Nightveil Hallow: Lore and Design

Shapes in the mist! Shrieks in the night! The demon Baalphazu, Marquis of Terror, and his horde of ghoulish Pumpkinites are spreading a living nightmare across Aeternum. Aid Salvatore the Mad in his quest to banish these foul terrors and collect a bounty of Nightveil Hallow rewards.

We spoke to the Design, Narrative, and AI Teams for insight into various aspects of the event. Let’s find out some of the tricks that brought you this Halloween treat. You’ll also get a glimpse at early Nightveil Hallow concept art from before Baalphazu could cast their first shadow over Aeternum.

The direction of Nightveil Hallow was greatly inspired by 80s horror movies, specifically the awesome creature-flicks and fun-spirited ‘schlocky’ tone of the era. As a Halloween and horror-fanatic, it was a blast to work with the team to mix all the pieces that make 80s horror so iconic, and present them within the realm of Aeternum. Baalphazu and his Pumpkinites convey a theme that should hopefully feel familiar to fans of the genre and season, while Salvatore is a classic throwback to the golden age of horror cinema icons.

The goal of every holiday event is to ensure it’s unmistakable to players that a special event is happening in Aeternum. With that, the playfully decorated settlements round out Nightveil Hallow. It is the team’s seal on our love letter to the spookiest time of year!

The reverence Nightveil Hallow holds for the spooky season is most apparent in the Event Shop and incredible rewards players can earn during the event. I’m certain fans of the genre will pick up on the inspirations for a few of the items, but there’s one hidden-in-plain-sight reference I’m particularly curious if anyone will catch.

When conceiving the demon Baalphazu, we wanted to hint at the existence of other parallel worlds. The Netherworld is a mysterious realm of shadows and nightmares, where the dark figure of Lord Tenebrous rules over the Host, a collection of goblins, ghouls, and other terrors. Baalphazu is one of the Netherworld’s dread captains, eager to carry out the will of his twisted master by spreading fear throughout the island of immortals.

We tossed a few names around when conceiving this demon. When it comes to New World, our goal is to have creatures and NPCs that are familiar but still uniquely Aeternum. I was fond of the name ‘Belphegor’ while another developer favored ‘Pazuzu’ so it’s easy to see how we settled on Baalphazu.

Any new holiday event starts with establishing the “reason for the season,” or the major shift that causes all of the associated festivities. The conceptualization of the Pumpkinites was that first step toward developing the overall framework of Nightveil Hallow.

The idea of monstrous pumpkin creatures running amok across Aeternum was too fun to pass on, and the Concept/AI Teams did a killer job developing each one to convey their own sense of personality and purpose. Of the bunch, the Pumpklin is the one I’d consider to be the mascot of the event, as it’s a direct homage to the “small creature” horror films of the 80s. I can totally see this little guy standing claw-to-claw against the Critters.

Despite being the smallest and most fodder creature of the bunch, the Pumpklins were a deceivingly intricate mob to create, as they are vital to defeating Baalphazu. The concept of defeating an enemy and picking up its head to throw at others was as wild to pitch as it was to develop. A lot of new tech had to be created and there were many moving parts. It was a cross-departmental effort.

Everyone involved with the process did such an amazing job, it’s immensely satisfying mowing them down by the dozens and seeing their heads fly across the battlefield. I’m incredibly excited the Pumpklin is now a permanent fixture of Aeternum, and can’t wait to see what other shenanigans it can get itself into.

Controlled chaos is how I’d best describe the primary creative design pillar of the fight. It’s fast and hectic, but includes a large boss space to create a more epic atmosphere in two ways — many players can participate without feeling too crowded, and Baalphazu and the Pumpkinites have a lot of room to move.

I love how Baalphazu’s dialogue and taunts were worked so heavily into the flow of the fight to convey both narrative and phase transitions to players. If I had to pick one specific moment of the Baalphazu fight I’m particularly pleased with (aside from everything), the presentation and performance of the final death explosion completely nailed the goal of an 80s cult horror villain death. It is a perfect celebratory moment to close out the encounter.

Baalphazu was designed to make sure any player can succeed without having to play a specific role or weapon. Accessibility is key for a spooky good time.

A lot of effort went into making sure the boss and the supporting cast worked harmoniously with each other. For example, the monster attacks apply healing debuffs, but offer healing when defeated.

Vital values were pushed to the absurd as we explored what an open-world boss could look like in New World. This “more is better” approach includes the bonus damage players can deal when Baalphazu becomes staggered. There’s something so satisfying about seeing big numbers!

I even secretly snuck in a small health buff before we locked down the boss for release, but watching the boss melt before the might of the players indicates that I should have applied “more is better”… more.

Since the Pumpkinites lean into the more schlocky, playful side of 80s horror, we created a darker and more sinister look for Baalphazu to add some levity to the event. They were meant to be a trickster figure with ties to mysterious ancient gods, so we drew a lot from folk horror. Their hooded, partially obscured face bears a terrifying grin, leaning into that trickster archetype.

We went through tons of iterations for different looks and body types, but ultimately settled on branch-like wings. Reminiscent of their pumpkin underlings, the wings give the impression of gnarled roots ripped out of the ground. For the rest of Baalphazu’s design, we wanted them to look otherworldly — totally different than anything else we’ve seen in Aeternum so far. They look almost as if carved from clay, beautiful but disturbing at the same time. Ultimately their design captured exactly what we wanted for this event, dark and unsettling, with a hint of Halloween fun.

What’s more appropriate for the season than throwing fiery pumpkin heads? This mechanic creates an ebb and flow to the boss that allows players of a wide-range of skill and levels to participate in meaningful ways.

Developing the logistics of this mechanic and integrating it into the chaos of the fight presented an interesting challenge. We had to ensure the throwable pumpkins were visible and easily learnable. They also had to feel predictable in terms of trajectory and destination. It’s been immensely gratifying watching playthroughs and seeing the ‘aha’ moment when this mechanic clicks with players.

See how some of the Design Team’s concepts came to life:

Thanks for your support!
We’ll see you in the shadows of Aeternum.

SE MERE