Disciples II: Dark Prophecy Designer Diary #5

Entry #5 - 04/12/01

By Patrick Lambert
Lead Artist, Strategy First

Here is the moment you have all been waiting for--yes, it's time for another designer diary from the team behind Disciples II: Dark Prophecy. Ah, I can picture it now, foam gathering in your salivating maws, wondering what insightful tidbits of information might be spilled today. So gather round my pretties, as we delve deeper into the dark and corrupted sights that are the art of Disciples II: Dark Prophecy.

In the Beginning

During the early days of Disciples II, it was decided that the units would be redone completely, which meant new concept art. We thought that an update from the generic medieval style present in the first game was necessary and that we would give the world of Nevendaar its own identity through different clothing styles. The units from the Empire would wear either intricate armor or lush and lavish robes with gold embroidered symbols. These cosmetic changes reflect the storyline of Dark Prophecy, where the Empire has grown rich and corrupt from the previous wars. The Mountain Clans would wear battered plates and lots of fur, which makes sense when you think about the harsh climate they have to deal with. The Legions of the Damned would drop the "red-devil sausage" look from the first game and now come in a variety of colors to indicate age and rank, and their armor would grow flesh, covered in pulsing veins. Finally, the Undead Hordes would go through some dramatic changes. The branches of the ghost unit would be female, as opposed to the floating sheets from Disciples: Sacred Lands, and players will probably have a nice surprise when they see the summon: death spell for the first time. The old "death with a robe and scythe" concept was dropped in favor of a towering behemoth with six arms, something that was inspired by Balinese art and religion, as were most of the units from the Undead Hordes.

Nevendaar is a lush, lively world where nature strives for majestic beauty. Mana bursts from the ground and solidifies into shiny crystals. Gold abounds within the mountain's reach, as the sun filters through leaves to shine and glitter. But the silent landscape is torn by the horns of war as the opposing forces gather. This is what we want the player to feel when that little scroll displays "Day 1." We are now adding new structures to the isometric map to get that vibrant "alive scent." Mountains now have trees and herbs growing on lower plates, while the higher grounds are covered in ice as water flows in small springs through the rocks. The capitals and most of the other landmarks are receiving some finishing touches to blend them with the rest of the world. There are small animations tastefully put in some strategic locations to give life to the map--for example, seeing a giant demon wobble through the fields toward a poor unsuspecting peasant is a real treat.

The battle screen is also being fine-tuned. We changed the camera perspective to give units a more dynamic look, but we still have to find enough different attacks so the combat sequence remains fresh and entertaining even after the player has seen them several times. The first-level creatures use basic attacks that illustrate their weakness. The higher-level units charge with tons of special effects and use hits that should look really painful. We're also trying to spice up the magic attacks--In Disciples: Sacred Lands, the wizards used lightning bolts that differed slightly as they gained levels. We want the player to notice a real difference between the effects of the neophyte and the imperial wizards (and not just by adding a couple more bolts).

What has proven to be a difficult step toward an impressive battle screen is the scale of the units. How do you get an impressive giant, without making the smaller units too small? Having 200 different characters in the game is great, but you have to size all the giants, dwarves, demons, dragons, and mounted knights to create a credible scale. This has taken a little more time than we anticipated, but we think the effort will be worth it.

Spells and Magic

As fireflies dance around a flame, they are drawn closer to each other. They start to move downward, like a growing ball of flames hurtling full-speed toward their helpless target. As the ball crashes into the ground, it changes briefly into a burning dragon, then slowly fades away. Magic is a force to be reckoned with in Disciples II: Dark Prophecy, and the animated spell effects aim to illustrate this point clearly--you don't get 150 damage points from a short spray burst. Still, the spell-creation process is a long and arduous road, where you need a good concept, a good animation, and good special effects. We want each race to convey a specific feel, and that's why we feel it's important to make sure we have "themed" magic. For example, it wouldn't be such a great idea to have a demon appearing from the darkness, to heal a party...which would make that the worse spell I've ever seen...

The portraits and other 2D art are also being redone completely. Having learned from Disciples: Sacred Lands, I tried many new things before I settled down and started scribbling. I hope people will still find the game characters likeable, ugly, and fearsome. The faces now have more details and expose more of the body (the artwork will show units from the waist up), as we have new ways of showing them--they are no longer constrained to a little square, and those of you who enjoy creating scenarios will find the new event editor most interesting.

I must now end what has been an excruciating task for me--the art developer's diary. I'm not someone who writes a lot, and when I start typing, I tend to stray and mumble over pointless issues.