Added: 20.12.2014 23:11 | 14 views | 0 comments


Bioshock creator Ken Levine recently wrote a piece on how Monolith Productions Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor inspired various ideas he wishes to incorporate into his unannounced video game project. Interestingly enough, Shadow of Mordors design director, Michael de Plater recently discussed how Levines Bioshock series inspired Shadow of Mordor - stating that Monolith favored Bioshocks method of environmental storytelling, but wanted to devise a way in which the narrative didnt just look or feel real, but was real leading to Shadow of Mordors lauded Nemesis System. However, as well-received as it was, de Plater calls what they have accomplished "baby steps" towards a much larger goal.

Added: 19.12.2014 16:41 | 1 views | 0 comments

"To be brutally honest, we saw that [in testing]," he said. "The people who were the very end of the bell curve in terms of their coordination and skill--the people who found the game most easy, were also the ones who also found the Nemesis System least engaging."

"Actually, a hard mode is probably what we needed even some ways than an easy mode" -- Michael de Plater

De Plater went on to say that Monolith's aim for Shadow of Mordor was to create enemies and scenarios that appeared challenging, but at the same time were easy to take down if you took the right approach and discovered your foe's weaknesses. As such, Shadow of Mordor doesn't need an easy mode, but maybe an even tougher difficulty option, de Plater said.

"Actually, a hard mode is probably what we needed even some ways than an easy mode," he said.

Also in our interview, we asked de Plater how Monolith was able to ship Shadow of Mordor with no major technical hiccups. After all, technical struggles have been something of a common occurrence this year with other-big name games, including

Added: 19.12.2014 16:41 | 1 views | 0 comments

"To be brutally honest, we saw that [in testing]," he said. "The people who were the very end of the bell curve in terms of their coordination and skill--the people who found the game most easy, were also the ones who also found the Nemesis System least engaging."

"Actually, a hard mode is probably what we needed even some ways than an easy mode" -- Michael de Plater

De Plater went on to say that Monolith's aim for Shadow of Mordor was to create enemies and scenarios that appeared challenging, but at the same time were easy to take down if you took the right approach and discovered your foe's weaknesses. As such, Shadow of Mordor doesn't need an easy mode, but maybe an even tougher difficulty option, de Plater said.

"Actually, a hard mode is probably what we needed even some ways than an easy mode," he said.

Also in our interview, we asked de Plater how Monolith was able to ship Shadow of Mordor with no major technical hiccups. After all, technical struggles have been something of a common occurrence this year with other-big name games, including