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New ArenaNet dev diary outlines the making of the Battle of Kyhlo
ArenaNet's last Guild Wars 2 blog post explained the ins and outs of the Battle of Kyhlo PvP map, which will be playable later this month at PAX Prime. The team is now following up on that with a new blog post that outlines what went into the creation of the capture point-based battlefield. The post notes that "collaboration and iteration are the keys to making good games," so with that in mind, we get to hear from a veritable legion of ArenaNet devs, each reporting on his or her role in the creation of the map. We hear from Jeff Grubb on the lore of the arena, we hear from Egan Hirvela on the process of map design, and Habib Loew tells us how the programmers make it work. Then it's up to designer Nick Mhley and his designers to say things like, "You know what's cool? When you shoot the [trebuchet] and blow stuff up. But you know what would be cooler? Blowing up even more stuff!" Outstanding. Then Peter Fries, Scott McGough, and the rest of GW2's writers whip up some dialogue for the announcer and oversee the recording of the lines. Lastly, it falls to Shen-Ming Spurgeon, Mclaine Diemer, Tirzah Bauer, Chuck Knigge, and the rest of the team's visual and audio artists to bring the area to life with their super-artistic magics, followed by Tyler Bearce and the other folks in QA to make sure it works as intended. Phew, what a crowd! At any rate, for the full, uncensored details on the process involved in bringing a map such as the Battle of Kyhlo to life, head on over to the ArenaNet blog.
Guild Wars 2 developers offer new information on PvP, servers, titles, and more
The class and race information for Guild Wars 2 might be coming fast and furious, but general gameplay details have been scarce lately. That all changed today, thanks to an interview with Guild Wars 2 fansite Variance. The Variance team sat down to chat with Eric Flannum, John Corpening, Egan Hirvela, and Matt Witter for plenty of new tidbits on the game, including the new details that fans have been hoping for. Perhaps some of the most exciting information was regarding PvP play. Information on this side of the game has been very limited, but we learned several new things today. There will be four World vs. World maps at launch, each player will begin in his or her own home map, and there are numerous strategic objectives within PvP play. Hardcore fans will enjoy the in-depth analysis of the new PvP information, courtesy of Kill Ten Rats. The team wasn't finished there, though. Fans have also been very curious about other details such as server setup, titles carried over from Guild Wars 1, and vanity items like miniatures. The team had things to say about all of that, so head over to Variance to see the full interview for yourself!
