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Falkon Swiftblade

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  1. Falkon Swiftblade
    Hey Josh, since you didn't explain the issue you're having with trees and grass, I thought I'd share this technique that may help your team. http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/unplugged/spot-fake-objects-among-real-ones-195357959.html
  2. Falkon Swiftblade
    What does a new video streaming codec have to do with Project Eternity's data size? PE's data will consist of pre-rendered background images, 3D models and textures for characters, etc. All of that will presumably be compressed using appropriate image/texture/data compression technology. Video streaming is something else entirely. I don't have time to go into it because it would be quite a long post, but suffice it to say there are a lot of open doors this technology brings with it. The very least of which would be much superior cinimatics than current 720p videos that are common place today that get upscaled to imitate 1080p. We're talking 4X full HD at 60FPS & 60% less of the data size of the highest quality 1080p settings currently. That also means they can render out superior animations for the environment maps at lower data limits that they have budgeted for across more of the assets, and so much more. I use similar techniques on interactive websites now, and its going to radically change the way I work. I'll be able to do some ridiculous animations now.
  3. Falkon Swiftblade
    I posted about this on another thread, but theres a new industry standard for compression that just came out called HVEC or H.265 & will support streaming 8k resolution over the internet. It can currently stream 4k at 10Mbits, vs 25Mbits of 1080p at the highest quality now. http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/ntt-docomo-hevc-4ktv-201302262701.htm
  4. Falkon Swiftblade
    Since you guys are wrapping up the prototype phase, I wonder who your tech folks are? The reason I ask is initially you all mentioned trying to create the game at a specific resolution larger than 1080p would take up a lot of space, many blu ray drives worth, I believe you stated. Well as of the end of Jan, there was a breakthrough in technology that now allows you to stream data up to 8k resolution over the internet and is roughly 60% less bandwidth as the current industry standard of H.264. It's called HEVC or H.265 and will be the new standard allowing you to push the envelop much more than previously anticipated. Developers are already designing for it, and it should be 100% functional before this game ships. I leave this article for your staff to consider. Smart phones will be able to start using it this month. http://www.hdtvtest.co.uk/news/ntt-docomo-hevc-4ktv-201302262701.htm
  5. Falkon Swiftblade
    Maybe I'm getting old, but I'm tired of gore in games. I couldn't even make it through 10 min review of Tombraider because the brutality just seemed obnoxious. I don't want to play anything that celebrates massacres, especially with the wackos out there imitating what they're seeing in movies and games. These theatre and school shootings are getting ridiculous. We don't need to place any more seeds in sick peoples minds.
  6. Falkon Swiftblade
    I hope they decided to make the avatars about 10-20% bigger. If the scale of everything bumped up abou 10-20% I'm liking everything else so far.
  7. Falkon Swiftblade
    cool art!!! interesting about rigging, but one critique — can you guys try to take into consideration gear and weapons when your rigging and have body's flex and swell under attacks? Big guys may take a couple smaller steps in between big steps while swinging big weapons. Similarly little guys may need to run a few extra steps to build momentum to swing attacks. Since I know you guys use zbrush, your team may want to check out this video to make encounters even cooler! It seems to do a lot of work for you http://vimeo.com/52668394
  8. Falkon Swiftblade
    VirtualDub is great for simple gaming videos. Still use it myself.Do you happen to know if the x264vfw compression result in a smaller file size respective to quality than Xvid? Does YouTube like it better? I've always used the xVid-mpeg4 codec for game/YT stuff because I'm used to it and it doesn't have any listed limitations...never bothered to figure out what settings would give similar results with the other codecs available in my VDub list. x264 is preferred via youtube for compression to quality ratio.
  9. Falkon Swiftblade
    I still think he has a shot, I've seen at least 2-3 kickstarters make $1M in 1-2 days, the mod tool for project mercury is super powerful for many applications not just games.
  10. Falkon Swiftblade
    Considering he laid of a bunch of staff not long after the kickstarter was announced and the fate of his company is lying on the campaign (which the deadline is 6 days away and not even 50% of the goal reached), I think that just may happen. Well the staff knew before the campaign this was the final straw. The layoffs were inevitable, they just weren't sure how long they could go so Chris made the call to let them go so they'd get severance and paid time off. If you haven't seen this, he goes into great detail.
  11. Falkon Swiftblade
    Hey guys, I was scrolling across Kickstarter recently and came upon a new project from the makers of the Original Dungeon Siege games, and several other games I grew up playing that seems pretty cool called Wildman! Wildman: An "Evolutionary" Action RPG From the creative team behind Dungeon Siege 1 & 2, Total Annihilation, and the Supreme Commander Series comes the next great ARPG with real-time battle campaigns… Check it out here! http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=uBBDO82ZWXQ Imagine a prehistoric world. Your tribe is slowly starving and as their best warrior, they have tasked you to venture out into the unexplored world and find the resources that they desperately needs to survive. As you leave the safety of your tribal cave, you’re attacked by hordes of strange beasts and dinosaurs that want to tear you limb from limb. Leaping into battle, you smash and maul your opponents — leaving their broken bodies in your wake. Your tribe is finally safe and wants to enjoy the spoils of your victory. But not you. You don’t want to settle. You want more lands... more weapons... and even bigger rewards. You are Wildman. As you explore uncharted lands and battle new enemies, you’ll discover hidden treasures, powerful weapons, and jaw-dropping technologies, as you you battle through the ages You’ll gain new skills, weapons, and armor. And as you gain victories and experience, you’ll… Unleash The Power Of Your Own Prehistoric Army… Siege enemy cities and pillage their lands... Call upon war dogs and elite units to rip your enemies apart... Unleash powerful magic on your foes to shatter their defenses... Transform into animal forms and use primal melee powers to kill the enemy warlords… Get Ready To Conquer The World… What's particularly cool is Project Mercury, a brand new visionary tech tool for developers and modders that not only allow you to have very powerful modding tools for Wildman, but for any game or project you want to use it on. It's a little tricky to explain briefly, so check out this video update! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuGdQqUhKD4 learn more on the the Kickstarter page, but hurry less than a week to go! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gaspoweredgames/wildman-an-evolutionary-action-rpg
  12. Falkon Swiftblade
    Josh, will you consider a mechanic for players who want to attack very fast, possibly several attacks per round? If I had my choice of combat, I'd prefer to attack with lots of low damage attacks that may be like jabs in boxing, and then have ability's or gear that increase my critical attack % to hit or critical hit damage. Maybe Monks will work in that way...
  13. Falkon Swiftblade
    Oh, au contraire mon ami, Boosh! http://ca.shine.yahoo.com/blogs/beauty/japanese-snaggletooth-craze-spawns-dental-procedures-girl-group-194500258.html
  14. Falkon Swiftblade
    On beauty – only in America do I see Bikini babes that are 'super hot.' In other country's they like snaggle teeth, fat women, or modest dressed women, etc. The Egyptian's made the whole coke bottle look for women the ideal image of beauty based upon the idol of one of their gods, which showed her to have torpedo boobs and a very thick rump. Because we see it used so much over and over, our society thinks that's supposed to be hot, even though a tiny margin of women actually look like that without the use of fancy brazier's or cosmetic surgery. I'd like the PE team emphasize different body types. Maybe one race has really elaborate ears, maybe one race has different tattoos that make them exotic, Maybe a woman might be of a giant race and be very slender or considerably thick, but if she is– its ok to make her still have pretty eyes or feminine features without forcing her to be masculine. I don't think every man should be a Greek Athlete or Arnold Govenator, nor every lady to be a seductress. There's room for big and tall, wide and small. Hairy faced Women I suppose could be an option, but I don't think it really defines that character in a way that benefits them. It's kinda like a cat with a wing on its back, sure it's kinda an anomaly, but why is it there? If its a feature for male and female, I would prefer it still made sense.
  15. Falkon Swiftblade
    Just FYI, that is a good level of zoom/character model size ( I don't mean the size of the viewable square). That + 1920x1080 (or what have you) worth of background would look sweet I wonder why the blue circle is so big though, it feels weird to me. I'm pretty sure its there for the other npc's so they don't get right up on each other. Remember, most of the game we'll have party's of 5-6 people with us.
  16. Falkon Swiftblade
    I would also like some hidden doors that are in the walls or trap doors as well that may link from map to map traveling through a vertical/spiral staircase, possibly even secret passages too.
  17. Falkon Swiftblade
    I would totally pay an extra $5 for the game to have 3d renderings of our characters heads like this after we customize them and have the portrait tweaked to look kinda like a painting. I'm sure it's faster just to paint 12-20 pictures versus sculpting 12-20 head variants, but 3d head busts are pretty awesome. Although my buddy's pretty fast I've seen him do a head in like 45 minutes. No offense to the original IWD and BG artists, but I'm hoping the new portraits are a bit more refined and dynamically posed compared to back then. I Really hope we can have flowing hair and capes/cloth when the game comes out. Serious question though, why put in so much detail in the models face when the avatar's face is about 20 pixels wide on screen? I still wish the scale of everything was like 10%-15% bigger, but I guess you all really want to keep that old paper doll model.
  18. Falkon Swiftblade
    I'm having a hard time following the concept of many gods and souls being an important part of the story. From what I gathered previously, your magical ability is enhanced by your purity of your soul. I don't understand how the gods relate from what was shared so far.
  19. Falkon Swiftblade
    Gorth, that's exactly what I was saying. I just wanted the portraits to represent stuff like if the companion was dissatisfied with your action, or if they were happy, or scared, maybe that could help be a narrative to help the meta story. Maybe as you do a quest, you see the portraits face cower in fear as you speak to an NPC, and that gives you some context that companion has some history or connection to the player or NPC's. And I'm Really hoping the characters are able to have some method of showing in greater details damage over time, or their equipment swap in real time, but if they can show a character heaving or bruised eye or something in the portrait that would be fine too.
  20. Falkon Swiftblade
    Regarding class stuff in this update, I was reminded in the BG and IWD games one of my favorite things about those games was in the character creation choosing your characters voice, and having war cry's and the magic users casting spells by chanting and it was great to have banter between the party as we're going through too in those games. Hopefully you guys can do that here and push it a little more. Chanters should actually chant stuff like you were saying. Similar to Skyrim, that was pretty neat! Hopefully its not the same magic chant for all magic though.
  21. Falkon Swiftblade
    Speaking of animals and rangers and druids. It would be nice for the ranger to have different calls and whistles in game, and creatures within ear shot come charging in to assist and save the day. As far as smelling goes, that might be tricky to pull off with the scale of the heros, but maybe they could at least find and follow tracks easier?
  22. Falkon Swiftblade
    yeah I agree Indira, it was it's own game in itself going on a scavenger hunt trying to build your totem so to speak. I liked it for many reasons, but amongst the main reasons it was this. 1) I'm creating something and have control of the final out put. The more i invest in it, the potential it would be better than something I could buy or find let me take pride in my skill. 2) It was a flexible system. If I needed a metal, there were deposits throughout the land like flowers are in a field. You could just grab something to get the job done, or hunt for gold so to speak if you wanted it to be the best. In addition the quality of the metal in zone A may be throughout the whole game, but have slightly different quality as you come upon it, which you might have to horde some if you found something rare, but if you didn't have it it wouldn't make or break the final output, but collectively all the pieces could bump you up to a higher min damage for example, or make the speed faster. 3) It was not repetitive. Games like Skyrim where ya just collect 1000 of X and have a lot of money allowed you to gain max level without leaving the first town if you wanted. This system encouraged you to explore the world, you had certain points of interest you had to go to in game to find certain pieces so you are still part of the world. 4) like you mentioned you could share your craftable's with other players and compare which was fun and could be competitive. One thing I would like in PE regardless of if they use this system is that anything other than standard starter craftables to have it's own skin. I don't want my uber sword of awesome +5 to look like the rusty iron sword I just picked up off the baddie. I think crafted items should only in it's initial build look like the stuff that drops. At the very least we should have an option to change color. However I digress back on topic.
  23. Falkon Swiftblade
    All this talk of weapons and thresholds, and everything that goes into it reminds me of when I played Star Wars Galaxies, the Vanilla version and when you finally unlocked your jedi – which was a miracle in itself when you did – you had to collect resources to build your lightsaber and each little piece contributed to the stats like what you have going on here. I really liked that system because no two players had the same saber even though on the outside it potentially looked the same. You may need a generic type of materiel like Metal, but there may be five types of metal to choose from at a time depending on the region you were in, and those all had different quality. My weapon may have a higher damage output but it was fragile and could break easy, and they had sub components that made up the final product. For reference for anyone at Obsidian who wants an idea for crafting for our weapons, here's info regarding saber construction as used in the old SWG. Maybe you guys could use something similar. First Generation Lightsaber Resource Requirements 15 Metal 14 Mineral 14 Mineral 17 Chemical 20 Gas Totals: 15 metal, 28 Mineral, 17 Chemical, and 20 Gas Second Generation Lightsaber Resource Requirements 25 Mineral 8 Non-Ferrous Metal 20 Inert Petrochemical 22 Known Inert Gas 20 Non-Ferrous Metal Totals: 25 Mineral, 28 Non-Ferrous Metal, 20 Inert Petrochemical, and 22 Known Inert Gas Third Generation Lightsaber Resource Requirements 35 Ferrous Metal 20 Titanium Aluminum 25 Polymer 25 Colsion Inert Gas 25 Poly Steel Copper Titles As Shown Above Fourth Generation Lightsaber Resource Requirements 40 Duralloy Steel 22 Titanium Aluminum 28 Polymer Culsion Inert Gas 28 Poly Steel Copper Totals As Shown Above Relevant Resource Characteristics: OQ and CD. Some resources do not have CD (Gas, Polymer); in this case only the OQ goes into the calc. Both TiAL and Steel have CD that are capped. Duralloy Steel caps at 650. Ti Al CD caps at 450. In addition the thing that gave your weapon secret sauce was the Dragon pearl. Flawless - Up to 20 damage (Looted from Ancient Krayt Dragons, or found in Buried Treasure) Premium - Up to 19 damage (Looted from Ancient Krayt Dragons, or found in Buried Treasure) Select - Up to 16 damage (Looted from Ancient Krayt Dragons, or found in Buried Treasure) Quality - Up to 11 damage (Looted from Ancient & Giant Canyon Krayt Dragons, or found in Buried Treasure) Good - Up to 9 damage (Looted from Ancient, Giant Canyon Krayt Dragons) Fair - Up to 7 damage (Looted from Ancient, Giant Canyon, & Canyon Krayt Dragons) Poor - Up to 5 damage (Looted from any Krayt Dragon) Scratched - Unusable (Looted from any Krayt Dragon) Cracked - Unusable (Looted from any Krayt Dragon)
  24. Falkon Swiftblade
    Regarding damage threshold and combat stats shared with us — I wish more creatures utilized an exoskeleton which you had to break to open vulnerable spots to destroy them. In D&D I was never a huge player, but I liked the concept that trolls had to be finished off by fire and they could regenerate health. They seemed like a legitimate threat. Similarly there was a creature that ate away at your weapons and armor and it was possible your stuff could be destroyed in battle. If creatures in PE are going to be as exploitable as Valorian is suggesting, I'd ask that Josh and Tim try to incorporate similar tactics as I mentioned to encounters that gave the enemy's a sporting chance, and not just being meat shields as we whack away. Also, keep the enemies mobile and moving around us when appropriate to keep us on our toes.
  25. Falkon Swiftblade
    woohoo one will be me I wear a lot of hats. I just need to update my portfolio.
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