So who is working on this game?

[HoonDing]

The

has a nice Morrowind vibe to it. Edited July 14, 2010 by virumor

[LadyCrimson]

The

has a nice Morrowind vibe to it.

Hm...I played Morrowind quite a bit, and never once did it make me think of DS1 music...and I love DS1 music, especially that main theme. I'd have to hear Morrowind themes & perhaps other DS1 themes too, again tho, maybe I just can't recall.

 

I didn't like DS2's overall soundtrack quite as much.

[Tigranes]

I dislike how formulaic Soule has become, but the Morrowind theme was awesome. I remember listening to it about 30 times and the song alone hyped me up for the game. It was simple but it fit the setting.

 

Of course, then the game came out and it was 'too good' for half the computers out there and it crashed every 30 seconds.

[Humodour]

I dislike how formulaic Soule has become

 

This post reminds me of people knocking good movies because they're "cliche".

 

Two points:

a) if it ain't broke, don't fix it

b) when you've done as much music for as many games a Soule has, it's hard to avoid repeating yourself, especially considering that music for games is as much order and logic as it is art - you need to compose your music to match the environment, atmosphere, and combat/plot pace. Given how similar most games are it's no wonder he's formulaic.

[Tigranes]

Not really - you're sliding away from my specific argument and answering in vague specifics.

 

If it ain't broke - don't fix it, but that's within degrees: even in movies there are a lot of directors where people say "he's good, but I wish he'd do something a bit more different", or directors where they have an auteur level of consistency, but still reinvent. I think its very clear Soule has become very samey. I'm not talking commercially, btw.

 

On the second - yeah, that's probably true, Soule probably gets the pitch for some of the work and thinks "again?!".

[funcroc]

Jean-Eric Khalife

 

[WorstUsernameEver]

Tech artist?

 

Also, I'm listening to the Dungeon Siege theme, I must admit it's pretty nice though I'm not sure where the Morrowind vibe is.

[Jean-Eric Khalife]

Tech artist?

 

Also, I'm listening to the Dungeon Siege theme, I must admit it's pretty nice though I'm not sure where the Morrowind vibe is.

 

Yup, here's a good article describing what a tech artist is: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/sear...=clnk&gl=us

 

Let me know if you have any more questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Definitely going to read that (well, tomorrow considering that it's midnight and I'm tired ).

Thanks for pointing me out to that, I was honestly expecting funcroc to answer, not the dev that was being talked about himself!

 

P.S. : And devs interaction is always appreciated.

[Oner]

Tech artist?

 

Also, I'm listening to the Dungeon Siege theme, I must admit it's pretty nice though I'm not sure where the Morrowind vibe is.

 

Yup, here's a good article describing what a tech artist is: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/sear...=clnk&gl=us

 

Let me know if you have any more questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

Could you give some specific examples of the problems you solve?

(Brag man, brag! )

Edited July 15, 2010 by Oner

[Jean-Eric Khalife]

Tech artist?

 

Also, I'm listening to the Dungeon Siege theme, I must admit it's pretty nice though I'm not sure where the Morrowind vibe is.

 

Yup, here's a good article describing what a tech artist is: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/sear...=clnk&gl=us

 

Let me know if you have any more questions, I'd be more than happy to answer them.

Could you give some specific examples of the problems you solve?

(Brag man, brag! )

 

I've spent most of my time focusing on environment art and working with the pipeline. Alongside the awesome programmers we have we've sped up the time it takes to build levels dramatically since Aliens. Lately I've been focusing on performance. Make sure the game is going to run great, but still look awesome on the consoles and the PC. So I've been looking into optimizing the different levels and assets to make that happen. When I get some down time I'll write scripts to automatically do some of the more menial art tasks like setting up collision so the artists are spending most of their time making art, not debugging the tech.

[Oner]

Cool, thanks.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Just out of curiosity, but since at least part of the Aliens team went to work on New Vegas, how many of you already worked on that project?

[Jean-Eric Khalife]

I'll write about some more detailed problems we encountered and how we got around them once the game ships, so you guys have a better idea of what's goes on behind the scenes.

 

Just out of curiosity, but since at least part of the Aliens team went to work on New Vegas, how many of you already worked on that project?

 

Already worked on Vegas or Aliens?

[WorstUsernameEver]

I'll write about some more detailed problems we encountered and how we got around them once the game ships, so you guys have a better idea of what's goes on behind the scenes.

 

Cool.

 

 

 

Already worked on Vegas or Aliens?

 

Aliens.

Edited July 16, 2010 by WorstUsernameEver

[Oner]

I'll write about some more detailed problems we encountered and how we got around them once the game ships, so you guys have a better idea of what's goes on behind the scenes.

Cool. You guys could write blog posts like the AP staff did.

[Jean-Eric Khalife]

Most of the team from Aliens came over to DS since we were already familiar with Onyx and the Tools, but a few of the content creators went to NV since they needed more people.

[WorstUsernameEver]

Most of the team from Aliens came over to DS since we were already familiar with Onyx and the Tools, but a few of the content creators went to NV since they needed more people.

 

 

Good to hear.

Though, correct me if I'm wrong, but since Obsidian (I think I've seen Chris Avellone saying that, but don't quote me on that) now wants to work primarily on Onyx, doesn't that mean that the masterplan is that all the (forgive me for the crude definition, but I'm not a developer, and it's already difficult for me to remember the difference between a jr designer and a lead world builder ) tech guys like you become familiar with the engine?

Feel free to answer with a 'this is stupid' or 'I'm not sure what the hell you're trying to say', especially since the sentence structure came up much more confusing than I'd hope.

[Sannom]

Good to hear.

Though, correct me if I'm wrong, but since Obsidian (I think I've seen Chris Avellone saying that, but don't quote me on that) now wants to work primarily on Onyx, doesn't that mean that the masterplan is that all the (forgive me for the crude definition, but I'm not a developer, and it's already difficult for me to remember the difference between a jr designer and a lead world builder ) tech guys like you become familiar with the engine?

 

Probably, but they can't gain experience on it unless they've worked on it, so with another project on board, it seems fitting that the guys with the most Onyx experience went to the project that uses Onyx. As for what Chris said, I'm not expecting Obsidian to stop doing "slam dunk" projects like KOTOR 2 or New Vegas from time to time...

[Nathaniel Chapman]

We would like to use Onyx for future projects. However, when it makes overwhelming sense to use an engine already in existence (see: F:NV) we're not going to unreasonably insist on using Onyx.

 

Also, while it's true that experience with an engine is valuable, good game developers need to be able to shift from one engine to another pretty much at a whim. Assuming you ever work at more than one studio, for instance, it's pretty important that your skills are not restricted to a particular engine. I wouldn't have too many concerns with a developer from F:NV starting on a new Onyx project, for instance.

[Jean-Eric Khalife]

Good to hear.

Though, correct me if I'm wrong, but since Obsidian (I think I've seen Chris Avellone saying that, but don't quote me on that) now wants to work primarily on Onyx, doesn't that mean that the masterplan is that all the (forgive me for the crude definition, but I'm not a developer, and it's already difficult for me to remember the difference between a jr designer and a lead world builder ) tech guys like you become familiar with the engine?

Feel free to answer with a 'this is stupid' or 'I'm not sure what the hell you're trying to say', especially since the sentence structure came up much more confusing than I'd hope.

 

It took me a bit, but I think I know what you're trying to say The tech guys are dedicated to projects that need new tech. So something like FNV doesn't need very many tech guys since all their tech is established. (They might need the occasional person to figure out how to get something obscure in the game, but that's it.) Since Onyx is something we want to keep using in the future the tech is constantly evolving to become the best it can be and that requires more tech people. Does this answer your question?

[WorstUsernameEver]

Good to hear.

Though, correct me if I'm wrong, but since Obsidian (I think I've seen Chris Avellone saying that, but don't quote me on that) now wants to work primarily on Onyx, doesn't that mean that the masterplan is that all the (forgive me for the crude definition, but I'm not a developer, and it's already difficult for me to remember the difference between a jr designer and a lead world builder ) tech guys like you become familiar with the engine?

Feel free to answer with a 'this is stupid' or 'I'm not sure what the hell you're trying to say', especially since the sentence structure came up much more confusing than I'd hope.

 

It took me a bit, but I think I know what you're trying to say The tech guys are dedicated to projects that need new tech. So something like FNV doesn't need very many tech guys since all their tech is established. (They might need the occasional person to figure out how to get something obscure in the game, but that's it.) Since Onyx is something we want to keep using in the future the tech is constantly evolving to become the best it can be and that requires more tech people. Does this answer your question?

 

It.. does. Though I guess my misunderstanding of what exactly should a.. uhm.. tech guy do in the first place confused you.

Thanks!

[Nathaniel Chapman]

It.. does. Though I guess my misunderstanding of what exactly should a.. uhm.. tech guy do in the first place confused you.

Thanks!

 

The best answer I can give is that whereas most of the artists and designers are concerned with what we are going to do, and then implementing the actual content, the tech guys are generally focused on figuring out how we do it, including finding the best implementation from a performance and functionality perspective.

[Tigranes]

In other words, the tiny gremlins that work 16 hour days for a pay of cold rice and warm beer.

[Volourn]

This should have been a quick thread. The answer is Obsidian.