Making of zao 2

Inspirations usually come from many different sources and sometimes it is hard to tell how an idea came into mind. Concerning Zao, some players sensed influences of H.P. Lovecraft's works. But according to Knightmare there is no true Lovecraftian influence even though the underlying theme of the update might share some similarities with themes Lovecraft tended to use: "The lizardmen are 'just' lizardmen like they exist in several fantasy publications and even in Tibia already. The Dragonblaze Peaks got their snow tops due to the idea of becoming red in the fading sun, giving them their name. Corruption in itself is not such an unique concept at all. You can find that theme in many newer fantasy works, which is probably more connected to modern environmentalism then to H.P. Lovecraft." Chayenne admits that the Unnatural Selection quest is a little inspired by one of her favourite games ever, Chrono Trigger, in which you also spend some time with a primitive human tribe and get to party with them: "I racked my brain over how I could possibly script something like a tribal hunt or a big party with the possibilities we have and the 'dance dance revolution' bit was what I eventually came up with and which turned out to be pretty fun." In Zao, characters can also earn the right to wear a new outfit. Both the overall theme of the update and the war system inspired Jan to design the impressive warmaster outfit: "I wanted to take the opportunity to create something that goes along well with that, something to go to war with, that looks cool in an epic battle. I love those huge battle scenes where armies of well equipped warriors with little flags on their backs charge at each other, some smashing into each other wildly, others forming a disciplined phalanx with their naginatas, order amongst all this wild chaos, no fear...glory!" So it seems that the Samurai theme was an easy choice. Nevertheless, the whole design of Zao took quite some time. The steppe, for example, should have a really vast feel to it and it took several weeks until both the content team and Jan were happy with the colour palette of the area, especially with the buildings. The original colours were much more greyish-brownish mixed with green and purple, but it just looked boring somehow and it was not until red and black contrasts were added that all were finally satisfied with the overall look of the area.