It’s not unheard of for a game to enter development with one idea and emerge out the other end something completely different, with complete overhauls sometimes happening in the process. For example,Halobegan life as a real-time strategy before evolving into a full-blown shooter,Borderlandsunderwent a huge change in tone and art direction mid-development,Diablowas originally turn-based, and much, much more. Sometimes these changes are for the better of the game, but other times they are not, as a lack of vision and direction can undermine every decision.Anthemis but one example of this, where the idea of “what the game was” suffered. This problem seems to rear its head more often than fans may like, but it sounds like that won’t be a worry forImmortals of Aveum.
Game Rant recently spoke withImmortals of Aveum’s senior art director Dave Bogan and lead combat designer Jason Warnke, who praised and spoke to the overall direction and vision for the game. To be clear, that’s not to say that things didn’t change throughout its development, as iteration is an important part of the process. For example, the primary antagonist Sandrakk, the Tyrant of Rasharn, was originally someone who only utilized green magic before being expanded into a Triarch (anImmortals of AveumMagni capable of using red, blue, and green magic). Some features were also cut, but all of these were in serving that original vision for the game, not throwing darts at a board to see what hit.
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This approach meant that the team could focus on things that served this vision, creating a bunch of gameplay elements, tactical items, and differentspells forImmortals of Aveum, while filtering out what didn’t fit. Game development is iterative in nature, but iteration that leads nowhere can be time-consuming and harmful. It sounds like all iterations inImmortals of Aveumwent somewhere, even if that was the cutting room floor, and ultimately served the game. As Bogan said,
I think the overall direction and vision for the game has pretty much not changed since I read a design document from Bret five years ago. The great thing about this is we didn’t spend a year or two on the project and get to a point saying, “Oh, we’re going to make a third-person parkour game, now we’re making an RPG.” The very core of it has never changed, and I think that allowed us a lot of time to explore.
In a previous Game Rant interview,Immortals of Aveumdirector Bret Robbinstalked about the initial concept coming sometime after he leftCall of Dutydeveloper Sledgehammer. Across four months of thinking and writing, Robbins came up with the world, the game, the pillars, the combat system, the story, and more, all of course likely being iterated upon over time. The idea of a fantasy and magic shooter was appealing to him during his time inCall of Duty, and it ultimately played some role in the vision and direction forImmortals of Aveum.
Bogan and the art team, which looked at mixing medieval fantasy with high sci-fi concepts, were obviously not the only ones to benefit from a coherent decision. This approach allowed Warnke and his team to nail downImmortals of Aveum’s combat. “We were able to get to a point where we understood what our game was,” Warnke said, and “crank out a lot of characters, a lot of enemies, a lot of enemy variations, and a lot of different gameplay” without spending a whole lot of time figuring out what fits the game best. Instead of throwing mud at a wall and seeing what sticks, the team was able to build that wall brick by brick.
Of course, teamwork is a key component in that, among many other things. Vision and direction can only do so much, but it seemsImmortals of Aveumhas benefited from sticking to that coherent day-one idea. It’s likely thatvideo games will continue to sometimes change completely in development, for better or worse, but the benefits of a clear vision cannot be understated.
Immortals of Aveumlaunches July 20 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.
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