The Black & White 2 Mailbag #4

This week an extended version of the Mailbag, brought to you by the Black&White 2 Team!

News by GamesIndustry International Contributor

Published on July 14, 2005

Ants what's the point? You can see them, but are they doing anything? Greets From Denmark Kim

Hi Kim, the ants are part of the simulation; they are a part of the life cycle in the world of Black&White 2.

Hello, Ian here from good ol' USA, got a quick question. Will the different races have special abilities and certain advantages over the others, if they do, how will the game balance these advantages out without making a certain race overpowered? In Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, the 4 different races have special abilities and advantages but are all balanced out quite well. Will B&W2 achieve this? Thanks for your time. Ian

Hello Ian, in Black&White 2 you are the god of the Greek tribe, and the different tribes will all look completely different and have their own unique architecture. The other tribes that you will play against have their differences, for example the Norse tend to have all their buildings made of wood, so fire will spread more easily in their towns. Differing tactics are prudent in taking on the various enemy tribes in Black&White 2!

When do you expect Alpha version to be finished because I have read in Gamespot that you are expecting to get to alpha in mid-May. Thanks Brenden.

Hi Brenden, you will be pleased to know that Black&White 2 has officially gone Alpha, as announced on the website.

Hey im just a very interested fan and i was wondering if you when the beta version for B&W 2 will be coming out and if there is a way to be a tester for the beta version of B&W 2. Thanks Robbie Steinberg

Hello Robbie, Black&White 2 is not a Massive Multiplayer Online game and for that reason there will not be a public (or non-public) beta test of the game. We do have a long lasting beta testing program going on at Lionhead Studios. Up to 3 people are coming in every single week for work experience, to test the latest version of a game and give their feedback and ideas on them to the team. If you are interested in signing up for a week (or two!) of beta testing at Lionhead Studios then please visit the following link: here.

I am wondering if you will be able to choose a disciple that you can "talk" to directly. Is there a system somewhere close to you getting to choose the equivalent of Moses from you followers? That would be cool if you could. Good luck on the rest of the game - can't wait to play. Thank you, Davie

Well hello there Davie, there are no Disciple Missionaries, and you won't be able to talk to your villagers directly, this wasn't possible in the first Black&White either. You can however decide what their jobs are, by re-assigning their current job. To do this you make the villager change home to one close to the building/job you want him to do; e.g. if you want him to become a regular farmer you drop him by a house that is close to a field. He will then live in that house and go to work as a farmer. If you want him to work longer hours you can make him a disciple; by dropping them directly at the building where you want them to work. So if you want him to be a disciple farmer you drop him in a field.

Hi, I've been a huge fan off black and white and many others of your games. I have heard how great the physiques of this game are going to be, and how you can see each blade of grass, if you shot a fireball into the grass, would the grass set alight?

Yes. There is a realistic physics engine within the game; fire will spread through forests and rocks can be thrown so they will roll down hills and crush people or damage buildings.

Hi B&W studios. Can't wait for B&W 2 I know its going to be ace. On B&W 2 if you make a wall that has the shape of a zero > 0 < can you fill it with water ( water hose spell ) if you can will it gush out in a massive flood like effect if attacking armies try and break through. (And if you can do this I am going to buy the game and frame it in my bedroom and worship it). Yours greatfully Jamie from Yorkshire.

Hi Jamie, good question but the water soaks into the ground too quickly for you to be able to fill anything up. It would require an uber-strong NASA computer to render it and make it run at a smooth frame rate. Now that wouldn't be nice, would it?

Hello, my question is: Will you need only wood to build buildings? If so, will trees grow back, because I always ran out of wood in the first B&W. Also can you also build statues? Also what kind of buildings will you be able to build? And can you turn soldiers back in to citizens? Thanks Michael.

Michael this is a very good question! You will always need wood for buildings, as you advance some buildings will also require ore, which is a new resource in Black&White 2. Trees will definitely grow back, especially in the more fertile areas in the land. Casting a water miracle (as you can also see here will make trees grow more rapidly, you can also easily make sure that your villagers (or creature) don't chop down all trees, assuring the future of your tribes desire for wood. There are plenty of statues that you will be able to build, both to enhance your city and for beautification. There are easily sixty buildings available to the player, and they all have a unique purpose! Soldiers that are in the army can also be easily turned back into citizens.

I haven't played Black and White 1 but I was going to. Anyway is there a story to it? And if so will it leave off from the first one? What genre will the second one be?

Yes there is a story to Black&White 2, but we are not revealing anything about it. The genre is a combination of a GOD/Simulation and RTS game. We also suggest you visit www.lionhead.com to find out more about the game.

Hello all people at Lionhead Studios. I just wanted to know if you could still assign all your villagers to do stuff such as logging, fishing, and so forth. Also, I wanted to know if the Single Player campaign would be much longer, or about the same. The first one was......too short for me and many of my friends that played the game. Thanks in advance, Xandar.

Hello Xandar, yes there are still disciples and we even made a few extra disciples that you can create. Black&White 2 is at least twice as long as the first game, and there are twice as many lands as the first game too. We hope this answers all your questions!

Hello my name is Tom, when will black and white 2 be released in the UK because I've heard that it is being released in October but that was from American websites. Please reply, thanks. Tom Wood

Hi Tom, that was said during a live TV interview and demo of Black&White 2 on German TV GIGA! Peter Molyneux said it's most likely to come out during October 2005 - and the team is quite confident they will make that date. We can't give an exact release date yet, but once we do (and its official) you will read this on our website! And obviously it will be a huge worldwide release!

I have a short simple question: Will it take a super-computer to run Black and White 2, or do you know the system requirements yet? Alan O'Dwyer

Hi Alan, currently we don't know the system requirements yet. Most likely we are looking at similar requirements like other (more demanding and recently released) games. Black&White 2 attempts to push back the barriers of games in all areas; graphics, gameplay, audio etc...

Hello Lionhead. I noticed in your astonishing trailer that you no longer use scaffolding to plan what kind of a house you would build. I was wondering if you could tell how you plan your houses and do they change depending on your alignment or due to any other factors. Yours faithfully, Liam Warriner.

Hello Liam, you're correct, we don't use scaffolding anymore. All buildings are constructed from the bottom up. Thus the foundations are the building site, and it will be obvious to you that a building isn't complete. You can select houses and buildings from the town centre; the most desired building by your villagers will always be displayed there. You can also duplicate any building that's built within your influence. Lastly, if you want to get more information and statistics about the buildings you can use the building menu which allows you to select any blueprint you wish to build. Almost every building will indeed change to reflect your alignment.

Hello, lionhead team. First of all, I'm really looking forward to BW2. I've got a few questions and I wonder if you could answer them. First of all I must say that there many good things in BW1, but there was something that bothered me. Due to the worldwide release I found my copy being synchronized in Dutch (in a way quite logical, since I live in the Netherlands, but on the other hand I'd rather play the original version.) Fortunately you saved the game from the American-western-synchronized-in-German effect that simply would have spoiled the fun. I know you're all busy with all kinds of stuff, but could you be so kind to release an English language patch asap after the BW2 release? My other question is, would I be able to harm the enemy creature (by throwing things at him, like fireballs, rocks and stuff?) when the annoying little fellow comes into my realm to steal my people? Many thanks in advance (and apologies for my English) Jeffrey

Hi Jeffrey, some of the Dutch were not happy with their translated version of Black&White, we became aware of that and released a language pack for the first game when this came to our attention. In B&W and B&W 2's case it's our publisher who deals with localization of the games, and you will be (hopefully) happy to hear that none of the voices will be translated into Dutch for Black&White 2. There will be Dutch subtitles that you can use, but all the voices will be in original British English!

Then carrying on to your second question: yes of course you are able to throw things at an enemy's creature, even fry it with some fire or lighting!

Hi! I am a very big fan of B&W. I am just wondering, how big of an influance can one GOD have on the world, and I specificly mean on the physics/environment. For example, will u be able to influence the weather, because that would be preaty cool.> to breake the storm so that the sun can shine the world. I wish u good luck from Croatia! Josip

Hello Josip, best regards to all fans in Croatia! If you can touch it with your godly hand, you can use it in Black&White 2 - that's the basic idea. So you can interact with the environment and everything that you see in the world. This goes for both land and water! We can also tell you that there are weather effects like clouds, rain and snow and even the temperature will have an influence in your world. You can also change the time of day to anytime you want, or whenever you want, by simply reaching to the sky and moving time. And with all the miracles that are available to you, you can do whatever you want within your influence, the water miracle will wash away villagers and soldiers while fire will burn them instantly.

Hello! Black and White 2 looks amazing! I just wanted to ask if you could please show us fans a picture of the temple (preferably when it is neutral). With much anticipation, Liam Warriner.

Yes Liam, take a look at our art section to see some concept art of the temple.

Is it true that the release of Black & White 2 has been moved to December 1? Michael Smutek

No.

Yo Lionhead, loved Black and White - can't wait for B&W 2. What are the tribes in this one going to be like and what differences are there? Tom Davies

Yo Tom, four: Greek, Norse, Aztec and Japanese. There are too many differences to list here, but to name one: the architecture is unique for every tribe.

Hi. I was wondering if there will be a weather system in the game. Like if it rains the army won't walk as fast or if it is snowing the villagers will be cold and get in their homes and light a fire? I thought of this when i saw this image. Are those clouds or what??? Thanks anyway Johnys from Cyprus

Hi Johnys from Cyprus, yes and yes, those are clouds. Villagers tend to light fires in their homes when they are at home to cook as well as to keep warm, depending on the weather.

Hi Lionhead, I have a question i hope you can answer. Now with the RTS side of B&W2, will you still be able to take over other cities by impressing the people like in B&W1? Or is it only by war, and civilization you can win? Anyways, good job with Black&White, I can't wait for the new game to get out! I'm even buying new hardware to play it! Johannes Madsen, Denmark

Hello Johannes, yes you can either take over other tribes by force and sending out large and vast armies to them - or by impressing those tribes by building up an impressive enough city.

Great looking game graphics look amazing and i can't wait to get it. All i would like to know is how will you be able to control your armies? Do you have to leash them to your creature or can you select them and give them your orders by yourself? Kieran Hanley

Hello Kieran, you control your armies by selecting their army flags. You can leash them to your creature, or to other platoons, or to a rock, or ... and you can indeed give them orders yourself by use of the army flags.

Can you have male and female creatures? Liam

No, all creatures are genderless Liam.