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Black & White 2 Feature Feature

24/10/2002

TVG sat down with Jonty Barnes giving us some insight into the aspirations for Black and White 2.

With Black and White well and truly established as a brand title it has not taken long for rumours to start about the exact nature of the sequel. Peter Molyneux being the most lucid of orators on his own games was shackled on this occasion and the task of conveying the first snippets of information on Black and White 2 was passed over to Jonty Barnes, Head of Black and White Studios, down in Guildford. If you thought Peter was the only person who can speak in volumes, then Jonty, who we will be hearing more of, can match Peter word for word. Derek dela Fuente sat down to understand the outline into some of the aspirations for Black and White 2.

The set up at Lionhead, as it is with other satellite offices now working under the guidance of Peter Molyneux, is impressive. The Black and White Studio is dedicated solely to the development of the game Black and White. (âIf you are going to be creative then you need a creative setting where everyoneâs focus is on the game.â) Other Lionhead Studios also have their focus on other titles. When it comes to specifics like AI, 3D engines, all the satellite offices get together and form central pools of views and knowledge â“ which means collectively they have more input which results in better games. Also taken into consideration is that there are other teams outside of Lionheadâs own studios, part of the new satellite system, which are developing titles like Project Ego and Fable and whose expertise is part of the central pool of shared expertise. Jonty: âIn effect we have some of the brightest minds in the UK working towards one goal â“ perfection.â

Peter Molyneux not only gives them all guidance but he is their advisor, all sharing certain essential resources. Jonty elucidated: âRecently we were working on the armies in B&W2 focusing on the AI. Although we have a number of AI experts at the B&W Studios we consulted everyone including the experts at Blue Box (Project Ego) and collectively you have 4 companiesâ expertise working towards the same cause â“ to be innovative and push technology. This collaboration we believe has resulted in some of the best AI seen in games.â

Now with so many creative minds working as one you could easily assume the end results could be very generic but this will never be the case. All the games have different ideas; designs, concepts, even code running!

Another good example to clarify this is there is a member of the Lionhead/BW2 team (Tomas) who has created some of the most impressive water effects seen in a game. This technology will be shared with the other satellite teams.

Still early days in the Black and White 2 development cycle Black and White has always been a long-term plan for Peter, so expect many games under this banner. In his mind he is already on the 5th game.

With each new B&W title the team learn more and will continue to develop the community. In the original game you saw very primitive villagers and all they wanted was food and wood - their abilities were fairly simple and they did not interact with each other nor did towns interact. They farmed, reproduced and married around. Things have now moved on â“ they are self-sufficient and feel the pressure and influences of other towns and with this advancement and new technologies come the possibility of war. What changes, to the player, as a God, is that they are harder to please â“ they are interacting with each other â“ irrespective of your existence. Villagers are trading, warring, as one town becomes too dominant with the stealing of resources. They have built up armies and will defend their cities. Walls can be built around settlements in order to protect them from opposing warriors and the Creatures of rival Gods. There are now many strategic targets in a town whilst worshipping is now more localised. Instead of all moving out to a plot of land where the citadel is placed, and risking their lives, there are worshipping sites dotted around. A town can soon become a city with complex walls, lookout towers, etc.

âThere now is a whole new and impressive feudal system we have implemented but all those nuances are for another time. The question that will beckon to the player is â“ are you a God of war or peace?â

The people/villagers are more advanced and understand their own basic needs and you are necessitated to do more to impress. As always is the case, religion is one of the catalysts for war. Unite the people, or destroy them. You choose!

The world now is much more chaotic and destructive â“ much like humans. A great deal of time is spent on understanding the influences of the towns and how they battle against each other â“ stopping or creating wars! You still, of course, have a creature but instead of becoming this âlearning agentâ that does things for you, it is also your ultimate weapon. If you have this âKing Kongâ creature going into a town â“ the villagers are going to be worried and feel threatened and shoot arrows at it. It could easily clear a town or if you wish be passionate and get them on your side. Basically the essence of B&W2 is the effect of War

âThe AI now works in a far more effective way. The towns before had desires for food â“ needing to make new fields or fish, which is even more essential. Also you now have to encompass and work within a whole new military component, along with trading. Towns now hold opinions about other towns, about other creatures. The vast and extended complexities of the game, along with sophisticated AI, give more substance.â

The tribes having discovered technology are embracing the power it brings with a zeal bordering on the religious. The nature of mankind is such that he needs to compete. He needs to control and own, and he needs enemies to direct his anger towards. He needs to fight, and your people will do this in your name. The question is, do you want them to? As a God you can encourage the military might of your followers and rain supernatural hell on your foes. Your Creature can act as an unstoppable weapon, crushing fortifications, towers, people and resistance. But you can also use your might to ensure peace.

âYour creature is very much a leader of men now especially in the warring aspect. He can help with the building up of the military but the creature is so awe-inspiring they will even hide behind it when they attack other towns. The creature learns and builds up military mentalities and so it will put archers up hills, as the range of the weapons will be greater. It also knows about strategies so that it can go into attack and assimilate how much damage it can sustain and give the villagers an advantage when they attack. Everything we add to the world the creatureâs AI must take onboard!â

The creatureâs appearance is greatly improved with defined muscle tone, fur and hair, which offers a lot more detail and is now more convincing. Gone is the cutey look! Even the way they move has become more akin to what you would expect with creatures moving on all âfoursâ.

Black and White 2 may not sound that different in terms of a new concept but new improved AI and a fantastic amount of detail makes everything work differently, more effective, so the end results â“ game play - is vastly improved over what was nigh on perfect to most originally.

A richer world, more detailed, is all but a few features that we told about. Having doubled the memory and highered the spec of the base machine to run the game gives the team even more latitude.

Black & White 2 is about uniting those you can unite, and destroying those you canât. Itâs about whether you want people to kill for you or die for you. And as the fortunes of the tribes depends on their armies, walled cities and weapons, itâs about knowing when to let peace reign and when to go for it.

Within Black and White whatever action you did had a knock on effect be it good or bad. If you picked up a tree, it was slightly evil whereas planting a forest was good. At no time did the player get any visuals showing them the merits of their deeds/actions but now you will. Even the sound will help convey these facts.
Become totally evil and the dynamic sound will change and convey a darker mood!

Sound and FXs will also play a greater and more significant part. Right down to the sound of birds chirping away when all is well. The level of detail goes even further with an example of rabbits popping out of holes when there is peace â“ rats scuffling around when evil lurks! âIt is not always down to you pertaining good or evil but that of the alignment of an area. Just like in Lord of the Rings you can see visually black, dark parts of the landscape which is bad!â With a 24 track mixing desk, all number of keyboards and gizmos, the person creating the soundtrack mentioned his inspiration as that of Braveheart. âWith a more cinematic feel, the game is very frantic, we are looking to give convey an âepicâ quality. Along with cut scenes and stirring sounds it will generate more intensity. You will not see a single person coming out of a hut ready to go to war but dramatic and impressive war scenes. We are trying to add some emotional quality to the game with sound and music conveying the moods of the villagers.â

Concluding the first overview are details like: Within the landscapes there is 16 times more detail in an area of 10 x 10 metres. This sums up the focus of the game â“sophistication and depth. The water effect alone has to be seen to be believed (waves that look real) with over 2 years of work in mimicking water effects which will now be present in the game. These do not change the game concept or play but added to the overall essence on top of a tiptop game - it is wonderful! One person working on this one area shows that the expertise of the Lionhead Studio is unsurpassed!

âWhilst B&W2 is a sequel, it offers new game play and ideas.â

More soon!