TheHunter1337

Alexjh, while I would be inclined to agree with you, I have toured Obsidian's studio twice, and I've seen their mocap room I'm also friends with a few people there, just not anyone on the P.E. team. And I'm very aware of the dramatic flare added to movements, but I can tell you that by following the correct movements, it actually makes the combat look more interesting and flow together much better. There is a well written article in this issue of Game Developer magazine talking about it, with a compelling argument for why game developers should consider it. I wouldn't usually ask a developer to consider this, but I really like Obsidian, they've done a lot for me as a student, and I would like to give back while making a game better. Then why are you posting on the forums and not contacting your "friends" at Obsidian about this? "If" being the operative term here. Considering the OP's claim to have "friends" at Obsidian, his choice to make this proposal on the forums makes that claim questionable at best. There was no apparent motion-captured animation in NV and they likely had a close to AAA budget for that. I find it highly unlikely that the OP has toured their offices, that Obsidian has their own motion capture studio, or that he is "friends" with multiple (or any,) Obsidian employees. If any of this were true he would have to be exceptionally mentally disabled to choose to post on the forums effectively anonymously rather than using direct lines of communication to his "friends." Hahahahahahaha this is way too funny. Oh internets, how strange you are. As I believe I posted, I contacted my "friends" first, however they are working on other titles at Obsidian right now, and contrary to what you may believe, the entire studio doesn't sit around talking to each other every day, they're divided up into different areas. I was told that I should try the forum to get in touch with the guys working on P.E. Your naivete about Obsidian and the game development business as a whole did make for a good laugh though.

Harsh words for someone who doesn't know what they're talking about. The guys doing clang are no more "professional" than I am. I know the group that they're working with for inspiration, and what they do. In fact I've already backed Clang, and discussed the progress with other HEMA groups. Actually, most developers are amateurs when it comes to proper weapon design and combat techniques, even in the movies you rarely see a police officer or soldier handling his gun properly (in accordance with standard safety rules). For archaic weapons it's even worse, I've rarely seen a movie, let alone a game, where they actually used a sword-pommel for pommeling, instead the dagger, (short-)sword and longsword (aka 1½-hander) are all used for fencing as if they were rapiers. That said, given the perspective and on-screen size of the combatants in PE, I don't think the game will gain much from realistic motion-captured animations. Glad to hear someone who knows what I'm talking about. I agree that the perspective and size may make it not as beneficial, but I want to leave it up to the devs. If you're able to zoom in (akin to torchlight) while keeping the isometric view, then you'll definitely see them used. And even if it's not extremely helpful for P:E, having the animations on file would be useful for any future games with swordplay (like Dungeon Seige). Also, as I said we can bring in many examples of weapons and teach the animators/artists about how the weapons were used and felt, which can only help going forward on all projects.

Actually, they're attempting to recreate fighting in a 1 to 1 way using the razer hydra and whatnot. And licensing their animations would be expensive, compared to just doing the mocap in house.

Yeah, I definitely agree if it'll hurt the development of the game it's not necessary, but based on the article that I referred to above, it's likely to actually cut down on development time. If you're friends with people there, wouldn't that be a much better way to contact them rather than making a forum thread which there's every chance nobody on the team will read? They told me that the forum is a better way to contact the P:E team, as they don't talk to each other very often. Since it's a Kickstarter game, the devs are actually reading the forums.

Alexjh, while I would be inclined to agree with you, I have toured Obsidian's studio twice, and I've seen their mocap room I'm also friends with a few people there, just not anyone on the P.E. team. And I'm very aware of the dramatic flare added to movements, but I can tell you that by following the correct movements, it actually makes the combat look more interesting and flow together much better. There is a well written article in this issue of Game Developer magazine talking about it, with a compelling argument for why game developers should consider it. I wouldn't usually ask a developer to consider this, but I really like Obsidian, they've done a lot for me as a student, and I would like to give back while making a game better.

Hi Project Eternity team, Combat in most modern games, especially the hand-to-hand combat in fantasy games is portrayed in an extremely inaccurate fashion. Cuts with swords and pole arms are done in inefficient ways which would never have worked with the real weapons. I am a member of Kron Martial Arts, a group here in Southern California that practices Historical European Martial Arts. Everything we do is taken from manuscripts written in the Medieval and Renaissance periods, we don't make things up. If you are interested, I could provide you with skilled practitioners of many weapons in Project Eternity to be motion captured. (We also have a fairly large assortment of real weapons that your artists could get to handle and look at if that would help with modelling.) This would help to make Project Eternity look better, and lend you a type of authenticity that many games are yet to implement. I've funded the Kickstarter campaign myself, and can't wait to play Project Eternity. Having attacks that are proven to be correct would definitely make the game more fun for myself and many others out there. Let me know if you'd like our help with this, and I'd be happy to oblige. -RJ