Update #59: Developer Q&A with Polina Hristova

[Sugarjaye]

Great interview. I love this post.

[ManifestedISO]

I agree, this has turned into a top-shelf thread. Great to see interesting people behind the game I'm waiting desperately patiently for.  

 

  

 

 

[BAdler]

Polina and Dimitri grew up in the U.S. but...

 

_{they both have slight accents, IMO.}

troof

[Lephys]

Polina and Dimitri grew up in the U.S. but...

 

_{they both have slight accents, IMO.}

It's a good thing they don't have major accents, because then their accents would outrank yours.

 

[Ineth]

good grief, giant spiders are my least favourite monsters in games. 

 

"You are poisoned by Massive Creepy Crawler. Ha ha."

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

"You cast the last healing spell you have after the big battle you just went through."

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

-1 HP

"You die. Ha ha."

 

Every time.

 

That's what happens when you fail to buy "Antidote" potions before wandering off into a dungeon...

Edited July 11, 2013 by Ineth

[Sensuki]

 

 

whose accent is sexier?

 

 

Jorge's.

 

 

That's not a joke either, go listen to that D&D session - Ay Caramba!

[rjshae]

Some days the creative juices don't flow as easily.

 

By a strange coincidence, the Non Sequitur for that day captured the moment.

[Lephys]

That's what happens when you fail to buy "Antidote" potions before wandering off into a dungeon...

You know what's weird? People in fantasy worlds can develop a single potion solution to counter-act ANY poison in the entire world, no matter what it is. But, they can't seem to develop a vaccine to even a single one.

[Hormalakh]

 

That's what happens when you fail to buy "Antidote" potions before wandering off into a dungeon...

You know what's weird? People in fantasy worlds can develop a single potion solution to counter-act ANY poison in the entire world, no matter what it is. But, they can't seem to develop a vaccine to even a single one.

 

It's all about the mindset. It's a relatively new concept to go from curing/treating a disease to preventing a disease. I know your post was tongue-in-cheek, but this is an actual problem even in real-life. Some cultures/countries are still in this mind-set where they ignore primary prevention and deal only in minimizing morbidity.

[Gfted1]

 

That's what happens when you fail to buy "Antidote" potions before wandering off into a dungeon...

You know what's weird? People in fantasy worlds can develop a single potion solution to counter-act ANY poison in the entire world, no matter what it is. But, they can't seem to develop a vaccine to even a single one.

 

Eh, people in PE can only heal and recover from disabilities in their sleep. And have yet to figure out the mysterious bandage.

[rjshae]

 

 

That's what happens when you fail to buy "Antidote" potions before wandering off into a dungeon...

You know what's weird? People in fantasy worlds can develop a single potion solution to counter-act ANY poison in the entire world, no matter what it is. But, they can't seem to develop a vaccine to even a single one.

It's all about the mindset. It's a relatively new concept to go from curing/treating a disease to preventing a disease. I know your post was tongue-in-cheek, but this is an actual problem even in real-life. Some cultures/countries are still in this mind-set where they ignore primary prevention and deal only in minimizing morbidity.

 

Plus the potion is likely magic-based and of instantaneous duration. The equivalent to a vaccine is an item that proofs against disease with an infinite duration; something that seems to be expensive to create in a magic setting.

Edited July 12, 2013 by rjshae

[Tsuga C]

Where's the donation jar on that desk for those who want their likeness used as the basis for an NPC?  Yes, yes, I know that the mega-buck Backers received some such consideration, but maybe we can wrangle a deal with Polina directly...

[Bofast]

Q: And where do you draw your inspiration from?

A: Nature. Nature will always have us concept artists beat. =) It does some weird ****. =D

 

Q: Anything else you would like to share?

A: I like to hide in dark corners... and make random creature noises. =)

Excellent answer on the inspiration question. Can't beat nature on that.

 

Also, now I'll be imagining that you're in a dark corner somewhere if I hear any strange little noises in any P:E dungeons. Better bring some extra torches along.  

 

*gasp*... You mean you haven't been considering the number of skin pores on creature designs this whole time?!

 

Oh my! This is horrible news! How will we get quality creatures?!

 

 

Nahhh. Awesome update, haha. And keep up the splendid work, ^_^

 

No, really. Keep it up... in the air... like a hacky sack. I SWEAR TO GODLIKE, if that good work touches the ground...

 

 

EDIT: Oh dear... pun overlooking is just plain unacceptable:

 

I can now say with certainty that it's good to know you're not doing a... pore job...  

 

Are you one of those typical pundits, eh?

 

 

 

Dunno, if it has already been mentioned, but she has her own website too (also check the "blog" section there):

 

http://www.polinadesign.com/

 

Woah, that Asian Architecture looks great!

 

Overall, good update

[Agremont]

Cool update. Creature design i something I like to do myself (but nowhere near your level). You're doing a great job with what I've seen so far.

 

Edit: Oh and that Cintiq. :drool:

Edited July 12, 2013 by Agremont

[DakkonZerth]

Are you Bulgarian?  Hristova is a VERY Bulgarian last name.  EDIT: I guess other people picked up on that.

Edited July 12, 2013 by DakkonZerth

[Lephys]

Are you one of those typical pundits, eh?

... I see what you did there. . The answer is affirmatory.

 

Eh, people in PE can only heal and recover from disabilities in their sleep. And have yet to figure out the mysterious bandage.

. For what it's worth, bandages don't actually heal you. They just keep your body's natural healing process from being impeded in its efficiency. Now... I dunno about mysterious bandages. They could do all SORTS of things.

Edited July 12, 2013 by Lephys

[Solviulnir the Soulbinder]

Very nice update! Nice to finally see the (pretty) face behind all that awesome concept art done for P:E.

That human anatomy reference figure rocks, I'm jealous... those are sooo dang expensive. 

One question, maybe it's too early to ask but have you already decided who will do the character portraits? Will it be just one artist? Will it be you?

[Falkon Swiftblade]

Very nice update! Nice to finally see the (pretty) face behind all that awesome concept art done for P:E.

That human anatomy reference figure rocks, I'm jealous... those are sooo dang expensive. 

 

One question, maybe it's too early to ask but have you already decided who will do the character portraits? Will it be just one artist? Will it be you?

 

I'm also curious about the character portraits, although I kind of want them to be represented by how we create our hero's. I think the old IE portraits were mostly cool because our hero's were so small on screen you could of looked like a woman elf and mistaken them as a male human. Now a days they can make much more realistic depiction's of the model and scale them almost any size. So I'd prefer a robust selection of character faces similar to Eve or Skyrim if possible over the portraits, or if we're gonna have portraits, maybe they can animate them so the characters blink like they do on this site. 

 

 

You can't tell because this site was created several years ago and it's changed now, but the characters were all created in Photoshop and they animated them blinking which was cool. 

[Polina]

Very nice update! Nice to finally see the (pretty) face behind all that awesome concept art done for P:E.

That human anatomy reference figure rocks, I'm jealous... those are sooo dang expensive. 

 

One question, maybe it's too early to ask but have you already decided who will do the character portraits? Will it be just one artist? Will it be you?

It's not set in stone but I believe Kaz will be doing most of the portraits =) That's said though, it will ultimately come down to how much time we have and who's available

[Nonek]

Enjoying yours (and all of the artists) concepts so far Ms Hristova.

 

On the subject of Portraits, i'm wondering whether we might have a few more ugly and distinctive faces added to the mix. Overly strong features, subtle mis-alignment of symmetry, missing teeth, vicious scarring, etcetera. Obviously not a great number as most players will undoubtedly wish to play a handsome avatar, but a few extreme examples varying from Jack Elam to Quasimodo levels of distinctiveness.

[Nishimoto]

I bet those same spiders she's working on will the same spiders that will make me smash my quick load key after losing half my party due to poor poison resistance.

[Jarmo]

 

That's what happens when you fail to buy "Antidote" potions before wandering off into a dungeon...

You know what's weird? People in fantasy worlds can develop a single potion solution to counter-act ANY poison in the entire world, no matter what it is. But, they can't seem to develop a vaccine to even a single one.

 

 

 

Pure mithridatium....  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithridate

[Hormalakh]

 

 

That's what happens when you fail to buy "Antidote" potions before wandering off into a dungeon...

You know what's weird? People in fantasy worlds can develop a single potion solution to counter-act ANY poison in the entire world, no matter what it is. But, they can't seem to develop a vaccine to even a single one.

 

 

 

Pure mithridatium....  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mithridate

 

 

thanks for that. very interesting. if p:e has this potion, it should be fairly expensive to get.

[Jarmo]

To go completely off track, this is actually a pretty darn good read, (or listen as I did).

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Poison-King-Mithradates-Deadliest/dp/0691150265

http://www.audible.com/pd/ref=sr_1_1?asin=B004LBKLV2&qid=1373889018&sr=1-1

 

A bit like Hannibal of Carthage you've never heard of, or heard of in passing.

[SunBroSolaire]

 

 

Well, that's it for now. Head over to Obsidian's Project Eternity forums and let us know what you think about the latest update, Project Eternity or your cat JoJo. See you guys in a couple of weeks.

 

So I guess no update today then?