Got a chance to speak with Erling Ellingsen concerning the ongoing progress on Funcom's upcoming MMO: Age of Conan.
I am extremely excited about this upcoming game, as hearing the uttered phrase:
What is best in life? To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women
Will make it all worthwhile.
Here are the thoughts Erling had to share:
With an original system of single-player game merging into a MMO
environment. How will the single-player experience enhance the MMO game?
The way we see it, MMOs can be very intimidating at first. They lack
many of the gameplay mechanics that draw the player in from the start of
most games, such as story that really takes you by the hand and gets you
going. Stories that can shake your world and it feel like you are really
something other than just another peasant out to kill rabbits. We wanted
to incorporate that into the MMO genre, and thus we created what we
refer to as Age of Conan's single-player part. Actually, though, it is
not truly single-player all the time. During the first hours of your
character's life, you will adventure through the island of Tortage and
the town of Tortage. Parts of your adventure you will spend by yourself
in your own story, while at other times, you will encounter other
players. We truly believe that this mix will make for a much better
start of your journey, and once you step into the massive MMO world, you
will have grown a bond to your character and an understanding of the
game that will make you a better player in that part of the game.
With the action-based "Real Combat" system, will AoC rely mostly on
"twitch" skills or will the standard MMO level/skill point tenants apply
when combat occurs?
It relies mostly on the standard character skills, not the player's
"twitch" skill. The action is never so fast and accurate that the faster
you're able to press the keys, the more damage you will do. It is much
more a strategic, tactical type of fighting. Yes, you will need to press
different keys to strike in different directions, but you can also queue
up attacks and the game never punish you if you have a few seconds
between each strike. However, it is much more dynamic and action-packed
than in your standard MMO. Having the sort of control over your sword,
where you actually strike in different directions and have the ability
to strike multiple enemies at once, is extremely exciting. Also, when
firing a bow, it is accelerating to actually have the opportunity to
manually string your bow, aim and fire. Still, there are skills and
statistics in the background that very much affect the outcome of the
battle. When you strike your enemy, the damage you do and whether your
sword hit will still be calculated based on your character's abilities.
The Conan series is know for its emphasis on massive physical
brutality. What role will spellcasters play in a world where force of
arms are so prevalent?
I can assure you that spellcasters and magic are not neglected in Age of
Conan. The world of Conan, Hyboria, might be known for its brutal
realism, but its also home for some of the most mystical creatures and
some of the greatest mythology in modern literature. While spellcasters
will not be your usual MMO fare -- meaning that, basically, there will
be no wizards in pointy hats -- there will very much be the presence of
magic and such casters. "Magical realism" is a term we often use when
describing Age of Conan, and this rings true in ever part of the game.
Spellcasters will be present, and there are several classes that
specialize in magic in different forms -- from elemental magic to
demonic magic. We even have a special gameplay feature called
"spellweaving", which basically is the spellcasting system in Age of
Conan. A spellcaster will go into a trance and then combine a series of
spells to create one super spell that can be fired off in an instant,
creating dazzling and fantastic effects. If the spellcaster overdo it,
trying to combine more spells than what his character can manage, he
will drop to the ground and become corrupt. There will also be simpler
spells, of course. Much of the magic in Age of Conan also revolves
around the spawning of demons, and it is possible for several
spellcasters to work together when casting spells. Imagine six
demonologists conjuring one gigantic demon rising up from the ground below!
Age of Conan has been announced as a mature game designed for older
player. How will increase the latitude with which your developers can
add content to the game?
Having the game rated Mature does give us a lot more opportunities to
fully realize the world of Hyboria in accordance with the works of
Robert E. Howard, the original author of the Conan stories. It is very
much a brutal, violent and realistic world, and to make our game world
as close to the vision of Mr. Howard as possible, we needed aim for a
Mature rating. This means we can add elements such as blood, gore and
even dismemberment. There are several finishing moves in the game that
end with your character decapitating enemies, a feature you most
definitively have not seen in other, typical MMOs. However, our aim is
not to shock or in any way include controversial content. We add these
elements because they are in line with the Conan lore, and we feel that
we need to add them in order to stay true to the license. We could also
have added elements such as explicit nudity and sexual content, but
we're trying to stay away from these things simply because we can not
end up as an Adult Only game. But we do enjoy having the creative
freedom to create a true depiction of Conan's world, which does mean a
lot of violence and some scantly clad women.
What has been the development teams biggest hurdle in the
development of AoC?
From the beginning of production we sat some very high goals for
ourselves and the game. We wanted to sport the best graphics ever
presented in an MMO, we wanted to revolutionize MMO combat, and we
wanted to fully realize the world of Hyboria by including several of the
different regions in the world. We also wanted to include social aspects
such as city building and warfare between guilds in the so-called Border
Kingdoms. Generally, as our Game Director Gaute Godager ofter says,
creating Age of Conan is like making four games at the same time. There
is just so much content here and so many features that we are working on
implementing. On top of that, we're treading new grounds with the most
advanced MMO graphics on the market, developing it for DirectX 10
alongside the DirectX 9 version. All this combined makes Age of Conan
one of the most advanced productions ever, but thankfully, our 140+
people team are talented enough to pull it off. We've spent years on
this game, and its finally coming together.
With Beta now in operation. Which components are the developers most
anxious to see in action?
We're all anxious to see gamers populate Hyboria! We can't wait to show
off more of the game, and we're really looking forward to opening the
servers and letting people create new lives in the world of Conan. We
believe that Age of Conan is more than just a game, its an alternate
world where players can adventure, build communities and meet new
friends. One of the game's big features is, of course, the
player-versus-player combat, and we're anxious to let players invade the
Border Kingdoms, set up their own battlekeeps and watch them duke out
their differences with swords, axes, catapults and armored horses.
What, if any, new features have been added during alpha/beta
development that you can't wait to receive user feedback on?
We really believe in our game, and we do think that players will embrace
all the features and content we've included at release. All the way
through the development we've always been very open about what features
we are working on putting in there, and we are very conscious of not
promising something we can't deliver. Thats a road too many developers
have gone down before us. That being said, there are no specific
features thats been added in the past few months that I can go into
details on at this point. But we are really looking forward to all user
feedback on all the features of the game. We're breaking the mold in so
many ways with Age of Conan, and its a huge experiment for us. Thats why
player feedback will be more valuable than ever to us, and I also think
that because Age of Conan is paving new grounds for the MMO genre in so
many ways, many other developers will be watching us and see what works
and -- if we're really unlucky -- what doesn't work. We're really
pushing the genre forward with this game.
I will end with the standard GM question, If you could change
anything about Age of Conan, what would it be?
I am being very honest when I say this: nothing at all. Right now, Age
of Conan is the dream MMO for me. Before I joined Funcom I worked as a
newspaper journalist where I covered games among other things. Age of
Conan was the one MMO that I had most faith in, and after joining
Funcom, I have that same feeling. I think we're doing so many great
things with this game -- the setting is just fantastic, the combat will
really give a much-needed adrenalin boost to the genre, siege warfare
and city building secures the social aspects of the game, and the
graphics just draws me in more than any other MMO have done before it.
I think you will need to ask me this question once we've launched the
game, because right now I think the developers is doing absolutely
everything right!
For more information concerning the development and progress of "Age of Conan"
Please visit them at: Age of Conan Website
Got a chance to speak with Erling Ellingsen concerning the ongoing progress on Funcom's upcoming MMO: Age of Conan.
