This article originally appeared in the June 2007 Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
e-newsletter:Tribes of Voltae are scattered throughout the Roman Republic in
Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, but these ferocious creatures are more than capable of discouraging humans from poking around their tribal fires. Thus, no one has gotten close enough to the Voltae to add to the knowledge gleaned from faded paintings and half-remembered tales of lore. Only one thing is certain: Despite their brutish aspects -- their vicious jaws and razor-sharp claws, their inhuman agility and speed -- the Voltae also have the wits and cunning of a man, which makes them especially dangerous, indeed.
The Voltae do not appear frequently in classical mythology. Not much is known about them aside from an ancient Volscian tale of a monster that is half wolf and half man, and depictions in Etruscan art of a demonic entity with a wolf's head. While the "wolfman" archetype is a common fantasy element, it is somewhat unexpected in a mythological setting, which gave the art team for
Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising (
G&H) a chance to really flex their creative muscles and build the Voltae up into a truly unique and intriguing character.
The original concept for the
G&H Volta called only for a melee warrior, although it did come in a couple different variants, each wearing some very basic clothing and armor. "The first concept was savage and rugged looking, an upright wolf with Greek equipment," says Mike Hines, art director for
G&H. Right from the beginning, the Voltae had some of the best animations in the game, like the one where they throw their heads back and howl at the heavens with their massive, powerful arms outspread as if ready to crush anyone foolish enough to get too close.
This concept hit on the key objectives of creating a big, mean wolfman with a look that did not draw too heavily on the standard fantasy archetype, but it was ultimately decided that this Volta wasn't big and mean enough, and that the character itself had a lot of unexplored potential. Hines explains that the
G&H team wanted to make the Volta so detailed and intricate that the creature seemed as if it could have really existed. "With the redesign," Hines says, "we gave them more of their own culture, to make them feel really distinctive."
One of the first things the
G&H team did to create the sense of a vibrant Voltae culture was to create a full complement of variants. A mystic, a shaman, and a ranged fighter were added to the melee warrior to give the sense that this was a living, breathing tribe and not just some random monster wandering the Republic's territories. New set decks were created featuring tents, banners, and other items designed to resonate with the themes of ancient mythology and history already present in the game. This enhanced the authentic feel of the Voltae culture even more, and created the perfect environment for the Voltae, who were themselves redesigned quite a bit.
Many influences went into the new visual style that was created for the Voltae. Sources ranging from ancient cultures of the Italian peninsula like the Samnites and the Scythians to the Skeksis in Jim Henson's
The Dark Crystal contributed to the more ornamental, ceremonial garb of the Voltae. They were given much more colorful clothing to cover their furry bodies, and things like bones and teeth were added to their accoutrement, especially to the mystic and shaman classes, to really give them a tribal flair. They were also made much bigger and more imposing physically. Says Hines, "It's amazing how big you have to make things in the game compared to the character before they really feel threatening." New models and textures of much higher quality were made, and the new and improved Volta was ready to do battle.
Hines could not be more excited about the way the Voltae have come out, as is evident when he talks about his favorite animation: "The melee Volta has an animation where he knocks the player down and does a backstab on them while they're on the ground, then pulls the sword back out and does this crazy howling scream. The motion is really dramatic because he rears up really big. It's really vicious looking and at the same time it just feels really cool."
© 2007 Perpetual Entertainment Inc., All Rights Reserved
