Quick answer
KING Art Games has built a Combat Director system for Dawn of War IV that delivers what they believe is the most visually spectacular and detailed animation system in RTS history. Rather than limiting sync kills to a select few final combat moves, the Combat Director applies personalised choreographed animations to every unit, everywhere, at every stage of battle.
Bringing back sync kills
When the team started development using the first Dawn of War as their guiding light, they asked themselves what people remembered most about that experience. Sync kills came up time and time again — special animations that occur when units stop using generic animations and instead square up in a visceral one-on-one fight to the death.
Sync kills were a shoo-in for Dawn of War IV, but the team didn’t just want to bring the old system back with a fresh coat of paint. They wanted it bigger and badder than ever before.
Why not sync everything?
The animators asked: “Why only sync the last few attacks? Why not sync everything?” This is an incredibly tough task, even 20 years on from the first Dawn of War, with many thousands of permutations in the animation system.
A core group of in-house animators, tech artists and coders emerged with a prototype so good, the team knew they had to bring it into the final game.
How the Combat Director works
In every combat scenario, the Combat Director continually assesses the situation:
- Who is around you right now?
- Who is the enemy?
- Who is supposed to damage who and in what manner?
The system figures out the answers and stitches together animation snippets to perfectly match the battle at hand. The result is not just tens of thousands — or even hundreds of thousands — but millions and millions of potential animation combos playing out across different combat scenarios.
Units may jump on each other, then get thrown around dynamically. Heads become severed from necks. Every time you watch combat unfold, there’s a good chance you’ll see something you’ve never seen before.
Pushing the boundaries
A lot of this technology simply wasn’t possible on PCs 20 or even 10 years ago. The team can do things with their engine now that even their previous RTS Iron Harvest couldn’t have handled back in 2020.
FAQ
What is the Combat Director system?
The Combat Director is a system that generates choreographed, personalised combat animations for every unit engagement in real-time, expanding the classic sync kill concept to cover all combat, not just final blows.
How many animation combinations are possible?
The system creates millions and millions of potential animation combos across different combat scenarios, meaning you’re likely to see something new every time you watch combat unfold.
Was this technology possible in previous Dawn of War games?
No. Much of this technology wasn’t possible on PCs 20 or even 10 years ago. Even Iron Harvest (2020) couldn’t have handled this system.