Lair (video game)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please discuss this issue on the talk page or replace this tag with a more specific message.
This article has been tagged since January 2007.

This article or section contains information about an unreleased video game.
It is likely to contain information of a speculative nature, and the content may change dramatically as more information becomes available.

Lair
Developer(s)	Factor 5
Publisher(s)	SCEA
Designer(s)	John Debney (composer)
Release date(s)	May 8, 2007
Genre(s)	Action, Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Rating Pending (RP)
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3
Media	1 BD-ROM
Input	Sixaxis

Lair is an upcoming video game being developed by Factor 5 and published through Sony Computer Entertainment America for the Sony PlayStation 3 video game console. It is an action, flight, and combat game in which players control the reins of a dragon to fight both in air and land, and uses the Sixaxis controller's tilt functions for control within the game.

1 Concept
2 Development
3 Technology
4 Controls
5 External links

[edit] Concept

The player controls a knight named Rohn, who belongs to a secret society known as "The Burners", all of whom fly dragons in combat. The story takes place on a continent inhabited by two main groups; the Asylians and the Mokai, with the player's knight belonging to the former. The world of Lair is suffering a global warming effect due to volcanic activity, and the Mokai, whose lands are arid and people desperate, attempt to steal from the Asylians, whose own lands are some of the few remaining fertile areas. The game begins with a sudden assault by the Mokai on the Asylian city, and the Burners mount their dragons to defend.

[edit] Development

At TGS 2006, the developers declined to provide a launch date for Lair. They did confirm that they will not be supporting online multiplayer, though they will be interested to revisit this decision for a sequel if Lair is successful.

[edit] Technology

Lair supports native full HD 1080p graphics and 7.1 uncompressed audio [1] and also takes advantage of the following technologies:

Progressive Mesh is a technique rendered by the Cell microprocessor, which allows for an intensive amount of detail to be placed upon vast number of objects, both up-close and far away.
High-Dynamic Range Lighting: All of the lights, shadows, reflections, and highlights in Lair are in HDR, and are rendered in real-time by the Cell and RSX, thus allowing the lighting scheme to completely change, just like the time of day does in-game, however, due to the advanced programming of the lighting system, it will be ever-changing, and rarely, if ever the same twice.
Real-time Dynamic Physics: Every second of gameplay, Lair renders hundreds of physics effects on everything from your dragon, down to the cloak on an enemy soldier. All enemies and allies have their own physics-driven animations, and have individually programmed ragdolls.
Real-time Fluid Dynamics: All of the water effects in Lair, such as waves, are run by real-time fluid dynamics on the Cell.
Parallax Shaders: Parallax shaders are used on almost every object in Lair, including fire and clouds.
Real-Time Renderings/Volumetric Effects: The fire in Lair is rendered in real-time, and has its own physics. All of the clouds, smoke, and fog effects are volumetric. Lava, rain, wind, fur, and more are also rendered in real-time.

[edit] Controls

Lair's design is heavily based on the features of the PS3 controller. Control of flight and several other abilities exclusively uses the motion-sensing capabilities of the SIXAXIS controller.

To flap the dragon's wings (allowing you to fly faster), simply press the X button.
You can also extend the dragon's wings (slowing you down).
To get a quick boost of speed, you can press the circle button.
To lock-on to enemy dragons and turrets, hold down the L1 and L2 buttons until the lock-on reticule turns red.
The face buttons are used for various long-range attacks such as firebreathing and fireballs.
If you are close enough to a dragon which you are locked-on, you can start to attack them physically.
Controlling both the movement and physical attacks of the dragon is done via the motion-sensing.
By tilting in a certain direction, the dragon will fly in that corresponding direction.
You can perform dives, sideswipes, etc. with the motion-sensing.
If you pull back very quickly, your dragon does a 180 degree turn.
When doing physical attacks in the air, you can aggressively move the controller into the direction of the enemy dragon, and slam into it.
Occasionally your dragons will grapple, and you can press a random combination of the face buttons to claw, slash, and even bite the other dragon.
Also, you will occasionally have the chance to jump off of your dragon, and land on an enemy's, where you can kill either them or their dragon, or even both. This is also executed via the face buttons.
On the ground, motion-sensing is also used for steering.
If you slam down the controller, you can cause your dragon to slam his feet down, causing shockwaves on the ground, which damage enemies.
Also, if you move it back and forth, you can slash at enemies, and even eat some of them to regenerate your health.
Fire-breathing is controlled via a face button, and you can aim the fire with the motion-sensing.