Re-sculpting the TzHaar

RuneScape has its share of creatures that might be in other fantasy games, movies and novels - such things as dragons, goblins and demons - but you’d be unwise to forget the creatures that bring something unique to RuneScape. Of these include the TzHaar: creatures of lava and rock that reside within a volcano in Karamja, passing their memories on through eggs and checking out tokKul - TzHaar coins - when they die. We’ve always felt that they're intriguing, notable and use a lot of potential, but we’ve never really done much beyond one quest (TzTok-Ket-Dill) several minigames plus a graphical rework.

So, when Mod Edam proposed a search that would explore the in the TzHaar, we leapt on the possibility to completely rework the race, the hearth creatures of the volcano and also the volcano itself.

While discussing the graphical rework with Mod Edam, it became clear we could echo the important thing themes with the quest in the TzHaar’s look. As an example, the TzHaar developed a much richer and weird caste system from the quest, so we wished to clearly define those castes within their look. The quest also reveals how the TzHaar are possibly probably the most ancient race on Gielinor (don’t worry - this doesn’t spoil the storyplot from the quest), so we wished to convey the feeling these beings are as old because volcano around them.

We kept three keywords in mind at all times when reworking the TzHaar: fire, obsidian and civilisation. To put it differently, the location were required to feel hazardous and hot, reinforcing the sheer inhospitable nature of life inside a volcano, which is the reason fire is really crucial in the race and area’s look. To survive inside the heat, the encompassing rock needs to feel both hard and dense, which is where obsidian also comes in. We wanted this shiny, black surface to dominate the TzHaar environment. Finally, as said before, a TzHaar’s life and role relies upon its put in place society, so we desired to convey this layered civilisation in addition to possible, making the TzHaar warriors imposing and their magicians magical, where previously they'd looked comparable to the other.

For your environment inspiration, I explored shapes found in the castle of Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal. We looked over Art Nouveau designs, along with the artwork of Roger Dean, who was famous for his album covers for progressive rock bands (which also inspired the artwork for James Cameron’s Avatar). Additionally, we studied the natural shapes that obsidian forms in volcanic environments, specifically obsidian shards and obsidian spheres.

We attempted to imagine what this inhospitable area would be like to are in, which triggered dramatic reworkings of areas like the TzHaar library; although the library is designed to be made up of stone tablets that could resist fire, it always appeared to be an average library. Now, imagine an excellent, hulking TzHaar buying and handling these great orbs of information that replace the tablets. It also reinforces the sensation how the TzHaar are unique, and never need to become humans.

So that the TzHaar stand apart from each other visually, we gave them ‘clothes’ and ornaments manufactured from carved metals, presenting these questions more civilised aspect. Players will hopefully now look at the TzHaar as a civilisation, instead of a cabal of monsters.

Finally, we increased the dimensions of the TzHaar’s volcano, scaling it up to complement the elevated size of the TzHaar themselves. Now, all things have a sense of epicness and awe, encouraging one to seem like you are in a truly ancient and alien area, with minimal changes to the way a player trains or uses the area.

I wish I could talk a little more about a few of the elaborate and fascinating changes we now have created to the spot, but we’re held back (reluctantly!) by a must keep things unexpected for your upcoming quest. All I can think are which i only have mentioned a small fraction of the task put in the spot, and you will 't be dissatisfied with what resides after the new Fight Caves. Whether or not the ‘jaw-dropping’ offers you enough time to defeat the last creature is another matter, needless to say, but we're confident that you'll think the newest TzHaar re-sculpting simply rocks.