Update #53: The Man Who Makes Monsters

[goodknight]

I have to agree with Sensuki; I think the whole point of kickstarter is to get away from publisher involvement.

 

About the Cean Gúla, I like what I'm seeing. Looks like the creature is going to have a number of interesting animations with the hair spreading out wildly when attacking. At a guess I think the creature looks like it would be at home around graveyards and waterways (like a resulka).

lol what are you guys talking about? There is no producer here.. They bought the IP from Bitcomposer and they were offered a publisher deal. They rejected and said they will go via kickstarter. No publisher that way.

 

Why would they need to go via kickstarter if there was a publisher? 

[Dunkare]

Thanks a lot for mentioning jagged alliance flashback!

Even though i'm really looking forward to project eternity, a new - true - jagged alliance is the game i've been waiting for the past ten years!

I really hope full control will be successful and get their chance at creating a game worthy of the name. So everyone who have a little love for tactics games, please help with the campaign! Thank you very much!

[igorina]

I appreciate this little enigmatic update :D The creature looks very good, and i really hope that you won't tell us about every monster in the game. I like surprises and i don't want to be prepared for everything

[curryinahurry]

With regards to the Cean Gúla, I like 6 or 10; 5 looks like it had an accident with a pasta maker....maybe a variant that occurs only in haunted taverns?

[Gumbercules]

This update was dissapointingly short and vague, but it sounds like you guys are really busy right now so I don't mind. Good luck with prototype 2!

Edited May 15, 2013 by Gumbercules

[Valorian]

The Cean Gúla looks like a creature who could have a life-leech passive ability. Which is supercool.

 

[the itis]

What a sketchy update

 

Update from the monster man himself and no information on the monsters at all. Not even the one (and only one) in the concept art pictures. This all despite "concept artists, modelers and animators have been tearing through the bestiary and delivering quality assets at a rapid pace".

No elaboration on the higher goals (goal = cool just sounds awfully too similar to goal = awesome™) and even the pipeline has only been described to a half point. Would describing it in full be just overwhelmingly too much information for the only update in a span of 3 weeks

Agreed. That update was phoned in. At the start it read as if we were going to get some info about the monster but instead we got half a pipeline, vague information and told about a lot of cool concet art not show.

[Elerond]

 

I have to agree with Sensuki; I think the whole point of kickstarter is to get away from publisher involvement.

 

About the Cean Gúla, I like what I'm seeing. Looks like the creature is going to have a number of interesting animations with the hair spreading out wildly when attacking. At a guess I think the creature looks like it would be at home around graveyards and waterways (like a resulka).

lol what are you guys talking about? There is no producer here.. They bought the IP from Bitcomposer and they were offered a publisher deal. They rejected and said they will go via kickstarter. No publisher that way.

 

Why would they need to go via kickstarter if there was a publisher? 

 

 

They only licensed right to use Jagged Alliance IP from Bitcomposer, who still owns Jagged Alliance trademark. 

 

http://trademarks.justia.com/772/48/jagged-alliance-77248663.html

 

And for why kickstarter if there is publisher: One reason could be that publisher don't want to pay development cost partially or fully, another reason that I could think is market research, to see if there is demand for such game.

[Elerond]

Rob's update in all probablity will show more art, so those who desired to see more will probably get some nice candy then.

 

I liked this update as it tells me that they have monster design process that produces more likely intresting monsters and it also most likely stops monsters that seems cool but are actually annoying or otherwise not as cool than one would think at first. High-level goals are vague (as they should be), but they tell at least me that aim is to get that feeling what word classic fantasy brings in the mind, but also that new ideas will not be throw out only because they are new. Which probably mean that PE's beastiary will give familiar fantasy feel, but also has it own unique flavours. And aim to make large variety of monster at least sounds like that they will not do same mistake as Dragonage, where bestiary was very constricted, which caused it to feel somewhat dull at the end.

[rjshae]

I do like the variety and creativity in the variants illustration. It's tempting to think, "Can we have all of them?"

 

 

 

What a sketchy update

Update from the monster man himself and no information on the monsters at all. Not even the one (and only one) in the concept art pictures. This all despite "concept artists, modelers and animators have been tearing through the bestiary and delivering quality assets at a rapid pace".
No elaboration on the higher goals (goal = cool just sounds awfully too similar to goal = awesome™) and even the pipeline has only been described to a half point. Would describing it in full be just overwhelmingly too much information for the only update in a span of 3 weeks

Agreed. That update was phoned in. At the start it read as if we were going to get some info about the monster but instead we got half a pipeline, vague information and told about a lot of cool concet art not show.

 

I sense a growing feel of entitlement among certain readers... and it's not a healthy trend. But then again we get a certain proportion of ungracious grumblers in every update, so perhaps it's just the law of averages at work.

Edited May 15, 2013 by rjshae

[Nekator]

 

 

I have to agree with Sensuki; I think the whole point of kickstarter is to get away from publisher involvement.

 

About the Cean Gúla, I like what I'm seeing. Looks like the creature is going to have a number of interesting animations with the hair spreading out wildly when attacking. At a guess I think the creature looks like it would be at home around graveyards and waterways (like a resulka).

lol what are you guys talking about? There is no producer here.. They bought the IP from Bitcomposer and they were offered a publisher deal. They rejected and said they will go via kickstarter. No publisher that way.

 

Why would they need to go via kickstarter if there was a publisher? 

 

 

They only licensed right to use Jagged Alliance IP from Bitcomposer, who still owns Jagged Alliance trademark. 

 

http://trademarks.justia.com/772/48/jagged-alliance-77248663.html

 

And for why kickstarter if there is publisher: One reason could be that publisher don't want to pay development cost partially or fully, another reason that I could think is market research, to see if there is demand for such game.

 

 

Hi Just a bit of clarification here..

 

bitcomposer adressed Full Control about making a new JA game, idiots that bC are, they just wanted a clone of their Frontline Tactics game, which would have finally sealed the JA fate.

Full Control beeing aware that bCs idea as well as their BiA clone was mainly crap, said yes that they would take the license for a game, but without Bc´s further involvement, instead they will try to stay true of the real JA games.

That´s also why they have to finance it via Kickstarter (and later from their Space Hulk earnings).

So, in my eyes - and from their actions during the campaing - this is a chance for a good as well as modern Jagged Alliance.. and this is why i´m backing it

 

Again thanks for Obsidian for the heads up.. it´s always great to see, when two franchises i love help each other out =)

Edited May 15, 2013 by Nekator

[Gumbercules]

• Members of the team can comment on the document and share their thoughts/concerns on any given creature.
• The bestiary is updated based on feedback from the team. Some creatures get the thumbs up, while others get cut.
• The leads of the project review the thumbnails, choose a favorite, and provide the artist with feedback.

 

I hope we can see actual examples of this type of feedback in a followup post or future update. What was rejected, and why? For example, in the case of the Cean Gúla, what were the arguments for or against the horns that feature in some of the thumbnails?

[Lasweetlife]

I do like the variety and creativity in the variants illustration. It's tempting to think, "Can we have all of them?"

 

 

 

 

What a sketchy update

 

Update from the monster man himself and no information on the monsters at all. Not even the one (and only one) in the concept art pictures. This all despite "concept artists, modelers and animators have been tearing through the bestiary and delivering quality assets at a rapid pace".

No elaboration on the higher goals (goal = cool just sounds awfully too similar to goal = awesome™) and even the pipeline has only been described to a half point. Would describing it in full be just overwhelmingly too much information for the only update in a span of 3 weeks

Agreed. That update was phoned in. At the start it read as if we were going to get some info about the monster but instead we got half a pipeline, vague information and told about a lot of cool concet art not show.

I sense a growing feel of entitlement among certain readers... and it's not a healthy trend. But then again we get a certain proportion of ungracious grumblers in every update, so perhaps it's just the law of averages at work.

I think most of us (I included) sometimes take for granted how amazing it is that JES and Obsidian are giving us this much insight into the development process on a weekly bases (Let's all go grumble on the Bioware forums about how "phoned in" this week's update from the Dragon Age 3 development team was...oh wait). I understand that the P:E funding model places a higher onus on the developer to be open with backers, but, even then, I know of no other Kickstarter game where the developer has provided as much information at as frequent a rate as P:E. We should keep that in mind and not get too greedy.

[Sacred_Path]

I'm a little torn on most monsters having names in an in-game language. It's cool, but calling a banshee a banshee is fine in my book too. Anyways, thx for this update!

[GFox]

Hi,

 

New user here.

 

Thank you for the shout out for Jagged Alliance: Flashback KS. It really has given new steam to that project!

To show my appreciation and to correct my mistake in missing the Project Eternity, I became a "Slacker Backer". Better late than never, right?

 

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/2558/obsidianz.png

 

Looking forward to Project Eternity. Have loved several Obsidian games and to go back even further, Fallout 2 just might still be the game I've played the most and I still go back to it occasionally.

[Gyges]

Like the name, like the design. A minor crack in immersion is when developers don't bother to at least rename a classical monster and give it a back-story relevant to the new setting. I've got 50% so far on the Cean Gúla so things are going well. An example of this done right is of course in the relatively new rpg-darling "The Witcher" franchise, the Troll relevant in particular to this.

Also, obligatory "take-some-monster-inspiration-from-Lovecraft" post .

[Keyrock]

That's a pretty cool looking beasty.  I'm getting a harpy/banshee vibe from it.

Edited May 15, 2013 by Keyrock

[Sensuki]

 

And for why kickstarter if there is publisher: One reason could be that publisher don't want to pay development cost partially or fully, another reason that I could think is market research, to see if there is demand for such game.

 

 

Nah Full Control actually refused publisher funding and went to Kickstarter instead.

[J.E. Sawyer]

 

I hope we can see actual examples of this type of feedback in a followup post or future update. What was rejected, and why? For example, in the case of the Cean Gúla, what were the arguments for or against the horns that feature in some of the thumbnails?

 

 

The horn arrangements often looked liked crowns or stag horns.  That might be appropriate for a specific individual, but not for the "ordinary" cean gúla.  The figures where the legs had very little cloth with them felt less "ghosty", but we knew we were likely to develop even more ghosty creatures, so we wanted the cean gúla to keep her legs and a mostly bare upper body so you could tell it was a woman.  We also knew that the cean gúla was not primarily going to be a melee-oriented attacker, so we had Polina play down the size of the hands and change the pose to be more upright with the head bowed down.

[Gumbercules]

 

 

I hope we can see actual examples of this type of feedback in a followup post or future update. What was rejected, and why? For example, in the case of the Cean Gúla, what were the arguments for or against the horns that feature in some of the thumbnails?

 

 

The horn arrangements often looked liked crowns or stag horns.  That might be appropriate for a specific individual, but not for the "ordinary" cean gúla.  The figures where the legs had very little cloth with them felt less "ghosty", but we knew we were likely to develop even more ghosty creatures, so we wanted the cean gúla to keep her legs and a mostly bare upper body so you could tell it was a woman.  We also knew that the cean gúla was not primarily going to be a melee-oriented attacker, so we had Polina play down the size of the hands and change the pose to be more upright with the head bowed down.

 

 

Cool, thanks for this! Very interesting stuff. Can you tell me if the cean gúla will have a banshee-like scream-focused attack style, or if there's a different focus you have in mind for it?

[Archmage Silver]

+1 for including classic monsters. What's a fantasy RPG without ogres or trolls anyway?

[Lord Lierdan Firkraag]

 

 

I hope we can see actual examples of this type of feedback in a followup post or future update. What was rejected, and why? For example, in the case of the Cean Gúla, what were the arguments for or against the horns that feature in some of the thumbnails?

 

 

The horn arrangements often looked liked crowns or stag horns.  That might be appropriate for a specific individual, but not for the "ordinary" cean gúla.  The figures where the legs had very little cloth with them felt less "ghosty", but we knew we were likely to develop even more ghosty creatures, so we wanted the cean gla to keep her legs and a mostly bare upper body so you could tell it was a woman.  We also knew that the cean gúla was not primarily going to be a melee-oriented attacker, so we had Polina play down the size of the hands and change the pose to be more upright with the head bowed down.

 

That was what i thought at the first place. Horns looks like crowns. We should be able to tell it's a woman and by the looks of it, it shouldn't be a melee attacker. But still, i think it should not attack like a banshee. Banshee is a ghost, a spectre, a metaphsyical creature. As i get it, Cean Gúla is a ressurected dead, like a zombie with rotten flesh on it. It's a female so it might be a mother? Can ressurect minions? Everything is possible though.

 

Thx for the updates and keeping the fans happy:)

[Lephys]

'Tis a cheery little update. I will say that I'd love to hear as much elaboration as any of the dev team would ever like to provide in an update, but I hardly think we're entitled to some specific quota of information in each update, or that this one was in some way bad because it was less elaborate.

 

Keep up the good work! Er... please? If you wouldn't mind.

 

(Also, thanks a lot for pointing out YET ANOTHER project to aim my funding rifle at. *siiiigh*. Hehe)

[Ulquiorra]

I have only one issu with that monster ...

 

Obsidian

 

If you are gonna input somthing to a game that has visible "****" at least make sure that's hot chick, not some disgusting rotting undead ghost lich monster ... i don't want another brood queen ...

Edited May 15, 2013 by Ulquiorra

[Ulquiorra]

dubbled
 

Edited May 15, 2013 by Ulquiorra