Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[Age of Conan composer nominated for Best Original Score]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/11/11/age-of-conan-composer-nominated-for-best-original-score/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/11/11/age-of-conan-composer-nominated-for-best-original-score/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/11/11/age-of-conan-composer-nominated-for-best-original-score/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Funcom's most recent title Age of Conan tends to come under some fire from the gamers who jumped in upon launch. You may have noticed. While players can fault some aspects of the game, it does have some strengths, namely its fantastic score. In fact, the music of AoC has caught the attention of the Hollywood Music Awards.

Knut Avenstroup Haugen, who composed the soundtrack for Age of Conan, has been nominated for Best Original Score in a Video Game, specifically for his "Ere the World Crumbles" from the fantasy title. We also turned up an interview with Haugen about the challenges of scoring Age of Conan, and of composing interactive music in general.
Warhammer Online Coverage Having fun in Conan's homeland? Make sure to check out all of our previous Age of Conan coverage, and stick with Massively for more news from the Hyborian Age!

MassivelyAge of Conan composer nominated for Best Original Score originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 11 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>age-of-conanaocbest-original-scorefuncomhollywood-music-awardsknut-avenstroup-haugenmusicnominationnorwayosloscoresoundtrackwarcrywarcry-networkTue, 11 Nov 2008 19:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Product manager gives an inside look at the AoC launch]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/29/product-manager-gives-an-inside-look-at-the-aoc-launch/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/29/product-manager-gives-an-inside-look-at-the-aoc-launch/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/29/product-manager-gives-an-inside-look-at-the-aoc-launch/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , ,

Ten Ton Hammer spoke with Funcom product manager Erling Eddison about his experiences at the company, the Age of Conan launch, and ... his vacation plans!

Apart from a few vague hints about future patches, there's not much information about the game itself in this interview. However, it does contain an inside look at what the Funcom team went through in the days leading up to AoC's launch. For example, on May 17th (the early access launch day), there was a large screen in the Funcom offices that showed how many players were logged on to the servers. When the servers opened to the early access players, and the numbers skyrocketed, the team broke out the champagne.

Eddison plans to take a nice, long vacation -- possibly to Egypt -- before continuing to promote AoC and The Secret World.

MassivelyProduct manager gives an inside look at the AoC launch originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 May 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>age-of-conanerling-eddisonfuncominterviewlaunchlaunch-eventosloten-ton-hammerthe-secret-worldvacationThu, 29 May 2008 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Video, interview paint detailed picture of AoC raids]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/20/video-interview-paint-detailed-picture-of-aoc-raids/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/20/video-interview-paint-detailed-picture-of-aoc-raids/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/05/20/video-interview-paint-detailed-picture-of-aoc-raids/#commentsFiled under: , , , , , , , , , ,

There's a two-pronged assault of Age of Conan raid content information at Ten Ton Hammer -- a 20 minute raid presentation video, and an interview with raid boss scripter Eirik Munthe. Both the presentation and the interview occurred at the AoC launch event in Oslo last week, and both were rich with information. It looks like the endgame content has some incremental innovations just like the lower-level stuff; that should make the hardcore crowd happy.

In the presentation, bits and pieces of one of AoC's level 80, 24-person raids were shown to an audience with live commentary by Game Director Gaute Godager. Multiple bosses were shown, such as a poison-leaking monstrosity and two demons -- one ice, one fire -- who gain power when standing near one another. Godager explained the philosophy behind raiding and epic gear, and using collision detection in battle strategies. He revealed that raid groups will be able to call it a night halfway through a raid and finish any time they want (so long as it's before the raid expiration date -- one week after its start date). There was also a brief series of clips of a massive PvP siege.

In the interview with Eirik Munthe we learned that Funcom put together strike teams consisting of designers, scripters, and writers. Each strike team focused its attentions completely on a 20-level span; for example, Munthe's team worked on content for player levels 60 - 80. Munthe described the challenges he faced when scripting encounters with some of AoC's unique features such as collision detection and CoE (cone of effect) healing in mind.

MassivelyVideo, interview paint detailed picture of AoC raids originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 20 May 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MMORPG met up with Age of Conan composer Knut Avenstroup at the Oslo launch event and spoke with him about the beautiful score he created for the game. During the four minute video interview, Avenstroup talked about adapting his creative process to the video game medium and staying motivated when faced with the intimidating task of creating three and a half hours of music.

He explained that he wanted to learn about ancient forms of music, since the game is set just before the dawn of recorded history. Unfortunately, he had a bit of trouble because "there is very little material to look into because the only thing they know about ancient music or music from two thousand years ago is based on the instruments that have survived. They are basically trying to find out what kind of music would be possible to play on these instruments, so there's not a lot to go on."

Despite that problem, he was able to draw on inspiration from several cultures -- including Arabic, Celtic, and Nordic -- and the scores of films set in the distant past.

MassivelyAge of Conan's composer talks inspiration, challenges originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 16 May 2008 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>age-of-conanancientaoccomposerfuncominterviewknut-avenstrouplaunch-partymmorpgmusicosloscorevideoFri, 16 May 2008 20:00:00 EST