Notes from Benoît Sokal
Paradise World 1 - Madargane

I am Benoît Sokal, co-founder of White Birds Productions, author of video games (Amerzone, Syberia I & II) and cartoonist. On Paradise specifically, I am the author and the Art Director.

Once I decided that this game would take place in Africa, I imagined a very big country. A country with a North border still of Arabic inspiration, and one that becomes more and more "dark Africa" when going South. I also have to say that I went on holiday in Morocco, in Marrakech two years ago and that I was fascinated by the city. Besides the global atmosphere, the challenge for me was to faithfully represent those amazing mosaics, like in the Prince's apartments or the City Gate. I think that the final result, in Madargane, is close to what a real North African city is, without all the added fantasy of course.

Madargane (World 1) is first of all the place in which you discover who you are as a player, and that is Ann Smith. It is also the world in which you meet with the one that will be your silent companion throughout the whole game: the mysterious black leopard. But there are also a lot of other characters to meet and interact with in this world, from the little Palace servant, Aicha, to the Prince of Madargane himself.

When I started working on world 1, I did not look back to my holidays pictures. In fact, I tried to re-create an "ideal" Moroccan/North African city from scratch, using only my imagination. I also bought a lot of Art and Travel books. And, lastly, I looked into the works of a painter from whom I learned a lot during my Art studies: Delacroix and his views from Morocco.




Paradise World 2: Baobab Village

The second world players will encounter when playing Paradise is Baobab Village. I like this world very much. I had a great fun in imagining it, and even more in taking that vision and translating it into the design. The overall presentation and feel of Baobab Village all came from the stories we were told about African tribes, and their sometimes very strange habits. In parallel, I had this idea of these strange animals, the gazelines, with a long neck allowing them to reach high leaves in the trees. I imagined that they could also be used as hordes, being ridden by warriors. And, little by little, came the picture of the Molgraves. A tribe of fierce and proud warriors, trying during all their life to never touch the ground, as it is considered as "evil" and "impure". What an amazing way of life!



From this initial premise, the village at the top of the trees seemed almost logical. As well as a whole life entirely organised from these trees, such as water collectors, bungee ropes, hunting methods, etc. More specific details came later: the major which is a caricature of some English ex-Army members, loving wild life and Gin… Or the language spoken by the Molgraves, inspired by the way some shepherds in Corsica whistle long sentences to each other from a valley to another… Baobab Village will offer players an amazing and fascinating backdrop as they play through the second world in Paradise!