Exclusive Warhammer: Mark of Chaos Developer Diary

“…It was my job…to make sure Warhammer: Mark of Chaos oozes Warhammer goodness from every digital pore.”

Real-time strategy games are like several titles in one. They can be fast and exhilarating, deep and puzzling, or sneaky and clever.

As one of the year’s most anticipated strategy games, Warhammer: Mark of Chaos has a lot to live up to. Thus far the game has headed down the right path, using more than a popular license to carry it through to victory. From the moment the game was unveiled, the developers stressed the concept of war – large armies, big battles, and lots of excitement. 

One of our exclusive Warhammer: Mark of Chaos screenshots 

The game lets you customize your army using specific body parts, as well as weapon and armor upgrades. Units can be painted to your liking, an element that is sure to intrigue the long-time fans.

Units are also continuous, giving players the chance to carry their army over from one battle to the next. Heroes and Champions, the most powerful units in the game, can learn new tactics, unlock new abilities, and challenge each other to a battle that’s guaranteed to shed blood. Co-op is the focus of the multiplayer mode, leading to additional gameplay possibilities for those who don’t want to go at it alone.

Now that you’ve got the gist of the gameplay, it’s time to hand the mic to Senior Games Developer Gav Thorpe. 

Scripting Warhammer: Mark of Chaos 

By Gav Thorpe, Senior Games Developer, Games Workshop 

(Also the story and script designer for Warhammer: Mark of Chaos)

The chaps at both NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. and Black Hole were eager right from the start to get as much informed opinion as they could, and for the Warhammer: Mark of Chaos script they were very keen to have it written by someone involved with Games Workshop or Black Library (GW’s fiction publishing division). As part of my day job I occasionally help out our licensing team, and it was during an early discussion of the game that it was first proposed to me that I might write the script.

As a writer, I’ve always liked to turn my efforts to as many different things as possible; from board and miniatures games to short stories, novels, a comic script and now, here was a chance to work on a computer game script. I was very positive from the outset, although in truth, I really didn’t know what would actually be required of me – what little I’ve done with script writing before had taught me that it was a very different beast from writing games and prose. 

To kick things off, the Black Hole development team, Warhammer fans that they are, had already come up with the overall scope of Warhammer: Mark of Chaos and the stories it would tell. The basic structure of the plot – the eternal fight between the Empire and the forces of Chaos – was a simple one, but all the stronger for it. In our opening discussions we hit upon the idea of making it a ‘historical’ story set in the past of Warhammer, picking the momentous events of the Great War against Chaos as our backdrop. We chose this period because it would lend plenty of weight to the story for existing Warhammer fans, and flesh out a period of the world that has not been documented in detail. Not only that, it also marked the birth of the ‘modern’ Empire represented in the miniatures game and so could include all of the troops and weapons from the existing armies we had created.

With these bare bones in place, I set off to layer on some characters and detail to the skeleton of the story. It had already been decided that the aforementioned Black Library would be producing a tie-in novel, as they had met with much success with similar titles for Dawn of War and the Fire Warrior game. They had nominated Anthony Reynolds to write the tie-in as his first novel, which was fortunate for me as I both work with Ant and he’s also a close friend. 

We spent an afternoon in a pub, and fortified by a few beers and armed with nothing but some pens and paper, we began to chronicle the endeavours of Captain von Kessel and Thorgar, Champion of Chaos. I have to mention at this point that due to quirks of publishing deadlines, Ant had to write the novel far in advance of my finishing of the game script and that there are some differences. However, I see this as a positive thing – it’s well worth reading the book even if you’ve played the game because a story for a strategy war game requires a vastly different touch to one for a novel – there’s a lot more about the characters and back story in the novel that we just couldn’t fit into the game (well, not without taking far too much time away from actually playing the game!)

Anyway, we expanded our cast of characters knowing that there would be Skaven and High Elves as prominent allies, and pretty much nailed down the plot in that first afternoon (having imbibed enough pints of beer to make our handwriting a little shaky towards the end). Aside from the odd check with each other, Ant and I went on to work on our projects separately.

For those unfamiliar with Warhammer, it is set on a world upon the brink of destruction. In a distant age, the world was tainted by the power of Chaos – the raw energy of magic and nightmares pouring into the north of the world from a breach between dimensions. Ever since, the races of the world have either harnessed the power of Chaos or fought against it.  

The largest numbers of Chaos worshippers live in the far north, made up of the barbaric Marauder tribes. Living in the desolate Chaos Wastes, these Marauders battle with each other for the pleasure of their gods, and on occasion will join forces to raid and pillage the lands to the south. With them come all manner of slavering beasts and monsters. The most powerful of these southern realms is the Empire – a confederation of provinces and city-states ruled over by the Emperor Magnus. With magic and technology at their disposal, the armies of the Emperor are both well-disciplined and have access to some very exotic war machines and heroes.

There are two single-player campaigns in Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, both approaching the same story from different sides. The Great War Against Chaos has not long finished, and the triumphant leader of the Empire, Magnus, has been elected Emperor. However, scattered bands of Chaos followers still war with the forces of the Empire.

In the Empire version of the story, you play as Stefan von Kessel. Branded and scorned as a child for his parents’ and grandparents’ worship of Chaos, he has fought hard to become a Captain in the army. Now he faces his greatest challenge, as he fights against the growing armies of Chaos invading the Empire. Aiding him is a host of High Elves from the island realm of Ulthuan, led by the mage Aurelion. The Elves of Ulthuan and the humans of the Empire must combine their strength if Chaos is to be held at bay, yet the secrets of the Elves may prove to be the downfall of both nations. 

While the Empire seeks to eradicate the scattered Chaos war bands, Thorgar the Blooded One seeks to unite them. As a Champion of Chaos, his life is dedicated to fighting for the gods, spilling the blood of his enemies in their cause. As the story progresses, he forges an uneasy alliance with the Skaven (mutated ratmen), led by the Warlock Engineer Kasqit. With Kasqit’s cunning and resources, Thorgar is able to create a coalition of different Chaos forces and mount a massive incursion into the Empire.

So that’s the basic story – you’ll have to play the game and read the novel to find out the rest! Writing the story and script was only part of the work involved with Warhammer: Mark of Chaos. Just as the designers and artists labored to give the battles and visuals all of the character of Warhammer, so it was my job to write the unit responses, name the magic items, create skill descriptions and so on to make sure Warhammer: Mark of Chaos oozes Warhammer goodness from every digital pore.

All-in-all it's been a pleasure to work on Mark of Chaos, and I'm just waiting for the game to be finished so I can see the script and cut scenes come to life…and to fight great Warhammer battles on my PC, of course!