Here to answer a few questions are two of the leads from the hard working development team; Koen heading up art and visuals, and Jan, Larian Studios' writer. More to follow next week!


What was your vision for the world of Rivellon?

Koen: When I first started thinking about a look for Rivellon, I wanted to create a colourful and atmospheric environment without deviating too much from the original Divinity. This was quite a difficult exercise: we didn’t want to end up with a game that looked like a cartoon, but at the same time, we also didn’t want to go in a direction that was too realistic. A balance between these two extremes needed to be achieved.

How have the writing and art teams worked together to bring their visions to life?

Koen: Ideas got pitched back and forth. When I was asked to create a mood sketch, I went to the story team to check out what they had in mind. We worked very closely.

How does the world in Divinity II relate to the original game?

Jan: After visiting Nemesis in Beyond Divinity, the player now returns to Rivellon, the idyllic-yet-deadly setting of Divine Divinity. This of course implies that Divinity II and the original share perhaps the most important of features, which is the game world itself. Much has happened and much has changed though, so the game will present a journey of discovery for both newcomers and veterans. Those who played the other games will obviously have no true advantage – that wouldn’t be fair – but they can enjoy a certain level of intertextuality between our newest adventure and its predecessors. Examples of this can range from returning (main) characters to winks in texts and dialogues even the die-hards may not immediately spot. I’m really looking forward to seeing the forum members share them with one another on the Larian message boards.

What do you feel makes a great fantasy world?

Jan: From a story and writing point of view I’d say a great fantasy world is a harmonious one. By that I mean it is not merely an amalgam of loosely connected elements that may be enough to provide a fun, but fundamentally shallow game world. Rivellon is a place with a rich history and even though the player may not actually know that history, it is omnipresent, right beneath the surface and ready to be discovered should you wish to do so. There is nothing sterile about Rivellon and its inhabitants: everything and everybody has its own background, idiosyncrasies, beauties and flaws. I’m not just talking about the texts and characters either: the way the game looks, the architecture of towers and temples, the very way all locations have been decorated: it all adds to the atmosphere and history of Rivellon.

Koen: I tried to use these backgrounds as much as possible when creating the looks of certain factions. For instance, the looks of the Aleroth champions were designed with the ancient Romans in mind. Autocratic in nature, this trait is reflected in their architecture: huge and monumental. A proud people, their armours are intrinsically decorated with gold and silver.

What emotions will the world evoke in a player?

Jan: Hopefully a whole range of them, from humour to dread! The game world is as often bright and charming as it is dark and ominous. Some characters are truly horrific, whereas others are kind and welcoming, or comedic to downright weird. The same goes for the locations the player will visit.

What are your strongest influences (movies, books, art)?

Jan: I can’t really single out one specific book or story, but I’d say my main influences are my rather broad literary and cultural background – that may sound a bit pompous, but there you have it :) – and my experience as an RPG player. Concerning the latter, you could probably argue that as for games, it is the original Divine Divinity that influenced me the most.

Koen: I’m a big fan of Lord of the Rings, and recently finished The Silmarillion. It’s quite a daunting book, but it’s a must read for every fantasy fan out there. It’s amazing how rich and deep the mythology of Middle Earth is. Apart from that, I’m a fervent RPG player, and a big fan of impressionistic art.

How did you first start working on the creatures? What is the process?

Koen: The first step in creating a creature is thinking about the background. How does it live, what does it eat, etc. A couple of sketches are made based on these ideas, and after a while, out comes a brand new painted creature design.

What is your favourite creature in the game world and why?

Jan: Definitely the Demons. When one pictures a Demon, one usually imagines a more or less horned human with a tail: a Devil really. The Demons in Divinity II though, are unique creatures in which you can discern some Giger-esque influences and look truly sinister.

Koen: Tough one. I really love the ghost. I don’t remember why I came up with a design like that, but it sure must have come out of the darker caverns of my brain.

What is your favourite area in the game world and why?

Jan: There’s this tiny island in the Orobas Fjords that I really like. When you’re standing on it and you look to the south-west you can see Sentinel Island on the horizon and when you turn north, you see these beautiful waterfalls and the huge warrior statue that guards the entrance to Broken Valley. This island doesn’t have a name, but I call it Innisfree because it always reminds me of Yeats’ poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree". You should look it up sometime: it’s brilliant.

Koen: Too me this would be Broken Valley village. It’s just a pleasure walking around, chitchatting with the local residents. That whole village just feels alive, it’s really nice.

What do you think is the most exciting and unique aspect of the game, from your perspective?

Jan: The addition of Dragon combat is completely unique in the genre and it has – in my opinion at least – been a good long while since gamers have been able to enjoy an epic RPG with an actual choice in what they do and how they do it. No matter how pretty the packaging, all too often I find I’m doing nothing more than running from A to B, killing something and going back to A. Frankly, that’s just boring, which I why I am very pleased to be able to say Divinity II most certainly ventures well beyond this all too simple quest structure.

Koen: One word: humour. Divinity 2 has tons of it. It also helps that this game is an extremely deep RPG experience, and looks awesome as well ;)

Can you give examples on how you worked to on bring the Dragon Slayers to life?

Koen: I wanted their armour and weaponry to reflect Dragon shapes. They are elite warriors, so the way they walk and talk should reflect this. The fact that these guys have glowing eyes helps to make them look even fiercer.

How did you bring the Dragons to life?

Koen: It’s hard to create a good-looking Dragon without basing yourself on designs that already exist. The first question that popped in my mind was whether to give the player Dragon two or four arms (two wings, or two wings plus two arms). We decided to go for the two arms solution, that way we emphasized the fact that the player Dragon is a human in Dragon form.

Tell us about something you are most proud of in Divinity II?

Jan: When people will play the game and – hopefully – enjoy the quests, dialogues and stories, then I will be proud.

Koen: When people look in awe at the game and say: hmmm … Nice atmosphere …

What was your inspiration behind the design of the cities in Divinity II?

Koen: When I first started thinking about the visual design for Divinity II, I wanted to keep the original Divinity in mind. I didn't want to blatantly copy it of course, nor did I want to completely deviate from what had been done before. You especially see that in the design of the buildings in Broken Valley village, which kind of resembles the starting village from the previous game, the old Aleroth.

For Aleroth City I wanted to show that more than half a century passed by: Aleroth grew in importance because of the healing crystals and transformed itself from a small village into a fully fledged city. The majestic and monumental architecture of the city walls and towers emphasize the proud character of its denizens. This beautiful rich facade hides a much darker decadent side of the city though.   

What is your favourite settled location in the game, and why?

Koen: That's hard to say. Each of the locations in the game has something special about it. If I really have to choose, I would go for the Orobas Fjords: beautiful vistas, mysterious locations and an environment that is tailored to combine both Dragon and human gameplay ... That's what Divinity II is about after all.

Can you give us a cool anecdote about your work?

Koen: As an art director, you have to give your artists enough information so that they understand what they have to make. To allow enough freedom, I don't really tell them exactly what I want; I usually make a basic sketch and write down some key words that relate to the asset in question. And because I allow this freedom, the artists can come up with stuff that wasn't originally planned, as long as it works well within the context I have given them. The Maxos Temple is a good example to illustrate this approach. I quickly sketched up an old temple with a gigantic Maxos head adorning the part. Then one of the artists - known to be extremely creative, and thus hard to keep in check ;) - started working on it, and he added lots of extra details like the hands, conveying the idea that Maxos was about to climb out of the temple. Great stuff. We wouldn't have gotten this result of I had forced the artist to rigidly follow the sketch.