The Areas · Zone A

The Rarian Plain

Ῥάριον πεδίον

The failing fields of Eleusis: nothing ruined, only unattended.

Chapter 1: The Last Harvest Redesigned and finished (one mood decision open)

The place

The tutorial ground, for levels 1 to 8. The plain was rebuilt as a real Attic farm landscape: a gate court with a herm of Hermes and a shrine of Hekate, a threshing floor with the altar of Triptolemos, a barrow-line of grave stelai along the road, the First Furrow ring of sixteen stones, gnarled olives, a mudbrick tower, and the Drowned Channel with its slab bridge. Wooden fences became dry-stone walls, the waypoint circles became marble doorways, and the skeleton enemies became pale human shades with helm, linen cuirass, spear and shield.

Zone A: the Rarian Plain

The failing fields of Eleusis, redesigned as a real Attic farmland, with the enemies turned into shades. Open in the gallery

Zone A: the Drowned Channel Zone A: the Drowned Channel Zone A: the gate court Zone A: the gate court Zone A: concept for the gate court Zone A: concept for the gate court Zone A: the First Furrow ring Zone A: the First Furrow ring Zone A: the enemies, now human shades Zone A: the enemies, now human shades Zone A: a suggestion from Gemini Zone A: a suggestion from Gemini

Portals and waypoints

The Diablo-style portal rebuilt as an ancient Greek marble doorway. Open in the gallery

The first marble-door portal, inside the game The first marble-door portal, inside the game Portal idea A: two columns Portal idea A: two columns Portal idea B, from the side Portal idea B, from the side Portal idea B: a temple door with a blue glow Portal idea B: a temple door with a blue glow A waypoint pad, now a marble doorway A waypoint pad, now a marble doorway

Where it stands

Taken from the working to-do list for this area.

What is built

  • Gate court: irregular flagstones on a stone bed, a herm of Hermes, a naiskos of Hekate, tripods, a well, pithoi, horoi.
  • Threshing Floor (halos): packed-earth slabs ringed in stones, altar of Triptolemos, winnowing fans, a sledge, a pithos.
  • Barrow-line: stelai with jars and cypress along the road; First Furrow ring with furrows, a stone ring, 16 stelai, a plough, olives.
  • Olives (gnarled, many small clumps) and the pyrgos (mudbrick tower on a stone footing).
  • Drowned Channel: edge stones, reeds, tipped pithoi, slab bridge, well with a windlass; glossy dark water with a drifting ripple.
  • Treeline: braziers, horoi, an altar, cypress, votive ribbons; the cutters' barrier is a rubble wall.
  • Fences: wooden rail fences replaced by dry-stone walls.
  • Enemies as shades (display and look): the Unburied Hoplite and the First Furrow (Bouzyges) are human shades (Sidekick bodies, translucent, cold glow) with helm, linothorax, spear and shield, or ox-goad and a garland of grain. Ids unchanged ("skeletal_hoplite" is only an id).
  • Waypoint pads: the marble doorway with the blue vortex stands on every pad (the circle on the ground is gone).

Still to do

  • Mood decision (owner): keep the grey rationed look, or golden barley under a grey sky.
  • Torch posts along the roads are wooden Meshy posts; stone posts or none would fit the period rule better.
  • Stepped terraces (Gemini): not built, the plain stays open (owner decision if wanted).
  • Only the tower shaft, yard walls, well curb and altars have collision.
  • Sounds and music have never been auditioned.
  • A real playtest of the zone.

Read more

The design documents behind this area.

PDF · 1551 KB Zone A: the Rarian Plain Story, the area as built, enemies and the Greek redesign. PDF · 2297 KB Brief for another AI: Zone A The brief we handed to a second AI so its Zone A suggestions could be compared with ours. PDF · 3273 KB Gemini: Zone A design guide Gemini's answer to the Zone A brief. PDF · 912 KB Gemini: Zone A design document A second, longer Zone A document from Gemini.

The other areas

 

Eleusis The Sacred Grove The Gates of Plouton