Finishing Moves in Dawn of War IV Will Be Even More Brutal, Bloody, and Realistic, Developers Promise
King Art Games continues to share details about the development of Dawn of War 4, with a special emphasis on animations — one of the key features of the entire series. Thomas Dürksen, head of the animation team in the game, explained how the studio is taking the spectacle and realism of battles in the Warhammer 40,000 universe to a new level.
According to Dürksen, the original Dawn of War was his entry point into the world of 40K. He was struck not only by the brutality of the battles, but also by the emotional attachment to the squads: the ability to equip fighters, improve them, and watch them fight on the battlefield made the player literally worry about each soldier.
In Dawn of War 4, the developers decided to go beyond the usual synchronized finishing moves. The game features a system that is responsible for fully synchronized combat. Now, not only fatal moves, but also every clash in close combat is created procedurally, taking into account the height, weight, and strength of the opponents. Each strike has a response, so that the units actually «fight each other», and don't just play out pre-made animations.
The task is complicated by the huge variety of sizes and classes of fighters in the 40K universe — from small gretchin to giant dreadnoughts. To do this, the team introduced several levels of "power": some units can fight each other in certain ways, while others do not engage in equal combat at all. For example, gretchin have their own sets of animations and mainly interact with infantry, while dreadnoughts have unique techniques against their own kind or terminators.
