I’ve been rushing zones out pretty quickly lately. Most of them have been partly done, but they just needed to be finalized. The latest area I’ve completed is the Warfallen Catacombs, which I spoke about in my previous post regarding the North Grasslands. This zone resides below the North Grasslands and features a much higher-level area.
Beneath those grassy graves lie the burial grounds of some of the higher-level warriors from the Great Battle. This area includes main quest branches that you can take, or potentially find elsewhere. Without getting into too many details on that, it was a nice addition that gives players multiple ways to solve parts of the main quest.
Ultimately, it gives you the choice to wander around solving the main quest in your own way, or just go above and beyond the quest to explore, find cool loot, and defeat enemies.
Zugmur Dungeon
I’ve also forgotten to mention Zugmur. This area lies beneath the Rough Marshes. Like the above-mentioned dungeon, this is also another high-level zone filled with many foes and trials to complete throughout this sentient frog-like dungeon.
Deeper inside, you’ll also encounter the long-lost mummified beings known as the Orrathians. These beings once flourished centuries ago, but their burial grounds have since been disturbed, causing them to rise from the dead.
In this zone, you’ll find several new enemies deep underground while having to venture further in, solving a tile trap which I’ve mentioned before and was quite fun to put together. There are also other blocked-off secrets that require exploration to uncover.
Enemy Updates
While I was working in this zone, I needed to make some new skills and abilities for enemies. I made about 15 new types for these Orrathian zombies, all related to poisons and diseases, so that loot and resistances for these particular enemies might require you to explore different items in order to combat their terrible poison and disease attacks.
I’m a big fan of loot being a significant reason your character improves, along with spells and levels, but skipping out on items will certainly add difficulty to your game. So this is just another method to ensure you don’t overlook those resist tables.
Here is a small video showing some of my work on the new spells, sounds, and effects.
Overall, things are moving along pretty quickly. A lot of these zones have been sitting mostly complete for some time, so it’s been great finally going through and finishing them off. There are about 6 more zones left to do, and each completed area brings the world another step closer to being finished. I’ll continue sharing some of these zones, enemies, and other additions as I work my way through them.
Next week I should have some more about a new zone called Vhalzar’s Tomb. Here is a sneak peak of that!
