Erling Ellingsen talks Age of Conan
Age of Conan‘s got DirectX 10. That’s one of the most talked-about features of Funcom‘s upcoming MMORPG. In a recent interview with CVG, Funcom’s product manager Erling Ellingsen gave out the scoop on exactly what it brings to the game.
Unsurprisingly, Ellingsen says that the improvements that DirectX 10 brings are mostly cosmetic. Graphics have become more detailed, and the devs were able to push “much more content into each scene” than they were able to do with DirectX 9. It also delivers parallax mapping, improved shadows and lightning, sharper textures, more realistic particle effects, and “a lot of other good stuff.”
Other than the aforementioned features, Ellingsen says that “the two DirectX versions will be identical in terms of game play.” This brings us to Age of Conan‘s Xbox 360 version. Ellingsen says that it’s “steadily on the way,” and just to make sure that things go smoothly, they’ve put together a separate team with a separate Game Director to work on the Xbox 360 version. Ellingsen also noted that the Xbox 360 version isn’t going to be a straight-up PC port, but will be “a tailored version for the Xbox 360.”
How do they intend to tackle the multiple interface and input issues that comes with bringing an MMORPG to consoles, anyway? Ellingsen says that while it’s a bit early to talk about it, he’s confident that with an entire team working on the project, Funcom will be able to put together “a very user-friendly interface on the Xbox 360 version.” He gives out pretty much the same answer on inter-platform playability, so it looks like we still have to wait a while before we find out if PC users can play with or against Xbox 360 users.
For the full interview, click on the “read” link below.
Age of Conan‘s got DirectX 10. That’s one of the most talked-about features of Funcom‘s upcoming MMORPG. In a recent interview with CVG, Funcom’s product manager Erling Ellingsen gave out the scoop on exactly what it brings to the game.
Unsurprisingly, Ellingsen says that the improvements that DirectX 10 brings are mostly cosmetic. Graphics have become more detailed, and the devs were able to push “much more content into each scene” than they were able to do with DirectX 9. It also delivers parallax mapping, improved shadows and lightning, sharper textures, more realistic particle effects, and “a lot of other good stuff.”
Other than the aforementioned features, Ellingsen says that “the two DirectX versions will be identical in terms of game play.” This brings us to Age of Conan‘s Xbox 360 version. Ellingsen says that it’s “steadily on the way,” and just to make sure that things go smoothly, they’ve put together a separate team with a separate Game Director to work on the Xbox 360 version. Ellingsen also noted that the Xbox 360 version isn’t going to be a straight-up PC port, but will be “a tailored version for the Xbox 360.”
How do they intend to tackle the multiple interface and input issues that comes with bringing an MMORPG to consoles, anyway? Ellingsen says that while it’s a bit early to talk about it, he’s confident that with an entire team working on the project, Funcom will be able to put together “a very user-friendly interface on the Xbox 360 version.” He gives out pretty much the same answer on inter-platform playability, so it looks like we still have to wait a while before we find out if PC users can play with or against Xbox 360 users.
For the full interview, click on the “read” link below.
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