Road tripping with Conan

Erling Ellingsen, one of Age of Conan‘s Product Managers, gave time out earlier this week to share with us how the game’s promotion is coming along. And boy, there really is more to game development than just making sure graphics and gameplays are swell. To a certain extent, it can be said that the world outside of production is sometimes way tougher, cause at that point, you have to be able to sell your idea to your potential patrons. And that ain’t no easy task.

Here’s what they’ve been up to since first announcing Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Pretty much, they’ve been lugging it, living out of suitcases traveling around the world to show it to executives, the press, and players. Taking the game on the road entails a whole lot of preparation, such as ensuring that they could have a version of the game that can run on computers outside of Funcom‘s offices.

When working with a game as huge and complex like Conan, you don’t expect it to be created all in one go. It’s a piecemeal kind of project, where people from separate departments work on their own particular tasks independently, until the time comes when they have to put it together as a whole. Like a collage. And when this conglomeration happens, bugs are expected to be around. So it’s up to the programmers to squish them all. And more often than not, there will always be a bug or two that will manage to escape from their tight scrutiny. And it sure sucks when the glitch chooses to appear just when the game’s being presented on the road.

Ellingsen also explains why they don’t just wait until the whole thing’s finished before they go releasing it to the press. He says it’s utterly important for the game’s success that they let out the word as early as possible. “The gaming business is huge, and we have to fight for the attention of both players and journalists alike. Having something to show during the development is therefore very important.”

And presenting them is not a breeze, especially. For gamers like us, going to conventions is such a thrill. Well, we have it all too easy, ’cause we’re just playing the role of the audience. We’re the ones they have to please the most, or else their product would go kaplonk. But for them, it’s nuts. They have to work it for as much as four to six days in a row, nine hours a day, and just running through the same stuff over and over again. That itself can be a downer right there.

But then again, he says, at the end of the day, it’s what gives him satisfaction the most. He loves his job, and he loves seeing the reactions of both players and the press alike. In fact, they always look forward to it, ’cause “the feedback is also absolutely invaluable to us.” Heck, if that’s the case, no matter how hard the job may be, then there’s every reason for us to envy you.

Via ageofconan

Erling Ellingsen, one of Age of Conan‘s Product Managers, gave time out earlier this week to share with us how the game’s promotion is coming along. And boy, there really is more to game development than just making sure graphics and gameplays are swell. To a certain extent, it can be said that the world outside of production is sometimes way tougher, cause at that point, you have to be able to sell your idea to your potential patrons. And that ain’t no easy task.

Here’s what they’ve been up to since first announcing Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Pretty much, they’ve been lugging it, living out of suitcases traveling around the world to show it to executives, the press, and players. Taking the game on the road entails a whole lot of preparation, such as ensuring that they could have a version of the game that can run on computers outside of Funcom‘s offices.

When working with a game as huge and complex like Conan, you don’t expect it to be created all in one go. It’s a piecemeal kind of project, where people from separate departments work on their own particular tasks independently, until the time comes when they have to put it together as a whole. Like a collage. And when this conglomeration happens, bugs are expected to be around. So it’s up to the programmers to squish them all. And more often than not, there will always be a bug or two that will manage to escape from their tight scrutiny. And it sure sucks when the glitch chooses to appear just when the game’s being presented on the road.

Ellingsen also explains why they don’t just wait until the whole thing’s finished before they go releasing it to the press. He says it’s utterly important for the game’s success that they let out the word as early as possible. “The gaming business is huge, and we have to fight for the attention of both players and journalists alike. Having something to show during the development is therefore very important.”

And presenting them is not a breeze, especially. For gamers like us, going to conventions is such a thrill. Well, we have it all too easy, ’cause we’re just playing the role of the audience. We’re the ones they have to please the most, or else their product would go kaplonk. But for them, it’s nuts. They have to work it for as much as four to six days in a row, nine hours a day, and just running through the same stuff over and over again. That itself can be a downer right there.

But then again, he says, at the end of the day, it’s what gives him satisfaction the most. He loves his job, and he loves seeing the reactions of both players and the press alike. In fact, they always look forward to it, ’cause “the feedback is also absolutely invaluable to us.” Heck, if that’s the case, no matter how hard the job may be, then there’s every reason for us to envy you.

Via ageofconan