Neverwinter’s newest zone is inspired by Iceland’s beaches

Where do MMORPG environmental artists get their inspiration? Chances are that they look around this real world of ours for some unusual and striking locations as starting points for some of the game zones that you’ll eventually explore.

In preparing one of Neverwinter’s new zones, Cold Run, the game’s artist pulled ideas from the black sand beaches of Dyrhólaey, Iceland. Of course, in this fantasy version, the beaches are the stomping ground of frost giants and terrible ruins (and possibly an Easter egg too).

The artist said that he was able to make the zone’s rocky architecture by using only five models: “I named the rocks: Lumpy, Clumpy, Long, Lip, and Elbow. Each served a different purpose depending on how I angled or scaled the piece, and with this rock kit I was able to construct all of the shapes that I needed for the zone.”