Update #46: How (Proto-)Typical

[robbo007]

Looks very cool lads.. I can honestly say out of all the Kickstarter project I've backed recently you guys are the most professional and have the best communication skills with the backers. I feel this is very important otherwise you feel the you've paid good money and they are doing a runner with your cash

 

Keep up the good work.

Regards,

Rob

 

 

[norolim]

Oh come on! What's with the tease at the beginning? I was expecting to see the scene animated before the end of this update. Grrr, i feel tricked

And then you announce that future updates will be less regular and give us a dungoun concept art that is only slightly bigger than a thumbnail...not the greatest of updates. I appreciate the insight into the production stages, though.

 

You said "and we are hiring for other positions too"  
Where we can check this out?
Wahat sort of tallents you searshing for?

 

You new to the Internet? Jobs

Edited March 13, 2013 by norolim

[Mazhlekov]

You new to the Internet?   Jobs

 

I love new things, especially inter - what was it?  

I've searched something more specific, that's why I asked here

Thank you for the link, I will chek it.

[Theobeau]

Great update with more fascinating insights about the making of a game.

 

As a long time gamer but professionally completely outside of IT, the info about the mechanisms, logistics and philosophy of game design and game building are (almost) as exciting as details about PE itself.

 

Hopefully after the darkness we get to see Chompy....is this something Dino related?

 

Shame about the non animated waterfall however.....

[anek]

 

While the Concept art of the underground area isn't my favourite art style - a bit colorful and cartoonish looking ...

Doesn't the fact that it's concept art imply that it does not show the final style?

[WorstUsernameEver]

 

 

While the Concept art of the underground area isn't my favourite art style - a bit colorful and cartoonish looking ...

Doesn't the fact that it's concept art imply that it does not show the final style?

 

 

We've already seen the amount of detail/style they're aiming for the environments anyway, and I'd expect that, given the amount of areas they're going to work on, the concept artists will focus more on conveying concepts and layout for the 3d artists (? dunno who handles the 3d rendering) to turn into actual pre-rendered levels. Which will then be touched up again by artists, from what I understand.

[Sensuki]

I was talking about the picture simply as a piece of art in the first part of my sentence.

[metalmunki]

Yep, you've seen this before - but not animating!

 

 

Well, er...not going to post it animated then? Seemed a bit of an odd thing to say while posting the same screenshot, and not the animated version you are teasing about!

[LadyCrimson]

I never thought I could be so impatient just to see some trees and a waterfall animating. Foam on the rocks, man, foam on the rocks!

[Shiroco]

You really got me there! Thought I would be able to see the animated thing, but sadly not Anyway this proves how much I want this game and I have very hopes for it. The frequency and the quality of your updates is really amazing. Keep up the good work!

[norolim]

Well, er...not going to post it animated then? Seemed a bit of an odd thing to say while posting the same screenshot, and not the animated version you are teasing about!

Hmmmm...Maybe the animation is really slow. I'll try looking at the image for 24 hours and will report back with the results. Edited March 13, 2013 by norolim

[Darth Trethon]

George Ziets has also been successfully added to the Torment: ToN via the most recently reached stretch goal....how will that affect Project Eternity. You guys are about to start production as inXile will soon start pre-production.....will George just up and quit Project Eternity when production starts? My understanding is that the heavy writing happens in pre-production...but still, you are looking at potentially have a writer just up and leave when you may still need him.

[FrostPaw]

Thanks for the update, I gotta be honest, when I read you were making a 5-15 minute "slice" of the game for demo purposes, my first thought was can we play it warts 'n all?

 

Then I started thinking about how people would start judging it and criticizing it and then people would start typing out huge feedback/design forum posts on how they would do it better and then I realized, actually no..... never mind.

 

Now I'm depressed at people in general.

[Keyrock]

Keep up the good work, folks.  I can wait an extra week for an update. *grumble grumble*

[Archmage Silver]

Nice update - I'm looking forward to more Dances with Wolves (MCA Edition). Thanks for the "dark weeks" advance notice as well.

[rjshae]

I was very excited about the animated water screenshot but was severely disappointed that I didn't get to SEE it.

 

To quench your thirst, you could always go and see a REAL waterfall.    We'll all see the computer animated waterfall when the game is released.

Edited March 13, 2013 by rjshae

[RepoMan]

That's weird, I've heard a few developers rail against the vertical slice, most notably Ron Gilbert on his Grumpy Gamer blog. It certainly resonated with me as being a clumsy and inefficient concept when applied to a game. I'm curious to hear the counterargument, I suppose it can get everyone on the same page while exposing issues early on but it still strikes me as a weird idea.

 

 http://grumpygamer.com/6843121

 

I think Gilbert is profoundly wrong.  The key point of the vertical slice is that it tests all your real-time gameplay systems together.  It gives you a sense of the player's moment-to-moment experience during a portion of the game.  That requires you to prove that all your graphics, audio, gameplay, and possibly networking systems are mostly functional and integrated properly.  That, in turn, is invaluable knowledge.

 

You always want to have a running version of your game.  The vertical slice is just the first relatively complete portion you get running.  Gilbert's spatial metaphor is all wrong -- from a gamer's standpoint, playing the vertical slice is like seeing a significant portion of the whole experience of the game.  It's more like seeing just the Mona Lisa's face, or something.  The only way this wouldn't be true is if your game consists of many tiny minigames, but even then a vertical slice (a couple of the minigames) is relevant.

[RepoMan]

Will we get to see video of the prototype?  It would be incredibly interesting.  Usually publisher-funded developers never show this sort of thing, but if you just stick someone with a mike in front of the prototype for five minutes, it would really help illustrate your process.  Maybe that's too much revelation to your taste, but if not, please share.  Thanks )

[novander]

I'd like to add my voice to the number of people wanting to see the protoype in action. It's been great getting weekly updates but concept art, stills and theory only go so far to give a sense of what the finished product will be like.

[Amentep]

Hahha, I thought my browser was broke because the waterfall wasn't animating.  Opened the page in three browsers to check and it didn't animate in any of them.

 

I clearly failed the "who is stupid on the internet" test portion of this update.

[anek]

George Ziets has also been successfully added to the Torment: ToN via the most recently reached stretch goal....how will that affect Project Eternity. You guys are about to start production as inXile will soon start pre-production.....will George just up and quit Project Eternity when production starts? My understanding is that the heavy writing happens in pre-production...but still, you are looking at potentially have a writer just up and leave when you may still need him.

 

 

George answers this concern on Formspring: http://www.formspring.me/GZiets/q/434424012253185870

[Don Reba]

I love the animation! Sometimes you have to wait a while, but once it gets going, it is a sight to behold!

[J.E. Sawyer]

 

 

While the Concept art of the underground area isn't my favourite art style - a bit colorful and cartoonish looking ...

Doesn't the fact that it's concept art imply that it does not show the final style?

 

When our concept artists make environment (or even some character) concepts, color/rendering are usually pretty simple.  The environment artists know how to make stone textures and how to build cave walls.  Detailed material rendering usually isn't a good use of the artist's time -- usually.  Right now, Rob is developing the look for some Glanfathan structures.  They use some odd materials, so he's spending more time gathering reference and rendering that look out.

[Darth Trethon]

 

George Ziets has also been successfully added to the Torment: ToN via the most recently reached stretch goal....how will that affect Project Eternity. You guys are about to start production as inXile will soon start pre-production.....will George just up and quit Project Eternity when production starts? My understanding is that the heavy writing happens in pre-production...but still, you are looking at potentially have a writer just up and leave when you may still need him.

 

 

George answers this concern on Formspring: http://www.formspring.me/GZiets/q/434424012253185870

Level design? In the 5th update for Torment: ToN they specifically refer to him joining the writing team and that his writing will enable them to increase the depth of the game. Now I'm confused....is he drawing maps or writing? I hope they didn't have any misunderstandings or miscommunication that will cause problems for one or both games. 

[J.E. Sawyer]

That's weird, I've heard a few developers rail against the vertical slice, most notably Ron Gilbert on his Grumpy Gamer blog. It certainly resonated with me as being a clumsy and inefficient concept when applied to a game. I'm curious to hear the counterargument, I suppose it can get everyone on the same page while exposing issues early on but it still strikes me as a weird idea.

 

 http://grumpygamer.com/6843121

 

His blog entry is pretty short and I think it skips some of the more important reasons why vertical slices can be bad.  The badness usually has to do with how they are structured.  From the inside of a development team, the order in which things should be done is often clear.  It is often not clear to the publisher.  When publishers push for a certain order of implementation, they often ignore the developers' reasons for why that's a bad idea.  As a result, the team pushes toward the vertical slice in a bad order.  Also, the publisher often wants a vertical slice at an inappropriate (too early) time in development.

 

The reason why publishers want a vertical slice is pretty simple: if you don't have a section of the game that plays and looks the way you expect it to play and look, how can you be confident that you can enter production?  Production isn't for implementing major features or figuring out big problems.  Production is for executing on plans with the knowledge you gained during pre-production.