Introduction

After creating the car combat MMORPG AutoAssault, developer NetDevil has branched out and is now working on several projects. One of them is Warmonger, an Unreal Engine 3 based first person shooter that is aiming to be the most destructible shooting game ever made, thanks in part with its support of the AGEIA's PhysX physics processor. FiringSquad got a chance to chat with the team's head Chris Sherland to find out more about their plans for Warmonger.

FiringSquad: First, why did NetDevil want to branch out from developing just MMO titles?

Chris Sherland: Well the branch is pretty subtle here, our vision for what the next gen FPS will be definitely has an MMO component in it, Warmonger is really just the first step.

FiringSquad: How did the idea for Warmonger come about?

Chris Sherland: The idea has a few elements, but was really born during the post mortem for Auto Assault. We took physics as far as we could in Auto Assault, and using Havok there was a huge boost towards that end. But even after we finished Auto Assault we knew we wanted to take physics further. That combined with a desire to do a next gen shooter pointed us to the Unreal Engine 3 as a tech base and began a design phase that was based on bringing destruction to the forefront.

FiringSquad: What can you tell us about the storyline for the game?

Chris Sherland: Warmonger puts the player in the shoes of a Mercenary during a future full-scale corporate war within the cities of the US. These once-proud metros have been host to combat operations that have left them abandoned and practically razed.

FiringSquad: What kinds of environments and maps can we expect in Warmonger?

Chris Sherland: Our environment studies and pre-production maps have a pretty dedicated focus on torn up cities. Some of the maps will be interiors (there is a great subway map that we will ship with) and some are exterior. All of the environments convey massive destruction though, and encourage even more.

FiringSquad: What sort of weapons will we see in the game?

Chris Sherland: One of the things we wanted to do with our destruction feature was bring it to the limelight without making it silly. The rocket launcher, assault rifle, pistol, melee, and a unique chaingun are the main weapons, nothing "unbelievable" so-to-speak. It's actually easier to make destruction wildly dramatic than it is to craft it into a playable feature, which is what we are aiming for so we purposely set the weapons into classes that are fairly standard. Some of the secondary fire features are pretty cool, but we'll let those be discovered on release.

FiringSquad: What kinds of enemies will the player encounter in Warmonger?

Chris Sherland: Other mercs, with the same weapon set.