Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy Interview

AT: We understand that the units in the game (both player and neutral) will have the ability to gain experience to a higher level than in the previous game. Does this apply to the enemy units as well?

You have a Castle and two heroes, now it's up to you...

A Town covered in snow, where's Santa?

PS: In Sacred Lands only units from the major races could upgrade up to a maximum level. In Dark Prophecy that ceiling has been raised and units can upgrade past the path of their upgrade structures. Also every unit in the game can gain experience, even enemy units. This means that whenever a party gets into a fight, they will either be killed or get stronger. This adds another layer of strategy to the game, because the longer you wait to attack a party, the more likely it is that they will have moved up a level or two. Another effect this has is that it makes the hiring of unit more interesting. In Dark Prophecy you'll be able to hire units from other races or sometimes a unit might ask for your help and need to join one of your parties. In Sacred Lands these units wouldn't gain experience so it was really hard to justify having lower level units in your parties, but in Dark Prophecy every unit can evolve and some of the units can become really powerful at the higher levels.

AT: Concerning the units is there anything you'd like to say about the improved AI?

PS: The feedback was mostly positive regarding the AI in Sacred Lands, but sometimes it made some really bad decisions. For Dark Prophecy the programming team is spending more time on it earlier in development. They really have the time they need to get the AI working properly.

AT: Besides implementing the support for 800x600 16-bit resolution, what other improvements have you made regarding the graphics and visual effects?

PS: The latest addition has been the addition of Alpha blending. This will have a major impact on the graphics in the game. I thought that some of the spells in the first game we're really unique and now with Alpha blending in the game, the artists will be able to come up with some really new cool spell ideas.

AT: What sort of improvements can we expect in multi-player? In what way have you increased the multi-player functionality?

PS: We had a lot of requests for Hot-Seat play on the forums after the first game was released and I'm very happy to say that it is now a part of Disciples II. Another multiplayer feature is the ability to scroll around the map during your opponent's turn. The lead designer didn't want the player to miss any action that might be important, so if something is happening outside the fog of war the player's attention will be focused on the action.

AT: Anything else you'd like to add?

PS: When we started working on Disciples II our goal was to create a game that would be faithful to the world of Disciples: Sacred Lands, but at the same time we wanted it to have it's own identity. We didn't want anyone who played the first game to say that it's the same game with upgraded graphics. And from what I've seen so far, I think that we've achieved our goals.