Q (u/OnnaJReverT): Is there anything specific you were not able (or allowed, by Wizards as IP holder) to do in BG3 that you want to do in Divinity? A (u/Swen_Larian): We had all the freedom we needed on BG3 but the game was based on 5e which is a system that was made for tabletop, not for video games. Most of the limitations came from that. Q (u/TopHelicopter4813): When we should expect gameplay material? Happy new year to you guys as well <3 A (u/Swen_Larian): We'll see - we're in full production mode now but still have truckloads of work. . Q (u/CarrieMoretz): Will the game be playable in a more third person view, as opposed to DOS2 isometric camera? A (u/Bert_Larian): The camera will work very similar as in BG3. So a hybrid of topdown and 3rd person camera! Q (u/LeXam92): When you say Divinity 3 will be your biggest game yet, what are we aiming for here? Baldurs Gate took quite some time to complete the story, are we looking into double that or? Thanks! Also mad respect to all of you, love you guys A (u/Swen_Larian): More agency, more consequences. We don't know ourselves yet how big it will be. We're still making it. A (u/Swen_Larian): Divinity takes everything we learned from BG3 & D:OS 2 and improves from there. In regards to BG3 - I think the main thing will be more agency and a rulesystem that was made for videogaming in addition to higher production values. Oh - and some really cool new friends to meet. Q (u/Dirtycoinpurse): Will Divinity 3 be in early access? Any hints on the second game you guys are making? A (u/Bert_Larian): We would certainly prefer to do another early access, since that provides invaluable information from our players. It allows us to iterate and improve the game a lot! Q (u/occamcs): What are the main lessons you've taken from developing and launching Baldur's Gate 3 that you'll apply to Divinity? A (u/Artem_Larian): There are a lot of lessons, and a single post is not enough to cover them all, so here are a few: short and direct communication is a must for quick decision-making and iteration. Avoid middlemen in any process and try to bring people working together on the feature as close as possible to each other. Automated testing and unit tests is lifeline to keep such a big project alive and going. Q (u/According_Constant43): Hello! I am a new fan since last year, and so far I've liked your games a whole lot! I especially liked the romance of your games, such as in DOS2 and BG3. So my question is, will you be trying to add more to the romance scene, or keep it at about the level of BG3's? Thank you for reading, and hopefully answering! A (u/Greg_Larian): We definitely want to progress from what we've done before. There's been a lot of learning as to what worked and what people liked. We plan to apply all that for Divinity...also maybe Polar Bears this time?? Q (u/CellistElectrical135): Will the looting system be random and level dependent (like most items in DOS1 and 2) or will there be more handcrafted items like in BG3? A (u/Nick_Larian): The BG3 approach of handcrafting every magic item worked well, and it's something we've always wanted to do for DOS2. Something we realized when working on randomized loot for DOS1 and DOS2 is that fully random loot is frequently confusing, so we added more and more rules and premade patterns to make it feel more intentional. In the end randomization did not save us much time. Q (u/Suspicious_Force_890): will we have full character customisation similar to bg3? A (u/Alena_Larian): We are planning to have an even better one! More colors, more options, more control! Q (u/Elonas): Will there be co-op planned for release? If so, can you say how many players? A (u/Bert_Larian): Yes, coop will be available for release! The amount of players playing together will be depending on the final party size. But since modding is planned for this project as well, player will be essentially free to extend this. There is no hard limit to the amount of coop players. Q (u/FrankyMyBoy): When deciding on a look or art direction, what guides the direction you end up taking? A (u/Jarold_Larian): Art Direction is a deep collaboration between of the needs of narrative, the aspirations and the accumulated tastes of myself and my fellow art directors and the artistic aspirations of the team. Ultimately we’re making a game- and the rule of cool also comes into play! Q (u/Thomas-Sev): There have been a lot of mixed opinions regarding the Curse environmental effects. Personally I thought they were fun to consider but overtime became a slog to play through (The >!oilfield fight took ages to complete!<, for example). What's the internal opinion on this and will we see their returns in your next game? A (u/Nick_Larian): It is cool to have alternative versions of elemental surfaces that change how you have to play around them. We maybe went too far last time with giving every surface a cursed and a blessed variant. Few people immediately guessed the function of blessed oil for example. The duration of combat encounters is also on our mind. Oilfield fight directly inspired the tech we showcased in BG3 that allows multiple simple enemies move and attack at the same time, cutting down waiting by the player. We also try to avoid monsters crawling around veeery slooowly :) Q (u/Priceless_Pennies): First I just want to say I love your games. I've played Divinity 2 OS and BG3 and they were both fantastic. I'm curious, what is your opinion on the role of (Generative) AI in the game development process, and for your studio in particular? Some studios like Embark and Warhorse, as well as several east-asian ones like Everstone seem relatively optimistic on it, and they've talked about using it to make bigger and faster games. On the other hand, I think a lot of studios and a lot of gamers think that it predominantly undermines the creative process and cuts corners. I'm especially curious about if there is a split between different sections, like writing vs art vs coding, etc. since it seems like the views of and adoption of AI differ quite a bit by category. Thanks! A (u/Swen_Larian): Hi! Happy to hear you enjoyed our games! So first off - there is not going to be any GenAI art in Divinity. I know there’s been a lot of discussion about us using AI tools as part of concept art exploration. We already said this doesn’t mean the actual concept art is generated by AI but we understand it created confusion. So, to ensure there is no room for doubt, we’ve decided to refrain from using genAI tools during concept art development. That way there can be no discussion about the origin of the art. Having said that, we continuously try to improve the speed with which we can try things out. The more iterations we can do, the better in general the gameplay is. We think GenAI can help with this and so we’re trying things out across departments. Our hope is that it can aid us to refine ideas faster, leading to a more focused development cycle, less waste, and ultimately, a higher-quality game. The important bit to note is that we will not generate “creative assets” that end up in a game without being 100% sure about the origins of the training data and the consent of those who created the data. If we use a GenAI model to create in-game assets, then it’ll be trained on data we own. Q (u/Max420_): Hello! Hope you’ve all been doing well. So you’ve mentioned that the next Divinity game will offer more player freedom and stronger consequences. How does that philosophy apply to “evil” or morally darker playthroughs? In previous games, evil choices existed, but they sometimes felt less fully supported or less central compared to more heroic paths, which often felt like the default experience. That said, I really loved the evil endings in Baldur’s Gate 3, especially the Dark Urge path. Can we expect even more narrative depth, reactivity, or unique paths for players who lean into selfish, ruthless, or villainous choices this time around? Thank you for your time. I can't wait to see more Divinity!! A (u/Adam_Larian): If you've seen our announcement trailer, you have an idea of how dark the world of Divinity is. We want to give players the opportunity to be the light in that darkness - an inspiration, a hero, a champion. We'll also let them leave the world even worse than they found it. We're pushing as far as we can on player agency. Q (u/toodarkparkranger): Please put a ferret in Divinity. They're neat. A (u/Michael_Larian): ill do it myself Q (u/Malfun_Eddie): Will the new engine render moving ropes correctly and will we be able to look up in to the sky. Are alternative camera angle being explored (think first person perspective mod) A (u/Bert_Larian): There is no real engine limitation to allow looking at the sky. How the camera works is entirely a design choice. Alternative camera angles are always considered. If they benefit the game, we will for sure add it. As for the ropes: you can expect substantial changes to our physics engine in the future games! Q (u/Nervous_Example_4758): Hello! How diverse will the character creation be? Will there be more body options than with bg3 for example? Love you guys, can't wait for the game! A (u/Alena_Larian): We can't confirm anything just yet but we are ambitious with this one, we'll aim to give players as much choice as our tools will allow it. Q (u/Tanzficker): What are you currently playing in your free time? A (u/Kevin_Larian): Terra Invicta. I'm so bad at it but I can't get enough. A (u/Artem_Larian): Factorio. The factory must grow. A (u/Greg_Larian): Hades 2 and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. I was catching up over Christmas. A (u/Alena_Larian): Getting into The Bazaar atm A (u/Gabriel_Larian): Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Q (u/ilikebreadabunch): Is there any small spoiler you can give us that will sound completely nonsensical until we play the game? A (u/Adam_Larian): Alligator Q (u/spiderzork): Will big naturals be available without mods in Divinity? A (u/Alena_Larian): I'll do what I can! ok? 😉 A (u/Alena_Larian): And thank you, mod author [MaybeeAdam](https://mod.io/g/baldursgate3/u/maybeeadam) for your service! 😊 Q (u/RunningNumbers): Will you include any ducks or other new fowl based NPCs to the game? A (u/Swen_Larian): I am incredible inspired by this picture: [https://imgur.com/a/Rapt6eD](https://imgur.com/a/Rapt6eD) Q (u/Capranaut): Is Divinity slated to run on Divinity Engine 5, or a clean slate design? A (u/Artem_Larian): For each game, we are bringing significant changes to our engine. Since Divinity Engine is fully our own creation, it makes it easier to alter it to serve a new game rather than write a new engine from scratch. A (u/Bert_Larian): We have indeed moved to the fifth iteration of our engine for the next game! Increasing the size and density of the game was an important goal, but we have also substantially improved the visual quality of the game. A lot of effort has been put in increasing the quality of our materials and lighting in general. Character rendering specifically also received a lot of attention from the whole engine team. Q (u/Hudre): Can you tell us a little bit about some new features the engine is capable of? A (u/Bert_Larian): There is a lot of effort being put in improving our engine! Some key points (certainly not limited to this!): We are spending a lot of effort to allow bigger and denser worlds than we ever created. And of course adding the latest and greatest rendering features. But also further increasing impact players can have on the world around them. I cannot go in specifics right now :) Q (u/Vuulvie): Can you describe how exactly you used generative AI for game design? The concept art statement was rather vague and I want to know how it improves productivity over, say, a Google Image search A (u/Nick_Larian): When we talk about game design - the rules of the game, character progression, loot, combat encounters, level layouts and so on - there is no gen AI used. Designers are not going to ChatGPT to ask "generate me 10 spell ideas". Frankly, we always have more ideas than we can cram into the game. Q (u/Jlpeaks): Will Divinity be sticking to the armor / magic armor system found in DOS1 and DOS2? A (u/Nick_Larian): Divinity will not keep the magic armor system from DOS2. There will be ways to protect your characters from harm, but you will not have to wait before you can use your fun skills on enemies. We are still cooking a system that makes sure that you have to work harder to stunlock solo bosses with level 1 skills, but it won’t be tied to damage. edit: typo Q (u/Plastic-Guarantee976): The WASD movement mod was one of the most downloaded and beloved mods for Baldur's Gate 3. Will the new Divinity game include native keyboard movement controls (like WASD) right out of the box? A (u/Artem_Larian): No. Q (u/Own-Discussion5527): Sven said your next game would be smaller than BG3. Did you guys change your minds, or are you also working on a smaller project? A (u/Swen_Larian): That was back when we were thinking of another DnD game but that ship has sailed. Q (u/Dreamtrain): what couldn't you do in BG3/DOS2 that you will be able to in the upcoming Divinity? A (u/Nick_Larian): We figured out ways to burn things that we could never burn before. We'll still give you something to put out the fires though, no worries. Q (u/offlinegamepass): Will there be mod support? A (u/Artem_Larian): Yes. We will be providing modding tools, but we haven't decided yet if this will be for release or not Q (u/havasc): What's your favourite beer? Just had the opportunity to visit Belgium and your beer is by far my most favourite. A (u/Kevin_Larian): Take this with a grain of salt because I am not much of a drinker, but: La Chouffe is surely my favourite. My husband swears by Tripel Karmeliet. A (u/Michael_Larian): Tom Butler, to my right, is eager for you to hear about Orval, a local aged beer that gets better with age. Though many bartenders in Belgium disupte this, Tom (English) claims it's true. A (u/Alena_Larian): I like Paix Dieu A (u/Adam_Larian): People think I moved to Belgium for Larian, but I came here for the beer. My favourite beer is the next one. Q (u/laser_velociraptor): Can you tell us about new mechanics in Divinity that you are most proud of? A (u/Nick_Larian): There was something that bothered me when I explored the starting areas of DOS1, DOS2 and BG3. It stares you right in the face if you think about it. In Divinity I can finally do the thing I wanted to do in every previous game. Q (u/Technoalphacentaur): Are there any books that we would be surprised are inspirations for the lore, environment, or overall vibes? Love you guys and the work you do. Keep at it! A (u/Kevin_Larian): The writing team is constantly recommending books to each other, and it makes for a wonderful and eclectic hodgepodge. My current read is The Chatelaine by Kate Heartfield, and I'm sure it'll join all the countless other books rattling around in my head as inspiration. A (u/Adam_Larian): I'm reading The Indifferent Stars Above at the moment. It's harrowing. Q (u/poncheman): I understand that there's been a lot of discussion around the "pushing hard" for the generative AI stuff. It was said that it was being used for concept art, and then for power point presentations etc. So it would be helpful to maybe elucidate what it means exactly, and how you are using it inside your studio and how it really affects the new Divinity game. A (u/Jarold_Larian): Our team is incredibly creative and we use any visual means we can to communicate ideas across different departments and teams. They are not final products, they are mood boards, doodles, combinations of text and images. GenAI based imagery was part of that but by far not the only thing. It was just part of a mix of things we did to get a certain level of understanding of complex matters. There were also genAI based tools that helped us render things faster(i.e. lighting, filling textures), which helped with presentation. But as said - we don’t want there to be any doubts about the origins of the artwork nor do we want to disrespect other people’s authorship so we’ve decided to refrain from using these tools during the concepting phase. Q (u/sdg166): What resources do you use to add so much interactivity and choice-consequences to you games? I’ve always wondered what techniques or tools you have that allow you to consider so many choices into your games and have them impact, even smaller stuff, later on. Do you assign specific people to flesh out each choice or interconnectivity-opportunities? Or do you have a tool that highlights each area relevant to a choice / character? It seems like whatever it is you are able to bring out more potential in each player-option than other devs. A (u/Adam_Larian): People! We track choices in documentation, but the best resources are the developers and the game. We spend a lot of time playing the game, and we try to add in the options that we'd want to experience as players. Usually, there are a few different specialists attached to a situation - writers, scripters, level designers, artists, combat designers and more - but no situation stands alone, so we are never silo'd away from one another. Collaboration and iteration are the key. Q (u/StrangerOfAnvil): What are the playable races and classes? A (u/Greg_Larian): We aren't ready to talk about that quite yet, but if you rewatch the trailer, you should get some hints on the races. Q (u/bede84): What kind of innovation do turn based RPGs need, in your opinion? Right now, when we look at the landscape, storytelling is rock-solid but what about the rest? A (u/Nick_Larian): I'd like our games to be competitive with action games in terms of how good it feels to throw spells around, to explore the world, just to get immersed. There is a lot of innovation that goes into that that usually flies under the radar - user interfaces, speed of AI calculations, camera interactions with the environment and so on. It really brings me joy when I see a player leave a review like "I never play turn-based games, but I enjoyed this one" because it means we're keeping up with the industry at large. Turn-based games also have obvious strengths and we try to amplify them. You can play at your own pace and just walk away from the machine if you need to. One of the reasons we introduced the on-demand turn-based mode in BG3 was that at any moment you can press a button and the world freezes and you can breathe and look around without stress. Q (u/SamuraiCarChase): What are some of the mods you have seen for BG3 that have made you say “we should have thought of that” or “we definitely have to include that next time around!” A (u/Michael_Larian): car wildshape A (u/Nick_Larian): We're taking notes on all of the UI mods for sure. The UI team worked very hard to bring the complexity of an open world DnD adventure to videogame format. But we had more improvements in mind that we just couldn't cram into our releases. Happy we managed to make UI moddable in the first place. A (u/Alena_Larian): Love all the mods regarding player appearance! Lots of very creative ideas in terms of combining outfits, hairstyles and what not. Our character team is always 👀 those and we take note of what our community wants😉 Q (u/AlteisenX): Hi guys, I'll be blunt with my question, how can you prevent 100% (not 99.9%) that your game(s) will not have any AI at the end product? You say it's for planning purposes and "brainstorming" but I could easily do that with flowcharts and webs like I have been doing for most of my life. I don't want to personally touch products made with AI. It ruins the creative aspect for me. I know I have a backlog longer than I'll be alive for, so I am at that point of choosing soon if I want to expose myself to AI willingly and honestly, the answer is no. I don't want behind closed doors people being forced to use it if they don't want to, and ultimately I think it's a failed marketing campaign more than anything actually functional because every use case, I can think of an alternative method. "I dont want to design 65 unique trees" well design one and then copy and paste it. As a gamer, Im not looking at your trees to see how different they are. But yes, how are you going to make sure ZERO AI generated (not created) assets get into the end product? If you decide to answer this, I thank you in advance. I'm tired of being angry with my hobbies (Crypto affecting GPU, AI now affecting RAM and Storage... etc) A (u/Gabriel_Larian): So, the assets we actually generate to be used in game are incredibly limited. Actually, there’s only currently one: adding motion to voice recordings where we don’t have the motion capture data. This improves the quality of the game. We are experimenting with ways to help us prototype faster so we can bounce through ideas more quickly. None of it has been put into production because it is still in a R&D phase. But if it gets deployed, then it wouldn’t be used to write final lines or generate final assets, it would be exclusively for rapid prototyping and iteration. Part of the design of the system includes strict guardrails to ensure nothing that would be used during prototyping can ship. All assets involved would be clearly marked as stub and get purged afterwards. The intent of this pipeline is not to use any of the assets in any step of the asset creation pipe, it is purely about testing flow. Q (u/WMWA): What was a challenge when making BG3 that people may not know about and were there any fun or unique ways you were able to fix it? A (u/Bert_Larian): On a technical level: the amount of systemics that exist in the game and the freedom we give players to interact with them and experiment. If players decide to collect all barrels in the game, drop them in a single spot and explode them we need to be able to handle that. There simply is a million ways for players to break the game in an environment like that Q (u/Cheenug): How much bigger is the dev team for Divinity compared to BG3? Do you expect Larian studios to keep growing for each new game, or do you expect a limit sooner or later? Do you prefer that a larger game studio focuses on one game at a time, or split up to work on projects simultaneously A (u/Swen_Larian): We were 411 people at the end of BG3 and have around 500 people working on Divinity now. Our teams evolve in function of the games we try to make and what we think the size of the market is. We grew a lot during BG3 because we wanted to make a cinematic RPG with loads of choice and consequence but we also knew there was a market and scaled accordingly. Our growth has slowed down a bit as we have most of the team in place to make a big cinematic RPG but there are still a few things that we didn’t do before that we are doing now. Q (u/luuvin): What is one challenge you’ve set for yourselves as a studio creatively this year? A (u/Swen_Larian): To make Divinity something that we want to play. Q (u/CornerMany): Hey pretty big fan of your games here and was disheartened to hear the discourse and statements about AI usage in development of this project. Is there a chance you can lay out how exactly this is being implemented alongside how it exactly makes the development of the game smoother compared to games that didnt make use of it by your studio? Larian games normally feel lovingly hand crafted by a team of artists why was the previous method of development wrong enough to step into the discourse.  A (u/Gabriel_Larian): This is all new technology, so I totally understand why it’s difficult to see where the positive uses are. We believe Machine Learning is a powerful tool to accelerate and make game development more efficient and streamlined. This means that our creatives have more time doing the work that makes their jobs more rewarding and the game a richer experience. The important bit to note is that we do not generate “creative assets” that end up in a game without being 100% sure about the origins of the training data and the consent of those who created the data. With over 100,000 voice lines scheduled to be in the game, recorded by hundreds of actors, and even hundred thousands more to be recorded that will not end up in the game, there are useful tools for us to reduce the ‘mechanical legwork’ and free up time for teams that would be bogged down doing tasks that kept them away from what they really want to be doing. Additionally, our ML R&D team monitors and experiments with anything that is state of the art and that might influence game development pipelines of the future. This is important to us because we make our own engine. But we draw lines in the sand too. We explicitly committed in our actor agreements to not using the recordings to train or build AI voice modelers, because we are aware of how sensitive it can be to artificially generate an actor’s voice. Even if an actor were willing to agree to this if we'd compensate them, we don’t currently feel comfortable with including an AI-generated voice in our games. Q (u/homoanthropologus): What aspect of the game are you most excited about? A (u/Michael_Larian): Personally, the combat. If you go back and play DOS2, or indeed play it for the first time, you forget how snappy it is, how much freedom there is. Nick & the combat team are really cooking, and I think it'll be the best combat we've ever produced. But I'm biased. I like Nick. Q (u/GoldenTaco1): should we expect video updates on game development like DOS2 and DOS? A (u/Michael_Larian): A lot of people are asking for the Panel From Hell. I think we're at a stage where we're leaning towards bringing it back, but we want to do it in a more tangible, physical way. Something that fills the room with energy, informs slighter better than the Panel From Hell did (while retaining the chaos). Haven't figured out what that is yet, but I can guarantee it'll be a journey we're all on together. Like old times. Q (u/OttoNNN): What are your thoughts on the future of gaming ? A (u/Michael_Larian): Personally, every year I am increasingly grateful it's Larian I work for. Q (u/Murlin_): How would you describe the difference in tone between DOS 1&2, BG3, and Divinity? I am personally very fond of the humour in both DOS and BG3, whereas the reveal trailer for Divinity set a pretty brutal tone. Not saying it has to be one or the other, but is the balance different this time around? A (u/Adam_Larian): I laughed out loud reviewing a dialogue this morning! I mentioned in the answer to another question that a game this size needs lots of tonal diversity. Sometimes the darkest situations become funny because of a player's response to them, or a companion's commentary. And sometimes a joke backfires and everyone is suddenly on fire. Q (u/BounceBurnBuff): Is Boris back for the music on Divintiy? A (u/Michael_Larian): Bobby never left  ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)  He's cooking. Q (u/Rathyon): How much research and development goes into novel approaches to rendering/lighting? Do you guys implement your own brand new approaches to Global Illumination, ray tracing and other graphics programming techniques or is it mostly investigating new developments: implementing in your inhouse engine and testing to see what works and what doesn't? Is most of the work done in this area or more towards optimization of the renderer? Asking from the perspective of a graphics programmer keen to enter the industry. A (u/Bert_Larian): As engine developers it's very important that we keep following new developments in rendering or lighting or anything else for that matter. How we apply it or add it to our engine largely depends on how we expect to use it or at which scale. So it's always a balancing act and a matter of constant discussion between the tech and content teams. Q (u/RafaFlash): I'm honestly curious on how you approach designing new main characters. What comes first, the art, the character's personality, their role in the story? Do you brainstorm hundreds of ideas and pick the best ones over time? A (u/Alena_Larian): The role in the game usually comes first, along with some initial ideas about personality and backstory. Once it reaches the art team we brainstorm together, propose different visual directions, and make a selection with stakeholders from various departments, most often the writers and Swen. After the general idea is approved, the iteration doesn’t stop and we continue refining important characters and revisit them even after they are modeled and in game. Q (u/MugGuffin): Is the threat of Great Acorn still looming over Rivellon? A (u/Swen_Larian): It is not. All squirrels were smited. Q (u/ziggurqt): Hello! How did you set up the whole desert statue thing? A (u/Michael_Larian): We started to get really paranoid about the possibility of leaks, but then realised all those discussions were fruitless, and if we actually wanted to do something that would distract enough to take the heat away from any potential announce we should do something more productive. Long story short, the result was a monolith. I always wanted it in Joshua Tree, because I love Joshua Tree. So we had two lofty ambitions: create a monolith, and dump it in the desert. We had the right internal team to get this done, and so suddenly we went from wallowing in paranoia to getting really excited about this thing we were doing that, at the time, felt disconnected from the announce, the plans for which were at that stage out of our hands and in motion. Whatever would happen would happen. We like building things at Larian, we don't like sitting around. Idle hands and all that. Roy (very euphoric man) from my team and Francois (equally euphoric, but French) flew to Joshua tree during PAX on a secret mission (secret even to half of my team) and locked down the location while the incredible team, Onxy Forge, set dozens of people on the creation of the monolith, the designs for which were defined by our tbroader art and design teams, & Art Director. So it was a really positive collaboration between nervous teams edging towards an announce that wanted something to do other than watch all their work & planning potentially go to shit or succeed. I covered most of the rest in the Twitter post -- a lot of the why. We'll go into the how's with Onyx Forge, later. We have a lot of behind the scenes footage. It was funny seeing people refer to it as a marketing stunt while really it was just pure copium straight into our nervous veins, put into action. (P.S it didn't really help with the paranoia because we just got paranoid about people figuring out it was us). Q (u/udderlime): Does it concern you at all that the level of mature content in BG3 and seemingly the new Divinity, may turn off a sizeable demographic of potential buyers? The success of BG3 would say you are doing just fine, but I am also curious as to why there was such a stark contrast in mature content from D:OS2 to BG3. To be honest, I loved D:OS2, but I just don't like BG3's level of mature content, which is why I didn't play it. I know this view often get ridiculed, but everyone has their limits. Thanks for reading! A (u/Adam_Larian): We're making the game we want to make - and that we want to play! - and we hope lots of other people want to play it too. it will take our characters and players to some very dark places. I think a big part of the change from D:OS2 to BG3 is in the way the mature content is shown - cinematics show what was often told in the past. I hope that Divinity will be a mature game in its narrative and emotional complexity, not just in the level of sex and violence. That said, it's good to know your own limits! I'd love you to try Divinity, or watch some streams to get a feel for it, but I'd never ridicule anyone for deciding something isn't for them. It'd be a boring world if everything was for everyone <3 Q (u/BigAddam): Will I be able to follow along and enjoy the upcoming Divinity game if the only Larian game I’ve played is Baldur’s Gate 3? A (u/Bert_Larian): Divinity is a different universe than Baldur's Gate. While you do not need to play the previous Divinity games, it would certainly improve your enjoyment if you do! You'll perhaps recognize certain characters or situations or learn to explore the large universe the was already built for Divinity! Q (u/BDOKlem): in terms of art direction, are you aiming for continuity with D:OS, rethinking the visual identity to be more in line with BG3, or are you aiming for something new entirely? in terms of combat gameplay, can we expect similarities to previous D:OS titles, or are you taking an entirely new approach? A (u/Jarold_Larian): with regards to art direction, Divinity is a new story, and will have some continuity in the Characters from our previous games. The announcement trailer we released is a good visual tease of what we have in mind- but you’ll have to wait for the full reveal! Q (u/Kylar5): In BG3 I really enjoyed the aspect of ending the day and going into the camp to interact with your companions (not so much for refilling the spell slots). Will there be something similar in Divinity? A (u/Adam_Larian): We'll give you space to build your relationships with the companions. I won't go into too much detail here. And, yes, you won't have to refill any spell slots :D Q (u/Arunax_): How complex did the codebase of BG3 become late into dev? A (u/Artem_Larian): Very. Q (u/optiplex9000): The technology that runs your games is very impressive and has delivered great games. Have you ever considered licensing out the technology to other game studios for them to make their own RPGs? My mind goes to the example of Obsidian using Bethesda's technology to make Fallout New Vegas A (u/Bert_Larian): Thanks! I will be sure to pass that message to the team :) Licensing is not something we are considering right now. We would need to give active support to our licensees. Which we would love to do! But I think we are better at making games :) Q (u/Nyxerix): What is your writing process like in terms of planning and accommodating players who like to do quests out of order or find hidden little details? A (u/Adam_Larian): The writing process is to embrace the chaos. To encourage the chaos. To be at one with the chaos. The first thing we tend to do when playtesting our own situations is run them out of sequence, break them in every conceivable way, and see how far we can push the boundaries of what's possible. The greatest joy I get is seeing somebody go so far off the beaten path that they assume we'll have lost track of them, and then they stumble across something that we put there just for them. Q (u/sortuc): Will I be able to create a goth baddie in the upcoming divinity? A (u/Alena_Larian): How could that even be in doubt? 😆 Q (u/ProfessorLoud): It's more grounded and you might have picked up on some folk horror vibes in our trailer. But with games the size of DOS 2 and Divinity, there are lots of tonal variations as you move through the world and meet new characters. I hope it'll make you laugh, frighten you, shock you and delight you. A (u/Adam_Larian): (THAT WAS ME ABOVE IN MY PROFESSOR LOUD DISGUISE) It's more grounded and you might have picked up on some folk horror vibes in our trailer. But with games the size of DOS 2 and Divinity, there are lots of tonal variations as you move through the world and meet new characters. I hope it'll make you laugh, frighten you, shock you and delight you. Q (u/Venusria): Have you brought on new narrative designers for 'Divinity'? The lore feels quite **disconnected**. A (u/Kevin_Larian): As a matter of fact, we brought on a storytelling team devoted to developing deep and consistent lore/stories in the Divinity universe. Q (u/mickdeman3): Do you plan on having Divinity be playable on the Steam Deck? A (u/Bert_Larian): We all love the Steamdeck! Since BG3 was one of the most played games on the platform, we will do our best to again release on the platform. Q (u/TraditionalJob7651): How does the art team feel about the usage of AI? Can they walk us through the process more specifically, and if it has been helping in efficiency? Will it remain a part of the development process? A (u/Alena_Larian): I can’t speak for everyone, we have a very diverse and international team, and each person has their own opinion on the matter. But in terms of production, we don’t use AI to “generate” art assets. We see AI as a potential tool to optimize certain workflows. For example it can be used for motion capture data cleanup or retargeting animations from the actors' original performance capture, as already mentioned in the AMA. We don't want to use AI to make game assets, generate models or even base models to sculpt on top of, because those assets would never meet the quality bar we’re setting for the art in Divinity. We’ve also decided to stop using any AI in concept art as reference material, so there’s no ambiguity about the nature of our art assets. That said, having any generated concept art in the game was never our intention either. Q (u/CypherTheProPSN): Jarold  What monster designs we're you most pleased with in BG3?  Secondly, moving away from WoTC IP, are you excited for your team to have more freedom of creature designs & art work?  A (u/Jarold_Larian): All of them! Not exactly a monster; but I love the way the Dragonborn came out in the game. I felt that it struck the a great balance of elegance and monstruousness. Divinity indeed is a different challenge, we have all the amazing ideas from DOS and the previous Divinity games that we would love to look back to and get inspired by. So it’s gonna be a nice blend of looking under the hood of our previous games,and making the most of the creative freedom we’re getting in Divinity. Q (u/optiplex9000): I'm a software engineer that has always worked on financial technology, and one of the things I find so interesting about video game development is the big reliance on manual software testing. Every piece of code that I write can by tested automatically either through a unit test or through an integration test What makes video game development so different? Why does it require so much manual testing? A (u/Artem_Larian): Very good question: a video game, in logical terms, is a running simulation that has different results with the same input depending on various conditions. That said, simulation has a lot of systems and sub systems that may or may not be active due to the same conditions. The more systems you have, the more permutations of their interaction you get. The amount of integration test starts growing exponentially and at some point, has a diminishing return on such tests. Usually, this is a point where a lot of developers stop and start using manual testing to make sure the most common player interactions are covered. At Larian, we have a bit of a different approach - we use TDD to ensure UT coverage in combination with writing high-level test scripts that are supposed to test the feature programmer providing in isolation (like in a test level). At the same time, our QA using same scripting language to automate their testing routines in order to test situations and combats in game like it would be a player. That still doesn't remove the need for manual testing: one of the main requirements of a game is to be fun, and so far thats not something that can be experessed in tests. For that, having a person who would play the feature and would give you feedback if its fun from the player perspective - is immense help. Also, sometimes as a developer,r you just can't guess what shenanigans a player would do (famous barrelmancy or speed runners) - and having a team that can do that and also validate that what is done is matching what was requested - is highly valuable Q (u/InsectNew2613): Will Divinity be more cinematic like Baldur's Gate 3 or more in the lines of top down text Like Original Sins 2? A (u/Greg_Larian): We have an incredibly talented team of cinematic artists and animators, I wouldn't be able to hold them back from doing what they do best. Q (u/Justicar_L): Considering BG3 was such a hit, why did you not develop Wyll further in subsequent patches but change the story line and personality of other companions? His story always felt on the verge of being great and interesting but in the end he had and continues to have no real agency in the story as all his quests are subverted for other characters. Eg. His father being kidapped, not being able to properly get Mizora out of camp, and the dragon that was the culmination of his quest actually being part of the emperors quest/story instead. A (u/Kevin_Larian): I wish Wyll had gotten more content and a more fulfilling arc too. As you probably know, we weren't connecting with Wyll's Early Access recruitment and initial questing, so we started over at a point when most of the other companion stories were fairly solid. A lot of decisions came later in development than was ideal - and there was a key situation near Baldur's Gate that I intended to heavily involve Wyll in (the Red War College) that got cut. That meant back to the drawing board again. We eventually tied him to Duke Ravengard and started to work on that element of his arc just in time for me to get unexpectedly ill. I was out of the office for quite a while, and again after the epilogue's release. I think that Ansur's lair was Swen's idea - we did have the resources for a standalone dungeon, so we got to work on tying Wyll to the Wyrmway, but I couldn't get more than a dungeon boss out of it. Once the situations were in place, that was that - I had to start writing them. Wyll's content is sparser than I'd have liked as a result. He's also split into two stories, really - the Mizora story and the Ravengard story, and that might have been a mistake in hindsight. I also wish I could given him a stronger endpoint - it always bugged me that he can end up just as he started, as the Blade of Frontiers, without any meaningful difference. All that said, I love the Blade and I am really proud of him, his sincerity, his good nature, and his eager heroism. I'm truly sorry I didn't give you more quality time with him. Q (u/PolyglotRubicionian): Specifically to u/Adam_Larian Where do you feel the writing lacked in BG3 and how do you plan to improve it for Divinity? A (u/Adam_Larian): Two things come to mind: 1) I'd like the companions - and other characters - to feel like a more natural part of the world. I love the BG3 companions but the nature of their story means that they're mostly displaced, strangers in a strange land (some of them are returning home, but they're in unfamiliar territory as the game begins). I'd like to see how far we can push the diversity of companions and their stories even farther. 2) I spend a lot of time thinking about structure. The nature of CRPGs is that there are often several stories happening simultaneously - whether that's a smaller quest alongside the main plot, a developing romance, a conflict between party members, or encounters with an antagonist. I'm focusing on mapping the shapes of those stories so that there's pleasing overlap in the narrative patterns. It's the science-y side of narrative, but it has a big impact on the writing of individual moments within those structures! Q (u/HaztecCore): With the sheer impact that BG3 had and the millions of newcomers joining in, has that any effect on how you build Divinity? Will it be an easy to get into game or will it lean more towards experienced gamers who might be already familiar with similar games? For the art people : got any inspiration from games and other media that is a huge influence for you? Always fun to be able to tell when a fan of something created something with that influence in mind. I.E Fromsoft developers being huge fans of the Berserk manga. Y'all got anything you desperately want referenced in Divinity? A (u/Jarold_Larian): We have a pretty diverse Art team here in Larian, so it’s hard to pinpoint anything specific. We love too many things and we spend way too much time talking about all the cool games, art, comics or just geeking over a post on Artstation. Thankfully this works to our benefit as we do like to make big and diverse games at Larian, and Divinity will be no different. What we found out to be valuable sources of inspiration are paintings done by old Dutch masters- like Pieter Bruegel, Hieronymus Bosch. Ultimately we’re searching for feelings to bring into our game rather than specific visuals. and alot of us are big fans of Fromsoft games and Berserk! Q (u/ZeWolfer): How do I find love in real life? :( A (u/Michael_Larian): The first step is to look in the mirror and learn to love yourself. Q (u/ultimatemanan97): Does Larian face challeneges due to using an in-house engine that you wouldn't when using something like Unreal or Unity? Not just technical, but in terms of hiring talent? A (u/Bert_Larian): Developing games is always a complex endeavor! Our proprietary engine allowed us to build tooling and technology, over the years, that exactly suits the type of game we want to make. On that front it's certainly a benefit for us. We are not aspiring to build a generalist engine, so this allows us to make concious choices, regarding performance or technology decisions. On the hiring front, I can mainly talk about the programming front. But I would say we very much attract people looking for a challenge and who are eager to learn and expend their skillset beyond what they know. I would also book that as a plus! Q (u/Dubsbaduw): In divinity lizards are hot, elves are cannibals and weird, dwarves are seafaring people. Are you planning on giving the orcs a little special twist to differentiate them from the standard fantasy tropes? A (u/Swen_Larian): Without saying which species are in the game, all of them have something unique. Q (u/ilikebreadabunch): The armor system is probably my biggest gripe with DoS:2 so this makes me super happy to hear A (u/Michael_Larian): (same) Q (u/blue_sock1337): How will you handle the canon issues DOS2 introduced? It basically acted as a soft retcon of the series, will the new Divinity game continue with the new lore or will you try to reconcile it with the previous games? A (u/Adam_Larian): It's in the same continuity, but it's a standalone story. Long-term Divinity fans will find lots of familiar things but it's never just fanservice - it has to serve the story we're telling. The Divinity universe is full of weird and wonderful characters, and I'm really excited to be part of that legacy. Q (u/ErzherzogHinkelstein): Did the paranoia start when, in retrospect, you probably accidentally leaked that you worked on Divinity via that stupid Twitter handle thing seven months ago? A (u/Michael_Larian): There was a moment when we realised we didn't own the website domains, handles, and other 'things' for our games. Unfortunate timing but back then nothing was concrete as surprising as it sounds. Q (u/InvincibleXALE): You mentioned that the new game will have a "new ruleset" in the PC Gamer interview. By that are you guys creating a new combat system away from the action point based combat on the past DOS games? The mechanics, rather than the spells itself. I assume this would allow you to be a bit more creative with full control on your hands rather than with the D&D ruleset? Also, Ada Laird origin character? 👀 A (u/Nick_Larian): We went through our original ideas for DOS1 and DOS2, looked again at how they worked out in practice, picked up some inspirations from our BG3 EA and post-release journey, consulted the star charts to see what we need to do to stay competitive - and cooked a new action economy and character progression system. Feedback from BG3 players trying DOS2 for the first time has been especially interesting to us, seeing the two worlds colliding. We hope that both fans of BG3 and fans of DOS2 will find the new system intuitive but deep. Q (u/emperortimes): this isn’t really a question but more like a request: please pleaseeeee try to make as many characters romanceable as possible - from a very traumatized Raphael lover with PTSD A (u/Michael_Larian): love is love Q (u/Legitimate_Belt_4298): Are you still casting any roles for the game? A (u/Greg_Larian): We have started working with actors, but we are nowhere near done casting. As you can imagine its a big effort to find the right talent for a game this size and we tend to continue writing and adding new voices long into production. Why, do you know someone? Q (u/TraditionalJob7651): I have a couple more questions from reading this: 1. You mention that you'll use a GenAI model trained on data you own for game assets, is this the case (using a personal model) for everything else? If not, how so? What's an example of an in-game asset that could be generated by AI? (haven't understood the distinction between creative asset and just Regular Asset here) 2. Can you give examples of the uses for GenAI across departments "to refine ideas"? A (u/Gabriel_Larian): There is currently one example of ML generated assets that end up in the game and that is within our cinematics and animation pipeline. In this pipeline we try to capture the actor's performances as best as we can, so we use ML models to clean, retarget and even add motion when it's not motion captured. These models are trained exclusively with Larian data. Q (u/Nidies): BG3, being a dnd game, had most of the 'better' story and world interactions behind succeeding on rolls and checks, incentivising character growth and improving stats. This has the drawback of also incentivising save-scumming. Are there plans to try to make failing these dialogue / non-combat checks narrativley more interesting, ala Disco Elysium, to try to encourage players to accept 'bad' rng? I try not to save-scum, in theory, but admittedly usually only let a bad roll go when it feels like there aren't significant consequences (ie narrativley or reward-wise) that means I'll be missing out on content I would have wanted. A (u/Adam_Larian): Our ambition is certainly to make failure more interesting. There are already a couple of situations in the game where I think the most exciting - and extensive - outcome comes from 'failure', but you'll be the judge of how well we do. Q (u/Daz_Iz_Gud): Any game completely outside of the genre you are working in or comfort zone that inspires you in game development? A (u/Adam_Larian): The Séance of Blake Manor impressed me so much. I play lots of games and that was a highlight toward the end of the year. The approach to storytelling is so different to ours, but it's hugely inspirational from the structure to the characterisation and setting.... loved it. Q (u/uni_and_internet): Are there any recent game releases, circa 2025, that stood out to your team as inspiring, or reinvigorated your passion for game making? A (u/Bert_Larian): I like deep systems, so I have been playing Europa Universalis 5 a lot. But I keep being amazed by the creativity of the indie scene as a whole. There are so many good games done by small teams. I am really looking forward to start playing The Séance of Blake Manor for example. A (u/Nick_Larian): I'm currently addicted to the Bazaar! And my Christmas break was sacrificed to Europa Universalis V. A (u/Kevin_Larian): Hell is Us really invigorated me, creatively. Underneath the game's horrific depictions of war, the darkness, and the oppression, there is hope. It felt like a game created specifically for me. I want to make things that give people that same 'this was made just for me' feeling, that same sense of connection. A (u/Jarold_Larian): I was particularly captivated by the visuals and mood of Cronos: The New Dawn. Replayed it a few times and thought that the bleak worldbuilding and setting to be particularly well executed. A (u/Adam_Larian): I mentioned Blake Manor in another comment. Even more recently, I LOVED Pipistrello and the Cursed Yoyo. A (u/Artem_Larian): Expedition 33 blew me away Q (u/Fkm196): Not part of the Divinity project or any of your upcoming unannounced projects, but am curious to know what games are you all playing during your down times? I am finishing up Outer Worlds 2 currently. A (u/Michael_Larian): Golden Sun! Q (u/M8753): What does machine learning director do? Combat AI? Background dialogue? A (u/Gabriel_Larian): It's actually pretty straight forward : D as ML Director I'm in charge of leading our ML team. We have an ML team whose purpose is twofold: one is to support development by helping solve concrete production problems through automation, and the second is to prepare ourselves for a future in which ML will help drive reactivity to player agency. Q (u/Urd-ong_Shadong47): What are the odds of a switch 2 port? Divinity os2 is great on there (and hoping for baldurs gate 3) Seems like the perfect game to pick up and play id but it in a heartbeat. Thanks guys! You rock A (u/Bert_Larian): We have just released Divinity Original Sin 2 for Switch 2! We love the platform and we will certainly consider Switch2 for the next Divinity game. Q (u/AmihanTheStoic): Good to hear about the decision. But does this new stance only apply in concept art? In the case of writing, I remember there was mention of using GenAI to make placeholder text. How does this benefit development over say, just a simple stub text? And, in the case that the generated content is considered as good enough to be there, as is, in final, or at least heavily influencing the final writing- how can it then be claimed that *"there won't be any AI-generated content in Divinity"*? A (u/Adam_Larian): The stance applies to writing as well. We don't have any text generation touching our dialogues, journal entries or other writing in Divinity. To answer your second question, 'how does generated placeholder text benefit development over simple stub text'"- it doesn't. We had a limited group experimenting with tools to generate text, but the results hit a 3/10 at best and those tools are for research purposes, not for use in Divinity. Even my worst first drafts - and there are a LOT of them - are at least a 4/10 (although Swen might disagree :p), and the amount of iteration required to get even individual lines to the quality we want is enormous. From the initial stub to the line we record and ship, there are a great many eyes and hands involved in getting a dialogue right. Q (u/Michael_Larian): Golden Sun! A (u/Kevin_Larian): I mentioned this elsewhere but Terra Invicta may consume my entire 2026. Q (u/babygirlcollector): Let me just preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of you guys’ games and I’ve spent frankly a concerning a lot of time playing them and when I don’t play them I talk about them. A lot. It actually annoys some of my friends lol. Will you be bowing less to fan pressure this time around? Quite a lot of people, myself included, feel like you tend to listen too much to negative story feedback to the detriment of the writing quality, such as Wyll getting a rewrite many felt was not needed and resulted in him being undercooked compared to the rest, making companions less “mean” which weakened them, the lack of writing for Halsin after you recruit him as well as lack of use for him with a druid companion in Jaheira etc etc. I know it’s hard to tell what people like and don’t like since people tend to be louder about the things they dislike than those they like, but your writers can really cook! and I think it’s important to let them rather than listen to random people on the internet who will always find something to complain about even if there isn’t really anything to complain about A (u/Adam_Larian): Thanks for playing and my apologies to your friends <3 It's often in a writer's DNA to listen to negative feedback (we are sensitive souls), but I'd never let my team bow to pressure. I genuinely enjoy reading and hearing feedback from fans, and our community do influence us, but any decisions made are for the good of the game. That doesn't mean we always make the right decisions, and narrative and characterisation are complex beasts so it's rarely a single writer making any major change. We don't make any changes lightly because the knock-on effect of even a small adjustment can be enormous. Q (u/Life_Swan_5289): Hey Larian! I would like to kindly make a couple of petitions, if that's possible. From the bottom of my heart, we've loved the Larian From Hell channel with Aoife and with all the charming stories behind the scenes. We'd love if you kept this close relationship with the community. The second petition is to please, allocate more units to the collector's edition and the artbooks. They have been very scarce to get on physical, and I'd love to have one. Best regards to the whole team. Thank you for your work A (u/Michael_Larian): There is quite robust, ongoing work behind the scenes on our distribution and production channels. Of course, our desire is to get high quality bits & bobs to everyone in the world, but we started from scratch. Personally I really believe in a direct-to-consumer world, so things being built by us, and sent by us, directly to yourselves I think is the right direction, but again we aren't quite there yet. We're improving in this area. We know we have quality down, but with distribution we're still struggling. Perhaps in a future community update we'll go into more detail about these changes. It's a good idea. Thank you! Q (u/darkwai): Baldur's Gate 3 for Switch 2? Is it even possible? A (u/Swen_Larian): We would have loved to but it's wasn't our decision to make. Q (u/thecolorplaid): Is Divinity going to be pulling any particular ideas/gameplay concepts from the original titles (Divine Divinity, Beyond Divinity, etc)? Why drop the "Original Sin" title now? Love all your games, got to meet the team and Swen Vicke at PAX East a few times and I was always blown away at how open and willing to chat he was. Can't wait for what's next! A (u/Swen_Larian): There’s never been a Divinity and now that we can finally make the game we always wanted, we thought it was time to do so. We're taking the opportunity to vastly improve and expand the world building and set a new direction for the series. Q (u/Outrigger047): What does automated testing look like for a project like BG3? A (u/Artem_Larian): TDD when you write code. Add integration tests using a scripting language after the tests feature is done to prove everything works together. Block code submits(commits) unless they pass ALL Uts and some core integration tests to ensure build stability Have buildservers running ALL integration tests and UTs all the time in combination with ASAN builds as often as possible QA is running their own testing routines - manually and on buildservers too. In terms of numbers, we have hundreds of integration tests and tens of thousands of unit tests, and those numbers will only grow. Q (u/SightlessKombat): Have you thought about accessibility as a part of planning this next game? As a gamer without sight (i.e. no sight whatsoever) who wanted to play BG3 but couldn't without constant sighted assistance, I'd love to be able to play Divinity on my own terms and am very interested in if there's any chance of that happening. Looking forward to seeing what you craft regardless, keep up the good work! A (u/Bert_Larian): I am interested in this, in your experience, what are games that do well on that front? Q (u/BlobSlimey): I assume the moment the trademark of the logo was found by the community your most kept secret suddenly shattered just before the reveal... Will you guys be more confidential in the future to prevent another trademark leak to ruin the surprise A (u/Michael_Larian): The immediate reaction is a mix of anger and disappointment but it's really important to remember there are human beings behind this and that the most important think is faith in what you're building and who you're building it with. It's only video games. Yes we'll be more careful but by the same token we'll try to focus on why we do this in the first place, rather than the secret itself. Also, every game we've done that has leaked went onto be a critical success so maybe it's a good omen. Q (u/dunkitay): With each game you’ve improved in writing a story and narrative for your games. What are some of the things you would like to improve narrative wise compared to your previous entries? A (u/Kevin_Larian): Companion relationships. Firstly, to have more interaction between companions - not just with more and better banter, but to have them develop deeper relationships with each other, just as they do with players. Secondly, to ramp up player friendship and romance more subtly, so relationship building feels natural. Q (u/Skylam): Anything in particular you are excited for players to get to experience in this game? A (u/Swen_Larian): There's a lot but we prefer to show and not tell. That said - Lizard romance seems like it's going to be popular. Q (u/Aylin_1): did u gather a joshua tree twig as a souvenir? A (u/Michael_Larian): im not allowed twigs anymore Q (u/Dazzling-Ad-3848): Will divinity have a similar approach to companions as previous titles? A big highlight for me was the different storylines for companions in bg3 and of course the romancing! A (u/Adam_Larian): They're a hugely important part of the game and I already love some of them dearly. We have big ambitions for them and we're already complicating their lives, and our own, with the narrative design. Q (u/GinPatch): Will interactions with NPC be mo-capped like BG3? One of my fav things was how every NPC felt unique to interact with A (u/Greg_Larian): Me too! In fact, we just built 4 new vo/performance capture volumes with more in the works Q (u/bunny_Senpai00): I loved BG3 and was planning to play Divinity Original Sin 1 and 2. But then, I saw on Wikipedia there are more games in Divinity Universe. Does the new game have story elements from these old games? A (u/Adam_Larian): I was a Larian fan before I was a Larian dev, and I played every Divinity game as a fan (and sometimes as a critic!). I love both of the Original Sin games, and if you enjoy them and want to dig deeper into the catalogue, I'd recommend Dragon Commander for something completely different. The new game isn't a sequel to any previous Divinity game - it's completely standalone - but it is set in the same universe and continuity, so if you've played earlier games, you'll find familiar things. But just like you don't need to have lived through all of history to understand a specific time and place, you can come to Divinity without any prior knowledge at all. Q (u/ActualPimpHagrid): Will the conversations and cutscenes be text based like in DOS2 or more in line with how BG3 worked? A (u/Greg_Larian): I've surrounded myself with outstanding cinematic artists and animators who love their jobs, so definitely more of the latter. Q (u/Bohya): ...will there be sex scenes? A (u/Greg_Larian): Does a bear... in the woods? Q (u/gamingonion): Always curious about stuff like this - how long ago did you start getting the trailer made before we actually saw it? A (u/Michael_Larian): Surprisingly organised this time! Unit Image (based in Paris and insanely fucking talented) worked on it with us, as they did the BG3 release and announcement trailers. The ideation phase was lightning fast because we were all on the same page. They went and cooked, and we had it in the bag for quite some time. From start to finish, if my memory serves me right, it was a little over a year. Maybe under. Maxime and his team really understand us, and we understand them. Very Larian folks at Unit Image. Q (u/Shiroelf): As for automated testing, how do you guys do it, is it to cover the apis or to also some part of the games? A (u/Artem_Larian): We are trying to cover as much as possible. Q (u/Ricky_the_Wizard): When creating companion characters, where do you start? From an aesthetic vibe, an archetype, a story role that needs to be filled? And where do you find your inspiration? A (u/Jarold_Larian): From a Concept Art standpoint, I see Companions as an opportunity to inject culture and history of the world we are building. Either overtly in their costume design and appearance, or subtly in their accessories, details. This may not exactly be a starting point- but it’s a great foundation for inspiration. Q (u/gamingonion): I always say that if you're going to do a CG only trailer, you better knock it out of the park, and the studio and you guys definitely did. Very much looking forward to the release of the game, good luck for the rest of development! A (u/Michael_Larian): Yeah absolutely. It's always a risk. Thank you! Q (u/Greg_Larian): Does a bear... in the woods? A (u/Michael_Larian): WHAT DOES HE DO IN THE WOODS GREG Q (u/dunkitay): Narrative question. One of the problems with branching path narratives or giving the player too much freedom is that it can get a bit messy quite fast and “muddy” the main narrative and story the game is trying to convey. Considering Divinity will be grander in scope compared to BG3 I’d imagine there would be more branching narratives and ways to tackle problems. In what ways do you try to achieve this but at the same time mitigate the problem of the narrative falling apart without “railroading” too much in certain key story beats. A (u/Swen_Larian): And don't forget multiplayer - that makes it even harder. But it is one of the things we want to get better at with each game we make. We hate railroading and want you to have total freedom but still experience a compelling narrative. We learned a lot from BG3 and are now applying those lessons together with a host of new ideas. Q (u/Frequent_Working_142): BG3 had a fantastic romance that lasted through most of the three acts. Are you doubling down on this ? Is there an even greater focus on it ? A (u/Adam_Larian): When we're designing and writing the romances, the goal is to make them memorable, and to have them feel like a natural part of a character's personality and relationship with the player. That means we discover the way to tell the romances as we develop the companions and their stories, alongside character artists, cinematic artists, animators, performance directors, actors and other developers. I hope we'll manage to push deeper into the depth and complexity of romance, love and some other (not always positive!) emotions. And I'm very excited to see what our cinematics team cook up. Q (u/p4l4mu7): u/Kevin_Larian u/Adam_Larian How did you get into the game industry as a writer, what it’s like working at a studio like Larian, and what studios look for in writers? I’ve been wondering how a writer makes it into the game industry. A (u/Kevin_Larian): 'How to break in' questions are always the hardest, because there is no one way that works. My path took me through games journalism (I was reviews editor at GameSpot) before I moved on to write at Trion Worlds, and later at Larian. As big as the industry is, there are always more talented writers than there are open positions. The best advice I have is to write. A LOT. Read. A LOT, and in lots of genres. Make at least one interactive project in a tool like Twine, and publish it, and your writing samples, to an online portfolio. Nothing is ever a guarantee, but these are some ways to set yourself up for success. Q (u/Zou-KaiLi): Are there any specific artists/paintings which have/will shape Divinity's look? I have always seen a similarity in the art direction of Dos2 and BG3 with Salvator Rosa's paintings. A (u/Jarold_Larian): great question! Not specifically to shape Divinity's look; but the concept art team found a lot of inspiration from classical paintings, particularly old Dutch Masters. Salvator Rosa is a good call out. Q (u/ilikebreadabunch): What so far has been your favorite part of making Divinity and what has been your least favorite part? A (u/Swen_Larian): Least favourite: Answering questions about AI. Favourite:All the rest :) Q (u/ulykke): Very diplomatic 🙃 A (u/Michael_Larian): Never been accused of that before! Q (u/SuccessfulQuantity48): Over the years, we’ve seen several major studios stick very strongly to their in-house engines, sometimes seemingly at the expense of the final game itself — for example *Starfield* with Bethesda, or *Cyberpunk 2077* with CD Projekt Red. How do you explain this kind of stubbornness around proprietary engines, and why does this approach appear to work so well in your case? A (u/Bert_Larian): Building and maintaining a proprietary engine, has some strong benefits for us. Compared to a more generalist game engine, we can make choices that exactly suit the type of game we want to make. Over the years we have built strong tooling and technology that benefits us a lot, and this is technology that simply does not exist in other engines. The next game will be the fifth iteration of our engine, so this is something that grows over many years. To have full control of how and when we release features (internally or externally) is an advantage that is not be underestimated. Q (u/KF-Sigurd): One of the criticisms of BG3 writing is that the party members don’t have as much of a relationship between each other or talk to each other as much as other RPGs. Is that something you’re considering when creating Divinity? A (u/Adam_Larian): Yeah, the goal is to have more interactions between party members, and it won't always just be talking. Q (u/ghipsandrew): What other studios or people in game development do you look up to? ( I want to find more great projects to support) A (u/Kevin_Larian): Wadjet Eye is out there making one incredible point-and-click game after another. They've got the magic. Q (u/radclaw1): What is up with the Spectrogram? A (u/Swen_Larian): I thought it was going to be easy to find. Perhaps having a really good look at the high quality version of the trailer will help. [http://divinity.com/presspack](http://divinity.com/presspack) Q (u/Michael_Larian): Tom Butler, to my right, is eager for you to hear about Orval, a local aged beer that gets better with age. Though many bartenders in Belgium disupte this, Tom (English) claims it's true. A (u/Kevin_Larian): I went to the Orval brewery a few years ago, they only open it a couple of days out of the year for tours. It's a blast. Q (u/Known-Professor-9017): What fantasy genre best describes the atmospehre and setting of divinity, more the direction of BG3 and High Fantasy or will it be a more Grimdark setting as the trailer kind of suggested? Or smth entirely different? A (u/Adam_Larian): I don't think therés one specific genre/subgenre that could describe the entire game. I will say there's a lot of folk horror percolating in my brain. Q (u/SunCrux): That Divinity trailer was some of the most brilliantly visceral stuff I’ve seen in a while. What’s the goal in putting together trailers at Larian? A (u/Michael_Larian): Broadly speaking, anything we do externally that \*isn't\* the game is designed to give people a good time, to make them smile. I think that people in our audience specifically have a really good sense of humour, and while there were a few conversations of what "too far" might be, we were all laughing so much during production of the trailer that we kinda decided to have faith that folks at home would be too. If you look at the little details, the context, the fact that we managed to get it shown on such a big stage, it's a very funny thing. I saw some industry criticism that suggested that tonally "there's one rule for Larian and another for everyone else" and it's such a weird take. Generally in life, even in business, if you all really believe in what your doing, that energy is infectious and people tend to want to get behind it. There's more to it than that, but that is a foundational truth I will always believe. We just want to make people laugh, primarily. Q (u/Michael_Larian): WHAT DOES HE DO IN THE WOODS GREG A (u/Greg_Larian): GET OUT OF MY WOODS, MICHAEL! Q (u/Swen_Larian): Least favourite: Answering questions about AI. Favourite:All the rest :) A (u/Gabriel_Larian): Rude! ; ) Q (u/Shiroelf): If it’s not too confidential, I’m also curious about which testing framework you guys use at Larian. I mainly work in e-commerce, so I’m quite surprised that automated testing can also be applied to games, since player actions are very different and seem difficult to cover with e2e tests A (u/Artem_Larian): Catch2 for UTs, for integration tests, we are using our own system based on Lua. Q (u/Kevin_Larian): I went to the Orval brewery a few years ago, they only open it a couple of days out of the year for tours. It's a blast. A (u/Michael_Larian): You need to stop referring to Tom's house as 'the brewery tour' he's getting really upset Q (u/AmyAetheling): Can you provide a recommended reading list?? A (u/Kevin_Larian): Well, I can tell you what the writing team was reading over the holidays. I bet you'll find some compelling choices. The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks Queen Demon by Martha Wells Collected Poems of WB Yeats City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff VanderMeer Saints by Tim MacGabhann Bad Behaviour by Mary Gaitskill Children of God by Mary Doria Russell Barrowbeck by Andrew Michael Hurley Drive Your Plows Over the Bones of Dead by Olga Tokarczuk Q (u/Krazyflipz): Can you speak a bit about the team and environment at this stage of the development cycle compared to same point in BG3 development cycle? A (u/Swen_Larian): I think we're further ahead but I'm afraid of saying it. The game already has a very strong identity which is fantastic to see. Q (u/SunCrux): What do you look for when bringing in new talent at Larian? A (u/Swen_Larian): Talent, passion and work ethics. Q (u/DickDeadlift): So, in BG 3 there were hints of a Werewolf Halfling lady being a character at some point. Divinity already has hot lizards, will we finally be able to romance big wolf lady in Divinity? Asking for a friend. And a more serious question: Working with proprietary tech in the current climate of the industry likely comes with a bigger challenge for onboarding new hires when you're scaling up a project, since most potential hires likely have Unreal or Unity experience, has this affected how you've designed your engine and editor? A (u/Bert_Larian): Developing games is always hard, no matter what engine you use! But, our proprietary engine allowed us to build tooling and technology, over the years, that exactly suits the type of game we want to make. For us that has been a tremendous advantage over the years. On the hiring front, I can mainly talk about the programming front. But I would say we very much attract people looking for a challenge and who are eager to expend their skillset beyond what they know. I would also book that as a plus! A (u/Adam_Larian): Your friend sounds cool. Q (u/raskinimiugovor): What is your opinion on Gleba? A (u/Artem_Larian): Better than dealing with demolishers on Vulkan Q (u/Arunax_): Thanks for replying, do you have any tips for adding new features or overhauling old ones late into development? It's the only part where I struggle badly A (u/Artem_Larian): Ideally, you don't =) But if your game demands, you can protect yourself from bugs by having good unit test coverage (which will help you catch issues during refactor) and a lot of automated high-level testing - to make sure the rest of the game functions. Both things are only possible if you do it from the start of development. But if you are at the end of production, you have no automated testing to cover your back, and you need to add a new feature or go for refactoring, it will be a tough call, and usually will result in instability or missed deadline - so you need to make the feature really worth it. Q (u/WetDreamRhino): Will Borislav be making the soundtrack again? (Please) A (u/Swen_Larian): We wouldn't be able to stop him even if we wanted to. He's been very busy composing and recording new material. It's pretty great. Q (u/urdnotkrogan): What folktales and legends will serve as inspiration for the upcoming Divinity? I've personally compared the story of the trailer to the legend of Angria Mainiu, or the birth of all the evils of the world. A (u/Adam_Larian): I won't mention anything specific (SORRY) because there are too many to mention, but there are so many books about the occult on Swen's desk that I sometimes think he's actually a necromancer. Q (u/Distinct_Glove_7987): Alena, what is something you look for in a portfolio of applicants for Character art? Would I need to be able to cover the entire range or be really good in 1-2? in terms of amour, hair, creature etc. I think my portfolio is ready, but my shyness might just keep me from reaching out to you or recruiters dank u wel! ♥ A (u/Alena_Larian): We aim for our Character Artists to be capable to handle all the main disciplines which for us are: Outfits/Armors, Heads, Hairstyles, Creatures. However most of the time ppl specialize in one or two, so that's absolutely ok. In the team there are only a few people who can handle everything. If we see an artist can efficiently model and reach our quality standards even in just one discipline, they still get a shot 😉 Q (u/SunCrux): Yeah my first reaction watching that trailer was “does Geoff know about this trailer?”. Such a creative and interesting showcase that got a great reaction out of my friends and I. It’s cool when devs just do what they’re passionate about A (u/Michael_Larian): Geoff was on-board immediately. Whole team was. That guy gets a lot of shit, but he is super based when it comes to content. There wasn't a whiff of trepidation. It was a relief. Q (u/Unlikely_Astronaut78): Do you have any say on performance? With pc upgrades getting worse as time goes on, what would you say about the performance of Divinity working on weaker hardware? Is the performance comparable to Baldurs Gate 3? Thank you again for this AMA <3 A (u/Bert_Larian): We are very conscious of the cost of hardware. So scalability of the game is very important to us. Of course the game and engine are still in heavy development, so it's too soon to go in specific numbers. But I can say we have invested a lot of time and effort to have constant performance tracking of our game, during production. There are a lot of eyes on this :) Q (u/DreamArez): I have a more fun one. What is your favorite title from your catalog that you’ve either played or created? I’ve been along for the ride since Divine Divinity, and Divinity 2 left a mark as being one of my most enjoyed titles. A (u/Kevin_Larian): Divinity: Dragon Commander. Q (u/TheNerdWhoFucks): My question is more general as I don't have a clue on what goes on in video game creation. What do say programmers or QA testers do when a project is in its conceptual phase? Do they just wait until they have something to work on, and if they're just waiting, do they still get paid? Love your crpg games. I hope you guys make a sci-fi crpg soon. A (u/Bert_Larian): Programmers have a lot of preparation work before production can actually start! Any new technology needs to be designed, developed and be in a workable state before you can move a team to actually start using it! Even in a conceptual phase a lot of feature requirements are already known or were discussed before. During this preproduction, QA is also an essential part of the story. I can assure no one is bored during the conceptual phase ;)