Update #64: Developer Q&A with Kaz

[lolaldanee]

 

 

IWD portraits are my favourite (by far) too.

 

+1

 

The BG1/2  portraits were okay too, but not nearly as cool as the IWD1/2 ones.

 

Yeah, we're doing head and shoulders portraits because it will allow us to do many more of them.  Also, it's generally easier for players to match a portrait to a variety of character concepts if the body/equipment isn't visible.

 

I get that, but wouldn't it be possible to partially mitigate that by creating multiple variations of the same portrait with different weapons and other small differences?

The artists will work digitally anyways, so if they use different layers etc. then shouldn't this be possible with minimal overhead?

 

I've never seen this done in a game before, but I imagine it could be an effective way to increase the "coverage" of the shipped portraits (i.e. make them cover as many different character builds as possible), without making them less expressive.

 

 

Interestingly, I've never seen anybody mentioning portrait matching problems until Josh brought it up.

Why I regret the decision to get rid of full body portraits the most is, because I feel that IWD portraits show not just what character's face looks like, but rather what the character is like. And I don't mean the class and proficiencies (anyone can hold a mace for the photo and nobody is walking bare shouldered through the winter); I mean the stance and the poise. It gave you something much more to choose from than just the prettiest face.

exactly

[Tamerlane]

 

 

IWD portraits are my favourite (by far) too.

 

+1

 

The BG1/2  portraits were okay too, but not nearly as cool as the IWD1/2 ones.

 

Yeah, we're doing head and shoulders portraits because it will allow us to do many more of them.  Also, it's generally easier for players to match a portrait to a variety of character concepts if the body/equipment isn't visible.

 

I get that, but wouldn't it be possible to partially mitigate that by creating multiple variations of the same portrait with different weapons and other small differences?

The artists will work digitally anyways, so if they use different layers etc. then shouldn't this be possible with minimal overhead?

 

I've never seen this done in a game before, but I imagine it could be an effective way to increase the "coverage" of the shipped portraits (i.e. make them cover as many different character builds as possible), without making them less expressive.

 

 

Interestingly, I've never seen anybody mentioning portrait matching problems until Josh brought it up.

 

It's definitely A Thing for me.

 

"Hey, that one's perfect! It's even got- no, wait, is that a MACE? Ew."

[Hiro Protagonist II]

I agree with Josh. I can't identify with most of the IWD/2 portraits when my character has armour and a sword, but the portrait is holding a staff and in a dress. It's why I like the BG/2 portraits because every combination of armour and weapons will fit nearly every portrait.

[Osvir]

Because it is a currently fond topic of mine :D

Considering Status Effect Portraits or a variant of it?

Edited September 19, 2013 by Osvir

[rjshae]

 

 

I for one prefer Kaz's art style to Polina's, although I like both a good deal better than most game concept art that's out there.

I really like Polina's creature designs and environment art, but Kaz's humans/humanoids have been more characterful and less awkward IMO.

To be fair, the only full "portrait" art we have seen of Polina was the godlike. The others were concepts in the concepty sense.

 

All artists have their strengths and weaknesses, but both Polina and Kaz seem more than capable to me. I'm sure their work will be exemplary.

[Sensuki]

They're making Kaz suffer first so his portraits are better.

[Lephys]

It's not that I don't get people liking almost-full-body portraits, in general, as opposed to face-only portraits. But, I don't understand the reasoning behind knowing that we're going to have full-body, hi-res "paper doll" character models that match our character's aesthetics exactly, AND insisting that spending a bunch of extra time and effort on full-body portraits with completely fixed aesthetics that are almost never going to match our character's actual look/style is somehow not a bit contradictory and mildly redundant.

 

Methinks maybe some folk are looking at things in a bit too much isolation? *shrug*. Or maybe people just plain love them some IWD-style portraits. Even if I was one of those people, though (not that I have anything at all AGAINST IWD-style portraits), I don't know that I'd be able to consider the circumstances and still vie for IWD-style portraits in P:E. The guaranteed increase in variety of shoulders'n'up portraits, plus the benefit of not having my portrait always show some super-specific stance/air/equipment, PLUS the fact that I'll get to see a glorious, full-body representation of my character every time I visit my inventory... all those things seem to override any feelings of "If I look at a face-only portrait next to a full-body portrait, I'll prefer the full-body one."

 

Speaking of stance... as a low-priority supplement, it might be pretty cool if we could actually choose our character's stance. The whole "They're always going to be stuck in a fixed stance in a portrait" thing got me thinking about it. It could apply to the paper doll AND/OR the in-game model.

 

It would just be a nice little extra tidbit of reinforcement of the style we get to weave for our character.

 

 

They're making Kaz suffer first so his portraits are better.

That's how the art world works.

 

"Oh, hey, welcome to the industry! What about art makes you love it so much? Oh, you like depicting animals? YOU'RE GOING TO DRAW THE ELABORATE MASSACRE OF ADORABLE PUPPIES FOR THE NEXT 72 HOURS STRAIGHT, SO THAT YOU CAN GROW AS AN ARTIST!"

 

Edited September 19, 2013 by Lephys

[J.E. Sawyer]

As an aside, are the current companion portraits final, or will you swap them later for different pictures?

 

No, not final at all.  Most of our current portraits in-game are using cropped images from non-portrait pieces of art (e.g. our wallpaper image from the Kickstarter drive).  Even if we use some of those images as a starting point, the portrait artist(s) will be creating images specifically for portrait use in-game.

[Labadal]

Been reading up on this topic. While I don't have a big problem with only head and shoulders portraits, something like this would have been cool.

 

http://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/eternity.gamepedia.com/2/27/Orlan.jpg

[Oner]

 

As an aside, are the current companion portraits final, or will you swap them later for different pictures?

 

No, not final at all.  Most of our current portraits in-game are using cropped images from non-portrait pieces of art (e.g. our wallpaper image from the Kickstarter drive).  Even if we use some of those images as a starting point, the portrait artist(s) will be creating images specifically for portrait use in-game.

 

Thanks for the answer. I asked because the orlan detective guy ..well, he looks like he's sleepwalking behind the party with that portrait.

[Jajo]

Visually, IE games were always going to be a tough act to follow. What we've seen so far shows, that P:E team is more than just coping with that, so I'm not worried in the slightest (GUI is debatable ).

In the end, if on really does not find any portraits to his specific taste, we'll be able to import them anyway.

[Grinsevent]

Hi, I don't come here very offten (only after each updates), but, how the "game" is going ? The release date is still in 2014 ?

[Malekith]

Hi, I don't come here very offten (only after each updates), but, how the "game" is going ? The release date is still in 2014 ?

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64404-new-chris-avellone-eternity-interview/

[martix]

Yes. I like this update.

Long live the master race of PC gamers

Also, thanks for the cool artist lineup.

 

And please make the UI adaptable so it can work in any crazy resolution the future might bring(which is what happened to IE games). Also maybe both vertical/horizontal UI?

[Ineth]

I agree with Josh. I can't identify with most of the IWD/2 portraits when my character has armour and a sword, but the portrait is holding a staff and in a dress. It's why I like the BG/2 portraits because every combination of armour and weapons will fit nearly every portrait.

 

I can see your point with regard to weapons, but not with armor.

 

In a BG-style portrait you will see the difference between a dress and a full plate armor, just as clearly as in an IWD-style portrait.

 

[Ineth]

Example:

 

   <--> 

 

Yep, I think it's safe to say you'd notice.

[Oner]

You can always say that they wear their casual clothes on the portraits.

[Amentep]

Example:

 

    

 

Yep, I think it's safe to say you'd notice.

Stuff. Of. Nightmares.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Example:

 

   <--> 

 

Yep, I think it's safe to say you'd notice.

 

 

 

In a BG-style portrait you will see the difference between a dress and a full plate armor, just as clearly as in an IWD-style portrait.

 

 

Anomen doesn't wear a dress in BG2, so I don't see the relevance. And any armour you put on Anomen will look similar to his portrait. So the second portrait is meaningless.

[Amentep]

^I believe the argument is that if a character had the second portrait, you'd have noticed the disconnect between what s/he has on in the portrait and what his/her avatar looks like in-game.

[Lephys]

^I believe the argument is that if a character had the second portrait, you'd have noticed the disconnect between what s/he has on in the portrait and what his/her avatar looks like in-game.

No... no it definitely HAD to be specifically about how Anomen was extremely likely to wear a dress. I'm pretty sure that was it.

[Sacred_Path]

Anomen doesn't wear a dress in BG2, so I don't see the relevance. And any armour you put on Anomen will look similar to his portrait. So the second portrait is meaningless.

Everyone put heavy armor on a cleric in AD&D, yes. Won't be that way in P:E though.

[Amentep]

 

^I believe the argument is that if a character had the second portrait, you'd have noticed the disconnect between what s/he has on in the portrait and what his/her avatar looks like in-game.

No... no it definitely HAD to be specifically about how Anomen was extremely likely to wear a dress. I'm pretty sure that was it.

 

He just liked to feel pretty.

[locomotron]

 

I'm sure we all have fond memories of shuffling piles of arrows between characters.

I do, actually. I think that was a good feature in BG - particularly with how the game wouldn't let you access the inventory while paused, so you really needed to think about where all your ammo was in advance.

 

I was very disappointed that every other IE game paused the in-game action when the inventory was open.

 

Hopefully, you'll let us at least control whether the game pauses while accessing inventory.

 

 

Agreed, it should always be an option.

I also hope P:E Won't feature those horrid exclamation marks above quest givers, and if it does, I hope there's an option to turn it off.

[J.E. Sawyer]

PE doesn't put any special marking on quest-related NPCs.  We also don't use quest markers.  You have to read what NPCs say and refer to your journal to figure out where to go.  That said, we've established a standard for writing those entries that should ensure you will always know generally where you're supposed to be heading.

 

Re: portraits: we've revised them a little bit.  We are currently using two sizes of portraits, one for the character/inventory/dialogue screen and one for the main HUD.  The "big" portrait is 210x330, the size of BG and IWD portraits.  The smaller portraits are 73x86, though that size may change a little.  The larger portraits are "head and shoulders" with a bit extra, the closest comparison would be BG1 portraits.  For the companion portraits we've done so far, Kaz has managed to really capture some engaging characters.  I think you will like them.

 

The smaller portraits are cropped to just the face for easy recognition.