The New World team talks their favorite zones in a new Forged in Aeternum episode, and takes us behind the scenes of what it took to create this year’s newly revamped and expanded Winter Convergence Festival.
The latest round of the casual chat between devs video series covers favorite zones. This time, Art Director Charles Bradbury and Senior Producer Katy Kaszynski join Scot Lane in discussing some of their favorite zones and their features. Lane mentions Cutlass Keys as one that might be an unconventional pick. Kaszynski names three zones, Brimstone Sands, Ebonscale, and Eden Grove (which she calls “a rave with monsters”).
Bradbury names Mourningdale as one of his, with the rain being one of the different factors. He compares it to the Scottish Highlands and as a dreary sort of atmosphere created to set the tone. Lane even says that in terms of weather, with snow it’s something they’d like to consider in the long term. All of the devs name some varied areas and features, so this episode just continues filling in some observations from the team and what they’re passionate about in Aeternum.
Speaking of snow, the Winter Convergence is back, and there’s a new devblog behind this year’s event, including the brand new Winter Wanderer. A lot of the blog talks about how they came up with the lore for this year’s event, especially after last year’s Winter Convergence landed with big changes.
Comes to telling the backstory of the new Winter Wanderer, they wanted to reveal things in stages and also bring yetis back as characters complete with their own language. So as you help the Wanderer figure out why he was cursed, this is the first step. Amazon is thinking longer term here, “Aeternum hosts many ancient powers, and as the source of all myths in the world, it stands to reason that it would’ve had a being that inspired Yule figures like Father Winter. Players will have to wait a few more seasons to discover who or what this mysterious being may be, and how it guides the events that make up the Winter holiday”.
For the full process behind the lore and new additions to the Winter Convergence, read the full devblog at New World.