by Karen Hertzberg on Jan 22, 2008
I Can Has Phat Lootz?
For massively multiplayer online gamers, often their biggest desire in
their favorite game is to get amazing pieces of loot. Function, look,
and rarity all have an impact on how players react to particular items,
so it often becomes a fairly difficult task to create the perfect
armors and weapons for the level of a character. It takes an army of
people to create an MMOG, and a good chunk of those folks are
interested in how these items will affect the game.
Therefore, when the Ten Ton Hammer staff was interested in the items in
Age of Conan, we turned to a group of individuals who had their hands
in making appropriate items for the game. Joel Bylos, Thorbjørn Olsen,
Mats Tveita, and Thomas C.M. Lindseth all sat down with Cody "Micajah"
Bye and Ben Avery to answer our questions about items.
We are using graphical assets to reflect that this is
equipment
intended to be used. We don't have huge flaring shoulder pads, we don't
have pants that are burning in six places. We have equipment that
serves a purpose, and it looks the part. That said, the amount of
detail that is in our equipment is astounding. If you equip a full set
of chainmail, for instance, you'll be able to see every link in the
armor. It has specular as well, so it reflects light, casts shadow, and
so on.