En Masse Entertainment revealed some new details about their highly anticipated MMORPG, TERA. One of the early call outs from critics and fans alike about it has been the creature bosses, known as BAMs (Big Ass Monsters). In order to provide more insight on TERA, En Masse Entertainment and Bluehole Studio are sharing some insider development details on about these menacing BAMs.
According to the devs, the BAMs help to support the game’s “all action, no faction” aspect as players are encouraged to work together to defeat them while taking full advantage of TERA ’ s contextual and positional combat system. They deliver huge hits to players who aren’t carefully avoiding the real-time attacks. By working together, players can flank and outmaneuver BAMs to deliver lethal hits—an essential tactic in TERA, where timing and positioning always matter.
Due to their massive size, strength, and intelligence, combined with TERA ’ s pioneering real-time combat system, developing creatures with footprints as large as a BAM’s poses challenges not found in other online titles.
One such BAM is the ovolith—a spider-like giant that morphs into an egg-shaped cocoon. Capable of spraying poison at its enemies—which players must actively work to avoid—the ovolith is especially fast-moving and capable of dealing massive damage with its monstrous pincers. As it can shiftshape between spider and cocoon, the development team had to take both shapes into account as they affect both the ovolith’s hit detection and damage.
TERA’s Monster Concept Lead Artist, Junghyun Kim said:
“The monster’s outer shape matters a lot in combat because TERA lets players aim their attacks naturally. Auto-targeting games only need a normal attack with different attack motions, but we have more aspects to consider because the player’s character actually gets hit in TERA. But this extra challenge is one of the joys of creating monsters for TERA.”
Monster Concept Lead Artist, Junghyun Kim added:
“After we make some sketches, we discuss our ideas and make decisions on how to create the monster so it’ll work in the game. Then we complete the animation in perspective view to deliver the feel of the monster, make three-view drawings (useful in creating 3D), figure out how the monster moves, and so forth.”
TERA is currently slated for a 2012 release in North American.
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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