GPG "fairly certain" Demigod will make 08

Gas Powered Games has told Eurogamer that Demigod is "completely playable" and "fairly certain" for a 2008 release.

Lead designer John Comes spoke exclusively to Eurogamer, and revealed his team was "just putting all the pieces together" and that we should expect a demo "later this year".

Demigod is a real-time strategy game where you control a large force as a hero unit, a bit like Supreme Commander. It's less complicated and strategic though, and often compared to Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients.

"We've taken great steps to make the gameplay nothing like you've played before. We've taken the art in a direction you've never seen before, heck we have a giant walking castle as a demigod. And lastly, the sheer scale. We have truly huge giants and huge battles," continued Comes.

"Defence of the Ancients is only one of the inspirations of the game. While there are elements of the mod in Demigod, it is by no means a clone."

Demigod will let you play in two "very different" styles: one as an Assassin hero that will fight in the heart of the battle and be familiar to action role-playing fans; the other as a General that hangs back, building and maintaining the army, which should sit more easily with real-time strategy fans.

Another key area of Demigod will be multiplayer; single-player is only really being included as a training ground for your online adventures. Co-operative battles with or against friends will be a big focus, with all the usual ranked, custom and clan games you would expect.

So far Demigod is a PC-exclusive, but Gas Powered Games has moved Supreme Commander to Xbox 360 and "console versions are never out of the question".

Apparently Demigod also runs on a "heavily modified" version of the Supreme Commander engine, too.

Comes also showed no signs that he is worried about releasing a game for a PC market in "disarray", as some would have us believe.

"Most people measure the PC market by the boxes on the shelves of stores," explained Comes. "I believe the future of the PC market is about digitally distributed games."

He also likes casual games and playing with his friends. Which is nice.

"I love the games I can play with my non-gamer friends," added Comes. "Casual games are great! It seems to be the only way to get my wife to play games."

Look out for Demigod this year, then.

Head over to our Demigod gallery for a blast of fresh screenshots.