In a newly published video, Neal Stephenson, project leader on Clang, extols the benefits of the Sixense STEM system, and how it will enable Stephenson’s goal of realistic sword fighting in videogames.
Clang is a project by Subutai Coroporation, which was cofounded by Neal Stephenson. The goal of Clang is to introduce realistic sword fighting into games. Stephenson has compared trying to control a sword fighting with a traditional controller to trying to control a first-person shooter with a sword.
Stephenson, who was formerly known mainly as an author, headed a successful Kickstarter for Clang in 2012 (with entertaining cameo by Valve’s Gabe Newell):
My career as an author of science and historical fiction has turned me into a swordsmanship geek. As such, I’m dissatisfied with how swordfighting is portrayed in existing video games. These could be so much more fun than they are. Time for a revolution.
After the Kickstarter campaign, it would seem that Clang lost some steam — partly because they couldn’t find the right motion control hardware. An update to the Kickstarter posted yesterday gives an overview of the project’s status.
But it would seem that Sixense’s STEM system is breathing new life into the project:
supporting Sixense’s STEM project is the most effective way to help CLANG: it will get the next generation of hardware out on the market, reducing the element of perceived risk and, we hope, clearing the way for us to pursue our own quest to find financiers who have steady nerves and other anatomical prerequisites. Moreover, it embodies a number of upgrades that we specifically asked for and that will improve CLANG in specific ways.
Good thing for Clang — the Sixense STEM Kickstarter is already fully funded.
Now that Clang is aligning itself tangentially to the VR world, the question is begged of virtual reality / Oculus Rift support. Clearly the addition of VR support in Clang would take it one step closer to the realistic sword fighting that Stephenson craves.
