Lionhead fans had plenty of time to build expectations and speculation during the long four year wait for the eagerly awaited sequel to Black & White. In a fashion that seems to follow one of the UK's most illustrious developers, its release, however, was met with mixed opinions. Six months later finds the release of Black & White 2: Battle of the Gods (BotG), an expansion pack that promises to address some of the misgivings expressed by the fans and critics alike.

TVG had the opportunity to discuss the forthcoming pack with Lionhead's Philip Robinson, Joint Lead Designer on BotG, as he discusses the shift to a darker, grander experience; the rival god; multiplayer and much more...

First of all thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. The pitch for Battle of the Gods certainly seems darker than Black & White 2; can you explain why the move was taken and what effect this has on the experience for the player?

It ties in with the story at the end of B&W2 where remaining Aztecs are seen praying for a god. We wanted to threaten the player much more in the expansion pack and we felt the best way of doing this was to embrace the dark side. The atmosphere and experience are enhanced greatly by a vicious enemy god, various types of undead unit and an undead Creature!

"We wanted to threaten the player much more in the expansion pack and we felt the best way of doing this was to embrace the dark side."

Upon its release Black & White 2 met with mixed opinions, with criticism stemming from players that felt more like city planners than actual deities; how has this been remedied in Battle of the Gods, will the quests on offer provide more variety and take on an epic scope this time around?

City construction was always a large part of the B&W2 experience, and an enjoyable one for most people. In response to the criticism however we've tried to the make the game's focus much more epic; a contest between two deities.

The quests are certainly more complex, and we've linked some of them to gameplay of the levels, but some people lost sight of the fact that B&W2 is about construction, defence, conquest, Creatures and miracles; the scripts are merely small distractions for the player rather than a large part of the gameplay and remain so for the expansion pack.

What feedback from Black & White 2 have you taken on board when it came to developing Battle of the Gods?

Our community is always incredibly passionate and we do take notice of their feedback. Upon the release of B&W2 our resident online representative, Sam, set up forum posts asking for both positive and negative feedback with regard to B&W2, and we've had a huge response! We also took a good look at the various reviews of B&W2, as well as feedback from the whole team. It took quite a while to analyse all the information!

The expansion pack once again puts players back into competition against a rival God; can you elaborate on this decision for us and perhaps share a little information on the rival God (will it be a return from B&W1) and any changes to the structure of the gameplay as a result?

Eden had become a godless place between the original title and the sequel. The desperate prayers of the Greek people brought you into existence, the sole deity within Eden. The Aztecs were eventually beaten; but some survived and through sacrifices and prayers they have managed to raise an evil deity to help them with revenge on you!

There were a multitude of good reasons to bring back an enemy god; the most compelling was that it provides a much better opponent for one!

The enemy god has no connection with B&W1; he's upset and he wants you out of the way so he can take control of the whole of Eden. The gameplay is certainly more exciting now you have an equal to contend with! Start practicing your shield miracle now!

"The enemy god has no connection with B&W1"

Battle of the Gods is set to include new miracles for a player's deity; can you describe these for us? What other miracles were designed but had to be left out?

I can't tell you that! I'll let you know about one of the four... the Verdant miracle! Good players are going to love this one! Picture a platoon of bloodthirsty enemy warriors running into your town; you'd feel a bit guilty about squashing them with rocks wouldn't you? Now imagine how good it would be if you could transmogrify them into sheep, or pigs, or rabbits! Well, now you can!

An example of a miracle that never made it would be one that flattened terrain, quite a simple thing to do with our engine; but in the B&W2 universe giving the player powers like that can cause huge problems for many other areas of the game. It suddenly becomes a substantial amount of work! This is just one example of a reason that can prevent a miracle idea coming to fruition.

Think Black & White and gamers will inevitably think of the creatures. Black & White 2 featured four, with Battle of the Gods set to introduce a fifth. Apparently the new creature will in fact be a return for the original's turtle. Can you confirm this and explain what the turtle brings to the table?

Everyone loves the turtle; he has so much personality! It was an easy choice really; feedback from the team and from previously mentioned sources led us straight to the decision. He also isn't a variation on any of the others, in the same way that the Tiger was to the Lion; and what other type of Creature can hide his head into his shell if he gets really frightened?

I'm sure we are also going to get players who will want to load their Creature in from B&W2; and we've created the functionality for them to do this.

Black & White 2 placed the focus on combat however there did appear to be several gripes, such as the predictable nature and emphasis on scripted directions (same platoon continuously being created and sent into battle, etc..); what lengths are you going to ensure the expansion provides a more exciting and diversified experience then before?

We placed great focus on augmenting this side of the game for the expansion pack. To that end we had a dedicated programmer create a totally new system, an AI that analyses terrain to look for natural and created choke points; as well as determining the threat level from all unit types and Creatures. This now works in conjunction with the script language. You'll no longer be able to trick the enemy so easily and they are much more capable in both attack and defence.

The first batch of screenshots from Battle of the Gods shows the Tiger fight against what looks like an undead version of the Ape. Aside from appearances, how do the undead creatures differ from the standard bunch and perhaps you can share a little more information on the undead faction?

The undead Ape implicitly follows his master's will. This is bad news for the player! He doesn't even need to sleep! The enemy god wants to throw anything he can at you; quite literally sometimes! He uses everyone and everything at his disposal; he'll even sacrifice the people he's currently ruling over if it will make him more powerful.

Some of the screens certainly look moody and atmospheric; does this suggest a dynamic weather system that changes according to the player's good/evil alignment?

The weather system is unchanged in B&W2, but it has been used to a greater effect to add more atmosphere to the levels. When creating this expansion pack, we concentrated on putting time and effort into features that substantially progressed and developed the gameplay. How much would a dynamic weather system add to the way the game plays? That's not much bang for the buck as they say.

Battle of the Gods appears to put the emphasis on an epic battle between good and evil, however being B&W players can obviously take an evil stance; how will this work in the game if you're competing against an already evil race of undead?

Whether you play as a good or evil god, you are still up against a foe that wants control over Eden and its inhabitants, and would like nothing more than to eradicate you from Eden. Evil doesn't want to share power, wealth, influence or anything else for that matter! Make no mistake, you are going to fight him however you approach the game!

"... makes it's impossible to say what will happen with the B&W franchise at the moment"

A multiplayer mode is still sorely missed from B&W2 despite early claims that suggested it would appear in a later patch; is this still the case or are you shelving this idea completely?

This solely rests with Lionhead's game development strategy, which I can't comment on.

It was rumoured that there were plans to develop up to five Black & White titles. Given the performance of Black & White 2, and Lionhead's recent restructuring, do you anticipate the series progressing beyond Battle of the Gods? Are there still plans to bring the franchise to consoles?

Peter Molyneux has always had long term plans for the B&W series; I was astonished when I first found out how far he has thought through the evolution of the series. Our recent restructuring though makes it's impossible to say what will happen with the B&W franchise at the moment.

Do you have a pencilled in release date for Battle of the Gods yet?

Development is complete and it'll be out on April 28th.

TVG would like to thank Lionhead's Philip Robinson and Panache PR's Cathy Campos for taking the time to arranging the interview and answering our questions; look out for more on Black & White 2: Battle of the Gods soon...