRO?
No I haven’t worked with it.
8. What's the most important for you, balance, mechanics (stats and figures), background and information on the races/vehicles/history? All or none, if so? Why?
I think that most important to me is single unit purpose and overall race design. I just hate those games out there that got small units for 30 gold or big units but for 50 gold. I think we should continue Relics idea of completely different races and different units. We tried to differentiate them as much as possible, but we still maintain links to original game, table top and Warhammer40k fluff when thinking of something new. Why? Well of course to make game more fun and entertaining.
9. What's your favorite faction in Dawn of War and why?
Eldar…. Just kidding. Imperial guard. All other races fight for their beliefs, for fun, to feed themselves. Imperial guardsmen don’t even know what they fighting for, they got no choice, they got nowhere to go or retreat. They are just told to. They know about their chances to survive vs Blood Thirster with lasgun and flak vest, yet they still rise from trenches and win. And they got more victories than those Space Marines.
10. What are some of your goals for the mod. Can you let us into any sneak peeks at ideas for future patches/updates such as 2.04 for instance? Or is it all strictly hush-hush?
Our ultimate goal is to make DoWPro official and continue to work on it until moon hits the Earth. As for plans… DoWPro will get regular patches as usual. We will see how new patch will do, there were some major changes in it. Oh there is some secret stuff, but I don’t want to spoil it yet, I think we will make announcement soon.
So there you have it folks, thanks Saaz.
You can find the DoWPRO mod for Warhammer 40 Dawn of War: Dark Crusade located at:
2.03 update patch
Update Patch
2.03 Full installer
Full Installer
The DoWPRO mod website can be found:
Here
There's also a minor fix already that you need, it fixes the Ork models:
Fix here
Hello. Well I do a lot of stuff. First of all I’m a coder, most of the time I’m doing raw programming, and then Korbah does his corrections or changes, according to the new changelog, and burns the final data. Secondly, when I have free time I end up just browsing data files in search of some bugs or trying to create some new things and methods that could be used later. Thirdly, like everyone else on the team, I give some thoughts, views and ideas on current gameplay and balance. Typical project day… hmmm 90% of the time between the patches is “gather feedback” time, so basically imo typical day of project – people playing mod and having fun.
2. What kind of challenges are there coding for the DoW Engine, are there any features that you really wish you could have or change?
There are so many limitations with it and the list of what I would like to change probably will take couple of pages. Don’t get me wrong, DoW Engine is probably most open engine in the RTS genre (for example you cant modify original models in Warcraft III), but it still got its limitations and with each day they get more and more annoying. Overcoming those limitations via some tricky workaround is fun and interesting however.
3. What are you the most pleased with in terms of the project?
It's hard to tell… perhaps the entire process. I like to see how this mod evolves, when I joined team there were so many things to do, so many bugs, unfinished and planned only stuff. Now its getting better and better each day, many new things added, the content team working really hard to add that special glow, AI team, modelers, everyone.
4. What would you say is your biggest gripe with Relic's game/engine?
I don’t know if any of those things make sense to any reader, but here some - inability to create auto possess to structures entity, lack of requirement types and lack of requirement tables on some extensions. Do I have to continue? =)
5. What do you most like about the DoW Engine, if anything?
Graphical part. I love how battles look like, all those big booms, synch kills, Fx’s, randomized animations and models, well you got the picture. This is how battles should look like, good visualization make games more intense. So far I saw better visualization of combat only once - in CoH, but basically CoH is polished DoW, so that’s doesn’t count. Also I like how it’s all organized, entities, tables, extensions. Very logical and most important – stable (while 60% of modern games require 10 patches just to work without crashes), relic programmers did awesome job there.
6. What do you think is the utmost best feature of DoWPRO and why does it stand apart from other mods out there?
This question can cause a war between mods =) DoWPro features entire new and very competitive gameplay, what many stand alone RTS lacks. It’s not just a “new race” or “balance” mod. Our mod unites all best features from all competitive games: hard counter system - Starcraft, squad based units – DoW, resource system – DoW, Ground Control, unit scaling and mixing – Warcraft III. Every aspect of our gameplay is well thought, for example many games suffer from boring gameplay thanks to “spam single unit type” strategy, in DoWPro this is limited because similar units builds slower. Such combination of great engine, fantastic graphics and overall design made by gamers and for gamers is very strong.
7. Have you had to work with the SkirmishAI code much, if so, what challenges did you face with integration into DoWPRO?
No I haven’t worked with it.
8. What's the most important for you, balance, mechanics (stats and figures), background and information on the races/vehicles/history? All or none, if so? Why?
I think that most important to me is single unit purpose and overall race design. I just hate those games out there that got small units for 30 gold or big units but for 50 gold. I think we should continue Relics idea of completely different races and different units. We tried to differentiate them as much as possible, but we still maintain links to original game, table top and Warhammer40k fluff when thinking of something new. Why? Well of course to make game more fun and entertaining.
9. What's your favorite faction in Dawn of War and why?
Eldar…. Just kidding. Imperial guard. All other races fight for their beliefs, for fun, to feed themselves. Imperial guardsmen don’t even know what they fighting for, they got no choice, they got nowhere to go or retreat. They are just told to. They know about their chances to survive vs Blood Thirster with lasgun and flak vest, yet they still rise from trenches and win. And they got more victories than those Space Marines.
10. What are some of your goals for the mod. Can you let us into any sneak peeks at ideas for future patches/updates such as 2.04 for instance? Or is it all strictly hush-hush?
Our ultimate goal is to make DoWPro official and continue to work on it until moon hits the Earth. As for plans… DoWPro will get regular patches as usual. We will see how new patch will do, there were some major changes in it. Oh there is some secret stuff, but I don’t want to spoil it yet, I think we will make announcement soon.
So there you have it folks, thanks Saaz.
You can find the DoWPRO mod for Warhammer 40 Dawn of War: Dark Crusade located at:
2.03 update patch
Update Patch
2.03 Full installer
Full Installer
The DoWPRO mod website can be found:
Here
There's also a minor fix already that you need, it fixes the Ork models:
Fix here
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