The Lord of the Rings Online^TM: Shadows of Angmar^TM (LOTRO) has been live for about a month now, and you've been exploring the lands of Eriador while uncovering the evils of Angmar at every step. You've restored the Quick Post in the Shire and helped to push back the evils stirring in the Misty Mountains. Some of you may even have reached the city of Carn Dûm itself and confronted its steward.

So, where to next? As LOTRO's developers, we had a number of options available. Many locations, both obscure and well known, came across our plate when planning out the first steps into our content update plan. In the end, we settled upon one of the most requested locations in Eriador - Lake Evendim and the Twilight Hills!

Kick your shoes off, grab your beverage of choice, and relax as we give you a sneak peek at the steps involved in the creation of our first content update: The Shores of Evendim!

First - The Meetings!

As the end of commercial launch development for LOTRO rapidly approached, we began looking at what we wanted to do in the future, particularly for our first post-launch content update. Turbine is a company known for its live updates and we wanted to start with a bang, to get the momentum going.

We sat down, looked at our game, and concentrated on some of the various itches we wanted to scratch with this update. We wanted more content, specifically for the level 30-40 crowd. We wanted a location that would allow us to create a set of different and interesting-looking visuals. We wanted to create an area with a large scale, but one that could be feasibly constructed in the time we had to build it in. Perhaps most importantly, we also wanted to move our area-defining Epic Story forward.

Eriador offered us a number of options. We teased many of these locations in our maps - Eregion, the Far Downs and Tower Hills, and Evendim are just a few examples. Eventually, we decided that Evendim would be able to fit all of our needs. As luck would have it, many of us on the team have wanted to work on Evendim, Annúminas and the Twilight Hills for over a year now -- ever since our artists created some early concept pieces.

(Click for larger images)

Building a Better Biome

Once our high-level goals and objectives were set and a deadline established, we were able to begin developing concepts and themes for the area (for story, gameplay, and art). Within a week we knew what we wanted to do - from new monsters and points of interest (by the way - Evendim is introducing several new monster types to the LOTRO bestiary) to environmental assets and terrain layout. With this list (and our ideas) in hand, we approached the art team and requested concept art for key items.

Typically, monsters, armor and points of interest receive a full-blown concept art treatment; then, while the concept artists are working hard on these new concept pieces, the World team begins concepting the landscape. The World team meets and begins brainstorming the environmental biomes. Our own list of ideas is then brought to our team's environmental artist, who starts by researching real-world reference for the biomes we want to represent.

And while all of the art concepting is going on, others on the World team are developing the background systems that make an area of the world work - travel, defeat, mixed spawns, monster camps, etc.

After a few weeks' time, the Art and World teams (with concepts in hand) were prepared to begin building Evendim.

Sculpting the Land

Developing Evendim (like all of our other areas) was a multi-stage process. In order to get what we wanted out of the landscape, we made multiple passes on each area.

Our first pass was our rough terrain and texture pass. During this stage, we laid out the high-level look and feel of the landscape. We got a rough sense of what was passable and what was not, called out primary bodies of water, and laid down the first coat of landscape textures.

The second pass was when we truly began to bring character to the landscape. Using our planning maps, Evendim was broken down into numerous smaller divisions and tasked out to the members of the World team to develop. This stage involved a more in-depth look at the terrain (further refining passability), terrain textures (painting the grass, dirt and cliff textures where they belong), introducing scenery assets to the landscape (such as trees, rocks and plant frills), and placing the numerous and varied points of interest on the landscape (ruins, towns, wild ravines, etc).

The third pass through Evendim involved the integration of all the (many) associated content systems that make the world come alive. These included placing mixed and camp spawns, resource nodes, critters, travel routes, town and craft services, and rally points. At the end of this stage, Evendim was largely playable.

While the world team was working hard to bring Evendim's landscape to life, the content team was also working to fill it with fun and varied content.

From Our Hands to Yours

So, we've built the landscape and filled it with content. What do we do next? We give it to you, the players, to enjoy! Once Evendim is out the door, we begin the process anew and start planning what our next update will contain (some of us were even beginning the planning while we were finishing up Evendim).

That about wraps up our sneak peek at what goes into the development of a new area. When all is said and done, we hope to have created an exciting new area for adventurers to explore, which will be a fitting new addition to the playable lands of Middle-earth.

Evendim Points of Interest

Bullroarer's Sward - Through a small pass in the hills north of Brockenborings, players can enter Bullroarer's Sward. It was through this land that the goblins threatening the Greenfields came. Its rolling hills and patches of forest hide the Hobbit villages of Oatbarton and Dwaling, as well as the North Bounds. It is here that players will encounter the first of Evendim's numerous new monsters - the Boggart.

Barandalf - Along the banks of the Brandywine is the Barandalf, a massive sandy sprawl. Amidst the clumps of hardy reeds that grow in the dunes, the entrancing lights of the corpse candles can be seen, neekers chirp amongst the reeds, and tomb robbers sift through the sand in search of relics of ages long past.

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