Shadow of Mordor’s Nemesis system draws from Burnout, football, and an architecture book

The gameplay engine that powers Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor draws from a kaleidoscopic mix of influences, with some pretty removed from Tolkien’s works.

Michael de Plater, creative director at Monolith Productions, shared how the company’s approach to game design allowed for gamers to create their own gameplay stories in his presentation at 2015 DICE Summit, an elite game-industry event that took place in Las Vegas last week.