From Hellgatewiki.com

Evolution of a Nightmare feature by Ivan Sulic. Archived from the official site. Read about Shulgoth here, in our monster listing.

A Shulgoth

The process by which a young conceptual demonling becomes a ravenous monster of ill repute is a long one that begins with a simply twisted idea. But as is often the case in game development, an original thought may be considerably different from a final product.

To better demonstrate how drastic the change from concept to implementation can be, we've decided to run an ongoing series of evolution creature features. In them we'll look at the many monsters and demons found within Hellgate and focus on how they have evolved from humble napkin sketches to become murderous in-game foes.

Today we'll meet Shulgoth. Flagship super artist, Phil Shenk, says the idea behind Shulgoth was not always inline with the story we currently have attached to him. "We wanted The Butcher, but the story came later." Phil's drawing a comparison between Hellgate's own brutish minion of the dark and Diablo's vicious villain of the same name. "From the beginning, we wanted Shulgoth to be our Butcher -- fast, hard, tough. He'd be the game's first real challenge." With that in mind, Shenk and the rest of Flagship's designers set out to create a beast quite unlike the waves of zombies and lesser demons that populate Hellgate's beginning areas.

The above image is a chronological representation of Shulgoth's lifespan at Flagship. We can see how he began as a horrific assemblage of sharp angles and nightmarish points (left), but developed into the brute we now use (right). The final demon is an enemy more in keeping with Diablo's Butcher. Phil explains. "We wanted [Shulgoth] bigger and bulkier. So the first sketches there didn't work. We wanted more of The Butcher -- a heavy hitter. That's how we got to the second guy. He looks good, but he's not thick enough. Now the third one, he's just dumpy, but we dug the asymmetrical arms. It made me think he was involved in some kind of magical accident or got scarred during his ascent in hell or as part of some challenge. But he still needed ferocity, which is how we came to the fourth."

And so Shulgoth was born.

"Shulgoth has just recently risen through the brutal and bloodied ranks of the demonic army, sacrificing much of his body along the way. His right arm has been reduced to a vestigial appendage, serving no real purpose other than as a reminder of the cost of his servitude. His left arm, however, is the prize of his ascent. It is a massive, clawed weapon that Shulgoth uses to smash, crush and maim whatever his masters command. His worth in the Invasion was proved as he single-handedly destroyed hundreds of the British Army’s largest land-based weapons, including tanks, missile launchers, and self propelled guns. While his limited intelligence pushes him to engage in close combat, he also possesses corrosive breath if his quarry manages to escape his clutches."