Update #68: ART!

[BAdler]

Update by Brandon Adler, Producer

 

Hey, everyone. We decided against releasing the Backer Portal right before the holiday break. We wanted to make sure that we had a full staff on board to solve any technical issues that might arise on the site during its launch. We are just as excited as you are for the Backer Portal and we want to make sure it has a smooth release.

 

To keep you sated in Project Eternity goodness we decided to show off some of the artwork we have been putting together this milestone. We are pretty proud of it. Hope you enjoy.

 

Areas

Last week on the forums Sensuki, Tagomika, and coffeetable brought up questions about areas we were outsourcing. I figured it would be better to show you the areas instead of talking about them. Take a look.

 

A shrine to the god of the hunt.

 

A drake skeleton amid thick overgrowth.

 

Both of these images come from the same wilderness area. While this area appears thick with foliage now, it was previously the site to horrific fires caused by drakes. Large swaths of ground were burned and only now has the land started to recover.

 

Concepts

Kaz and Polina have been hard at work getting concepts prepared for our current milestone and the next.

 

Polina has been focusing on creating the look and feel for our next big city - Twin Elms. Twin Elms is a unique mixture of ruined architecture from an ancient civilization with a layer of Viking-inspired Glanfathan buildings built into it.

 

Glanfathan buildings built into ancient ruins.

 

Line work for environments in Twin Elms.

 

While Polina has been helping to plan the future, Kaz is firmly entrenched in our mega dungeon, The Endless Paths of Od Nua. Take a look at some of the prop work that Kaz is doing for one of the Engwithan-inspired areas.

 

Engwithan props for use in Od Nua.

 

Creatures

One of the creatures that has gone in recently is the troll. You can see a few of them in the area below.

 

A group of trolls in-game.

 

That's it for this week, folks. Have a great Thanksgiving.

[Hiro Protagonist II]

Nice artwork.

[ryukenden]

Thanks for the art update. But when are we gonna get the "major update"? Also the major update isn't the backer portal is it? I'm hoping for some gameplay or screenshots or alpha demo or something about the game.

[JFSOCC]

I'm curious about the architecture of the next big city, will there be tall buildings? is everything going to be camouflaged in nature?

Should I think of "Machu Picchu" or is it more like a viking homestead?

 

Really digging the Engwithan prop, If I could have armour or shields looking like there were made from that material, I think it would be really cool looking.

Edited November 26, 2013 by JFSOCC

[Hiro Protagonist II]

How long does it take to do one of those areas?

[BAdler]

I'm curious about the architecture of the next big city, will there be tall buildings? is everything going to be camouflaged in nature?

Should I think of "Machu Picchu" or is it more like a viking homestead?

 

Really digging the Engwithan prop, If I could have armour or shields looking like there were made from that material, I think it would be really cool looking.

 

There will definitely be some larger structures. You are just seeing a small portion of one area.

 

It isn't really Machu Picchu or Viking... it is closer to Machu Picchu with Viking layered on top.

[coffeetable]

Namedropped hell yeah B) 

 

When Adam responded last week, he made it sound like outsourcing was something expensive reserved for particular areas. What's it that sets the drake and shrine wilderness areas apart, such that you don't do them in house?

 

Anyway, great art and better yet ~new details~. Especially cool to see the Other City.

Edited November 26, 2013 by coffeetable

[Aedelric]

Very nice artwork and screenshots.

 

I am particularly pleased with the perspective of the trolls, it looks like it is part of the image rather than pasted on, a problem I find with a lot of isometric games. I am looking forward to seeing some animated characters/monsters and seeing how well they blend into it.

 

Can't wait for the next update.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Aedelric

[BAdler]

How long does it take to do one of those areas?

 

The outsourced area? It depends on how complicated the concept is and how much can be reused from previous areas. It took about three weeks for the team to create the area to a first pass quality.

[GhoulishVisage]

Whee, art! Very nice.
Do these pics have the top layer that adds the extra detail in them? I remember that the pics of the stronghold apparently didn't have that added yet.

Interesting to learn which area will be the second big city. It looks like the ancient natural feel of Twin Elms will contrast with the more modern developed feel of Defiance Bay.

[coffeetable]

I'm curious about the architecture of the next big city, will there be tall buildings? 

Check the linedrawn concept art. Them's some big trees.

Edited November 26, 2013 by coffeetable

[BAdler]

Whee, art! Very nice.

Do these pics have the top layer that adds the extra detail in them? I remember that the pics of the stronghold apparently didn't have that added yet.

Interesting to learn which area will be the second big city. It looks like the ancient natural feel of Twin Elms will contrast with the more modern developed feel of Defiance Bay.

No paintover pass yet. That is usually one of the last steps in the process.

 

These areas are considered at a first pass level. We will still need to go in and rework a few things before it will be at an Alpha level.

[Sabotin]

I'm sorry, but while the concept art looks lovely, the areas do not. The props (bones, camp, altar) look like they were placed on the grass mere minutes before and some of the foliage looks weird: the path is used enough that the grass doesn't grow on it, yet there's bushes on it, right over the wheel impressions. The campsite has a bush sticking out the middle, I wouldn't start a fire there. In the 2nd picture there's 3 of the exact same trees right next to each other in the lower left. Call me picky, but, look at the areas I get the "something's wrong, but not sure what" feel.

 

Edit: Ok, no art pass yet, so maybe these are non-issues. Would it be possible to have a picture of some small area fully and completely done though? It's really starting to gnaw at me. The waterfall screenshot is old and has been changed quite a bit (for the negative if I remember right), so it'd be really nice to have some ballpark for our expectations. Dunno about other people, but the paintover is the main appeal of having 2d for me.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Sabotin

[Boox]

Wow, I really like the Twin Elms concept art! Also, ditto on the trolls looking good. Everything is looking good! However, I'd like to see some more variation in the wilderness areas, since most of the screenshots we've seen have tended to be fairly similar, i.e. very uniformly green.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Boox

[PsychoBlonde]

oo pretty

[Bloody Hypocrite]

While these updates are great, I was also expecting something a bit bigger from the 'Big Update'. 

[BAdler]

Wow, I really like the Twin Elms concept art! Also, ditto on the trolls looking good. Everything is looking good! However, I'd like to see some more variation in the wilderness areas, since most of the screenshots we've seen have tended to be fairly similar, i.e. very uniformly green.

 

There is some pretty good variation in our wilderness areas throughout the game. In future weeks we will show off some additional areas that will have more visual variation.

[Bloody Hypocrite]

Please don't take that in anyway as diminishing the fantastic work that you folks have done. I'm just eager for a lot more.

[Boox]

 

Wow, I really like the Twin Elms concept art! Also, ditto on the trolls looking good. Everything is looking good! However, I'd like to see some more variation in the wilderness areas, since most of the screenshots we've seen have tended to be fairly similar, i.e. very uniformly green.

 

There is some pretty good variation in our wilderness areas throughout the game. In future weeks we will show off some additional areas that will have more visual variation.

 

 

Thanks for the reply, I'll be looking forward to seeing those areas!

[Volourn]

I like the first forest areas.

 

When I think of cities, I don't of green infested puke. (no offense).

 

The ruins concepts look nice.

 

I'm sorry, but those monsters - while looking fearsome - don't honour the name troll - be it  the monster or internet versions. I find their trolldom lacking.

[coffeetable]

While these updates are great, I was also expecting something a bit bigger from the 'Big Update'. 

Avellone mentioned a while back that the 'big update' will be coming with a gameplay video. As the portal's been put off a week, the video has been too, likely because the video will pull a lot of traffic in and it'd make sense to have some of that traffic convert to purchases.

[coffeetable]

Edit: Ok, no art pass yet, so maybe these are non-issues. Would it be possible to have a picture of some small area fully and completely done though? It's really starting to gnaw at me. The waterfall screenshot is old and has been changed quite a bit (for the negative if I remember right), so it'd be really nice to have some ballpark for our expectations

The stronghold scenes from an update or two back?

 

e: To address your complaints about how the models seem dropped onto the terrain, you can see in this how the models get blended into eachother at the paintover:

 

Edited November 27, 2013 by coffeetable

[Cubiq]

I'm actually really impressed with the concepts forest shrine. It may looks simple but i really get the feel that it doesn't look forced at all and feels really natural.

[BAdler]

I'm sorry, but while the concept art looks lovely, the areas do not. The props (bones, camp, altar) look like they were placed on the grass mere minutes before and some of the foliage looks weird: the path is used enough that the grass doesn't grow on it, yet there's bushes on it, right over the wheel impressions. The campsite has a bush sticking out the middle, I wouldn't start a fire there. In the 2nd picture there's 3 of the exact same trees right next to each other in the lower left. Call me picky, but, look at the areas I get the "something's wrong, but not sure what" feel.

 

Edit: Ok, no art pass yet, so maybe these are non-issues. Would it be possible to have a picture of some small area fully and completely done though? It's really starting to gnaw at me. The waterfall screenshot is old and has been changed quite a bit (for the negative if I remember right), so it'd be really nice to have some ballpark for our expectations. Dunno about other people, but the paintover is the main appeal of having 2d for me.

There is still plenty of work that needs to go into these areas. Keep in mind that you are seeing areas that are currently being worked on in this milestone so you will probably see a few oddball things from time to time.

[SunBroSolaire]

Wow, I love the city concepts Polina! I'm glad the second big city is looking more non-traditional.