Based on the best-selling board game and set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, Space Hulk is a 3D digital turn based strategy game that recreates the classic claustrophobic board game experience for single player and multiplayer cross-platform play between PC, Mac and on iOS.
Space Hulk is set in the isolated corridors and tomb-like chambers of an ancient vessel lost in the graveyard of space. Players lead a small army of fearless Space Marine Terminators to battle in a ferocious fight for survival against hordes of predatory alien Genestealers.
The main features are
Blood Angel terminator squad
Fearsome Genestealers with challenging AI
Thematic 3d environment
Single player campaign based on the "Sin of Damnation" hulk
New coop multiplayer levels against the Genestealer AI
Multiplayer head-to-head recreating the board game experience against a friend
Cross platform multiplayer between PC, Mac and iOS
Level editor with ability to share creations
Game expansions in the future as DLC
I'm afraid this will prove to be of the same quality as Ultramarines the Movie. No one heard about the company making that movie and the situation repeats itself here - the company is relatively unknown.
That said, I'm waiting for the game itself anyway, since I like strategy games and I might be wrong in my initial assessment.
I liked the old space hulk game as well (smashing the space bar sending unlimited bolts down the corridor ftw!) but I kinda hope this more than a computer version of the game, I suspect not though.
It's sad that I will buy no matter what it's like.
Alkasyn wrote: I'm afraid this will prove to be of the same quality as Ultramarines the Movie. No one heard about the company making that movie and the situation repeats itself here - the company is relatively unknown.
That said, I'm waiting for the game itself anyway, since I like strategy games and I might be wrong in my initial assessment.
It's a "turn-based strategy game" based directly on space hulk - all they have to do to make it nice to play is copy the game rules&scenarios, add some nice graphics (not all that hard nowadays) and make sure it doesn't crash regularly.
How would they feth that up? Okay, if the AI were horrid single player might not be all that good - but there's still an MP option.
Some of us don't have a physical SH game set lying around - and some of us just like board games on the iPad (which this will work on - so that netbook mentioned earlier might stand a bit of a chance as well!) instead of having big, clunky boxes that cost way more than a digital version anyway lying around from the moment they mentioned "Multiplayer head-to-head recreating the board game experience against a friend" you could be pretty much sure it'd be an okay game to play
RiTides wrote: I wish it was for Xbox! My home PC is just a netbook these days.
This!
Considering "Deathwatch" was released on the XBL Marketplace and PS Network I'm surprised to see this. Apparently it can be a bit pricey to distribute on XBL and maybe they aren't prepared to pay for console functionality.
Early days yet though. Maybe they'll be another limited run of the Boardgame too... ha...
It's also good to see that Relic's demise hasn't slowed GW.
Space Hulk for the PC was one of the best games I've ever played. Space Hulk Vengeance of the Blood Angels was pretty good but didn't have the same frenetic energy as the first did (and the first had the awesome command points system too)
notprop wrote: I liked the old space hulk game as well (smashing the space bar sending unlimited bolts down the corridor ftw!) but I kinda hope this more than a computer version of the game, I suspect not though.
It's sad that I will buy no matter what it's like.
Haha yes me too, I've spent far too much time on Warhammer games over the years and most of them probably didn't deserve it.
Would love it if someone found a way to get Chaos Gate to run on Windows 7 though..
To everyone complaining about the graphics from the single tiny bit of animation we've got: It's built to be an iOS game. It's probably using Unity. It's meant to look clear and decent on an iPad or iPhone screen, and just so happens to run on Mac and PC. Regardless, graphics don't make a good game.
As for the gameplay, it's sounding like a 1:1 adaptation of the board game. As long as it isn't absolutely broken, it will be enjoyable.
Linkdead wrote: I'm curious how a small iOS developer managed to get the Space Hulk license.
That's easy. Pretend that you're running a multi-million dollar business. Now pretend that you're not willing to market your products at all, and only willing to license your product in tiny ways where they won't be supported by you for even a cent despite the fact these are gigantic revenue drivers for other IP's like yours.
Of course the graphics will suck, it's a tiny indy development, why would you expect the graphics to be up there with Skyrim?
The fact is, I would still enjoy the amiga version, and I still enjoy the original xcom!
Might be showing my age, but I will be well pleased if I can pay 6 quid and get a crappy amiga port onto my Ipad. I certainly wasn't expecting anything else from a nameless Dev.
Graphics don't make a game.. Remember dragons lair?
Absolutionis wrote: The Venerate, Pursue, Observe actually made me laugh. Clever.
Yeah, I have to admit, I snickered when I shared that.
And, I agree that the graphics aren't end-all, be all to this one bit. I see this as a pretty hard game to screw up, really. All you're doing is fill-in-the-blanks cutscenes against someone else's rules and mechanics.
Of course the graphics will suck, it's a tiny indy development, why would you expect the graphics to be up there with Skyrim?
The fact is, I would still enjoy the amiga version, and I still enjoy the original xcom!
Might be showing my age, but I will be well pleased if I can pay 6 quid and get a crappy amiga port onto my Ipad. I certainly wasn't expecting anything else from a nameless Dev.
Graphics don't make a game.. Remember dragons lair?
Lol that's a bit much... I still play Alien Assault once in a while, and am perfectly content with it. I simply don't react well to graphics intended to impress that have no readily available expertise or effort in them. It wastes my time and makes a negative impression that is completely unnessesary, it didn't need a cg intro to sell us. If you are going to go to the trouble of doing one, do it right.
I don't think it is particularly reasonable of you to complain about a reaction to visuals that were targeted at us to get a reaction... they did the work, obviously they hoped to gain something by it. If the work is substandard, and they still expect the gains, then there is where the complaint becomes valid.
Different strokes... if you enjoy it, good on ya. If I enjoy it, good on me too. But likewise if you don't like it for valid reasons I don't think there is a need to cry 'whiner!' either. They want my money, I want some quality. Fair exchange.
RiTides wrote: I wish it was for Xbox! My home PC is just a netbook these days.
Ditto (even down to the netbook). My computers are relegated to checking out stuff on the internet (like Dakka!) and for work. About the only game that gets played on them is an occasional Dawn of War 1 campaign mission.
I think the most important question here is....... is this the new company holding onto the 40K license?
Where is the partially complete DMO? I dont give a flying crap about Space Hulk. Maybe if its a cheapo one-off like Kill Team was, but something like that is not an investment to promote your product.
DMO, DoW3, or SM2 is where we need to be at. So get on the ball with that license GW. And make some merch for fethsakes. Make 40K a household name.
d3m01iti0n wrote: I think the most important question here is....... is this the new company holding onto the 40K license?
Where is the partially complete DMO? I dont give a flying crap about Space Hulk. Maybe if its a cheapo one-off like Kill Team was, but something like that is not an investment to promote your product.
DMO, DoW3, or SM2 is where we need to be at. So get on the ball with that license GW. And make some merch for fethsakes. Make 40K a household name.
d3m01iti0n wrote: I think the most important question here is....... is this the new company holding onto the 40K license?
Where is the partially complete DMO? I dont give a flying crap about Space Hulk. Maybe if its a cheapo one-off like Kill Team was, but something like that is not an investment to promote your product.
DMO, DoW3, or SM2 is where we need to be at. So get on the ball with that license GW. And make some merch for fethsakes. Make 40K a household name.
DMO? Not familiar with the term. As for Kill-Team, I rather liked that albeit short game and would have paid $5 for some extra levels.
d3m01iti0n wrote: I think the most important question here is....... is this the new company holding onto the 40K license?
Where is the partially complete DMO? I dont give a flying crap about Space Hulk. Maybe if its a cheapo one-off like Kill Team was, but something like that is not an investment to promote your product.
DMO, DoW3, or SM2 is where we need to be at. So get on the ball with that license GW. And make some merch for fethsakes. Make 40K a household name.
DMO? Not familiar with the term. As for Kill-Team, I rather liked that albeit short game and would have paid $5 for some extra levels.
DMO is Dark Millenium Online. With THQ going under Im sure DMO is dead and gone.
I still play Kill Team. Its a good game. But GW needs games like DoW and SM to attract new customers. SM pulled me into the hobby and doing a sequel or something similar like DMO will start to grab the video game crowd. Halo and CoD move units. A remake of an obscure PC game does not.
d3m01iti0n wrote: I think the most important question here is....... is this the new company holding onto the 40K license?
Where is the partially complete DMO? I dont give a flying crap about Space Hulk. Maybe if its a cheapo one-off like Kill Team was, but something like that is not an investment to promote your product.
DMO, DoW3, or SM2 is where we need to be at. So get on the ball with that license GW. And make some merch for fethsakes. Make 40K a household name.
DoW3 is no longer in production.
Well relic is currently working on CoH2, DoW3 was pushed back so they could complete that and so there's just no work being done currently on it as a result.
Doesn't mean it won't be in production later though.
A remake of an obscure PC game does not.
Blood bowl the PC game did very well, despite being an obscure specialist game.
DMO is Dark Millenium Online. With THQ going under Im sure DMO is dead and gone.
I still play Kill Team. Its a good game. But GW needs games like DoW and SM to attract new customers. SM pulled me into the hobby and doing a sequel or something similar like DMO will start to grab the video game crowd. Halo and CoD move units. A remake of an obscure PC game does not.
Ah... I thought it was some variant of the MMO class that it used to occupy before they decided to supposedly take it to singleplayer with some multiplayer components. You're actually the first person I've heard of that started into the minis hobby due to SM. I've only heard of lapsed players coming back after playing it so far.
I'd kill for a turn-based Necromunda game done like X-Com, with character progression, income and territories, all the gang types, and so on. It'd be amazing.
H.B.M.C. wrote: I'd kill for a turn-based Necromunda game done like X-Com, with character progression, income and territories, all the gang types, and so on. It'd be amazing.
Yea... this, this would interest me!
Space hulk.... no way, may have a game life of a few hours.
Board game is fantastic for a one off now and then.... but for a computer game? no thanks.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with a Space Hulk PC game. The previous two Hulk PC games were heaps of fun (but really hard, especially that first one).
They were FPS’s though, and the atmosphere of listening to your little radar pick up pings and then seeing the ‘Stealers race out of the darkness was terrifying.
It is not in production, which is not the same as cancelled. Currently Relic is working on the next Company of Heroes game. They also have suffered massive layoffs this past year, I don't know how many of the remaining DoW developers are still employed.
THQ is nearing the brink regardless but that is another matter.
heck, lets see a mordhiem / BFG game.... although the BFG game would be awsome. had a mod for HW2 that kind of worked ok, but lacked the orders and other stuff. a full on legit BFG game would kick serious buttock.
What platform might also depend on what development tools the company can afford. No Android Dev Kits might be free - I don't know enough about it to speculate - but Dev Kits can be expensive.
d3m01iti0n wrote: So this is a phone/pad/PC game. And not for Droid.
So like the multimedia codecies, it is completely useless to me.
WTFGW..........WTF.
Umm.... you do realise, tha unlike the codex, GW has no control over what system a developer choose for the games.
I am 99% positive that it was GW's choice, as they probably had their choice of developers, and chose to go with this one.
Had there choice of developer, it would be nice to think so. But, the truth is more likey they werre the only company that was willing to give it a go, it is a niche game in a niche hobby. A large developer would not see enough profit for the game, even less so as a 100% port of the boardgame.
I look forward to it, i enjoyed the older space hulk computer games a lot.
I have always enjoyed playing games workshop computer games, even the poor ones !
catharsix wrote: Did GW sign some terrible pact with the Devil which forbids them from making anything but the most UNDERWHELMING YouTube "teasers?"
Laughably bad isnt it, as usual.
They may as well not even bother eh, and someone somewhere gets paid to make them.
d3m01iti0n wrote: So this is a phone/pad/PC game. And not for Droid.
So like the multimedia codecies, it is completely useless to me.
WTFGW..........WTF.
Umm.... you do realise, tha unlike the codex, GW has no control over what system a developer choose for the games.
I am 99% positive that it was GW's choice, as they probably had their choice of developers, and chose to go with this one.
Had there choice of developer, it would be nice to think so. But, the truth is more likey they werre the only company that was willing to give it a go, it is a niche game in a niche hobby. A large developer would not see enough profit for the game, even less so as a 100% port of the boardgame.
Yes, but any developer worth their salt could do a little research into the massive scope of 40K and see the HUGE amount of potential the setting has. Look at Halo, GoW, or CoD. These are the top shooters on the market. They are Bearenstien Bears when compared to the backstory and ambience of WH. Think of the potential within DMO. Or what a SM sequel could be if a dev built upon what is already a solid platform with miles of potential. Think about what GW could do if they stepped outside the confines of modelling. 40K could kill the big gaming franchises in the right hands.
Anf Im sure Space Hulk will be a great game, and I would definitely buy it if it hits a platform I can use. Im just looking at the big picture hete, because that is simply how I think.
nc
d3m01iti0n wrote: So this is a phone/pad/PC game. And not for Droid.
So like the multimedia codecies, it is completely useless to me.
WTFGW..........WTF.
Umm.... you do realise, tha unlike the codex, GW has no control over what system a developer choose for the games.
I am 99% positive that it was GW's choice, as they probably had their choice of developers, and chose to go with this one.
Had there choice of developer, it would be nice to think so. But, the truth is more likey they werre the only company that was willing to give it a go, it is a niche game in a niche hobby. A large developer would not see enough profit for the game, even less so as a 100% port of the boardgame.
Yes, but any developer worth their salt could do a little research into the massive scope of 40K and see the HUGE amount of potential the setting has. Look at Halo, GoW, or CoD. These are the top shooters on the market. They are Bearenstien Bears when compared to the backstory and ambience of WH. Think of the potential within DMO. Or what a SM sequel could be if a dev built upon what is already a solid platform with miles of potential. Think about what GW could do if they stepped outside the confines of modelling. 40K could kill the big gaming franchises in the right hands.
Anf Im sure Space Hulk will be a great game, and I would definitely buy it if it hits a platform I can use. Im just looking at the big picture hete, because that is simply how I think.
nc
Then they look at Blood Bowl the other niche game using GW IP. See how it done, realise Spacehulk has far less a rabid fan base, and that even cyanide didn't think blood bowl would sell as a 100% port, so tacked on the Blitz mode (someone should be shot for Blitz mode, by the way). Then notice people that were not blood bowl fan, post about how bad Blitz mode is and that they wouldn't of spent the money (sometime 5-10$) on the game if the new. Just becouse fans of a game think it will make a great game a sell tons, dose not mean it will, and the truth is, it will not sell enough to make it worth a big developer effort. I love Spacehulk and will be buying it, but it don't change the facts.
d3m01iti0n wrote: Look at Halo, GoW, or CoD. These are the top shooters on the market. They are Bearenstien Bears when compared to the backstory and ambience of WH.
Don't even let a Halo fanboy let you say that!
But in all seriousness, in order to play with the 'big boys' GW would have to give up some measure of control, and that will never ever happen. For all their change over the past 20-30 years, GW still wants to be that little niche company that does it all themselves (and is the only one on the market...).
d3m01iti0n wrote: Look at Halo, GoW, or CoD. These are the top shooters on the market. They are Bearenstien Bears when compared to the backstory and ambience of WH.
Don't even let a Halo fanboy let you say that!
But in all seriousness, in order to play with the 'big boys' GW would have to give up some measure of control, and that will never ever happen. For all their change over the past 20-30 years, GW still wants to be that little niche company that does it all themselves (and is the only one on the market...).
Absolutely. Only GW and it's wholey owned subsidiaries are allowed to mess up the intellectual property on any regular basis.
notprop wrote: I liked the old space hulk game as well (smashing the space bar sending unlimited bolts down the corridor ftw!) but I kinda hope this more than a computer version of the game, I suspect not though.
It's sad that I will buy no matter what it's like.
Haha yes me too, I've spent far too much time on Warhammer games over the years and most of them probably didn't deserve it.
Would love it if someone found a way to get Chaos Gate to run on Windows 7 though..
The reason I still keep my crappy first laptop is because it is the only thing I can scratch that Chaos Gate itch with. I love the way the Cultists explode in a burts of goo when you hit them with bolters. The voice excerpts are good as well.
"Apothecary, I am woooounded" and "May the heat of a thousand stars consume you".
I could never get Final Liberation to work though!
Looking forward to a Space Hulk game. I haven't played that sort of computer game since "Aliens" on the ZX Spectrum 48K
I don't think people here understand how gaming liscenses work nowdays. Long gone are IPs sold lock stock and barrel to a company (like FASA did with their lines to microsoft thank god he finally got them back). GW probably only gave Relic/THQ permission to make X number of RTS games for 40k, EA got to make a fantasy MMO and now This little company is making an iOS game. Game devs seem to be chomping at the bit for IPs to publish games for so its a sellers market.
Just because some no name company can use the IP doesn't mean someone else can't if the IP holder decides otherwise and it doesn't violate existing contracts.
Paitryn wrote: I don't think people here understand how gaming liscenses work nowdays. Long gone are IPs sold lock stock and barrel to a company (like FASA did with their lines to microsoft thank god he finally got them back). GW probably only gave Relic/THQ permission to make X number of RTS games for 40k, EA got to make a fantasy MMO and now This little company is making an iOS game. Game devs seem to be chomping at the bit for IPs to publish games for so its a sellers market.
Just because some no name company can use the IP doesn't mean someone else can't if the IP holder decides otherwise and it doesn't violate existing contracts.
Actually, I think that's pretty much the understanding most of have on the subject - thanks though!
Looks really exciting so far! It would be nice for them if they can get some extra coverage on the back of X-Com, which has kind of brought the turn-based strategy game back into mainstream focus again.
I hope they can expand beyond the premise of the board game a little - the bits about being in control of the whole operation, scanning the interior of the hulk etc, rather than just having someone play through the campaign missions of the boardgame sounds very promising.
Unfortunately its blocked at my office so hopefully its good stuff
EDIT: checked it out on my phone. Lots of good info and a couple EXCELLENT screenshots. Getting psyched!
Thanks for the link. After reading that I'm actually interested in this game. The designer sounds very enthusiastic. Which is promising. Before reading that I wasn't bothered about it but now I'm on their side. I didn't realise it had GW's support.
Because its supposed to be a turn based strategy, Xcom/Chaos Gate-esque, squad game?
Im confused, look elsewhere if thats what you want
Also,
Thomas Hentschel Lund: We don’t want to go in and change a really cool, well-balanced, well-played game, and we’re not going to dumb it down so it turns into a shooter.
FPS' are a dime a dozen, and most of them are barely indistinguishable from the next, so I'm glad they're making it a strategy game.
Well... if we're to take the surprise fall tabletop limited edition game release schedule to mean anything, it'll be dreadfleet. That's just about as good, right?
To be fair, as a $9.99 iPad board game dread fleet is plenty of fun to play with a friend or two if you don't have something better to do. it's the $100 pricetag and rather monofunctional (is that even a word?) minis which made the board game the disaster it was - with a lower pricetag it's just a 'nice enough, but not very replayable or memorable' board game.
TBH, I wouldn't mind portable DF with a decent AI (how hard can it be? game is like 60-70% chance ) to spend 20-30min on on a train or sth like that based on the demos I played.
I haven't seen the trailers... the only experience with any of the older games was with a demo on the 3DO... regardless I'll buy it. I really dig turned based stuff. And Terminators hunting down nids is always cool.
They are trying to have the board-game experience translated to PC. If successful it should be great fun. Graphics look solid from the new screen shots.
I have the old Spacehulk port for Nokia phones, great fun on the metro, with all the original levels. Main reason I have not upgraded my phone actually :-D
Any of the Specalist games would be welcome. I doubt that GorkaMorka would work though.
Necromunda or a Battle Fleet Gothic game (using the campaign rules) would be my own personal preference.
Now that Sega owns relic, we need Relic to take a stab at Battlefleet Gothic, assuming, of course, there's anyone left at that studio from the Homeworld days.
At any rate, I'll be glad to see more of this Space Hulk game develop, I'm cautiously optimistic after reading the RPS interview.
This looks fantastic. It’s good to see the SpaceHulk license in the hands of people that understand turn based. I hope they leave the door open for add-ons like skins, new tile sets, new units like the 2nd ed WD rules for using normal marines. Maybe all this stuff could be handled in micro transaction. In my mind I have already bought this
Now to dig put my old Chaos gate and Final Liberation
Must’a played that final mission in Vengeance of the Blood Angels so many times before I could get it right. The biggest problem was a flamer guy who had to turn around to fight off the Genestealers but there were so many that he never got a chance to walk forward. I was in the final room standing there and he was in the door way, but he never made it into the room so we lost every time.
One thing I did like in that game was that you could order all your Terminators, including yourself. If you gave an order to your own character you would automatically walk to your destination and, best of all, automatically fire at targets along the way. The AI was quicker and a better shot than me.
Yeah it was easier to fire on blips on the scanner than it was to identify a target visually in those dim and rank corridors!
Still my abiding memory of that game is sending a rapid stream of glowing bolts down a corridor into the dark and hearing genestealers die explosively until the dreaded jam, then all the sneaky ones would charge up you might slap one but you knew the second or third would smash your face in. Great days.
Clearly this man does not read RPS. The news of Space Hulk reaching our computerised shores has not reached him. “This is INCREDIBLE,” he announces, and then he launches into a torrent of Wouldn’t It Be Cool Ifs which encompass Marine vs Marine combat, Necromunda, Grey Knights, daemons, why Warhammer has so few robots, something about angry men, and everything else 40k besides.
Well any dev who gets a substantial angry marines reference into a gw-licensed video game without GW bringing down the hammer is an instant legend.
....Shame that probably isn't the point, though
Jake Solomon and the XCOM team need to do a Necromunda type video game. I wouldn't be seen for a couple of days. I had to make sure I had plenty of produce or naked drinks in the house.
When developer Thomas Hentschel Lund started work on adapting the classic Warhammer 40K board game Space Hulk to PC and iOS, he ran into problem familiar to a lot of Warhammer fans: it’s become almost impossible to find, despite a recent reprint. Even Games Workshop aren’t immune. They have a single copy in their library and refused to let it out of their sight, even for the developer working on the only licensed Space Hulk videogame.
Fortunately for fans of Space Marines and the Genestealers who hunt them aboard a derelict starship, Lund has always been a Space Hulk fanatic and had his own prized third edition copy that he brought around and showed to the rest of his team at Full Control. Thanks to Lund’s and Full Control’s efforts, soon we’ll all be able to lead an elite team of Space Marines to their grisly deaths or immortal glory.
Judging from what I saw at GDC, my bet would be on “grisly death”. Space Hulk is packed with artful menace: the Space Marines’ helmet headlamps cast frail light over the dark, narrow corridors of the Sin of Damnation capturing dust motes in the stale air. Fans turn slowly overhead, casting shifting shadows on the walls and floor. The ship is alive with faint hisses and groans, and as the Space Marines begin their advance, the fast skittering of Tyranid Genestealers.
Space Hulk is very simple, when you come down to it. The starship is a claustrophobic death trap where most hallways are single-file, and Tyranids are usually pouring in from every side corridor. Each mission usually has some objective on the floor plan where the Blood Angel strike team needs to go before the Genestealers’ numbers become overwhelming. Speed and prudence are at war with one another.
Lund hopes that with the new fans the 40K universe has won via Relic’s Dawn of War series and Space Marine, plus the increased interest in turn-based tactical games following XCOM’s success, his adaptation of Space Hulk will find a large audience among PC and iOS users.
On the other hand, Space Hulk’s superficial similarities to XCOM could also be misleading. XCOM is ultimately about winning a series of firefights against a similar adversary. Space Hulk’s action is completely asymmetric: you can’t defeat the Tyranids, only stave off destruction long enough to complete your objective. It hinges on knowing who to sacrifice to the ravening hordes to buy time while the rest of the squad runs like hell for the objective. While the various members of the team have special weapons and abilities (in the narrow corridors, the flamer reigns supreme), there’s not a lot of room for maneuver.
In the scenario Lund played for me, his team had to advance on a control room and get the flamethrower in there to clean it out. If the soldier with the flamethrower died, he’d fail the mission. Trouble was, the flamer is also the most effective tool for crowd-control.
The flamer took point up the main corridor while his bolter and power-fist wielding comrades peeled off behind him to adopt block positions at each intersection. After each Space Marine turn, more Genestealers would begin flooding onto the map. The Space Marines tried to thin the herd and keep the Genestealers at arm’s length as they moved.
Space Hulk feels like a battle against the inevitable and in no time the beleagured Blood Angels were surrounded by Tyranids. Lund lost the mission when he sent his flamer unit one space too far, running out of action points so that he could not actually trigger the weapon. That allowed the Genestealers to close within melee range. The flamer got off one final burst, igniting an entire corridor and most of another intersecting corridor, but the lead Genestealer survived and slashed him down with its claws.
“I thought that would go better,” Lund admitted with a sigh.
Lund promises several different scenarios for Space Hulk after it comes out sometime this fall (hopefully), and the original Space Hulk eventually featured several different expansion campaigns that might make their way to the videogame adaptation. But for now, he’s just focusing on the original campaign missions and hoping veteran Warmhammer fans will lead newcomers, like Dawn of War and Space Marine players, to this adaptation of a cult classic.
Judging on the looks and sound of Space Hulk, Lund and Full Control have made a stylish and appealing adaptation of the original board game. The big question is whether Space Hulk itself will offer the kind of variety and challenge to hold the interest of armchair tacticians.
My head knows this. But as someone who has read a truly shameful amount of Warhammer 40K novels, I’m not sure my heart cares. Let me at those Genestealers.
The first developer Q&A session for Space Hulk talking about rules, multiplayer, chapters in the game etc.
As you might have seen in the video, we got a ultra cool Lorenzo roll-up produced. So here is Michael with his creation in a quick shot from the office!
Games Workshop’s table-top products often rely on an intrinsic degree of chance when it comes to determining the difference between success and failure on the battlefield.
It’s fitting, then, that there should be an element of randomness in how Danish developer Full Control came to be working on a digital version of the 1989 board game, Space Hulk.
For years, company CEO Thomas Hentschel Lund had been pitching the concept to long-term Warhammer 40K licence holder THQ, but his metaphorical D6 dice-rolls had had failed to find a chink in the publisher’s stubborn armour and he’d been refused or otherwise completely ignored.
Then, at GDC last year, Lund had a chance encounter with a certain Mr Ian Livingstone, a co-founder of Games Workshop. Lund’s impassioned recounting of his own desire to recreate classic board games in digital form, and in particular Space Hulk, caught Livingstone’s imagination.
This chance meeting by an open fire in a hotel lobby was even more serendipitous because it wasn’t until Livingstone handed over his business card at the end of the conversation that Lund realised to whom he’d been accidentally pitching. Without knowing that he was even rolling the dice, Lund had come up with double sixes.
THQ’s collapse earlier this year, along with Livingstone’s introduction of Lund to the head of licensing at Games Workshop, cleared the way for Full Control to pitch its proposed treatment of Space Hulk directly to the 40K gatekeeper.
To Lund’s delight, his company’s passion to create a video game that is faithful to the board game’s structure, pace and rule-set was rewarded and Full Control was granted its long sought after licence. All of which explains how it is that I come to be stood with Lund at PC expo Rezzed as he talks me through the key features of his company’s vision of the twenty-four-year-old board game.
Lund highlights that Space Hulk’s 15 level single-player campaign, the head-to-head versus mode and the currently undetermined number of co-op levels are designed to recreate the tense atmosphere of the board game by being very challenging.
While Space Hulk draws heavily on its roots, both for its difficulty level and mechanical nuts and bolts, Full Control is also looking to include other, more recent influences and so an XCOM-style action camera is occasionally utilised to show a more dynamic view of the action.
In addition, having moves tracked by the computer rather than by feeble human memory means you there are no concerns of losing track of who’s done what and so you have greater flexibility to swap between Marines mid-turn. This allows for a more unified approach as you swap between your Terminators mid-move to react to threats as they are revealed on the map, which again calls to mind the two-stage movement approach necessary to survive XCOM’s tougher difficulty levels.
There are minimal UI constraints or fiddly obstacles to impede your ability to charge headlong into the fray but while your company of Blood Angel Terminators are imposing and suitably massive, their fragile mortality will quickly be exposed to fools that rush in.
Should you allow your units to become surrounded or fail to save enough command points to place them on overwatch, the inexorable march of so many Genestealers will cut through your squad like a powersword through butter.
Sadly, it’s something that I experience firsthand. Skipping the three-level introduction that’s designed to teach Space Hulk virgins the importance of creating kill-zones in narrow corridors, the necessity of overwatch and the Genestealers lethality in close quarters, I jump straight into the first “suicide mission” of Space Hulk’s 12-mission Sin of Damnation campaign.
My performance is disastrous. After a promising start in which my Terminators tentatively explore the ship layout on their way to flaming the command room, a number of random dice rolls go against me. As each Genestealer unit is revealed as a blip on the radar, virtual dice are rolled to determine whether that blip represents one, two or three enemies, which soon results in my facing-off against a corridor full of multiple sets of three, multi-limbed menaces.
Considering my options, I flame the corridor and the wide spread of the weapon takes out several fiends towards the back of the encroaching pack. Unfortunately for me, the flames miss those Genestealers closest to me. This leaves me dangerously exposed and while ending my turn on overwatch enables a reaction shot on my opponent’s turn that takes out one of their vanguard, subsequent shots fail to connect and allow the Genestealers into melee.
It ends soon after in a savage flurry of tooth and claw. The demise of my lead unit allows Genestealers to pile into the room I’d been guarding and they quickly tear into the exposed backs of my other Terminators who I’d stretched in multiple directions to explore other areas of the ship. It quickly turns into a massacre and I have nobody to blame but myself.
Discussing my poor performance with Lund, I’m struck by how encouraging and heartening it is to hear him speak of both the individual game elements and the overall development of the project with such genuine enthusiasm and obvious affection.
After various attempts throughout the industry to apply the 40K licence to some ill-suited genres with some very mixed results, fans of board games should be excited by both the zeal and faithfulness with which Full Control is approaching its task here.
In addition, those without prior knowledge of Space Hulk but who warm to the idea of a challenging, tactical turn-based title should also continue to pay attention. Following the initial PC launch, Full Control will release an iPad version with cross-platform functionality, followed by a level editor to enable players to create maps for themselves and one another.
Full Control is almost ready to roll the dice on its take on a digital board game. The developer will be hoping to score a critical hit when Space Hulk launches via Steam this coming autumn.
Didn't care about this game before, but now seeing the video, I am interested in it. Wish it would have come on the xbox, just prefer to play my games on a console instead of a computer.
Also when I saw, "video on page 4" I thought it was the cartoon video it was talking about. That was a good laugh.
Now that Sega owns relic, we need Relic to take a stab at Battlefleet Gothic, assuming, of course, there's anyone left at that studio from the Homeworld days.
Thread title should probably be updated, since it's available for pre-order! $30 will get you the game and the pre-order bonuses, which are frankly pretty paltry. I'm so down for the game though, very excited.
To be honest, slapping a few skins onto an existing engine and making it play some existing board game rules does not a game worth €28 make. I understand most of that will be a license fee but really, this is kind of ridiculous.
weren't they going to put out an iOS version? I hope that one will be somewhat more reasonably priced but I fear the worst, TBH.
really do like the idea but I can get XCOM for barely over half of this on iOS and that's pretty premium as far as both games and prices go.
Bolognesus wrote: To be honest, slapping a few skins onto an existing engine and making it play some existing board game rules does not a game worth €28 make. I understand most of that will be a license fee but really, this is kind of ridiculous.
weren't they going to put out an iOS version? I hope that one will be somewhat more reasonably priced but I fear the worst, TBH.
really do like the idea but I can get XCOM for barely over half of this on iOS and that's pretty premium as far as both games and prices go.
It'll be on iOS and Android as well. They hope to put it out on XBLA/PSN too, but that's still up in the air.
Alkasyn wrote: This looks much better than I expected, but is still not worth 30 USD. I'd get it for half that.
Think I'm probably in the same boat.. looks nice, and the multiplayer feature sounds interesting (a necessity after you get through those campaign missions) but I'd much rather play the actual thing around the table with a friend in person.
I'll likely be getting this one after its significantly discounted. Personally, I would have preferred if slavish dedication to the exact mechanics of the board game was just a niche option in the game and not the basic premise. That said, I'm willing to give it a try eventually but not at the price they said they'd be charging (similar to how I treated the Ultramarine movie and I certainly don't regret missing out on the full price of that one). In the meantime, I'll have to just scratch my space hulk itches with the minis in normal 40k and youtube videos like this.
I was going to buy it when it hits Steam Sale, but I figure I'll play it a bit, and it'll certainly be easier than getting a game of the boardgame, since my group always wants to play other things. I wonder if I'll shake off all that rust, and become quite good at SH, thus ensuring that my friends never want to play me again...
I'm hoping for either simple mods to change the Termies' livery (as seen in Space Marine) or inexpensive DLC.
In one of the tech convention videos from earlier this summer during which they play the game and interview one of the devs, they confirmed that you'll be able to download different chapters as DLC but they didn't comment on the price.
Goat wrote: "We didn't have time to put the walking animations in..."
If he admits that, I wonder what else is broken.
$30.00 for an incomplete game...
What do you mean? I'm prettty sure there is walking animations in it now, there wasn't when they demonstrated the early beta.
I will most likely be reading a review or two before buying this, but if it's even remotely good, I'll probably be buying it.
I got it. Well I guess I pre-ordered it since I can't install it yet. So my question is since I am new to using Steam, did I pre-order it and get the bonus stuff?
Also how will I know when I can install it? Never pre-ordered anything .
Went to the Steam forums, it seems nobody has the game yet. No reviews either.
Not being able to download yet, I can understand, glitches what not, but no reviews? Usually when you get a movie or game come out with not allowing any reviews mean it's a bad movie game. Now I am starting to get a bit worried. Usually you get reviews out before the release to hype it up.
Well I folded and have bought it. £23 a little pricey for what essentially is just going to be the one player game against mediocre AI (if it follows the Blood Bowl example).
At about 20% download at the time of writing.
Have to admit the 'no copy available for review' is usually a reason for alarm bells (think most recently about Colonial Marines, although this has been a tactic of publishers knowingly releasing a stinker for some time) but I'm hoping in this case it's the fact that it's a small publisher, or GW's twattish policy towards marketing/new releases.
On Mac boo pro, seems ok so far. Tried the hot seat, and it's buggy. Can't get past turn 3 genestealer turn. Nothing happens.
Single player seems ok. I keep dying all the time. LOL.
Just like the board game so far. Trying to play genestealer in single player, don't think I can. So far it's ok, I can see it getting repetitive though.
Looks like no iOS version for now, and not even any word on when it may be released. That's a bit of a piss off, they should have clarified that to fans.
After playing this for an hour or so:
- you get 3 prequel missions that serve as a tutorial for the game. All of this is based around the 'Sin of Damnation' campaign from the board game, and these missions are stripped down versions of those. Fun to play even if you know what you are doing. You then go into the campaign 'proper' which again are the missions from the boxed game.
- Graphics are nice, isometric view with limited zoom/rotation. The marines are exact copies of the miniatures (names too), IIRC down to scrolls/pendants on them and the silly winged chalice thing on the top of Lorenzo that everyone I know removed from the model - nice animation, a little bit basic in this day and age but the good news is this should be playable on even older computers with limited graphics cards. Camera zooms in complete with catchphrase when something is killed. Bolt guns make a nice sound, voices make James Earl Jones sound like a castrato (kind of laughed as a marine calmly intones 'avenge my death my brothers' while a genestealer is ripping his head off!)
- Nice little touch with the 'undo' button - anyone who accidentally tried to move a troll through several tackle zones in the BB game will be glad of this!
A tentative overall view so far - it's fun, but with nothing like the depth (or as polished) as the Blood Bowl game. No doubt the multiplayer will give it some longevity, although this has already made me think about playing the actual game again!
Anybody else having trouble "cleansing" the dead Techmarines? I've tried shooting them with the flamer & autocannon as described but nothing happens...
MajorTom11 wrote: Looks like no iOS version for now, and not even any word on when it may be released. That's a bit of a piss off, they should have clarified that to fans.
Ah well, Plants vs Zombies 2 it is lol
At least the ios is still planned... it seems like the android version was just dropped.
As others have said, it is basically a computer version of the board game.
Same maps, same actions, same objectives. In fact, the amount of time it takes to move the models is akin to the time it takes to move the pieces on the board game...
If you like Space Hulk, the board game, you will most likely enjoy this if you want a computer version.
If you hate Space Hulk, this won't convert you.
If you have always wanted to try Space Hulk, you can and this costs less than an ebay copy...
evancich wrote: As others have said, it is basically a computer version of the board game.
Same maps, same actions, same objectives. In fact, the amount of time it takes to move the models is akin to the time it takes to move the pieces on the board game...
If you like Space Hulk, the board game, you will most likely enjoy this if you want a computer version.
If you hate Space Hulk, this won't convert you.
If you have always wanted to try Space Hulk, you can and this costs less than an ebay copy...
It's a bit different than the board game due to no set up time. I actually tend to like computerized versions of board games like this a lot more, since you get the same strategy but without the hours of set up.
If you like Space Hulk, the board game, you will most likely enjoy this if you want a computer version.
Except self-confessed Space Hulk fanboy Rab Florence absolutely savaged it over on RPS, so if you're more than a casual fan it sounds like it might be best to pretend it doesn't exist.
Yep, the animations are slow. But, the way we play Space Hulk, the marines are assigned voices and talk while walking down the hallway.
I don't have a problem seeing the doors.
Generally, at least 30 years ago, when playing hot seat, somebody left the room when it wasn't their turn. Plus, stealing a glance is a time honored tradition. Like learning to play GoldenEye by looking at the screens that aren't your own...
He wants the same level of interaction in overwatch as he gets when he is face-to-face across the table from a human player, he wants that but in a room, sitting in front of a monitor, playing a computer opponent? Wow, he has unrealistic expectations.
Also, I disagree with overwatch being the tense part of Space Hulk, the tense part for me is when my squad isn't deployed correctly and I open a door and start to wonder if I can get backup to that marine in time.
Again, this is a very faithful translation of Space Hulk to the PC.
I've never played the board game and I'm enjoying this. It can be quite frustrating though. On the Mission starting with the Librarian and Twin Lightning Claw Marine... very annoying, still enjoying the challenge.
The more I play of this game the more I see it as a wasted opportunity. That there are some people on meta-critic claiming this is an x-com beater I find absolutely hilarious.. seriously, what planet are they on? (presumably they are comparing to the original x-com game.. actually, no even that offered more of a gaming experience!)
It's not bad, if one is to accept the very limited objectives that it has set for itself, but I can only assume it was made by a very small studio with very limited resources (including time). In this day and age we expect more - and especially for £23 (found it pretty funny as well that on launch you can pay £1.50 for some new alien skins, so you can have the 12 polygon genestealers in different colours )
evancich wrote: As others have said, it is basically a computer version of the board game.
Same maps, same actions, same objectives. In fact, the amount of time it takes to move the models is akin to the time it takes to move the pieces on the board game...
If you like Space Hulk, the board game, you will most likely enjoy this if you want a computer version.
If you hate Space Hulk, this won't convert you.
If you have always wanted to try Space Hulk, you can and this costs less than an ebay copy...
It's a bit different than the board game due to no set up time. I actually tend to like computerized versions of board games like this a lot more, since you get the same strategy but without the hours of set up.
Was going to say the opposite - in any usual situation I would much prefer the boardgame. If this game had modern-era graphics and presentation, thumping sound effects in dolby as your half-million polygon marine knocked chunks off the rag-doll physics animated genestealer, then I might have agreed with you.. same if they had done as with Blood Bowl, and tried to make a live-action version or some real one player campaign with some element of continuity (brother deimos died in the previous game in a room full of genestealers and a flamed room? no problem, good as new in next mission).
Also it has graphics that wouldn't look out of place ten years ago and absolutely zero use of technology to move this in any way before the boardgame.. I couldn't in all good conscience recommend this until it drops to the £10 mark or below, and even then with the caveat that you would have to be a big fan of the boardgame.
How are the kill animations? Are they generally the same faux isometric view as all the screen pics shown or do they default to a fancier customized kill animation ala XCOM EU? The XCOM EU kil animations had the occasional glitch like clipping through terrain and firing in odd directions but they definitely added some current gen animation flare to an otherwise old school type game.
Yep, the animations are slow. But, the way we play Space Hulk, the marines are assigned voices and talk while walking down the hallway.
I don't have a problem seeing the doors.
Generally, at least 30 years ago, when playing hot seat, somebody left the room when it wasn't their turn. Plus, stealing a glance is a time honored tradition. Like learning to play GoldenEye by looking at the screens that aren't your own...
He wants the same level of interaction in overwatch as he gets when he is face-to-face across the table from a human player, he wants that but in a room, sitting in front of a monitor, playing a computer opponent? Wow, he has unrealistic expectations.
Also, I disagree with overwatch being the tense part of Space Hulk, the tense part for me is when my squad isn't deployed correctly and I open a door and start to wonder if I can get backup to that marine in time.
Again, this is a very faithful translation of Space Hulk to the PC.
QFT, computer games forum has some alternative opinions and reviews.
That RPS review was pure gak imho.
Been playing on my nice powerful work computer over lunch time today. Very impressive. Overwatch feels so cool I played on version 1.02 so a lot of bugs fixed. When looking at the credits I noticed there was only three coders compared to nine artists so I am not surprised so many bugs made it into the original release.
My only gripe is the animation lacks character and punch. Technically- I think they have been quite heavy handed with the compression and the transition system feels very basic considering the characters are quite present on the screen.
1.0.3
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Going into Hotseat mode on continue fixed
Difficulty levels being reset after continue game are fixed
Broodlord skins now follow the DLC skin option
Achievements now also include overwatch kills
“Exemplar of the Codex Astartes” bugs fixed
“Relic Bearer” fixed not to be achieved with a dead bearer
“Light in the Darkness” description updated and bugs fixed
“For the Emperor and Sanguinius” spelling and bugs fixed
Genestealers walking on dead genestealers will splat them
Exit marker on mission 11
Assault cannon now uses Mac friendly overheated material
Disabled restart button in options menu for hotseat and MP Ingame UI fixes
1.0.4
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When playing Hotseat, all Genestealer info is hidden unless you press space or the “Show info” button.
Fixed Gideon bug + rerolls bug in easy mode - was forcing genestealers roll 1 dice less on any reroll if there was previous dice subtraction applied due to shield or difficulty level.
Fixed the wrong calculations of the tile positions causing the misclicks on the tiles.
Fixed left genestealers count calculation logic.
Tutorial pop-ups now only shows in Singleplayer
Manual section re-made. Text and visuals fixed
Close combat can no longer give achievements when dying
Action Camera will now never show when set to “Never” show option
Broodlord button will not be visible if the broodlord has been already revealed.
Remaining Genestealers count now show correct number
Broodlord now available in Mission 12
Hardware cursor now working properly
Fixed the MP slots bug leading the slots cannot be deleted sometimes + also wrong slot can be deleted instead of needed one.
Mission 6 shows number of exited Terminators and number of revived Terminators
Mission 11 changed description in the objectives list
Lowest resolution set to 1024x768
Fixed the bug with weapons being rotated in wrong direction after move+fire
Changed win condition for mission 10 to match the objectives list (kill all genestealers)
Hibernating Broodlords now occupies the tile they are placed on in mission 11
Cost indication now shows correctly when targeting an enemy
Menu shows your online status
Objectives list can now be turned off in options
AntiAliasing integrated into Quality option
Forged in Battle achievement fixed
Objectives in the briefing now possible to show longer list
Achievements popup now wider so all text fits within (or otherwise cut off)
Fixed pathfinder issue in mission 12 that led to the game crash
Fixed sidestep animation error for Broodlord, leading to not playing these animations.
Timer is now always paused when options menu is opened
Fixed a number of action errors including Librarian skills where wrong tiles were active to perform action on
Added 1 second delay starting intro movie
Well, I'm glad that they're attempting to fix things but alot of that stuff seems like it easily should have been found prior to release (like text not fitting in windows). It sounds a bit like a college project that was started on time but then had the majority of the work done after a long slacker break with an all nighter just before the due date.
warboss wrote: Well, I'm glad that they're attempting to fix things but alot of that stuff seems like it easily should have been found prior to release (like text not fitting in windows). It sounds a bit like a college project that was started on time but then had the majority of the work done after a long slacker break with an all nighter just before the due date.
That's exactly how I would describe it also.
After some time playing the game - even disregarding the negatives of the many bugs, or the fact they got the rules wrong from the game, but more a judgement on the absolute lack of anything creative or special about this game...
My verdict.. (If any developers are reading this I don't want to hurt your feelings, I have hidden it behind a spoiler.. )
Spoiler:
The game sucks. Buy it once it drops to £5, use it to re-kindle your enthusiasm in the real board game, then play that (vastly superior in the board game format) and enjoy that game with a friend.
I'm glad they're ironing out bugs relatively quickly, probably should've released it a week later if it was gonna end up as such though. I'll definitely pick it up when it's a wee bit cheaper.
Take this with a grain of salt as I won't be getting the game until it's $5 (not a huge fan of the board game despite getting 3 copies for the terminators)... but from an outsider perspective looking in... this game seems like it would have benefited from one of those paid beta releases. Likely the same people that bought it day 1 would have bought it on a trial beta for a slightly reduced price. Credit them the same amount on the official release and offer some sort of a minor freebie (like a set of beta skins) and you avoid releasing something with this many easily noticeable issues and keep the good will of the community (as well as get better reviews for the final product).
warboss wrote: Take this with a grain of salt as I won't be getting the game until it's $5 (not a huge fan of the board game despite getting 3 copies for the terminators)... but from an outsider perspective looking in... this game seems like it would have benefited from one of those paid beta releases. Likely the same people that bought it day 1 would have bought it on a trial beta for a slightly reduced price. Credit them the same amount on the official release and offer some sort of a minor freebie (like a set of beta skins) and you avoid releasing something with this many easily noticeable issues and keep the good will of the community (as well as get better reviews for the final product).
I think you're getting too much in to it, the game really isn't that complicated or that deep, decent in-house QA testing and slightly more development time should have worked out all the bugs. Games that benefit from a paid beta are ones where the games are closer to the limits and actually need to be stress tested and tweaked and/or game servers need to be stress tested and tweaked.
Granted, I haven't played the game, so maybe I'm out of line... but looking at the videos, this game looks extremely simple for a $30 title, there's a very limited set of things that can happen compared to most other games these days given the gridded map and turn based nature.
With 1.0.4 going live these minutes, its time to look forward. There has been various info released here and there, so I just wanted to give this quick look into our plans ahead.
There are multiple productions going on right now in different areas. The exact release dates are not frozen yet until we go a little further into development (and after some sleep/vacation).
Some of these are going to be free and additional content is going out as paid expansions. Especially the bigger content expansions as we are putting significant resources into these to expand the game out from the Sin of Damnation campaign.
A totally random order and non-complete list below:
- Coop and new campaign
No surprise as its been talked about a lot. Will add a coop campaign for up to 3 players to play a terminator squad each against the AI. Campaign also playable by a single person.
- New Space Marine chapter
We are not yet ready to announce which, but its in the works and might be a little surprising to people. As soon as we have the first Terminator ready to show, we are announcing what it is. Will come with a small "chapter only" campaign
- Squad/Unit customization
With the new chapter pack above, we are planning to add a squad customizer so you can build , name and field your own Terminators. The exact way this is going to work is still being designed.
- Several new campaign packs
We have a selection of old White Dwarf missions as well as brand new original designed missions/campaigns in the works. These will be released over the next months as fast as we can produce them
- Localization
German, Italian, Spanish, French and Russian translations of all text is in the early stages
- Level editor
Over the next months we will improve our internal tool chain to be usable by end users. Most likely there will be a series of releases increasing what you can do with the editor, how it integrates with Steam Workshop and upload/download/rating/filtering of content.
- AI and Multiplayer improvements
We want to make the AI harder and more intelligent as well as at the same time improve the multiplayer experience. These are short term top priority for us.
- New rules
Moving forward we are going to add new and original stuff into the mix. We are working on Genestealer variants (NOT hybrids) and other cool stuff that we want to get in to expand Space Hulk in new directions. These things will most likely be integrated parts of the new campaigns.
We are also thankful for a lot of good suggestions in the Suggestions/improvements thread, and are filtering through these to pluck out good ideas or fast to implement ideas
Some of these are going to be free and additional content is going out as paid expansions. Especially the bigger content expansions as we are putting significant resources into these to expand the game out from the Sin of Damnation campaign.
As they charged an extra £1.50 so you could get the genestealers in a beige colour upon release, fair to assume that pretty much all of that list is going to be paid for?
Insert your own Rab C. Nesbitt "You're taking the pee, aren't you? quote here..
We are going to keep people producing content and features for as long as the game and the new content is being bought by you. Continued support of us means continued support of the game.
As posted in the changelog thread, we just released version 1.2 that includes the "Messenger of Purgatory" campaign. Its a cool 3 mission campaign we made ourselves from scratch.
We decided to say THANK YOU to you all and give it away for free to you for sticking with us through the launch and up to now.
We have lots of plan yet, and new content is going to be added continuously moving forward incl. new chapters and bigger campaigns.
Have fun and good luck retrieving Captain Atarius' remains.
I bought this on release, played for maybe 2.5 hours until I couldn't stomach it any more. It's slow and boring. I really wanted to like it. I wasn't expecting it to be anywhere near the level of Xcom, but still...
I might give it another go now that it's been patched some more. I got it as a last-min pre-order, and it failed to blow me away, and then again a couple of weeks later. I don't think it's awful, just a bit underwhelming...
Space Hulk developer Full Control has announced the strategy game’s first expansion “Fangs of Fenris,” which adds the bearded and rather tough Space Wolves chapter into the fight. See the first image of them here.
In a press release issued to VG247 this morning, Full Control confirmed that “Fangs of Fenris” will add the Space Wolves’ ‘Wolf Guard Terminators’ unit into the mix. The expansion is due ‘late 2013′ and will play out across three new missions.
To celebrate the announcement, Full Control will discount Space Hulk on Steam by 33% for 24 hours. >You can check out the game’s product page here.
Thomas Hentschel Lund, CEO of Full Control said in a statement, “When it came to selecting the first expansion chapter for Space Hulk we felt that the introduction the Space Wolves would be both a great addition to the game, and a nod to the fact that our studio is based in the heart of Scandinavia – the Viking kingdoms of the past.
“Devastatingly ferocious in attack and immovably resolute in defense, the Wolf Guard will be a fantastic addition to the Space Hulk universe introducing new gameplay styles and methodology into the classic turn based action”.
Now then, here’s a picture of that beard, I mean, Space Wolves chap.
Automatically Appended Next Post: full newsletter
What a Summer it’s been and we hope you’ve had a chance to enjoy the great weather as well as a bit of vacation. We launched Space Hulk mid August, so we have been busy tweaking, fixing and improving various aspects of the game, which is also why we decided to postpone the Newsletter until now.
A lot has happened since the announcement of the Space Hulk pre-order, which we covered in our last newsletter and as always we’ll be giving you a quick overview of the progress for our different games.
Space Hulk
------
We’re currently making larger content updates than initially, so the frequency of updates will slow down to allow for the design, creation and testing to be done without rushing it.
We just made patch 1.2 live, which contains the first expansion campaign “Messenger of Purgatory” that we've been working on as well as more performance upgrades, visual upgrades and bugfixes.
We’ll also be looking to increase the performance and visual in the game even further, which is mainly possible because we have hired super talented tech artist. He has identified several places where we can improve performance with new shaders and at the same time improving the looks!
- New Space Marine chapter
Today we have announced which chapter we’ll be adding to the game first and it may be surprising to some of our fans. It is going to be the legendary Space Wolves!! The chapter expansion will include the 3 mission campaign “Fangs of Fenris” from White Dwarf #200 as well as 3 new weapons Frost Axe, Frost Blade and Wolf Claws. If you want to read more about the announcement you can see the press release HERE
To celebrate we’ll be having our first Steam Sale tomorrow, on Saturday 12th of October, where you’ll be able to grab yourself a copy of Space Hulk with a 33% discount.
You can buy it on Steam HERE
We’ve also started selling Space Hulk on our own website and GamerGate, see HERE
- iPad
During work on the iPad version, we also identify more and more places to save memory and improve performance. Those fixes (as long as they don’t compromise the PC version in a negative way) are being put into the PC build as well.
The ETA of this version is "when its done". We keep getting requests for a date, but besides saying that it's this year, we don’t want to commit ourselves to something that might shift a week or two. As soon as we have something more firm we will let you know. Soon™!
- Several new campaign packs
We have a selection of old White Dwarf missions as well as brand new original designed missions/campaigns in the works. These will be released over the next months as fast as we can produce them.
We are also thankful for a lot of good suggestions in the Suggestions/improvements thread, and are filtering through these to pluck out good ideas or fast to implement ideas.
Interesting... they seem to be sticking to the "here is the almost exact digital version of the GW paper/plastic product" mould with the white dwarf stuff being the first DLC. I say almost because, if memory serves me, WD200 predated the latest Space Hulk release by almost a decade so was designed for a slightly different earlier version.
Space Hulk developer Full Control has released two new campaigns for its strategy title. Say hello to ‘Sword of Halcyon’ and ‘Defilement of Honour.’
It follows confirmation of the game’s first full expansion called Space Hulk: Fangs of Fenris. It’s all about the Space Wolves chapter. Get the first image through the link.
In a press release sent to VG247 today, Full Control confirmed that Defilement of Honour and Sword of Halycon are on Steam now at $4.99 each. Hit the titles to see their respective product pages.
In Sword of Halcyon, players will stumble across the titular ship, which has become infected with Genestealers after crashing into a Space Hulk vessel. It introduces bulkhead doors that Terminators can close to seal off enemies.
Meanwhile, in Defilement of Honour, a chapter of Blood Angels must destroy an infested Space Hulk by first trashing its engine room. This campaign introduces air ducts that Genestealers can scurry through.
We’ve got two images below. Let us know what you think.
The iPad version of the turn-based strategy Space Hulk game launches on the App Store on 5th December, developer Full Control has announced.
Space Hulk, which costs £6.99 / €8.99 / $9.99 from the App Store, features cross-platform play between iPad, PC and Mac. The PC and Mac versions launched in summer 2013.
It's the video game version of the Warhammer 40k board game, which sees a squad of Terminator Space Marines face off against hordes of horrible Genestealers aboard a deserted space ship.
I think they're making it that price for the PC with the inevitable knowledge that the bulk of their sales will come from a 75% off steam sale.
Developers take that stuff into account when pricing for different markets, if you think half the stuff on Steam is actually 50%+ off, you're fooling yourself, it was deliberately high-balled to start with.
There wasn't even a pre-order discount though, so I'm not sure about that. Looks like standard "Charge what you think you can get for it" behaviour, which, yeah, not very ethical. Unless they do the done thing on mobile and start charging 20p to reroll your action points (or 50 Emperor Points or whatever) . Maybe limit you to two missions a day unless you buy Skull Tokens. That seems to be how that gak works. Man, I hate gaming these days.
There is also the possibility that the iPad version will feature a lot of in app purchasing to get stuff that is included in the price of the PC version.
That's what happened with the Baldurs Gate game.
Me and Silver will be doing a Reddit IAmA with all of the other Games Workshop licensee's today. it's live 8 pm. GMT and I will add the link here once it's live. Shoot of any questions you may have there and we'll do our best to answer them.
has something of s summary ... I'm assuming there was a bit more covered
You may have noticed a trend lately with Games Workshop licensed games: they’re increasingly focusing on mobile and tablet markets rather than on PC, or even on console.
In a Reddit AMA overnight, a group of GW licensed developers got together to explain exactly why this was the case.
“We did tablet/mobile because there is where a lot of gamers want it to be,” replied the Chainsaw Warrior developers. “That said our Steam community is amazing.”
Meanwhile, Full Control, developers of Space Hulk, said that “Cross platform/device gaming is maybe not THE future, but definitely makes sense for most of us. One doesnt exclude the other though.”
Other developers were quick to remind Reddit that they were bringing their game to both PC and mobile, and weren’t forgetting about PC.
“These platforms (distribution channels) are easy to enter and the revenues are very good and growing,” added the makers of Space Wolf, the new card game. “We are also historically (over 10 years) a mobile game developer. Still, we would also bring the game to PC and other platforms.”
Eutechnyx, the developers of the just-announced Storm of Vengeance, concluded that “We’re developing for mobile and PC because there’s a fast growing market of gamers who love the Warhammer 40,000 universe but who primarily play their games on mobile now.”
The only dissenting voices in the thread were those of Slitherine, the developer for Warhammer 40,00: Armageddon, which is due next year, and Behaviour, working on the Eternal Crusade MMO.
“We’re making Armageddon for PC,” said Slitherine. “It is turn based & hex based and can’t really get much more grand scale and wargamey.”
the setting is Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe, in which the orcs (now orks, bringing balance to the universe ever since disks became discs), elves (now eldar), and humans have been joined by H.R. Giger’s totally original aliens in the far future. When I was young, there were dwarfs, but nobody talks about the squats anymore, and skaven are right out.
I noticed a couple mentions about the DLC - You only need to buy the DLC once and it will transfer to other platforms. Do some research before you buy any DLC for iOS if you already bought it for another platform!
Space Hulk first came out back in 1989, as the classic and popular board game set in Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000 universe. Its refined scope and premise made it perfect for translation to video games and it made the jump to the PC and Amiga just four years later, lying dormant following a sequel, before the property was revived for last year’s PC and iPad game.
After years of THQ holding the license to 40K, Games Workshop are quite aggressively exploring a lot of avenues with the franchise, and this includes Space Hulk: Deathwing.
You’d be forgiven for not having heard of Streum On Studio, a small French developer with just a single game to their name, but that doesn’t mean their designs on the franchise aren’t ambitious. The main twist, compared to previous Space Hulk games, is that it’s a first person shooter and sees you taking control of a Dark Angels Terminator, the most elite troops of the Space Marines. Turning the franchise to a first person shooter actually makes a lot of sense, when you think about it.
In the Warhammer 40K universe, space ships are often lost while travelling the treacherous alternate dimension of the Warp, drifting through space before eventually crashing into other wrecks and debris, forming the vast and eponymous Space Hulks. As these drop in and out of Warp, they are often targeted by the various chapters of the Space Marines, to scour the wreckage for items of value to the Imperium, as well as neutralise any threats they might hold to nearby planets.
Hulks are often home to Orks or Chaos Space Marines, as they hitch a ride to wage war wherever they can, or in the case of the Space Hulk game, Genestealers. Whatever the threat, the huge, hulking forms of the heavily armoured Terminators must fight off the enemies of humanity that stand in their path. The comparisons to the Alien franchise are easy to make, especially with Genestealers as the enemies, as they first appear as blips on motion trackers, rapidly working their way to attack your troops as you push through tight corridors and small rooms.
It’s perfect material for a tense and nerve-wracking FPS, but in making that jump, Streum know that they can push on to create something greater. Admittedly they are still incredibly early on in production, with just a few months work complete and a release not planned until a 2015 launch on PC (though fingers crossed they will also be releasing on console), so all I saw was a tech demonstration using Unreal Engine 4 and showing off some example architecture and a Genestealer model within the developer tools. It was really the concept art and plans that were explained to me that caught my imagination, though.
In addition to the claustrophobic hallways and rooms of a space ship, they recognise the need and potential to break out of the small and confined conflicts at the heart of the board game, with the first person perspective and gameplay giving them the artistic freedom to really explore what a Space Hulk is.
There will be that stark contrast between those corridors and huge, cavernous halls, engine rooms and the like. Though most things are up in the air, I feel it’s important for them to go even further and explore the areas where ships have crashed into one another and merged, break away from the metallic and Gothic architecture of the Imperium and draw upon the other races of the 40K universe and integrate their ships into the Hulk too.
Quite a positive indicator is that they’re already working to flesh out the range and variety of Genestealers beyond those that already exist within the 40K board game. From the basic form, several further evolutions emerge, each bigger than the last. Physiological changes like large talons, thicker armour, or the ability to shift skin colour like a chameleon make an appearance, while there will also be the human hybrids, which will be able to carry guns and potentially even wield the powers of the Warp. More dangerously, their Hive Mind will let them work together to attack you, but they won’t be scripted AI, coming at you dynamically and in a different fashion each time you play.
Thankfully, you won’t be alone but as part of a squad. The game is being designed with co-op play in mind, with the dynamic enemy AI helping to keep things fresh, but you’ll also be able to play with AI backing you up and gain the advantage of being a psyker too, a Librarian. Though you’ll be able to upgrade your abilities as you go along, Terminators are already some of the toughest warriors in the galaxy, standing at around 8′ tall and with the physical and mechanical strength to carry weaponry more befitting of a modern day Humvee.
In the past, Games Workshop have often struggled to get the best out of the Warhammer 40K franchise, but Streum seem to have a handle on what is needed to translate Space Hulk from a turn-based board game to a first person shooter. I’m certainly very curious to see whether they can deliver on the potential of the universe and setting.
Strikes me as odd that GW would be able to license the franchise to multiple companies at the same time. I'm personnally not interested in a FPS40k game, but at least people are using the IP to make new games.
We as consumers just need to buy them to make it worth developers time to create the games.
We are awaiting the final approval from Apple on the iOS version before we release the Sons of Russ into the wild. The reason for this synchronous launch is that we need to update the server too, so that games continue to be playable across platforms.
While waiting for the approval, we have started posting a few teasers over on the Facebook page with some render shots of a few Wolves. Enjoy!
To give you some taste of whats coming, here is the change log pasted in below. It contains also some cool other smaller things - like the rule fix for unjam and Genestealer actions. This will make life a bit harder now for the Terminators and is in line with the boardgame rules.
1.4
----
Features/improvements:
Space Wolves chapter
Fang of Fenris campaign
Rule change so automatical unjam now happens after next genestealer action.
Improved AI speed with pre-calculated pathfinding
Added End Turn shortcut key ‘T’
Added option for a confirm end turn dialog box
Multiplayer system changed to only match 2 players with the missions they both have as unlocked
Changed Sword of Halcyon Mission 5: Inner Sanctum fail condition.
Can now play locked missions in Hotseat mode
Added sound effects when receiving a Multiplayer invitation or when opponent accepts or declines a Multiplayer invitation
Added support for alt-tab when waiting for a player to join an always online game
Added Cancel button on the request game in Multiplayer screen
New network version, old clients will have to update to this version
Updated the Steam plugin
Moved AP cost and field info above point of touch on IOS
Asset bundles system for iOS to download campaigns saving disk space
Bugfixes:
Fixed the bug when genestealers death animation was not played sometimes.
Fixed genestealer move animation jumping back to tile when performing auto-unjam.
Fixed the sound cutting bug
Fixed the bug related to multiplayer online state was sometimes not correctly updated
Fixed bug in the “Rescue” mission in PvP when Terminator carrying the C.A.T was killed
Fixed Campaign banner look on mission debriefing on IOS
Next up on our todo list is coop and the coop campaign! The coop feature itself will be a free feature and any mission with multiple squads will be coop enabled.
But instead of just slapping in coop, we opted to give the entire multiplayer UI a rework as well as friendslist management. More about all that on the other side of the Wolves though!
Bull0 wrote: There wasn't even a pre-order discount though, so I'm not sure about that. Looks like standard "Charge what you think you can get for it" behaviour, which, yeah, not very ethical. Unless they do the done thing on mobile and start charging 20p to reroll your action points (or 50 Emperor Points or whatever) . Maybe limit you to two missions a day unless you buy Skull Tokens. That seems to be how that gak works. Man, I hate gaming these days.
Welcome to free market capitalism. On what planet is this not ethical?
Space Hulk is a fun game. Its kind of hard though, I've been stuck on a mission for a few months. Kind of killed it for me as I stopped playing after trying it 25+ times. But it was great up until that.
Space Hulk developer Full Control has announced that its Space Wolves expansion pack has launched on PC, Mac and iOS, bringing a wealth of new content to the strategic title.
In a press release sent to VG247 today, Full Control confirmed that the expansion adds three new missions and 11 Space Wolf Terminators to the core game, all based on Games Workshop’s ‘Fangs of Fenris’ tabletop campaign. Players will also be able to use the new troops in previous Space Hulk missions.
New weapons bring new rules into strategic play, such as the Frost Axe and Wolf Claw, along with a Runepriest troop type, who packs such skills as Murderous Lightning and Hurricane.
In a statement, Thomas Hentschel Lund, CEO of Full Control said, “We’re excited to release the Space Wolves upon the Space Hulk Universe and are looking forward to the responses from the fans. Introducing the fierce Space Wolves and Wolf Guard, players can play as these ruthless, savage warriors from Fenris in all of the other Space Hulk missions to exterminate even more Genestealers and take back more infested ships.”
The expansion costs $4.99, and you can get it on Steam and App Store through the relevant links.
Space Hulk Co-op is now live on Steam and it's set to go live on ipad as well, just waiting for Apple to update accordingly. We created a new paid DLC to accompany the co-op functionality, but unfortunately it's only for Win, Mac and Linux as the campaign is simply too heavy for the iPad to handle.
As the Space Hulk, the Harbinger of Torment, emerged from the warp it is discovered to be on a collision course with the planet Baal. Several attempts are made to change course, but all fail. A team of the Imperium’s finest warriors is sent to the Harbinger of Torment to try and reverse the engines or stop them altogether. Failure is not an option.
The Harbinger of Torment DLC campaign has 5 missions
Mission order:
1) Breakthrough
2) Heart and Soul
3) In Control
4) Gauntlet
5) Surgical Destruction
Harbinger of Torment has been specially designed for 4 player co-op, but can also be played in single player mode and versus mode. This is a very challenging campaign so teamwork is necessary if you want to succeed.
The Harbinger of Torment is available for PC, Mac and Linux
Warmonger2757 wrote: Strikes me as odd that GW would be able to license the franchise to multiple companies at the same time. I'm personnally not interested in a FPS40k game, but at least people are using the IP to make new games.
We as consumers just need to buy them to make it worth developers time to create the games.
So long as the new 40kFPS doesn't have the screaming monkey Raptor marines from Fire Warrior in we're good lol
If anyone is interested the basic Space Hulk game is currently on sale for $7.50 via the Humble Bundle store until the 21st of May. (They're also selling some other good games like Batman: Arkham Origins and Farcry 3 for $10 each.)
) to spend 20-30min on on a train or sth like that based on the demos I played.
"We didn't have time to put the walking animations in..." 
