Warhammer 40,000: The Horus Heresy

One of the things you find when you try and make a game is people don't want to know a person's next great idea. So, how does one prove that the idea might be a good project to take on?

Do you:

• Go to work for Games Workshop and then present it to them months later;
• Wait until you work for a games company and talk to them being their representative;
• Set up you own company, make some money, then take the idea to GW again;

Or, do you try and build something completely different first like, say... a television series Now at the moment, I am trying to see if the guys up in Nottingham will go for this idea, because it will still be built inside Unreal Engine 3. Bear in mind that should this ever get off the ground, it will be televised for audiences aged 18 or over because of the violent content.

If they are ok with this, I wondered how many people here (what with the awesome success of the AGN recordings) would be interested in doing stuff for it with me.

 

basically all it is will be making models/textures/levels/coding stuff, and then choreographing it all in something like UT2004 or, perhaps, through an arrangement with Epicgames to use UE3 in a way that doesn't require purchasing the engine. Then later it will be testing it all out later and checking for errors (can't have a show where the character models get stuck in the walls )

There may also be other stuff that has been discussed for Warhammer 40,000 but never been visiualised, so before it can be built on computer it may require to be drawn first using traditional concept skills. If fans will also see the interiors of things (vehicles, for example), there may even need to be blueprints drawn up for those areas, with the normal concept art reserved for actual scenes.

In any event, my friends at Games Workshop can never be accused of being lazy...

They've told me that first I should go over the IP Rights pages, then contact their Legal department about an agreement that will allow us to use the IP to make a tv series. This will probably take about a week or two, so I'll let you know how it goes.

 

I thought you might be interested, and I was actually hoping you would help out As I said this would all be built inside Unreal Engine 3, so I was thinking we could start building the project in UT2004 and then move it over to UT2007 when that is released next year, as that will be the first PC-based game which takes advantage of the technology.

Anyway, I'm not getting my hopes up too much just yet, we still need to get permission from them first. I'm going to go over the information they've given me, and write a suitable letter to them and see what happens. If it goes well then we can start making plans.

 

I'm still talking to them, but I've also been doing some research into Unreal Engine 3.

Apparently, Epicgames produces something called an Unreal Engine 3 Custom License. This is almost identical in design to their other engine, but is used exclusively for non-videogame development. If the team at Games Workshop do give us permission to create the show, we might be able to ask them to act as a financial sponsor in purchasing a custom license, and this would mean we would have full access to UE3's engine-architecture.

 

I will be needing other voiceactors to serve as regulars who can either play the voices of soldiers, deck officers or other characters in the show. Depending on who they are these will either last for the course of one season (people die in the 31st Millennium every day), or throughout the entire show's length; if they're very lucky.

I've also been looking at voiceactors that are known in the television industry. Now I know what you're thinking: "how can he afford that kind of support". The simple answer is I can't... not yet anyway Because I will be starting university I am entitled to two things. The first is a Development Grant I can apply for while I am a student for a commercial project I am starting myself. The second is a little trickier to get but is basically part of a group called National Lottery UK Film Council. Basically this is an organisation that started up to provide directors or fresh talent the opportunity to recieve funding and supoprt for a project in television or feature-films.

You may or may not recall a british-made movie called 28 Days Later? This movie was funded and produced under such a contract. There is a Bond-ish film for all ages coming out this year that is using a similar funding agreement called Stormbreaker (it's mainly meant for children so don't get too excited).

At the moment, however, I'm just getting permission and that will be a job in itself. Once that's done I can look at all this other stuff in more detail.

I also need to get my hands on the 2nd Volume of Horus Heresy artbooks (as well as the 4th which is due out in August), and I need to talk to the author of the first book to gain his support for this project.

 

Horus Heresy will be my first official production under my company trading-name, so I'm very serious about it. With this under my belt, it will also help the production of MMO project in the same game-universe if I am able to transfer all the changes I will make to the engine for the series.

In games like Dawn of War it has been ok - its only difference to the tabletop version has been that the "combat areas" have been made all in 3D instead of using hobby terrain. Besides, it would be insane to make an RTS for people aged 18 and over. However, for years game developers have attempted to create other kinds of Warhammer 40,000 titles, yet every time they do, they've deliberately removed the violent sides that drive the franchise's fiction.

IMHO this is the very reason why FPSs for the genre have always failed to meet the needs of players, and now it's getting stupid. I personally want DoW to continue, but I also want there to be games that the hardcore strand can get behind as well.

The science-fiction and survival-horror elements are what makes Warhammer 40,000 what it is and they need to be in there, otherwise it's not 40K anymore and just another entertainment franchise.