September, 2016 - [
No Link]
Q: In the original version of the game, there was a large, inaccessible island on the eastern edge of the map, beyond Asheron's Isle. During the first year or so of the game, a frozen wasteland island was also added to the north of Dereth, but was never fully implemented and was later removed. What was planned for these islands?
A: They were test areas to refine landscape art. We didn't have a separate branch for testing, so experiments with landscaping had to be done someplace remote on the live world map, that people couldn't walk to.
When we started considering land additions for expansion content, the art department pitched three biome-centered experiments in landscape design. The first was "volcanic island," which became Aerlinthe, the second was "jungle island," which became Vesayen, and the last was ice island.
We decided to pursue volcanic first, then jungle, and ice ended up set aside in favor of other content. Its art was never sufficiently refined to be playable. People who managed to reach it noted that even without spawns, they suffered serious graphics lag. I imagine some of the work for it ended up being used for Halaetan.
