Update #61: In-game Art

[nikolokolus]

Everybody is going to have subtle differences in taste when it comes to lighting, brightness, saturation and art style, so all I can say is that it suits my tastes just about perfectly.  It looks like the kind of game I don't mind spending a hundred hours or so staring at it.  Kudos.

[kgbuller]

Pizza delivery!!!  Honest!  C'mon...really!  Ok, ok...you don't have to tip...alright?  Open the door, already..!

[Michael_Galt]

It just amazes me how much people are nit-picking the type and quality of shadow...  I didn't even notice most of the complaints against it until I referenced the posts pointing it out.  To me, that seems close to the least important feature- the important thing is that the environment looks great and that the character models look great also...

[LKD]

I like the scene and the detal in the room. It looks great. I especially like the environmental lighting's effect on the area, specifically the book case at the top.

 

I have 3 concerns which I'll try to explain, I hope. They are somewhat minor, but I believe would lend to a better experience for the players.

 

The column tops being pure black seem to break up the room and feels like it's breaking the artistic design. I would love to see a little translucency to the tops so they don't seem so foreign to the scene. Possible all cut sections if that's even possible.

 

The characters as stated by a couple others seem to not have enough shadow to them. While the majority of the enemies do blend in well with the environment, the two in the lower left and all the player's team seem to be cut and paste into the scene in a manner that seperates tehm from the scene. The armor detail is great, and I love the characters, but they seem to be lacking a proper amount of shadow to fit the surroundings. I don't believe that they need more flare to stand out as someone else mentioned (Though i would love to see eamples of how we can pick their colors and what effect that has on the various armors), I would like them to feel like they are part of the setting more.

 

Last one, which is more of a personal preference, I have always been bothered by characters that hold their weapons horizontally. I would really like to see their non-attacking poses to feel like they are natural. Where the weapons hang towards the ground more and not so unnatural. Let me see if I can dig up an example....

 

Less this where the character seems to have wrist muscles of the gods:

http://ghostknight.net/dndrealm/dnd/images/DrizztDoUrden.jpg

And more like this where they seem a little more realistic in terms of feeling relaxed:

http://wizards.com/dnd/images/xph_gallery/80491.jpg

 

And if the weapon is a pole weapon where it's extra long you can always hike up on the shaft. Not sure about two handed swords as you would either have to lean the weapon along their arm, have them sheath it, or have them drag it behind them...

 

Anyways, I like the scenery. Feels right. The column tops probably deserve a little translucency. I would probably add more tonal darkness to the characters.

[Ieo]

I CAN SEE THE CHAIN LINKS ON THE AVAPEEPS! That's an amazing amount of detail you guys managed to cram into the little avapeeps' armor...

 

Aw, I'd love to do some QA. Not at that level, though.

 

Personally, I think the brightness/lighting is fine, though I also wonder how many controls we'll have in the game settings.

[LKD]

Aw, I'd love to do some QA. Not at that level, though.

 

I know what you mean. I'm doing a little QA now, and honestly, I would rather drink lye to end the suffering. You have to be a real zelot about details. I'd be fun to help, certainly, but they have to pay you for a reason...

[khango]

Love it. I think it's better than the concept art it was cloning pretty much.

 

When people gripe about the shadows is it just that all the shadows appear to be at the same angle (1 or 2:00)? I don't really have an issue with their diffuseness.

 

PS: I have to say the party looks a bit unprepared. I predict a wipe.

Edited August 7, 2013 by khango

[xsikal]

 

Looks amazing! My only (minor) concern is that the individuals inside the room are visible, even though the party is outside of the room, with the door closed. I'm guessing that fog of war/mob detection is not in yet?

 

The back end/data for fog of war is implemented, but not the rendering side.  Also, if the room were obscured by fog of war, that would be a pretty crummy screenshot.

 

 

Or you could have opened the door

 

But yeah, I figured LoS or FoW wasn't in yet. The screen itself looks lovely.

[Bloody Hypocrite]

Amazing work! I want to play this right now... sigh.

[Silent Winter]

Love the detail on the environment and the characters.  Armour looks very well done.

I also like that the enemies look similar but have different types and are differently equipped.

[Opens door]

Bring it on

 

[later discover that they had just massacred the local performing-arts society...oops    ]

Edited August 7, 2013 by Silent Winter

[Falkon Swiftblade]

Looks exactly like I was anticipating at the kickstarter. I can't give honest feedback cause I'm looking at this on my phone, but if I had constructive feedback, it would be the player characters seem to blend in with the environment and if possible I'd like the option of adding saturation to brighten the colors of the armor or clothes to help them stand out against their environment. Also if possible, can we adjust our heros so they can be slightly taller or chubby? I don't want all my humans looking the same, with different hair cuts. It doesn't have to be a lot, just enough to add some variety.

 

Ps how are capes and robes looking so far? Also, can we have an option of hiding equiped items like the helm? Similarly can ya guys try to give unarmed characters interestng clothes to wear. I'd like to have at least one monk that gets cool clothy clothes that flow in the wind. ;-)

Edited August 7, 2013 by Falkon Swiftblade

[WorstUsernameEver]

Looks great. I'm actually pretty happy about the armor design too, when put together like that they look distinctive and varied enough. Honestly, if I didn't know beforehand, I'd have thought the characteres were sprites. By no means that's a bad thing.

[Sensuki]

What ended up happening with dynamic hair ? It would be nice to be able to have nice flowing long-haired adventurers

 

Those guys all have pretty standard 'pls dont clip into the armor' haircuts.

 

Is that the 'final render' of that area?

 

Also is that the default zoom level ?

Edited August 7, 2013 by Sensuki

[HansKrSG]

Great job. It looks just like I feel it should. April 2014 can't come quick enough.

[SophosTheWise]

Since this was mostly about showing the environment and some of the new armor types, we didn't switch out the races.

 Absolutely love that plate. I can see our efforts in the Armor Plea thread didn't go unnoticed. I'm happy about that.

[Frenetic Pony]

The characters DO stick out a bit too much, and I'm trying to figure out why...

 

Lighting applied to the characters that isn't being applied to the environment? Obviously no SSAO, why? But regardless... hmm...

[soulburner]

The screenshot looks great and even a little too close to the concept art

The 3D characters stand out a little bit but the effect is far less noticeable than I feared and it will be even less noticeable in motion. I like how the models react to lighting, too.

 

I wonder if we can talk our way out of combat in the situation shown on this screenshot

[Xienzi]

Well, the first thing I noticed is that the enemies are looking straight at the door. Were they performing a ceremony of some sort just before?

[IndiraLightfoot]

A fantastic piece of work, Obsids!

 

Like many other posters, I'm amazed at your arriving at in-game environments that surpass Polina's stunning concept art. Just wow!

I've been staring at the last image for a while now, and zoomed in on it as well. And I actually like how the player character models pop just slightly. In my opinion, the overall impression is that they still fit the environment amazingly well, like in IWD. I'm also happy that you have toned down the Star Wars sabre light strength of Polina's apparatus. Otherwise, all the colours fit this scene snugly. The only thing I could say something negative about is the door. It seems to be a good foot off the floor, leaving a peek-a-boo draught hole that seems odd given the sect-like activities by that apparatus and the candles and cult props flanking it. Surely, they'd make a more sealed door. Also, it's sturdy enough, but it seems weirdly wide, like a stall door for one big horsey.

Edited August 7, 2013 by IndiraLightfoot

[Faerunner]

My God... It's beautiful!

 

Honestly, I love the colors, the lighting, the shadows, the textures, the contrasts, the depth and angles... everything about it is beautiful!

 

If the entire game is going to be this pretty... I don't know. I'll never look at 3D art and animation the same way again. That's how lovely it is.

 

Please keep up the fantastic work. =)

[Playgu]

That looks ridiculously good

[Merlkir]

Looks very nice. Can't wait for that vertical slice gameplay video!

[curryinahurry]

...The only thing I could say something negative about is the door. It seems to be a good foot off the floor, leaving a peek-a-boo draught hole that seems odd given the sect-like activities by that apparatus and the candles and cult props flanking it. Surely, they'd make a more sealed door. Also, it's sturdy enough, but it seems weirdly wide, like a stall door for one big horsey.

 

 

I don't think that is a gap.  It looks to be a step/threshold that is the same material as the floor of the room beyond.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Curryinahurry: Yea, those are no doubt steps, and I saw them, but the door is still a few inches off the floor (a foot was an exaggeration). You can see the light getting through on the floor underneath the door, and you see the height of the gap at the left corner of the top step.

[Doppelschwert]

 See you in a couple of weeks.

 

Although the screenshot looks really good, I'm a bit let down by the frequency of the updates lately. Is it going to stay at a 2 weeks cycle now?

 

I really don't want to be negative here, but I feel like the art updates were also meatier during the more frequent time, that is, when we had weekly updates. For example, there was more text describing the artistic process when we were shown some new eye-candy.

 

I know we're not entitled to those updates so I'm still glad we have them, but it'd be nice to know if this is supposed to stay biweekly short updates now or if this is only a temporary thing.

Edited August 7, 2013 by Doppelschwert