Reckoning is a role-playing fantasy game in which players become a character - perhaps a warrior or a sorcerer - and journey across the fictional landscape, battling monsters and seeking treasure.
To populate that world, Salvatore authored characters that would seem familiar to fans of JRR Tolkien, author of the “Lord of the Rings’’ saga.
“Elves and dwarves and things like that, those are things people are familiar with,’’ he said. “If you stray too far from those broad archetypes and tropes, you’re just not going to be commercially successful.’’
Salvatore wrote the basic history and geography of Amalur, then turned the story over to teams of writers in Providence, where 38 Studios is based, and Baltimore, home of the company’s subsidiary Big Huge Games.
“I set down the guideposts,’’ he said. “One day I realized I hadn’t once said no to anything they were presenting. These guys had taken ownership of the world.’’
Each writer was assigned to create quests and characters for specific portions of the game.
They posted their ideas on an internal network, building a catalog of game lore similar to the online reference work Wikipedia. Every new plot point was debated. That’s a critical aspect of game design because the story lines must remain consistent with one another and with the central legend of the game.
McFarlane, best known for creating the comic character Spawn, was in charge of turning Salvatore’s characters and settings into on-screen images. The artist had barely played video games and knew nothing about designing software, but he knew how to create a distinct visual style.
“I’m the guy with the least experience,’’ he said. “The dumbest guy in the room.’’
McFarlane oversaw 15 aspects of the game’s design, from scenery to sound effects, insisting on having final say over everything the player would see and hear.
