Although Black & White is gold, it doesn't mean that the team is done with the game. In fact, Black & White is likely to be Molyneux's first game that inspires a legion of online fan sites and downloadable modifications to the game--be they new creatures, challenges, or even moral systems. Lionhead will do its part to rev up the online community by releasing approximately five add-on packs during the next few months. Users will get to vote on the Lionhead Web site as to which add-ons they want to see produced.
- Peter Molyneux hinting about what is planned for Black & White 2.
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Further out, Molyneux already has plans for the sequel to Black & White, which will be developed by Black & White Studios, a new development group secretly started last summer in the same building as Lionhead. "I absolutely have thought about the sequel and know what it's going to be," Molyneux says. "I can't count on people to keep creatures around on their hard drives until the sequel comes out," he says, so don't expect to see the same creatures in the sequel. Beyond that, Molyneux admits he has already plotted out what will happen in Black & White 2. "It's going to be an interesting twist on the story and game mechanic," he explains. "After all, who needs whom in Black & White? Do the little people need you or do you need the little people? Remember, you are nothing without belief," he states cryptically. Asked to expand a bit more on the idea, he remains coy but does give one more hint: "Well, what if the little people in the world weren't quite so reliant on the god?" From the sounds of it, players of the sequel won't always be able to count on their villagers to be automatons void of free will.
There has also been talk of Black & White Universe, a persistent world game in which thousands of creatures could meet online. "There would be a lot of incentives to managing your creature," says Rance. "If you don't take care of him or her, people could hijack your creature, teach it bad habits, and things like that."
Black & White will undoubtedly go on in some form, but the core team inside of Lionhead has an ambitious new project--code-named Dimitri--on the drawing board. "Last Friday, everyone started talking about the next game," admits Molyneux, "and I put my foot down, saying no one was allowed to talk, conjecture, or theorize about it until June at the earliest." Still, that doesn't mean Molyneux hasn't already thought about how he's going to sell the team on his next wild idea. "I will tell you only one thing," he says cautiously. "This is the first game I'm going to do where there are no little people in it." Beyond that, Molyneux is mum, besides saying that this idea he has will definitely build on the AI and technology developed for Black & White.
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