Black & White is a 2001 real-time strategy and god game developed by Lionhead Studios and published by Electronic Arts. In the game, the player takes the role of a god ruling over followers on a mysterious island. As a god, the player can choose to help and nurture their followers or punish them through fear and chaos. A key part of the game involves training and commanding a mythical creature to aid in tasks and battles against other gods. While praised for its innovative gameplay and artificial intelligence, Black & White also received some criticism at launch for missing deadlines and being overhyped.

1. Black & White Game Design, Hendrik Heuer

2. Company
based in Guildford, Surrey, UK
was founded to make
Black & White
!
founded by Peter Molyneux
!
Published by EA Games on
Windows and Feral Interactive on
Mac OS X

3. Peter Molyneux
English computer game designer
and game programmer
!
Order of the British Empire

6. Black & White
Genre: Real-time strategy, God
game
!
released on March 25, 2001, after
missing several deadlines.

7. Black & White
You take the role of a god, ruling
about people and commanding a
Creature.
!
The game features elements of
strategy and fighting games.

8. Black & White
The main objective is to destroy
Nemesis
!
To do this, you have to obtain
Creed, which is an energy source
to destroy gods
!
You also have to train your
Creature and help your village

9. Philosophy
You can decide whether to be a
good god or a bad god.
!
You can either help the people
and stroke your Creature, or you
can punish people and reign
through fear.

11. Control & Input
Most interaction is done via
mouse
!
Keyboard only plays a minor role

12. Interface
No interface
!
Only spells who are indicated
visually (cast by mouse gestures)

13. Control & Input
You can manipulate everything
on the island.
If you pick a tree, it is your choice
to collect for the people or to
throw it at them.

14. Your village

15. Devil and angel
- they provide guidance, but they are biased in terms of moral

16. Space of the game
continuous 3D game.
!
game consists of four islands,
which themselves are not limited
(but surrounded by the sea).

17. Skill vs. chance
Mostly skill
!
Choosing the right spells, taking
care of village inhabitants,
training Creature

18. Choosing a Creature

19. Richard Evans (who also did the
Sims 3)
!
Game Developer Choice Award
for Programming Excellence
!
merged different AI techniques
like perceptron training and
decision tree learning
Artificial Intelligence

20. A quest

21. Training your Creature

22. Main interaction with your
Creature: You punish or reward
(by smacking or stroking).
!
You give the feedback yourself
!
Positive feedback reinforces the
behavior, negative feedback
keeps them from doing it again.
Interaction

23. Fighting
The Creatures can fight Creatures
of other gods.

24. Creature fighting

25. Multiplayer
LAN and WLAN
!
multilateral competition
!
main goal is tower-defense and
defeating all opponents
!
a lot of village building and town-
conquering in the beginning

26. Gameplay

27. Reception
Really good reviews
GameSpot 9.3/10
IGN 9.7/10
90% average on Metacritic
!
But also: The most overrated
game of all time (GameSpy)

28. Critique
I love the philosophical
dimension of the setting
!
Artificial intelligence?!
!
Good gameplay balance due to
the strategic and fighting
elements

29. The sequels

31. Questions? Game Design, Hendrik Heuer