A new developer diary video has been posted to the EA Mobile Games YouTube channel. This time, Mythic Entertainment art director Peter Lipman is in the hot seat:

Lipman discusses some of the benefits of the Ultima Forever engine from an artistic perspective (e.g. the use of 2D backdrops means that his concept artists can “just draw”, and see their hard work translated into actual game assets), and even delves into some of the game’s history (discussing its original artistic direction and the technical reasons — e.g. character animation complexity — that prompted the shift in engine and art style).

I took the liberty of capturing a few screenshots, for illustrative purposes:

As you can see, the art style has changed a lot, and not just in the area of character and creature art. The entire look and feel of the game has undergone significant overhaul since it was first concepted, three or perhaps four years ago!

Oh, and the last picture, the current overland graphics…that wasn’t in the presentation. That’s a screenshot I took…just so you know.