Altis Gates

Continuing a series of development logs on IGG's Altis Gates, this week's installment comes from Tom, background story designer for the game. Like any good game, Altis Gates has a solid background story, so it's no surprise a lot of work went into its design. What may surprise some people is the inspiration behind the game world. Take it away, Tom.

I heard of the legend of Atlantis when I was very young. Since then, I've been very curious about the mysterious continent. Its highly developed civilization and strange disapperance compelled me to explore it further. My chance finally came when I was asked to design the background stories for a new role playing game that eventually came to be named Altis Gates. When I received the assignment, I was excited to get the chance to make a dream true. It didn't take long for ideas to take root as I began to turn the Altis continent into my ideal vision of Atlantis.

I felt the Altis continent should have a very mystical look, as well as many fantastic and attractive stories for players to discover. As a result, I decided to set the game in the Altis era of ancient Europe. In this land of mythology and magic, the story of Altis starts with the Golden Age of Altis City and continues through the Silver Age and the Bronze Age, when the races of Elves and Men were born. Three hundred years after the end of the Bronze Age, two important events heralded the beginning of a dark and chaotic new age: the birth of a new race, the Borg, and the awakening of a huge and terrible dragon. With his kingdom in peril and all signs portending doom, the King of Altis has sent out a call to the strongest adventurers of the realm to join the fight. This is where you enter the story.

We created three races that inhabit the Altis continent and also designed unique costumes for each race according to its style. The costumes for humans are similar to what knights would have worn during Europe's Middle Ages. Elves' costumes seem to naturally call for a pair of wings. The Borg, meanwhile, come equipped with huge and heavy breastplate. Even though the three races have different appearances, their mission is the same, namely to devote themselves to maintaining peace on the Altis continent.

The game's storyline begins as the player's character is revived from a long period of darkness that has affected their memory. It reaches its climax when the races bandtogether to defeat the shadowy dragons.

Turning to the architecture of Altis City, legend has it that Atlantis was a vast continent located in the Atlantic Ocean that was well-known for its highly developed

civilization. Its palaces were said to be surrounded by gold and silver walls. The more I learned of the legends, the more I was surprised by what they described. Our art team worked hard to design resplendent and magnificent buildings that would give players an idea of what the important buildings in Atlantis would have looked like according to the legends. The artists also added many historical sites to the game world, such as the ancient Roman Arena.

Since pets are an increasingly important part of online games, we decided to imbue the creatures of Altis with the spirit of the beasts featured in ancient Greek mythology. That's why many famous monsters from Greek myths are prominent in Altis Gates, including the Minotaur, Medusa, unicorns, mermaids, and many others.

We hope people will enjoy exploring our version of Atlantis in the fantasy world of Altis Gates as much as we enjoyed creating it.

An Alpha Test launch date will be announced very soon. Keep an eye on the game's official site at http://ag.igg.com for the latest details and news about Altis Gates and the upcoming Alpha Test. Visit http://www.igg.com for more about IGG's ever-growing variety of games.