Relicnews: the definitive source for all things Relic

In light of THQ’s losses last year, they’re looking at expanding revenue streams, and finding new ways to prevent piracy.

Here’s another Gamasutra article covering the news.

The first of these was to prepare a more competitive slate of titles, as outlined in its financial results. The second was to bring in new management talent to product development, along with a four stage greenlight process that would not let games through until they met key competitive technological and gameplay feature benchmarks.

Finally, new CFO Colin Slade explained that THQ would be realigning its cost structure along four key elements, notably a company wide plan to reduce infrastructure.

In addition, Slade promised the company would be realigning its resources toward more strategic franchises, instituting a new company-wide operating budget, and making sure its product development and marketing dollars were focused more efficiently on its most competitive titles.

also

Finally, Farrell was optimistic about its first foray into new revenue streams with the upcoming Asian launch of Company Of Heroes Online (pictured), a co-production of its Relic studio and China’s Shanda, which will be free to play but feature paid microtransaction downloads. Farrell wouldn’t say whether the game would be launched in the West any time soon, but said that THQ did “have those rights” and was investigating potential markets, and added that the company was looking into future products of that nature as well.

Fascinating things ahead for Relic! I hope they bring CoHO to North America!

So, three big changes for THQ - 1) a more competitive slate of titles 2) bring in new management talent to product development along with a four stage greenlight process that would not let games through until they met key competitive technological and gameplay feature benchmarks and 3) realigning its cost structure along four key elements, notably a company wide plan to reduce infrastructure.

I suspect Relic, being mentioned in this, has been feeling some of the changes already.

Are you Canadian? Want to work as a game balancer? Check out this thread.

Relic Entertainment has one spot available for the position of Game Balancer.

What is a game balancer?

A Game Balancer is responsible for making sure that the game is fair. He does this by playing the game at the highest level and by working closely with the Multiplayer design team to single out and correct all design flaws.

What are the requisites to the position?

• Must be able to play RTS games at a high level, and must be able to demonstrate such understanding through a skill test.
• Must be able to work and excel in a team environment
• Strong communication skills. You’ll have to explain your views to other balancers as well as peers who don’t have the time to know the game as well as yourself.
• Canadian residents only

Location and Hours

• This position is a full-time position at Relic Entertainment in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
• The hours are a standard 40hours/week. Core work hours are 10am-5pm, Monday-Friday.
• You cannot work remotely
  

There’s more info in that thread, so check it out!

Looks like it’s a bit of a sad day (and several days after the fact). Relic’s first community manager, Allie “Buggo” Henze is no longer at Relic. Allie was Relic’s first “version” of a community manager. I think I can speak for all the fans when I say that we appreciate everything Allie did for the community and for us fans.

To the members of the Relic community, we have to tell you that Buggo is currently pursuing other opportunities. This has led to some speculation that Relic will no longer be supporting our loyal fans - nothing could be further from the truth. Soon we will be introducing you to new members of Relic who will carry forth the commitment we have to our fans. We are expanding our community support greatly over the coming months; better support for our modders, frequent updates about what’s going on in the studio, expanding our numbers, contests, content, and more.

And for those wondering, we are still hosting our upcoming community open house - you don’t want to miss it because you’ll be treated to some sneak previews of our work.

Thank you for your continued support!

Relic Entertainment

Official post here.

Buggo does still have an account on the forums, and hopefully will be able to pop in and say hi (I’d not expect her to be able to comment on Relic and all the cool stuff she worked on). The forum staff helped Relic out by modifying her account to be named “Relic” and then created a new account for Buggo. Any posts on the “Relic” account before April 24th were made by Allie, and anything after were from another Relic rep. I expect to hear more soon from Relic about their intentions, but it’s been made very clear to me that they’re not going to go without a community manager type position again. Also, as far as I know, the Relic Open House is still on, and judging on the biggest fan contest starts today at noon pacific.

Allie, you set the bar pretty high for any future community folks at Relic. I hope whoever gets the position next can meet the community’s expectations. Good luck in the future and we’ll see you around!

Relic’s biggest fan contest 2008 is accepting submissions until Friday.

Last year, Goldo_0 won with this entry (100 MB download). Not only did he get a free trip to Vancouver, he got a job at Relic!

Get your submissions in, and good luck to whoever wins!

There’s a tourney set for April 26 and 27 at Gamereplays.

Click the link for more info.

The Dawn of War 2 website is live.

Included is a teaser video showing a Blood Ravens Force Commander laying the smackdown on an Ork Warboss, and 3 high resolution screenshots. There’s also various concept art scattered about the site.

Can not wait for Spring 2009!

As many of you know, Blizzard’s Starcraft was inspired by Warhammer 40,000. People unaware of this often comment that Dawn of War’s too similar to Starcraft and that Dawn of War “copies” Starcraft (imagine if the Tyranids had been in Dawn of War). People also make the same comparisons between Blizzard’s Warcraft and World of Warcraft and Games Workshop inspired properties like Warhammer Mark of Chaos and Warhammer:Online.

Penny-Arcade pokes fun at the notion that some people think Games Workshop inspired games are copies of Blizzard’s in this cartoon. That cartoon produced dark and light versions of a hoodie sporting the awesome text from the comic.

I just wish there was a T-shirt version.

THQ's officially announced Dawn of War II. Press Release here.

Here's the meat.

THQ and Relic Entertainment Set to Wage War of Epic Scale in Warhammer(R) 40,000(TM): Dawn of War(R) II

Sequel to Multi-Million Unit Selling Real Time Strategy Series
Features Vicious Frontline Combat, Extensive Co-Op Campaign and
Cinematic Visuals

AGOURA HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 2008--THQ Inc. (NASDAQ:THQI) today announced that Warhammer(R) 40,000(TM): Dawn of War(R) II, the highly anticipated sequel from one of the industry's premiere Real-Time Strategy (RTS) developers, Relic Entertainment, is scheduled to bring the 41st Millennium's savage warfare to life like never before in spring 2009. Powered by an enhanced version of Relic's proprietary Essence Engine 2.0(TM), Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II will take players to the brutal frontlines of war where they'll experience intense action and visceral combat through a non-linear single player experience and a fully co-operative multiplayer campaign. Set in Games Workshop's (LSE: GAW) highly popular Warhammer 40,000 science fiction universe, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is being developed exclusively for Windows PC.

In addition, THQ is pleased to announce that gamers purchasing copies of the recently released Warhammer(R) 40,000(TM): Dawn of War(R) - Soulstorm(TM) will be able to participate in an invitation-only multiplayer beta program for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II set to take place at a future date.

"The original Dawn of War and its subsequent standalone expansions have established the series as one of the industry's leading RTS franchises," said Brad Carraway, vice president, global brand management, THQ. "Dawn of War II will re-define RTS gaming to gamers worldwide, delivering brutal frontline action and tactics, and allowing players to get straight to the action with unprecedented fast-paced RTS gameplay and a full co-op campaign, all in stunning cinematic detail."

"We started with everything fans loved about the original Dawn of War and then added more than they ever could have hoped for in the sequel into Dawn of War II," said Tarrnie Williams, general manager, Relic Entertainment. "Leveraging our critically acclaimed Essence Engine 2.0, gamers will develop and lead an elite strike force through Games Workshop's war-torn universe, engage in devastating combat among the ruins of fully destructible battlefields, and be immersed in an ever-changing single-player and co-op multiplayer campaign."

About Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is set in the grim, war-ravaged world of Games Workshop's (LSE: GAW) Warhammer 40,000 universe - a dark, futuristic, science-fiction setting where armies of technologically advanced warriors, fighting machines and hordes of implacable aliens wage constant war. Developed by critically acclaimed RTS developer Relic Entertainment, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II ushers in a new chapter in the acclaimed RTS series, as ancient races - including the dauntless Space Marines and savage Orks - clash across ruined worlds on a mission to claim the galaxy and preserve their own existence. Powered by the re-vamped Essence Engine 2.0, the next evolution of Relic's proprietary game engine made famous in the award winning Company of Heroes, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II will deliver fast-paced RTS action with ferocious melee and ranged combat in fully destructible environments. Immersing players in an in-depth non-linear single-player campaign and a fully-co-operative multiplayer mode, Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II is set to deliver the most visually-stunning Warhammer 40,000 setting ever created. For more information on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II, please visit www.dawnofwar2.com.

- Those who purchase Dawn of War: Soulstorm get a Beta key for DoW2 (date to be determined for the beta).
- www.dawnofwar2.com
- fully destructible battlefield
- non-linear single player campaign (similar to Dark Crusade/Soulstorm or something more complex?)
- co-op campaign
- cinematic story telling
- hot melee combat (melee combat for upcoming CoH games?)

A new video has showed up on Youtube last evening. I’ll say that it’s pretty darn impressive watching big angry giant robots slug it out against the horde of orcs.

Rickrolled

There’s lots of translations for a Belgium PC Gaming magazine floating around with info about Dawn of War 2.

Here’s a shamless copy and paste of the info I found over at www.evilavatar.com

- Uses the Essence 2.0 engine with Havok physics, all optimized for DX10 and multicore support.
- Units also use CoH-like unit AI for awareness and pathfinding to find cover and such.
- While DoW 2 shares the same (upgraded probably) engine as CoH it won’t be “CoH in space”, while soldiers in CoH will ask themselves if flanking the enemy is the right option, in DoW2 it will be more like Space Marines asking themselves if they should use their jetpacks to jump over an Ork squad to attack them in the back. Different settings, different kinds of warfare.
- Preview only showed a destroyed city landscape, akin to DoW (but more detailed), other tilesets will offer deserts, jungles, mountains and other cities.
- Only the Orkz and Space Marines were revealed, more races on the way obviously and to be to revealed later this year (though how many isn’t known).
- Co-op campaign for both the Orkz and Space Marines, apparently not for the other to-be-revealed races.
- Relic wants to give players rewards at the end of a mission like wargear (armor, weapons, rare objects); “Let’s pimp out squads with cool stuff!”, you will see these items in-game as well of course.
- You’ll fight your way through the campaign with the same squads.
- A squad leader (one or several?) will need to survive if you want to complete a mission; you really have to look out for your squads and don’t treat them like cannon fodder.
- The campaign lets Space Marines operate from a spaceship, you’ll get a view of an underlying planet and you’ll be able to choose from different missions (which are tagged with difficulty colors, green, blue and red).
- Certain reward items won’t be usable at once in the campaign, so they’ll be taken back to the SM spaceship for research.
- Release in early 2009 or later.

Looks like it’s from the Belgian Mag PC Gameplay, and is an interview with Mark Noseworthy (who’s the producer on the product).

I also spotted this summary of some of the article on a NeoGaf forum:

Some quick info:
-Buildings can be occupied (like in coh)
-Environment completely destructable ^^
-Vehicles are bigger (there were only a couple of dreadnought shots)
-LOTS of blood (i saw the screens and thought LOL)
-Over the top finishing animations
-when units are in melee, pieces of battle armor can be chopped off in the action

I’m thouroughly enjoying Soulstorm (it’s M.O.T.S. of Dark Crusade, which isn’t really a bad thing), so I’m stoked info about this is finally coming out. Looks awesome!

There’s also a VERY INTERESTING Video that I spotted in a Something Awful thread.

Click More to see a description of the screenshots in the article.

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