Turbine has published a new developer diary which looks into the art direction of Lord of the Rings Online: The Mines of Moria.
A good artist knows when to paint what they want, and when to do what the painting wants: when you do one thing, it often will tell you the next thing you need to do. So it has gone with creating Middle-earth for The Lord of the Rings Online™. The Shire informed how we designed Bree-land, the decisions we made in Ered Luin and the Misty Mountains directly influenced how we approached Forochel, and so on. No design takes place in a vacuum, as everything connects to everything else. It is staying true to what we have done before that helps us add to the world in a believable manner.
Thus Middle-earth has grown. Our Epic Story has finally brought us to Eregion and the Hollin Gate, to the entrance of the greatest “dungeon” ever imagined: the Dwarrowdelf, Khazad-Dûm, Moria. Greatest work of the Dwarves, this once magnificent city is now in ruins, overrun by Orcs and the evils released by “delving too deep.” Nothing that we have developed to date had begun to scratch at what we wanted Moria to be: the greatest dungeon adventure you have ever seen and played.
Read more here.
