Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is a fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by the Norwegian computer video game developer company Funcom and published by Eidos Interactive for PCs.[3] The game launched on May 17, 2008 for those who had pre-ordered the game and registered for early access; the full release of the game for North America was May 20, 2008 and for Europe May 23, 2008 for the PC version.[6] Although originally announced as being available for the Xbox 360, the console version is at least a year behind schedule.[7] Hyborian Adventures is the first installment in the planned Age of Conan series. Age of Conan itself takes place within the continent of the Hyborian kingdoms, a year after the events depicted in Robert E. Howard's Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon.[8] Hyborian Adventures' release celebrated the 76th anniversary of the Conan franchise. To play Hyborian Adventures, users are charged a monthly subscription fee. Combat is based on five directions of attacking an opponent with a sword: hacking down against the head, slashing diagonally down from the left and right, and slashing diagonally up from the left or right. These directions are designed to be naturally strung together in combination. Difficult combos cause additional damage and faster combat. (You do not get two of the lower attacks until later in the game).[9] Funcom has said that their "Real Combat" system, a combat system designed to offer more real-time options than traditional Dungeons & Dragons-inspired "turn-based" combat systems commonly used in RPGs, will be a prime attraction of Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. This Real Combat system is a first-person melee approach in which every enemy has three different areas that players can swing at. Combos can be performed by stringing together consecutive successful attacks in particular directions. Feedback from players has pointed out that this system requires a certain degree of dexterity. Player stats and item bonuses will also play a role in this system, Rise of the Godslayer Codes,however item bonuses have less effect on a character's power than in comparable games, so that equipment does play a certain role, but less than other factors (player, teamplay, situation etc.). The idea of "Real Combat" is to eliminate the dullness of typical MMO fighting, Age of Conan Rise of the Godslayer game card,which often consists of an auto-attack feature.[10] The "Real Combat" system is used in one-on-one weapon battle, as well as spell-casting, ranged combat and even mounted combat. In some situations, however, players will choose to band together and unite their skills to face other bands of players or AI controlled armies or uber-mobs; in essence, "formations", location based effects available for some classes. For example, a character standing in line with a Conqueror when he is running his formation will have a great deal of resistance to knockbacks.[11] Players are able to take part in large scale siege operations.Age of Conan Rise of the Godslayer keys, Adventurers can cooperate with one another to build cities with walls, towers and catapults that can protect player-owned taverns and merchant facilities. The dance moves were made using motion capture on the dancer Hallgrim Hanseg�rd, most known as a backing dancer for the winner song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2009: "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak.[ Five principal individuals have worked on the music and audio for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. The Audio Director is Morten S�rlie, who created the soundtrack for Anarchy Online - Shadowlands. Simon Poole (Lead Sound designer on "Dreamfall - The Longest Journey") took over as Audio Director in May 2007, and saw the project through to completion. The sound designers are Tord D. Nikolaisen and Fredrik Martol, and composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen wrote the musical score for the game.[15] To create a musical score for the Hyborian universe, composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen turned to many different sources: For the music of the different ethnic groups,Age of Conan time card. Haugen studied traditional music from relevant parts of the world. For the overall sound of the Hyborian Age, Haugen studied ancient and medieval music as well as the romantic orchestra repertoir and film scores, while avoiding conventions that connect too closely to specific historical periods.[16] The female vocalist heard in the score is Norwegian singer Helene B�ksle.[1] Norwegian punk rock artists Turbonegro contributed three bonus songs to the soundtrack CD. One of them written specifically for the album.[17] Knut Avenstroup Haugen won the IFMCA award for Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media for his score.[18]