W40k Remake in Unreal Engine [Project cancelled]

[OneVoltTen]

Hi, I'm developing a remake of this game. I'm looking if I could get feedback about what you would changed.

[Nova Solarius]

And is this licensed? If you're not explicitly permitted to use 40k's stuff (or Dawn of War's stuff, for that matter), you risk the loss of your project at best and major legal trouble at worst. Doubly so if you intend to sell your remake once finished.

[OneVoltTen]

> is this licensed? it is not currently licensed.
Not until release. This is at least two years from completion. This will not contain any Warhammer trademarks. Once this project is complete I plan to contact Games Workshop in regards to licensing.

[Hollow]

You could create a skeleton that loads the art, sounds, models, maps, scripts and unit data from DoW games and their mods and tries to emulate the Warhammer gameplay with that with updated visuals and fixed pathfinding. That way the originals would always be required, either to play an updated version of the regular game or to create the mods from them and your own file structure wouldn't contain anything that you could be sued for. The artwork / models would still look a bit dated but everything else could get an overhaul with this approach.

[OneVoltTen]

I'll do that for the audio as that'd take a long time to recreate; I've written a script to convert the files fairly easily. I'm rewriting the AI based on the Soulstorm's code though generally the rest of the code isn't usable. I'm making my own models and art, so it'll be similar just without any Warhammer logos/trademarks/such to avoid legal issues.

[Cursed Hawkins]

Escrito originalmente por OneVoltTen:

> is this licensed? it is not currently licensed.
Not until release. This is at least two years from completion. This will not contain any Warhammer trademarks. Once this project is complete I plan to contact Games Workshop in regards to licensing.

That probably should be the first step because there's a chance GW will say no to a fanmade remaster/remake so all that work you're currently doing will all be for nothing if you do that first then ask GW for the license.

[Nova Solarius]

Escrito originalmente por Cursed Hawkins:

Escrito originalmente por OneVoltTen:

> is this licensed? it is not currently licensed.
Not until release. This is at least two years from completion. This will not contain any Warhammer trademarks. Once this project is complete I plan to contact Games Workshop in regards to licensing.

That probably should be the first step because there's a chance GW will say no to a fanmade remaster/remake so all that work you're currently doing will all be for nothing if you do that first then ask GW for the license.

Alternatively, they can leave out 40k stuff forever and completely avoid the need for licensing.

[Cursed Hawkins]

Escrito originalmente por Nova Solarius:

Escrito originalmente por Cursed Hawkins:

That probably should be the first step because there's a chance GW will say no to a fanmade remaster/remake so all that work you're currently doing will all be for nothing if you do that first then ask GW for the license.

Alternatively, they can leave out 40k stuff forever and completely avoid the need for licensing.

The moment people put two and two together it'll only be a matter of time before GW becomes aware of it, take for example Starcraft a bit of trivia behind the game's development is that Blizzard and Games Workshop collaborated on the project however something caused the two companies to break off the collaboration however as the game was developed during the collaboration there's a screenshot of one of the previous builds where the Terran Marine were labeled as Terran Space Marine and because people know how close the Zerg are to the Tyranids in 40k the same time that screenshot was made the Zerg likely weren't even called Zerg at that time and were renamed once the collaboration ended as well as the space part of the Terran Marine being removed from the name.

[OneVoltTen]

Unfortunately the W40K IP wouldn't be able to be used unless permission was given. It'd still be Warhammer just more generic design to avoid their copyright.

[A9D08]

Yes! i dont know what i woud like changed. I will play some more, cos i played only a littel since i bought this on steam. WIll come back with a fresher opinion. But i can already say thanks man you have had a wonderful idea!

[thekez1998]

The reason a fan-made Remaster of this game could potentially fail, is by not satisfying the *true* fans of the game.

There are many players who would like to see ridiculous changes, similar to what can be found in mods like UA; but these players will play a few skirmish games against the AI every month - nothing more.

The real fans are the ones who have been playing the base game almost constantly, sometimes for over 10 years. Those are the fans you need to ask, if you want your Remaster to be popular.

Do not make ridiculous/unbalanced changes, for the sake of change.

[Cursed Hawkins]

Escrito originalmente por thekez1998:

The real fans are the ones who have been playing the base game almost constantly, sometimes for over 10 years. Those are the fans you need to ask, if you want your Remaster to be popular.

Do not make ridiculous/unbalanced changes, for the sake of change.

Even then those players are still to be watched out for because not everyone will agree with one thing, this is just one of those things where you have to realize that you're gonna make a few people upset with something no matter how much you try to make as many people happy as possible.

[Cursed Hawkins]

Escrito originalmente por OneVoltTen:

Appreciate the conversation about the legal side, though this is more about what you'd want changed.

Just watching out for you, I know GW's protective of its IP and the last thing we need is someone trying to do something nice for fans only to get a C&D from GW like Nintendo does to their community.

[Nova Solarius]

Escrito originalmente por Cursed Hawkins:

Escrito originalmente por OneVoltTen:

Appreciate the conversation about the legal side, though this is more about what you'd want changed.

Just watching out for you, I know GW's protective of its IP and the last thing we need is someone trying to do something nice for fans only to get a C&D from GW like Nintendo does to their community.

Not that we can blame either Nintendo or GW. If they don't enforce their IP, they risk losing it.

[Hollow]

Escrito originalmente por OneVoltTen:

Appreciate the conversation about the legal side, though this is more about what you'd want changed.

For Soulstorm I've always wanted the auto-reinforce to not turn itself off once a squad is at maximum unit size but stay active until toggled off by me, just like it's the case in Dark Crusade. I want this because cannon fodder squads and such that aren't meant do deal damage but to tie up strong ranged units in melee combat and to be used without being such a hassle: forcing me to constantly tab-cycle through them all to repeatedly re-enable auto-reinforce.

Proper movement for jet-type aircraft as in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQKUeFWVduE
...with only helicopter-type aircraft being able to hover in place. All jet type aircraft merely can circle a position or move in, unload, move back, repeat (move back point = the direction they came from to not make them fly right into enemy AA). Also not every single unit should be capable of attacking aircraft but only such that are meant to, which would actually require proper mod support, so it's unlikely to happen.
Also all aircraft should be capable of landing (required for repairs, allows helicopter type aircraft to take passengers).

Ingame hotkey changing, so that I can do that if I notice a key conflict during a battle and not only after or before.

Fixed attack preference: The attack option to prefer structures over other targets doesn't work. Units with this setting will just attack regular other units and in fact ignore other structures, even turrets, resource structures, production structures and all the rest. A new toggle for prefering aircraft as targets before any other unit.
A toggle specifically for units that deal area damage that hurts my own units if they're hit: don't fire that weapon if my units are in range [on/off].

Not just 1 type of stealth level but 2, allowing nether shift stealth movement aside from just plain detectable stealth.

Fixed pathfinding for infantry:
No longer make room for any other vehicles, which always only just causes major issues, like squads spreading out all over the place, units getting stuck or my own infantry making room for the enemy vehicle when it wants to retreat.

There should be crusher levels for vehicles and crushable levels for all units: Titans being able to stomp onto anything, large vehicles being able to squish smaller ones and medium infantry, medium vehicles being able to squish small infantry. Currently a Baneblade can be swarmed by small infantry units and is unable to move anywhere then because the tank can't just roll over the small unit spam.

Range circle for deepstrike that isn't global range.

Attack range fix: A main weapon should be defined for each unit, if it has multiple turrets. Some mods grant vehicles turret weapons with longer range than their main weapon. If I then send in that unit on auto-attack it'll never use its main weapon unless an enemy moves itself into range. If the main weapon would dictate a unit's weapon range this wouldn't be an issue. The same also happens for infantry squads set to ground attack attack option (the game's standard settting): instead of having all squad members move in until they're in maximum weapon range all of them stand around as 1 or move units with longer range weapons can already attack. This would only be ok if the squad was set to distance attack mode, where it should make use of maximum weapon range.

While doing a kill animation in melee combat the unit doing this is set to be invulnerable but it's still 100% affected by moral drop and debuffs. Kill animations are also bad vs fast reinforcing infantry squads, as they cost time, which wouldn't be an issue if the kill animation would increase the reinforce time of the affected squad by the duration it plays for. If one unit performs a kill animation while the squad is ordered to move back it's solely left behind and doesn't just teleport to the squad if a certain distance limit is exceeded once done.

The IG's tunnel transportation network doesn't give any hint from which structure any of the units can be pulled. A simple indicator icon of the structure and a line drawn to it on mouseover for both the battlefield and the minimap would help.

For construction I'd sometimes like a view option that turns all squares where I can build green, everything else red. Mainly like 9 fields around the structure I'm having on the cursor, trying to decide where to place it, helping me highlight where to leave how much space for units to move through etc.

An auto repair toggle for construction units would be neat.

The game should handle global effects differently: currently even global effects seem to act like an aura, making the game lag horribly the more they add up, I assume because of a pointless "Is this unit in range for the aura ?" check on a global effect. Auras that are global (actually depends on map size) should drop that range check to make the game lag less.

[The_Pastmaster]

Escrito originalmente por Hollow:

Attack range fix: A main weapon should be defined for each unit, if it has multiple turrets. Some mods grant vehicles turret weapons with longer range than their main weapon. If I then send in that unit on auto-attack it'll never use its main weapon unless an enemy moves itself into range. If the main weapon would dictate a unit's weapon range this wouldn't be an issue. The same also happens for infantry squads set to ground attack attack option (the game's standard settting): instead of having all squad members move in until they're in maximum weapon range all of them stand around as 1 or move units with longer range weapons can already attack. This would only be ok if the squad was set to distance attack mode, where it should make use of maximum weapon range.

Christ, THIS ONE! This one is in the base game as well and it's bloody annoying a lot of the time. Mainly for the Space Marine Tactical Squads when you have given them missile launchers.

Escrito originalmente por Hollow:

Fixed attack preference: The attack option to prefer structures over other targets doesn't work. Units with this setting will just attack regular other units and in fact ignore other structures, even turrets, resource structures, production structures and all the rest. A new toggle for prefering aircraft as targets before any other unit.
A toggle specifically for units that deal area damage that hurts my own units if they're hit: don't fire that weapon if my units are in range [on/off].

Huh, didn't know that the Burn Stance was broken. Welp, not using that again. Other stances and preferences would be aseome though. Especially the AoE one. By the Emperor, I hated using the Vypers despite how good they were because 99% of the time they were: Oh a brawl? LETS HELP! FIRE THE ROCKETS! If the Vyper was an Ork unit I'd get it, but FFS, Eldar are smart bastards.

Escrito originalmente por Hollow:

For Soulstorm I've always wanted the auto-reinforce to not turn itself off once a squad is at maximum unit size but stay active until toggled off by me, just like it's the case in Dark Crusade. I want this because cannon fodder squads and such that aren't meant do deal damage but to tie up strong ranged units in melee combat and to be used without being such a hassle: forcing me to constantly tab-cycle through them all to repeatedly re-enable auto-reinforce.

For most races I would agree but for Orks this would be a bad move as they have large squads but very limited Waaagh! resource. Then again I suppose you could just use it on smaller squads and then manually reinforce the big 'uns.

Escrito originalmente por Hollow:

The IG's tunnel transportation network doesn't give any hint from which structure any of the units can be pulled. A simple indicator icon of the structure and a line drawn to it on mouseover for both the battlefield and the minimap would help.

I haven't used it much but I love this idea.

Escrito originalmente por Hollow:

While doing a kill animation in melee combat the unit doing this is set to be invulnerable but it's still 100% affected by moral drop and debuffs. Kill animations are also bad vs fast reinforcing infantry squads, as they cost time, which wouldn't be an issue if the kill animation would increase the reinforce time of the affected squad by the duration it plays for. If one unit performs a kill animation while the squad is ordered to move back it's solely left behind and doesn't just teleport to the squad if a certain distance limit is exceeded once done.

You need to elaborate more on this for me. I think I'm missing your point to the issue. I usually like when a unit is in a kill animation because then my squad can reinforce and possibly be saved or win the fight.

Escrito originalmente por Hollow:

Not just 1 type of stealth level but 2, allowing nether shift stealth movement aside from just plain detectable stealth.

I really like this idea. Stealth is very... Not quite OP but very, very powerful. Many times my scout squads have been able to just wipe squads out with no danger to themselves. Unless my opponent figures out that they can throw grenades and some AoE effects without a squad target. :P

Escrito originalmente por Hollow:

There should be crusher levels for vehicles and crushable levels for all units: Titans being able to stomp onto anything, large vehicles being able to squish smaller ones and medium infantry, medium vehicles being able to squish small infantry. Currently a Baneblade can be swarmed by small infantry units and is unable to move anywhere then because the tank can't just roll over the small unit spam.

Eeeh, not a huge fan right now. The vehicles are powerful enough as it is. Don't need a line of Russ's mowing down my Sisters like a combine harvester. :P