Jump to content
The Community Blog (An Invitation)

Falkon Swiftblade

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    777

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Everything posted by Falkon Swiftblade

  1. Falkon Swiftblade
    Rob, I have a question regarding "transparency." Whats so different with the Kickstarter model versus traditional game development where those other studios can't talk about the game at all and theres worry of trade secrets being leaked, NDA's, etc, where as Kickstarter seems to give you freedom to do as you please.
  2. Falkon Swiftblade
    Honestly, I'd like them to have a horse or creature that follows us around with bags on it to store things. I can't believe how much people can have their suspension of disbelief broken over things like 2 handed weapons being too long or heavy, fighting hundreds of baddies and that makes us stronger and not weaker? Even if you rested every day, I think it would wear you out hoofing it on foot days in and out killing dozens or hundreds of baddies every day. Or the fact we can carry entire sets of full gear on our person that weigh several hundred pounds realistically that we carry in magic bags, yet we could just have one packmule for everyone that follows the party couldn't we? Although I really do not like encumbrance mechanics in games. I don't like being limited in progressing. Partly because you are forced to pick up the loot to progress most of the time. Anyways, I digress EDIT: since the internet can't read context, I just wanted to emphasize I'm speaking in hypotheticals and satire.
  3. Falkon Swiftblade
    I don't think it'll be any different than what they're doing now. The main difference is how they draw the environmental art. Just imagine that top image in the OP and in the foreground was a cliff wall going down or a chasm with a waterfall in the foreground and a castle or keep in the background just out of shot. Instead of there being invisible walls or barriers it looks like a cliff that you wouldn't want to fall down, or maybe in another shot its the base of a mountain so you can't see up to the top.
  4. Falkon Swiftblade
    One thing I would like to see in this version of the game maps differently than the IE games is the perspective in different regions to change. Here's a few examples... Here's an original IE game perspective in Icewind Dale 2. I get they're going for the whole no vanishing point in these types of games but the environments can feel kinda samey and boring. I'm hoping for perspectives to be more like this, notice theres a background and who knows if you'll ever get there. There's also some dimension to the foreground so its not so birds eye view, but its still considered Isometric. I feel it makes the environments much more immersive and feel much larger than they really are. Primarily what I'm saying is I want some foreground and background elements in there, so we see water below, or clouds below a cliff line. Maybe a floating rock or mountain peak you are ascending and the foreground is the side of the mountain and you pass water falls as we cross bridges etc. I don't just want this perspective the whole game with random objects obstructing my view. If the game turns out to basically be this, I'm gonna cry.
  5. Falkon Swiftblade
    So I'm curious if everything is going the route of historical accuracy, how are you guys planning on showcasing magic? Will magic missile shoot straight like an arrow, or shoot like a heat seeking missile? Any plans on meteor type of spells that drop a nuclear whammy? Maybe another way of asking my question is will magic be more fire based or are ya going the route of fantasy colors and particles? Although, I guess I remember reading this will be more of a low level game ala BG 1 right? I hope you guys have cool magic and fx.
  6. Falkon Swiftblade
    thanks for the interview, it was interesting and pending they take time to polish this thing, it may turn out to be one of my fav games.
  7. Falkon Swiftblade
    They just posted on the newest update thread they're aiming for 20k pixels across per map, so it won't be a single canvas because that would WAYYYYYY too big. The Art Director compared it with the Icewind Dale maps saying those were roughly 4k pixels wide, so this game should be a fair amount bigger.
  8. Falkon Swiftblade
    Jarmo brings up something I was wondering. It would be great if theres a good mix of small swarms of things, maybe bats or sprites, as well as big bison/elephant sized creatures mixed in. Similar to how more recent games like Reckoning had wolves and big tubby Ettins (forgot the name) in the same fight so the player had fast attacks and big whammy attacks in the same fight making combat more strategic. It's important every once in a while to have spots mages can open the whammy and take out a room of baddies. One thing I hope we can avoid is only having like 8 enemy's in the same game over and over. I'm hoping for 30-50 unique ones at least. I think Skyrim had ~ 50 including all the humanoids which felt a lil samey even though it was a big world to explore. Though I guess it depends on how much combat is going to be the focus. If it's gonna be fewer fights I hope they're really tough.
  9. Falkon Swiftblade
    Just out of curiosity, how does this compare to other Obsidian games like the Fallout series, ToEE, etc.
  10. Falkon Swiftblade
    "Prior to that he was building a basic set of traversal animations and getting them into the game. Crucial." This is what came to mind haha.
  11. Falkon Swiftblade
    Thanks for the informative and fun update I think Maya was a smart choice to upgrade with all its new fancy lighting, DX11 support, animation, and modeling improvements. I'm SO happy to see talk of realistic cloth physics and unique weapons. I can't believe we're in 2012 and games still come out with crappy capes and robes on characters. If Batman can do it with all the other bananas physics going on, then you guys definitely should too for a next gen pc game. I know everything is still a work in progress, but your environments so far including dungeons seem so small and crowded. Is it really that much more taxing to give environments a little breathing room for 6 characters to move around in? By the time this game comes out most people will probably be using monitors with 2k or more resolution, and the hero's are gonna look like chibi fighters at the scale we've seen so far. Again I know it's a work in progress so I'm not bashing. Also, will we be able to choose body size options, like short or skinny heros, or taller dwarves within reason for example? Also, is it that much more work now a days to create left handed hero's could that be an option? Finally, please don't use the same rig for males and females. You guys raised a lot of money, don't get lazy and greedy and please do stuff right. The Animation tools in Unity are way cool, and save a ton of time from games made in the past few generations, so I'm hoping players and enemies have personality in their characters so they have unique walk cycles and react properly when they're wielding heavy weapons, etc. Overall, I'm really psyched!
  12. Falkon Swiftblade
    I saw one of the dev's mention they're switching 3d programs for project eternity to Maya, and the current version of Maya has a lot of fancy lighting and animation improvements in it. We should probably be seeing our first character in the next update I'm guessing since they recently finished it. I just hope they really take advantage of what they have access to, even if it's pre-rendered graphics like Donkey Kong and Killer Instinct from way back in mid 90's.
  13. Falkon Swiftblade
    hey I had another question. Some companies have a day a week or once a month that let the staff do anything they want no matter what as long as it's related to a feature in game. Do you guys do anything like that? If not you really should as time goes on
  14. Falkon Swiftblade
    I like the idea of mixing ingredients to augment spells so you get a bigger fire ball, or maybe thats how you create Melf's magic missile/acid arrows, etc. Although I don't want to have to manage too many resources or clog up my inv too much.
  15. Falkon Swiftblade
    I had an idea for crafting, what if they made certain things classes could craft to assist in game play, like maybe one class could craft torches as an innate ability, another could craft repair kits because of their lineage as foragers or what have you, one could craft generic ammo, etc. These aren't meant to be anything great, but potentially they could be practical things that could be used in a pinch to help out.
  16. Falkon Swiftblade
    What part of "adventurers don't have time for this" did you miss? Blacksmithing in as art that takes YEARS - if not decades - to truly master. And I somehow doubt the game will span years. Sure, the PC could learn some of the basics....But crafting great items? No way. Although it's seldom stated in games, the progression of time is implied that days, weeks, or more has elapsed in the couse in 10-80 hrs of game play. If people have the information and resources available why can't they craft something nice? Just look at how the internet works? You can solve almost any problem in seconds, or maybe a few hours because someone or teams of people before you already solved the hard questions if you know what question to ask, or where to look. Maybe it would take a few weeks or more to craft something really nice, but as a designer in real life, I can tell you often the time it takes to do the work is marginal compared with coming up with the concept and finding the assets I need to design with. You have to remember we're not playing the sims here, its a game. There's no way I'd be able to do the 200 or however many quests I did in Skyrim in a week it took me to beat the game and make level 48, not a chance. I don't even think I slept in that game. It's no different for crafting in games either.
  17. Falkon Swiftblade
    Fun read guys! Can I make a suggestion or request? Can you code the data in such a way that the stats change the animations? So that maybe someone with low dexterity is a lil clumsy or sluggish, while someone with high Dexterity is very smooth and fluid in their attacks or animations? Maybe a wizard with average Intel or magic juice does his thing like normal, but someone really smart & awesome casts a spell and their animations are more exaggerated and hands have much more followthrough. Similarly since you guys have more $ than Uganda, can you ask your animators to animate different idle animations that give the characters some personality, so they're whimsical, bored, angry, flirty, or whatever. I have a feeling there's gonna be more words than a room full of stuttering Rainmen, and I hope the hero's expressions show how they feel, as well as hope you and your team can take time to code some mannerisms and cool combat encounters.
  18. Falkon Swiftblade
    I can't go into details, but I'm currently working on a game and I thought a fair bit about a similar question you asked, and I wanted a major set piece to be more like something out of Ico where you spend a lot of time in one main set piece, but you go through a gambit of cathedrals and towers, and caverns and underground rivers, and more. I want environments to serve a purpose. I don't want to see in PE 7 floors of bedrooms, and 6 floors of the same dungeon walls and layout. I hope it's organic and mysterious. I also hope its not too short and takes like 10-20 min per floor and there's like 5 encounters each.
  19. Falkon Swiftblade
    I can't get this image out of my head ... or the words of Egon, "Don't cross the streams!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyaLZHiJJnE
  20. Falkon Swiftblade
    I believe a large reason this was such a big chunk is they are designing a new intellectual property from scratch, so they'll need more time compared to a game like Madden, which basically just gets tweaked each year. They have to design everything from combat rules, to npc's, non combat and other game systems. Remember it's an entirely new system, not based upon D&D or Fallout etc.
  21. Falkon Swiftblade
    Look again at this, for example the campsite to the left, and estimate the size of the characters on the screen. With the small characters, you you simply would not be able to see sufficient details for this to be worth the effort. I understand what you're saying, but at the same time they've said the party size will be up to 6 people, and unless they're making Chibi sized hero's, even that scene would not fit a party of hero's or allow for more than single monster battles. I certainly hope its not so small in scale. Even BG games had fairly spacious environments most of the time so the party could move around.
  22. Falkon Swiftblade
    I def want them to put effort in the animations, we're not limited nearly like we were 10-20 yrs ago, and they can certainly maintain the look and feel while fixing the tech with current stuff. Even Zbrush has added some Super awesome stuff to make 3d model and renders look extra awesome with minimal work like Lbrush deformation in this video. http://vimeo.com/52668394#at=0
  23. Falkon Swiftblade
    They still code lots, but a lot of the structure and framework would have been done for them. When I went to College, one thing that made our game dev degree different from other colleges offering similar degrees, was the game dev kids coded their engine from scratch, and didn't use things like Unreal or Unity to code with. I think this has helped them get better jobs as a result because even though everyone primarily codes in C or C++, there's lots of ways to get to x, and when you use something like Unity, you sacrifice some of that control, but Unity is great for allowing teams to add and modify bits and bobs along the way, so I don't see it hurting things.
  24. Falkon Swiftblade
    I'm a firm believer that strength doesn't = better fighter. I grew up watching TV shows like Macguyver who was a regular guy that used his brain and ingenuity and Doogie Howser wh was a teenage medical genius, and even though they were TV shows, they seemed more rewarding to me. Sort of like watching Basketball back in the day watching little guys like Spud Webb dunk the basketball. If you're already 7 feet tall, it's a gimmie you should either score a bagillion points, or stop everyone else from doing so. In RPG's sure if your a beefcake muscle head you probably are gonna kill lots of things, but it's predictable and boring. I'd rather have classes that do amazing things because they understand the playing field better than the meat shield. I'd prefer tactical smarts to practical smarts.
  25. Falkon Swiftblade
    I was about to say somethings fishy if its delayed a full year... I have a friend who works on the show, or he did a few seasons ago when I spoke to him last. He told me the team that makes the TV show is quite small, but they work crazy long hours, like 90 hrs a week for 17 weeks at a time for the whole season, then they have 6 months off and receive half of their salary while on break if they're returning the next season. If it's only a few month delay that's not so bad, but dang it seems like it's been in development for a long time. Maybe it's coming out on additional platforms?
×
×
  • Create New...