This is going to sound a bit geeky, but I approach every dungeon or overland zone during the initial planning phase from the perspective of a dungeon master. I think about what I as a player would like to see and what sorts of things I think would be fun for other players to experience. As I plan things out, I walk myself through the dungeon using my mind's eye to visualize how things should play out for a group or soloer going through my content.
In regards to Deathfist, I went in and completely gutted all of the pre-existing work and looked at it as though it was a brand new dungeon, just handed to me by the art team. Since the Deathfist orcs are much more capable than a band of mindless undead, I wanted to try and keep the feel of an organized society. A quick look at the objects in the dungeon tells you that they are a very self sufficient group, so I wanted to try and capture that through population. I actually get a lot of inspiration by simply looking at the zone geometry and lighting. When I see a unique looking object I ask myself a few simple questions; "Why is this here?" "What purpose does this serve?" These basic questions help drive my creative process on the most basic level, which allows for everything else to fall into place. Though, I also take quite a bit from things one would expect like AD&D, various movies, books and the like.
Can you share some of the lore for Deathfist Citadel's with us?
The Deathfist orcs fall under the Rujarkian power structure, yet they exist as a stand alone entity in regards to their area of influence and control.
The Deathfist orcs work tirelessly to ship arms and resources from the island of Zek to the other orc clans in the Rujarkian Empire, which has turned the remains of the Jagged Pine forest into a barren wasteland. This forest stripping has caught the attention of the Green Hoods, who are in a constant struggle with the unified orcs found there.
Near the end of the Age of Cataclysms and into the beginning of the Age of Destiny, the Rujarkian empire was one of, if not the, greatest superpower known to the rule the seas. With the help of the Far Seas Trading Company, the shipping lanes began to open once more, yet they were constantly plagued by orc raiders and their sea going pirates.
It wasn't until recently that Freeport and Qeynos regained much of their former strength and began pushing back the orcs upon the open seas and even to the isle of Zek itself. Having been weakened considerably by adventurers from Freeport and Qeynos, the orcs have recently recruited someone to help them empower the Arm of Innoruuk. Once that enchanted siege weapon is complete, the orcs will have the capability to obliterate the Far Seas Trading Company's foothold upon Zek and eventually the cities of Freeport and Qeynos.
Can you tell us about the major changes that took place for the Deathfist Revamp?
The dungeon is no longer linear, so adventuring groups can enter through either the main gate or the sewers to progress through it. I really didn't like that main portcullis gate on the Zek side wasn't animated, so we've changed that. Kill the heroic gate keeper NPC and the gates will remain unlocked for a set amount of time.
All of the population has been redone and any unnecessary script was removed to improve performance. Speaking of performance, I worked with art to make some additional performance improvements to the dungeon as well. Tim, our Lead Environment Artist went in and removed some of the geometry that was not needed and made some lighting changes as well, that you wouldn't notice as a player, but your PC should.
I felt that we didn't have enough quests that pointed at Deathfist Citadel, so I added a handful more to Zek for players heading in there for a grand ol' time. You'll be able to find these around the docks, at the Far Seas fortification and at the Green Hood encampment.
Instead of touching old loot, we opted to just create entirely new items using our newer itemization rules. This should give players something new to shoot for when going into the dungeon but not break any of the older items.
One of the things I personally don't like in some games is when I go into a dungeon, crawl through it, yet at the end I don't feel like I've obtained anything. To avoid this and make the dungeon useful and desirable for all, I've created items for the various sub-classes. While one guy may drop stuff for scouts, another guy drops stuff for priests, etc. This is only on four of them, the rest of the bosses and named NPCs will drop different items with no specific targeted audience in mind.
We've added some new armor sets that are craftable by armorers and tailors, so be on the look out for those. There are both common and rare recipes, so keep that in mind while you are adventuring in there. You'll also need to use the Blood Iron forge found in the dungeon to use the Blood Iron ore and make this new armor.
What is your favorite quest in Deathfist?
My favorite quest is the one given by Oarwille at the Far Seas Trading Company fort near the docks in Zek. It's quite uplifting.
What difficulties or challenges did you encounter during this project?
Maintaining support for the old quests was probably the biggest challenge when doing a complete revamp. Going back and making sure the old quests still work, are fun and have appropriate rewards can be quite time consuming. Though I feel that in the end the game is better for it and it makes the players happy, which to me is the most important.
How long did it take you to finish the project?
I spent about two and a half months from start to finish. This includes planning, retooling of existing data, quest design, itemization, bosses (and abilities), population and so on.
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