Updates on Conan from lead gameplay programmer Mark Cooke

By Crom! It’s been quite some time since we last heard anything about THQ and Nihilistic Software‘s Conan for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Well, the game is looking really good with quite a few surprises that beat-em-up fans might appreciate.

Gamespot was able to sit down and talk with Mark Cooke, the lead gameplay programmer for the game from Nihilistic Games. He leaked out some information regarding the development of the game and the combat system. So let’s get to it and see if they are capturing the essence of Conan in their upcoming release.

The development of the game is going well, according to Cooke. He noted that “lots of little bits and pieces are starting to come together as everything is being integrated into one cohesive package.”

He also said that they were tweaking the parameters of the game just a bit to make players really feel like Conan when they’re playing the game. (It’s great that these guys are taking an extra mile to remain true to the source material, something other developers should be doing more often.)

The biggest part of the game though, and one that most have been talking about, is the combat system of Conan. Cooke talked about this with glee saying that it “is definitely the core of the Conan experience.” He continued by explaining their attempt at making a fluid combat system and capturing the barbarism in Conan’s fighting style.

From the start, we made it a goal to have a really fluid combat engine. If a player is attacking but then suddenly wants to block, dodge, or jump to avoid an incoming enemy attack, we allow that. If they want to switch targets midcombo, we allow that too.

Players can dodge to extend a combo chain and move around the environments quickly. We’ve tried to make a freeform combat system so players can really get creative with how they string moves together. As for capturing the barbarism of each combo, we’ve employed a number of camera tricks and controller rumble.

On top of that, we have a really cool dynamic gore system that can determine how to either remove limbs on an enemy or simply cut them in two, depending on the combat move Conan is using and where it hits his enemy.

As always, In case you care to read the full interview, don’t hesitate to click on our read link below.

By Crom! It’s been quite some time since we last heard anything about THQ and Nihilistic Software‘s Conan for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Well, the game is looking really good with quite a few surprises that beat-em-up fans might appreciate.

Gamespot was able to sit down and talk with Mark Cooke, the lead gameplay programmer for the game from Nihilistic Games. He leaked out some information regarding the development of the game and the combat system. So let’s get to it and see if they are capturing the essence of Conan in their upcoming release.

The development of the game is going well, according to Cooke. He noted that “lots of little bits and pieces are starting to come together as everything is being integrated into one cohesive package.”

He also said that they were tweaking the parameters of the game just a bit to make players really feel like Conan when they’re playing the game. (It’s great that these guys are taking an extra mile to remain true to the source material, something other developers should be doing more often.)

The biggest part of the game though, and one that most have been talking about, is the combat system of Conan. Cooke talked about this with glee saying that it “is definitely the core of the Conan experience.” He continued by explaining their attempt at making a fluid combat system and capturing the barbarism in Conan’s fighting style.

From the start, we made it a goal to have a really fluid combat engine. If a player is attacking but then suddenly wants to block, dodge, or jump to avoid an incoming enemy attack, we allow that. If they want to switch targets midcombo, we allow that too.

Players can dodge to extend a combo chain and move around the environments quickly. We’ve tried to make a freeform combat system so players can really get creative with how they string moves together. As for capturing the barbarism of each combo, we’ve employed a number of camera tricks and controller rumble.

On top of that, we have a really cool dynamic gore system that can determine how to either remove limbs on an enemy or simply cut them in two, depending on the combat move Conan is using and where it hits his enemy.

As always, In case you care to read the full interview, don’t hesitate to click on our read link below.