Mike Hines, the Art Director for Perpetual Entertainment's upcoming MMORPG, Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, joins us today to write this developer journal about the choice of Environment Art style for the game.

Rome is a word that encompasses an unending sea of images, ideas and feelings. It has been an active part of most cultures in the world since it rose to prominence. American culture, in particular, has placed Rome and Roman ideals at the center of many aspects of our education, government, entertainment and art. We see the Romans as one of the first cultures to develop city-life that parallels our own, and as the originators of many of the things we experience on a daily basis.

Rome and Roman portrayals in entertainment have been numerous, and we worked hard to develop a art style that incorporates many of those familiar portrayals while adding in the historical and mythological aspects that have been modified or glazed over by previous movies and games. Additionally, I had to make the game feel playable, fun and exciting, while supporting the fiction and game design.

Read the whole article here.

Beautiful screenshots.

I've been following the game for awhile and there are quite a few things about it that intrique me, not the least of which being the graphics.  Judging from the screenshots I've seen, they have an excellent art department.

I really can't wait to play.

Originally posted by JimLad
They have Manny from Ice Age!

LÖL! Thats what I thought too, heh. ^^

Looks beautiful, but VG did too. I hope they dont make the world too "cold" and animate it with life and make it feel with "soul".

Ah don't forget people this game is from SOE.  When is the last time an SOE game was released that was playable at release....ah yes never.

Not to say this developer can't change that, but it is a rather significant factor.  No matter what the hype I will never buy another SOE product until it has been out at least a few months and has good reviews.

I feel sorry for Perpetual Entertainment actually because there are a lot of people out there that feel the same way.  

Originally posted by Ciredric

Ah don't forget people this game is from SOE.  When is the last time an SOE game was released that was playable at release....ah yes never.

Not to say this developer can't change that, but it is a rather significant factor.  No matter what the hype I will never buy another SOE product until it has been out at least a few months and has good reviews.

I feel sorry for Perpetual Entertainment actually because there are a lot of people out there that feel the same way.  

Well I guess you forget that SWG was worse than Vanguard at release, took them almost a year to get it to a decent playable state.

EQ I agree was more polished at release, but it had some pretty horrible design flaws especially with downtime and death.  You spent more time sitting than fighting and corpse retrieval was an adventure in itself.

Again, I hope that this new game breaks the mold. 

Originally posted by Elikal

Looks beautiful, but VG did too. I hope they dont make the world too "cold" and animate it with life and make it feel with "soul".

Umm, are you guys incapable of reading? SOE is in charge of marketing and distribution. Nothing else. Perpetual is the one dealing with creating the game itself.