At Gamescom, Pearl Abyss specialists talked about the creation of the world of Pywel. According to them, such trust turned out to be “more valuable than almost anything else” they did.
Pywel combines different biomes, dungeons, vast airspaces, and cities. At the same time, the developers had to not just make the world big, but to make it convenient for exploration.
Pearl Abyss environment artist Kyeongtae Ahn admitted that the team sometimes created beautiful places that were not well suited for the game:
We didn't want our environment to be just scenery; we wanted the environment to be content. If you can see something in the distance, you should be able to get there.
The developers checked landmarks from a distance of one kilometer and ten meters, evaluating them as part of the horizon and upon close inspection.
Ahn also noted:
Beauty and the ability to explore are not the same thing.
The team had to solve problems with different quality standards and combining hundreds of map parts. The BlackSpace engine has undergone many technical changes over the years of development and continues to evolve.