Game World Update - Leeward
written by Timelord
on June 23, 2010
Before I go into the update, I must confess that the majority of the past week was spent (re)playing HoMM5 and Divinity 2. I was having designer's block and couldn't get myself to finish the level I had started. Instead of ploughing ahead and ending up with a lackluster level, I decided to take some time off and it did wonders. After getting the fan-made manual for HoMM5, I decided to play on Heroic difficulty and I must say, it was much more enjoyable - the fights were difficult but the knowledge of every game mechanic (thanks to the manual) made it a vastly superior experience compared to the first play-through I did.
Though the tactical battlefield paled in comparison to Shadow Magic - where the battlefield was about 20 times bigger and units had more varied abilities, it was still fun!
On to Blood and Lyrium...
Leeward is a village on the rise again.
Founded by a group of miners who had struck gold on the hills near West Hill, Leeward was once a booming frontier town where the reach of law was present only to accept bribes and killings over gold were a daily occurrence. As the gold dried up, Leeward shriveled and the hardy folks who had nowhere else to go made a living out of poaching and wood-cutting.
All that changed when a lone poacher by the name of Isiah stumbled upon an untapped lode high in the mountains. Leeward was forced to reprise it's role as a frontier town - only now, nobody wanted to stay there for too long. Meghren's tax collectors regularly visited the town with armed guards in tow and confiscated all the gold they could.
Small groups of prospectors stocked up in Leeward and spent days camped out near the lode, hunting for the vein that would make their future. Those that were lucky enough to strike rich braved the perils of the surrounding woods and escaped back into the lives they had left behind. Those that weren't went back to Leeward to prowl the streets looking for the next group that went up to prospect - either to hire themselves out as guards and guides or to steal their supplies so they could go prospecting again.
I put this level down on paper with all the details I would require. However, I still had to rework the entire level from scratch after my first attempt resulted in too small an area - I realized I still hadn't got the sense of scale when designing exteriors. The plan is to finish this level before this weekend and get the basics of another exterior level complete before I leave for my vacation in July. That way, I can concentrate on filling them out and tying them together on my laptop during the vacation and polish the levels up later.
I also plan to start posting more frequent updates (when possible!). The next one will be on Friday and will feature one of the new classes that will be available in Blood and Lyrium. Till then....