Now that The Lord of the Rings Online: Fate of Gundabad is out, the Standing Stone Games team is opening the doors to a peek behind the scenes of at creating the expansion’s environments and scope.
The info comes via an accompanying 2 hour Casual Stroll series video available that walks you through so much of what you can expect in Gundabad. From a start with Legacy of Durin and Trials of the Dwarves and going further into the goals that the design team had in creating all of the locations and how they used space.
One thing that stands out is how layered some of the environments are, and that is by design. “There's a lot of verticality in Gundabad. It really helps to sell a taller, deeper, darker space," and some of those spacious locations include using lift systems, catwalks, cliffs, and the dangers of possibly dropping into a chasm. Just an average day.
Each of the environments in the areas have their own unique looks and were designed to feel appropriate to the Middle-earth lore. From caves and snow, to plant life, the environments are each designed to have their own feel as well as opportunities to add different features tp make the experience fuller.
With such a huge expansion, including LOTRO’s first new class in years, was a big undertaking and it shows with how careful they've been in designing the new environments. One of the highlighted details is the instance Den of Pughlock, which they designed to have glowing, psychedelic plant life and light effects to let you know you’re in a more whimsical, different and memorable space.
For the full tour and the details on how they designed the Fate of Gundabad environments, scope, and more see the update on the Lord of the Rings Online.
