Runemaster - Development Diary #26

Here is the next Development Diary update from Paradox for Runemaster. This time the update has more information about the race of Darkelfs.

Runemaster - Developer diary 26 - Race: Darkelfs

Monday is usually not my favorite day of the week, but it gets a lot better when I remember that it is time to post a new dev diary for Runemaster! This week we'll have a whole post about the Darkelfs, inhabitants of Svartalfheim.

Inspiration

In Norse mythology there is a bit of confusion and disagreement regarding the Darkelfs. There are Dökkálfar, Svartalfs and Dwarfs, which some scholars interpret as being different names for the same race. While the Dökkálfar and Svartalfs are seldom mentioned, Dwarfs are referenced a lot more frequently. Both Dökkálfar and Svartalfs loosely translate to "Darkelfs", which is why we decided to use that name for the main race of Svartalfheim, which itself translates to "home of the Darkelfs".

When we started making concept art for the various races, we tested different approaches for each of them. While designing the Troll, we made many different versions and one of them turned out to be perfect for the Darkelfs, and so we continued iterating on that until we were more than satisfied with them. Here's the first concept art for the Darkelfs and a NPC portrait:


We imagine the Darkelfs as bald and sombre shaped by the world they live in, as Svartalfheim is depicted as being under ground. The Darkelfs also borrow some features from bats, especially their ears. These are long and go straight up, unlike other elfs whose ears tend to tilt to the back.