TYDKaWoW #022 | Arathi Basin is based on Atari Fanart from Jeffrey Kaplan

Even though the Atari 2600 games were already outdated when the development for World of Warcraft began, Jeffrey Kaplan still seemed to be a fan of them. Or at least his coworkers thought that when he presented his design proposal for the second PvP zone.

Blizzard actually shared this historical artwork and the story behind it for the 10 year celebration of World of Warcraft. And I must say that compared next to the minimap of the final product, not much seems to have changed from the initial pitch. The only visible difference is the position of the gold mine and the lumber mill moving closer to the center. If I was asked to draw the Arathi Basin map today, I would have drawn something very similar.


"This was the entire 'design' for Arathi Basin. I made that map instead of going to E3 one year. My team teased me and called it 'The Atari Map'", was Jeffrey Kaplans explanation below the image at BlizzCon. And even the adjustments for the mine and mill locations was cleared up with another picture and quote from him.


"After the 'Atari Map' was completed for the Arathi Basin, Jim Chadwick began laying out the level in WoW edit. At first we only focused on the heights and distances of the capture points placing all of the points of interest so they could be seen from each other." Nice. From an image that could have been drawn in paint to a layout that has now been ingame for over a decade without major changes. 

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