Relic Says RTS Not A Good Fit For Consoles

[Andy Chalk]

Relic Says RTS Not A Good Fit For Consoles

Homeworld [http://www.relic.com/], has avoided porting any of its games to consoles because their controllers just aren't suited for the genre.

In an interview with CVG [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=196029], Mark Noseworthy, producer at Relic, said the company is interested in the idea of bringing the RTS genre to consoles but that its current stable of titles aren't suitable, being designed to take advantage of the mouse/keyboard scheme of the PC. "Relic sees RTS on console as a very interesting proposition but so far, it hasn't been a good fit for the games we have made," he said. "We don't see porting a traditional PC RTS to console as a very good strategy because the controls, by definition, are incompatible with the game design."

Not all is lost for console owners, however; Noseworthy believes console-based RTS titles are possible, they just require a different approach to their design in order to be successful. "To do RTS on console right, you have to develop from the ground up and rethink what it means to have real-time strategy gameplay."

He also implied that Relic's newest title, the upcoming Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 2 [http://www.dawnofwar2.com], might be a candidate for console conversion in the future. "Dawn of War 2 isn't a traditional RTS and I think it would make a much better candidate for porting than any of our previous games, but there are no such plans right now," he said.

There's still plenty of time for that to change, though. Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War 2 is currently in development and not set to launch until spring 2009, exclusively - so far - for the PC.


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[PedroSteckecilo]

They're right, RTS is the last great PC genre that really shouldn't move from where it is.

 

[GothmogII]

Hmm, certain games could work like that on consoles, I'm thinking of the likes of older third person/RTS or FPS/RTS titles such as Battlezone or Sacrifice. But, I've yet to play a good RTS on a console that managed to keep the setup intact.

But then, I've also not tried any of the more recent tries. Actually, the last I ever played was Goblin Commander. It was interesting...if...obscure to say the least.

 

[KSarty]

There are some console RTS games with control schemes that seem to be ok, but they're only ok. Theres just too much to control in an RTS for the limited amount of buttons on a controller, not to mention that drag selection is very important in RTS. They could start releasing straight ports though that require you to have the mouse and keyboard set up for your console though.

 

[HobbesMkii]

They learned this years ago with StarCraft for the N64. Too many units. I can't believe that this console-generation is drumming it back up just because they added a handful more buttons.

 

[shadow_pirate22]

One of our last hopes MAY be Halo Wars, being built from the ground up for consoles, but expecting that Microsoft will do something right is like expecting satan to stop harvesting souls.

 

[Gamer137]

Cant say enough how true that is. RTS games need to stay on PCs.

 

[KSarty]

Psst.. somebody let the guys at Relic know about the Wii. They might be surprised to find out that it has a point (literally) and click interface.

That doesn't help. That would be like trying to play an RTS on the PC with just a mouse, no keyboard. It would work, but it still wouldnt be very good.

 

[Break]

Relic Says RTS Not A Good Fit For Consoles

...I'm lost for words. I don't have enough sarcasm to cover something like this.

 

[GothmogII]

Psst.. somebody let the guys at Relic know about the Wii. They might be surprised to find out that it has a point (literally) and click interface.

That doesn't help. That would be like trying to play an RTS on the PC with just a mouse, no keyboard. It would work, but it still wouldnt be very good.

Actually...that might not be so far-fetched.

Enter...the command wheel! Left click to select. Right click to bring up a wheel with a list of commands. There. Now apply that to your controller or Wiimote and add some scrolling functionality and you're there, I think...

 

[man-man]

Wii would be the best bet... it is possible to play an RTS with only the mouse, simplify the control-set a bit and the other buttons on the wiimote might have you covered.

Not that I really care, the PC is my games machine of choice anyway.

 

[KSarty]

Psst.. somebody let the guys at Relic know about the Wii. They might be surprised to find out that it has a point (literally) and click interface.

That doesn't help. That would be like trying to play an RTS on the PC with just a mouse, no keyboard. It would work, but it still wouldnt be very good.

Actually...that might not be so far-fetched.

Enter...the command wheel! Left click to select. Right click to bring up a wheel with a list of commands. There. Now apply that to your controller or Wiimote and add some scrolling functionality and you're there, I think...

Stuff like that is the problem though. You can always get it to work on console, just nowhere near as well as a mouse/keyboard setup.

Following your example of the command wheel: If I wanted to create a control group I would have to drag select the units and bring up the command wheel(which would cover part of the screen) and find the command for a control group, which might have a sub-menu pertaining to what number you want that control group to be. On PC you would have to drag select and hit ctrl+#(# being whatever number you want the control group to be). And that doesn't even bring up how you would select a control group on console. Would you have to bring up the command wheel again? Whereas in PC you just hit the number once to select them and double-tap it to select them and jump to their map position?

You just cant do it as efficiently on console as you can on PC.

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Relic Says RTS Not A Good Fit For Consoles

No, they don't. Sheesh.

Noseworthy says you can't take an RTS from a PC and successfully port it to a console; because a PC RTS will be based around the mouse+keyboard control scheme which is ill-suited to controllers. He says that a console RTS has to be built from the ground up to account for the control mechanism of the platform... not that console RTSes are teh suX0rs.

I shall now put down my wildly-waving cane and cease muttering about these addle-pated whipper-snappers writing headlines these days.

-- Steve

edited to add: I suppose I shouldn't just gripe... I'll propose a headline that's much closer and only six characters longer:

Relic Says Its RTSes Not A Good Fit For Consoles

 

[gnaw]

Wasn't RTS originally born on the consoles--specifically with Herzog Zwei for the Genesis? Most PC RTSes won't work when converted to consoles, but there is room for controller-driven RTS-styled games. Pikmin, for example, seems like it would fit the bill. But when the RTS gameplay style depends on quickly and precisely moving an arrow back and forth across a screen, controllers can't anywhere come near to matching a mouse.

 

[KSarty]

Wasn't RTS originally born on the consoles--specifically with Herzog Zwei for the Genesis? Most PC RTSes won't work when converted to consoles, but there is room for controller-driven RTS-styled games. Pikmin, for example, seems like it would fit the bill. But when the RTS gameplay style depends on quickly and precisely moving an arrow back and forth across a screen, controllers can't anywhere come near to matching a mouse.

There were definitely some old console RTS games, but I don't know what the actual first RTS was developed for. I do know that what we currently think of as an RTS really started with Dune II by Westwood studios back in 1992. Blizzard's original Warcraft and Westwood's own C&C series followed the basic formula of Dune II.

 

[Spleeni]

...HOW long did it take them to realize this?!

 

[Jumplion]

...HOW long did it take them to realize this?!

Yes, as if we didn't know this already.

RTSs could be done on consoles, but even if there were some good RTSs on consoles, I'd still prefer them on PCs anyway.

 

[mark_n_b]

They're right, RTS is the last great PC genre that really shouldn't move from where it is.

That's a little bit of "PC gamer is the uber race" talk and I don't know if you are being ironic or are actually one of those idiot pieces of metaphorical genitalia.

I agree that RTS games are not a strong fit for consoles. But then the RTS train has passed, last Relic guy I talked to on the subject made a little missile and explosion sound.

Given that, the memory / processing issues with RTS play that is still not exactly compatible with console technology (maybe next gen) and the RTS control conventions which are not easily transferred to the console controller. I doubt Relic is the company to be able to bring the genre to a new venue.