Update 80: State of the Project - From Alpha to Beta

[Lordakp]

i'm really excited about this game, looking forward to play it. 

[Falkon Swiftblade]

Hey I was wondering, other than art direction, why would inhabitants live in a world that has stuff like the the broken walls and towers in image below, and choose to live there when their whole town is in shambles? I see a lot of images throughout the game shared so far that things look very old and falling apart. Will the context of things like that be discussed as we progress in the story, or are they merely designed to induce mood and nostalgia as we play through? It's not a knock against anything specifically you guys are doing. Many RPG's have the decrepit towns and abandoned towns in them. It just seems like all of the props you've shared seem to show old or aged structures, and I wonder what a "newer" part of town or building would look like? I remember seeing some shots of the keep as it's upgraded though so that gives some context. I was just trying to imagine if I lived in a world like what you guys are sharing, why would I want to live in somewhere that's all but broken down. Maybe that's part of the story line though? Will we see NPC's trying to rebuild the land, or have quests involving the player to make us want to have this be a place worth saving and caring for? Sorry I unitentionally went into 20 questions haha.

 

Edited to say I think this image probably is not as run down as I thought it was initially, but I just was speaking generally about the props shared seem to show a lot of broken arch ways, and broken towers and walls. So it seems like there's been a lot of past conflict, and I was more or less inquiring if those conflicts are intended to be present throughout our story, or if the world is showing it's age through past conflicts from long ago, and the towns are just showing their age.

 

 

 

 

 

Environment Art

 

Much like our area designers, our environment artists have been revisiting all of the areas of the game and performing their Alpha checklists to make sure all of the areas pass art Alpha. In addition to the checklists, they are performing polish work that had been identified previously by Bobby and Rob (Art Director) on areas.

 

Currently, the environment artists have done a pass on all of our critical path areas and they will be moving onto our side content once we enter Beta.

Take a look at one of the areas that has gone through Alpha polish without a paint-over pass:

 

 

Edited July 8, 2014 by Falkon Swiftblade

[Jon of the Wired]

 

Hey I was wondering, other than art direction, why would inhabitants live in a world that has stuff like the the broken walls and towers in image below, and choose to live there when their whole town is in shambles? I see a lot of images throughout the game shared so far that things look very old and falling apart. Will the context of things like that be discussed as we progress in the story, or are they merely designed to induce mood and nostalgia as we play through? It's not a knock against anything specifically you guys are doing. Many RPG's have the decrepit towns and abandoned towns in them. It just seems like all of the props you've shared seem to show old or aged structures, and I wonder what a "newer" part of town or building would look like? I remember seeing some shots of the keep as it's upgraded though so that gives some context. I was just trying to imagine if I lived in a world like what you guys are sharing, why would I want to live in somewhere that's all but broken down. Maybe that's part of the story line though? Will we see NPC's trying to rebuild the land, or have quests involving the player to make us want to have this be a place worth saving and caring for? Sorry I unitentionally went into 20 questions haha.

 

Edited to say I think this image probably is not as run down as I thought it was initially, but I just was speaking generally about the props shared seem to show a lot of broken arch ways, and broken towers and walls. So it seems like there's been a lot of past conflict, and I was more or less inquiring if those conflicts are intended to be present throughout our story, or if the world is showing it's age through past conflicts from long ago, and the towns are just showing their age.

 

The city depicted in that art is Twin Elms. You can read more about it here: http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Twin_Elms, but the short version is that it's a Glanfathan city build on ancient Engwithan ruins. The ruins have been left more or less as-is because it's a central tenant of the Glanfathan belief system that they have a duty to preserve and protect Engwithan ruins.