Sandworms hold a crucial role in Dune: Awakening, the highly anticipated survival MMO soon to be released by Funcom, the developers behind Conan: Exiles. However, the game won’t feature the renowned sandworm-riding from the novel at its launch. And, presumably of greater significance to Conan fans, there won’t be any penis sliders either.
Nevertheless, there will be sand-walking, and the possibility of sandworm-riding isn’t completely ruled out in the future. We had an extensive conversation with Dune: Awakening’s creative director Joel Bylos in our preview, and he elaborated on the decision as follows:
“We did actually investigate it. It comes with a significant technical cost, and also requires a clear purpose. We don’t have what the movie possesses, such as the scenario of ‘going through the southern sandstorms to reach the southern part [of Arrakis]’. So, indeed, we don’t have that at the moment.”
It’s worth providing some context. In Dune: Awakening, sandworms will be present, functioning as a major element in the game’s cycle of venturing into the deep desert to gather spice and returning to a safe haven behind the shield wall. Different-sized worms will appear in various areas; for instance, the deeper desert will have larger, ring-mouthed worms, while smaller and more conventionally-jawed ones will be in other regions.
The game will initially have only two factions – the Harkonnens and the Atreides. Given the game’s lack of a central focus on religion, and with the sandworm-riding Fremen being described by Bylos as “the core of the religion”, this makes more sense. Additionally, Bylos explained that players won’t be playing as a true messianic, “chosen one” figure. However, he didn’t entirely eliminate the possibility of sandworm-riding. Along with emphasizing that it won’t be available at launch, he also mentioned “there’s a third faction that I’d like to incorporate,” but similarly, “that likely won’t come until after launch.”
In the meantime, sandworms will still have a considerable impact and will also affect the respawning mechanics in the game, as Bylos explained when discussing approachability. Dune: Awakening will differ from the somewhat brutal player-on-player violence found in Conan: Exile. “You won’t lose many items unless you’re eaten by a Sandworm. If you are devoured by a Sandworm, you’ll wake up naked. But if another player kills you, you’ll drop some resources and perhaps some bullets you’re carrying. We’re very conscious of making the game accessible to players.”
“In terms of tone, it’s distinct from Conan. I believe Conan has a certain level of sexuality and a raw sense of humanity. Dune is much more philosophical and is science fiction, after all. So, it’s a lot more abstract.”
Bylos continued, humorously, to explain the team’s philosophy when working on Conan. “When we were developing Conan, I had a rule. I used to make the joke ‘what would Jesus do?’ – well, what would Conan do? I used to tell the team that whenever they came up with anything in the game, they should consider how Conan would solve it. If there’s a lever to pull to open a door, that’s not Conan – he’d punch the door and break it, right?”
“What’s the Dune equivalent of this? How do you approach this in Dune? The tone is quite different… For example, in Conan, you might smash down stones and trees, but in Dune, it’s like you analyze the rock, it shows you the seam where the most optimal break-points are, and then you use a laser along that line to break the rock.”
Naturally, this thoughtful approach to design extends to the more lighthearted aspects, including Conan’s infamous penis slider (which was notoriously covered up for the US Xbox version due to a “more restrictive” ESRB rating). As Bylos humorously stated to Eurogamer, “I don’t think Warner Bros. and Legendary would have approved a penis slider for this game. In Conan, it’s a bit different; we have the IP.”
Regarding the sand-walking, the peculiar and irregular mode of on-foot travel that people must use to traverse the desert of Arrakis without accidentally summoning a sandworm, Bylos joked about some ideas that didn’t make the cut. “We conducted a test that we ultimately removed – I’d like to introduce another version. We always joke that we should do the Guitar Hero thing, but you have to miss every note,” he laughed, “so it should be like: here are the arrow keys, make sure you don’t press them, right?”
But when it comes to the more lighthearted aspects of Conan or the more unconventional elements of Dune, from its typical relationships to the more family-friendly aspects that its later books gained some attention for, that’s a no. “No – well, I mean, we can allude to incest, and we can discuss these things, but – I don’t know… There isn’t a lot of nudity, not really. I’m just thinking, is there any nudity at all? I don’t think so. Though there are plenty of sandworm jokes…”
For more details, albeit with fewer sandworm jokes unfortunately, do take a look at our extensive Dune: Awakening preview and interview.
This preview and interview is based on a press trip – Funcom covered travel and accommodation.
