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Ashes of Creation
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| 2s | [Music] |
|---|---|
| 12s | do |
| 29s | hello everyone and welcome to another |
| 33s | live stream day for ashes of creation |
| 35s | super excited to be with everybody today |
| 37s | we have a pretty awesome showcase i |
| 39s | think it's something that the community |
| 41s | has been asking for for a little while |
| 44s | actually i think the last time we |
| 46s | showcased uh some combat gameplay was a |
| 49s | year ago |
| 51s | roughly almost um but i am very excited |
| 54s | to show you guys what we have in the |
| 55s | works today um |
| 57s | i have joining us with me today two of |
| 61s | our extraordinary engineers |
| 64s | adam and kenan how you guys doing hello |
| 67s | stephen |
| 68s | doing well how are you i am doing very |
| 71s | good running around like a chicken with |
| 73s | its head cut off but otherwise very good |
| 77s | keenan how you doing buddy |
| 79s | i'm doing good glad to be here awesome |
| 82s | i'm excited to have you this is your |
| 83s | first stream i believe correct this is |
| 85s | my first stream very cool adam you've |
| 87s | been on a couple ones before this yeah |
| 89s | yeah yeah it's good to be back |
| 92s | very cool and then i also have |
| 94s | joining us today one of our senior game |
| 97s | designers mr trad how you doing buddy |
| 101s | i'm doing great i'm glad to be back on |
| 102s | stream welcome back very excited to show |
| 105s | what you guys have been working on what |
| 107s | the team has been working on |
| 109s | i know i probably already said this on |
| 112s | the stream but i'm going to reiterate it |
| 115s | here |
| 116s | that this what you're about to see is |
| 118s | not the final combat in ashes |
| 121s | this is a portion of the combat systems |
| 124s | obviously a lot goes into making combat |
| 127s | right |
| 127s | from a visual effects perspective from |
| 130s | mechanics and functionality on the |
| 131s | engineering side |
| 133s | the design elements and how it |
| 134s | synergizes with our class kits and |
| 136s | ability systems the |
| 138s | you know balance of these things the |
| 140s | audio component the ui there's a lot |
| 143s | that goes into making |
| 144s | combat |
| 146s | for an mmorpg and the combat you're |
| 148s | going to see today is very focused on |
| 151s | one component actually two components |
| 153s | i'm sorry |
| 154s | um the first of which is |
| 156s | our |
| 156s | basic melee weapon |
| 159s | attacks |
| 161s | in addition to our floating text ui |
| 164s | so keeping that in mind that is the |
| 167s | context of today's presentation |
| 169s | previously |
| 171s | i had decided that i wanted to wait to |
| 173s | showcase combat until |
| 176s | excuse me until we had um |
| 179s | pretty much everything done and ready to |
| 181s | show |
| 182s | and as |
| 185s | time grew i decided what i wanted to do |
| 187s | instead was showcase little portions of |
| 191s | each uh component of the combat system |
| 193s | starting with the |
| 195s | basic melee weapon attacks and then |
| 197s | we'll move into in a later live stream |
| 200s | the ability systems and the class kits |
| 202s | and of course we're not going to show |
| 203s | every class kit and you know everything |
| 205s | that's going to be in alpha 2 we want |
| 206s | some of that to be a surprise right but |
| 209s | we do want to showcase |
| 211s | the work that's been done |
| 213s | and the direction that's been taken so |
| 215s | that we get player feedback and |
| 218s | personally you know playing this i think |
| 220s | it feels |
| 221s | amazing i think it looks great i'm super |
| 224s | impressed continually by our team's |
| 227s | talents um as i know a lot in the |
| 230s | community are after having seen the |
| 231s | character creator and the |
| 234s | weather systems and season systems um |
| 237s | you know there's a there's a very high |
| 238s | quality bar that we're we're setting |
| 240s | ourselves up for uh with ashes of |
| 242s | creation and i i think it is it is what |
| 245s | you know the community wants um but it's |
| 247s | great to have these touch points where |
| 249s | we get um where we get your feedback so |
| 252s | focus today is going to be on basic |
| 253s | melee weapon attacks um it's going to be |
| 255s | on root motion versus split body the |
| 258s | types of agency that's provided to the |
| 259s | player while also respecting the |
| 262s | weightedness we want from certain weapon |
| 264s | groups and also talking about the ui |
| 266s | element and showcasing floating text and |
| 268s | the types of customization options that |
| 270s | players are going to have so keep that |
| 271s | in mind that's the context of of today's |
| 273s | presentation |
| 275s | and when you give the commentary let's |
| 277s | let's focus on what you like and what |
| 279s | you think there could be improvements on |
| 281s | from that perspective so without further |
| 284s | ado we are in probably an area that you |
| 287s | guys are familiar with um |
| 289s | this is the riverlands biome yet again |
| 292s | um you saw this in the the last month's |
| 295s | stream |
| 296s | but we are in an area that is known to |
| 299s | harbor |
| 300s | um some scary things |
| 303s | um so i'm just gonna start kind of |
| 306s | walking down in this area and um adam |
| 309s | keenan tratt if you guys want to talk a |
| 310s | little bit about |
| 312s | how this process began |
| 314s | all those months ago on defining |
| 317s | good combat for ashes of creation |
| 322s | uh sure um |
| 325s | i would say you know it starts with |
| 327s | you know all of the hundreds of |
| 330s | thousands of hours cumulative hours of |
| 332s | mmo we have under our belt right we have |
| 334s | a lot of hours of mmo gameplay |
| 339s | we just got to push a couple buttons and |
| 340s | we're immediately like oh it feels good |
| 342s | or it doesn't feel good you know it's |
| 343s | funny keenan actually you say that um |
| 345s | one of the koala i mean you guys all |
| 347s | know this because every one of you went |
| 349s | through an interview with me but one of |
| 350s | the qualifying aspects of joining the |
| 352s | team is what type of mmos do you like to |
| 355s | play |
| 355s | [Laughter] |
| 357s | nice |
| 358s | yeah so it starts there uh and then from |
| 362s | there we sort of do our research you |
| 363s | know we have to take a look at the state |
| 365s | of the art and then we |
| 368s | [Music] |
| 369s | we study it we form hypotheses about |
| 372s | what exactly it is that makes things |
| 374s | feel good or not feel good |
| 378s | and then we make those things in as |
| 380s | controlled a manner as we can and then |
| 382s | we |
| 382s | turn the knobs we tweak things we see |
| 384s | what feels good what doesn't feel good |
| 386s | we come up with some rules some |
| 388s | processes and then uh we put them to the |
| 391s | test |
| 392s | and this is this is what comes out |
| 394s | yeah it's um it's very iterative |
| 397s | iterative process right like you know |
| 399s | none of these things are like you form |
| 401s | your theory on paper and then you go and |
| 404s | you make the thing and it comes out to |
| 405s | be exactly what you see now right like |
| 407s | it starts out the first time not super |
| 409s | great and then |
| 411s | what we have to be able to do is |
| 413s | engineer the designers is |
| 415s | identify what's |
| 416s | not great about those things and then |
| 418s | just continue to integrate on those |
| 420s | things |
| 421s | as long as you keep making it better |
| 423s | each time eventually you're going to end |
| 425s | up with something good |
| 426s | yeah and for uh this exercise and |
| 429s | finding what makes ash is great |
| 431s | specifically |
| 433s | we wanted to approach it from the ground |
| 435s | up uh answering individual questions |
| 437s | about uh our hypotheses and what we |
| 440s | think is good right so we we really |
| 443s | um |
| 444s | focused on individual aspects |
| 446s | that we think makes good combat and |
| 448s | answered them one at a time in a very |
| 451s | tightly uh |
| 452s | very tight iterative process |
| 455s | and uh we ended up at something that uh |
| 458s | we think feels really really good so |
| 461s | yeah just just playing this i am loving |
| 463s | the |
| 465s | hit reacts the visual effects all the |
| 467s | ancillary components that go into making |
| 470s | the combat but but more importantly |
| 472s | the pacing of this kind of heavier |
| 475s | weapon group |
| 477s | um |
| 477s | also as a side note uh outside of the |
| 479s | combat |
| 481s | one of the things i've not necessarily |
| 483s | liked about mmos traditionally in the |
| 486s | past is that |
| 488s | excuse me every portion of land is |
| 490s | covered by some type of monster right it |
| 493s | kind of gives you this |
| 494s | weird feel but here like this is a very |
| 497s | dangerous area that we're in the |
| 498s | environment and part of it gets |
| 500s | communicated by the |
| 502s | you know aspect of these rocks and like |
| 505s | the |
| 505s | specific types of materials that's |
| 507s | represented here but you don't know |
| 509s | exactly where the threat lies per se |
| 511s | right you kind of move up into an area |
| 514s | and if you move too far you get the |
| 517s | audio cue of the of the monsters like |
| 520s | arising your character gets into the |
| 522s | combat stance they have some really cool |
| 524s | aspects of |
| 525s | of animation the animation team did an |
| 527s | amazing job with the roles here i am |
| 530s | loving and also they're like death just |
| 532s | like swinging away and then flying off |
| 534s | that is so great |
| 536s | yeah i really like like the camp feel of |
| 538s | of this area where you know you don't |
| 540s | just see these guys scattered around all |
| 543s | over the world no matter where you go |
| 544s | there's like something that's going to |
| 545s | aggro you it's more like i'm gonna grind |
| 548s | here for a bit |
| 551s | yeah steven |
| 552s | you were talking about how you like |
| 555s | how heavy the wet the sword feels and um |
| 558s | that weight |
| 560s | impact that is one of the combat pillars |
| 562s | that we have been studying and honing in |
| 564s | on in our development process |
| 567s | the other side of it is um |
| 569s | the other side of it being |
| 571s | also like agency you know to what extent |
| 574s | does this weapon respect your intentions |
| 576s | and that's the part that's important to |
| 577s | me i'm a |
| 579s | i'm a classic player i come from |
| 580s | traditional mmos right like i i want to |
| 583s | be able to move and attack at the same |
| 585s | time right yes and that was a huge point |
| 587s | of feedback actually that we received |
| 589s | during alpha 1 |
| 591s | was that we started with this more root |
| 594s | motion approach to the basic weapon |
| 597s | attacks |
| 598s | and ultimately we |
| 600s | we called an audible mid test |
| 602s | i remember it was in that that end of |
| 604s | july or beginning of august month um |
| 607s | where we decided to implement a a |
| 609s | completely split body approach and get |
| 611s | player feedback and of course the |
| 612s | feedback was was very positive or |
| 614s | soundingly positive right um that |
| 616s | players prefer that agency |
| 619s | over that weightedness but they also |
| 623s | there's a little bit of a conflict there |
| 624s | because they also didn't like the floaty |
| 626s | feeling which comes along with |
| 629s | not having the weighted approach so how |
| 631s | did that play into your guys's |
| 634s | defining this current approach on the |
| 637s | weapon attacks how did you blend those |
| 639s | two |
| 640s | yes so |
| 641s | we kind of approached it from looking at |
| 644s | player agency primarily as kanan had |
| 647s | said and |
| 648s | the games that really handled uh player |
| 651s | agency the best are those like classic |
| 652s | mmos right |
| 654s | players really like how smooth uh the |
| 656s | classic mmo feel how much player agency |
| 659s | they get out of it and then we we took |
| 661s | that and we tried building this sort of |
| 663s | impact and weight on top of it really |
| 666s | making attacks feel satisfying making it |
| 668s | feel like the inertia of the weapon and |
| 671s | your movements are are accurate you know |
| 673s | physically accurate |
| 675s | and we accomplished that through a |
| 676s | number of ways uh really again talking |
| 679s | about the process we we try to identify |
| 681s | each individual aspect of uh |
| 684s | of what we got out of these you know |
| 686s | more |
| 686s | modern action games and tried |
| 689s | incorporating that into our classic mmo |
| 691s | bass um |
| 693s | you know i think |
| 694s | i think it all comes down to looking at |
| 697s | it not as a binary of |
| 699s | you know are we doing split body or are |
| 701s | we doing root motion combat it's looking |
| 703s | at everything as modular pieces and then |
| 706s | dialing in those numbers to |
| 708s | make something that |
| 710s | feels |
| 711s | high in player agency feels very |
| 713s | impactful like it has a lot of inertia |
| 716s | it feels very physical |
| 718s | yeah my litmus test for agency in combat |
| 722s | is take any moment in combat pause time |
| 725s | look down at your hands look at the |
| 726s | keyboard |
| 727s | the buttons that you're pressing should |
| 729s | be the directions that your character is |
| 730s | moving |
| 732s | so with these weapons even though there |
| 733s | are little uh |
| 734s | [Music] |
| 736s | like little bits of root motion here or |
| 738s | there they're always respecting your was |
| 740s | the input and i think that's what makes |
| 742s | them feel good |
| 743s | i think another thing that you guys did |
| 745s | that helps with that is the |
| 747s | timing of what that gets registered |
| 749s | right like it's not you know at one |
| 751s | point one iteration we had it where |
| 754s | it |
| 755s | detected what your input was at the |
| 757s | beginning of the attack and that just |
| 759s | felt like if i decided to change my mind |
| 761s | and go left instead of right |
| 763s | in the middle of that attack |
| 765s | it's too bad it already kind of cued |
| 767s | that and so i think now what you guys |
| 769s | are doing is |
| 770s | having it happen at like swing time |
| 772s | right |
| 775s | yup it's constantly looking at your |
| 777s | input and adjusting now i've equipped |
| 779s | these these daggers |
| 781s | this dual wielding uh |
| 784s | these dual daggers talk to me a little |
| 786s | bit about the differences between the |
| 788s | heavier um weapon group and the light |
| 791s | weapon group |
| 793s | yeah um so initially in our uh |
| 796s | investigation we wanted to start with |
| 798s | the the light weapons to figure out |
| 802s | how to really blend |
| 804s | uh |
| 805s | the the weight of an attack um |
| 808s | and and |
| 809s | introduce or start with player agency |
| 811s | and then introduce that weight of the |
| 813s | attack into it we figured the least |
| 815s | risky plot bin to start with would be |
| 816s | the lightest weapon possible you know |
| 818s | little daggers that move very fast very |
| 820s | high player agency and uh not |
| 823s | necessarily focused on |
| 825s | big weight much like a heavy sword so |
| 829s | um we started with that and tried |
| 830s | introducing little bits and pieces here |
| 832s | and there uh like small bits of root |
| 834s | motion to get that nice like dashy feel |
| 836s | in when you're when you're attacking and |
| 839s | uh play into that inertia um i know kena |
| 843s | might want to talk more about the |
| 846s | animation timing sheets we introduced |
| 848s | for figuring out these uh timings that |
| 851s | feel good |
| 852s | yeah that's part of our process for |
| 855s | communicating cross department is using |
| 857s | frame timing diagrams and being specific |
| 860s | about how we not only want to animate |
| 862s | but also how we want to move during |
| 864s | different frames of the animation |
| 866s | and we found that to be very successful |
| 869s | but one of the things that makes the |
| 871s | daggers different than the sword is that |
| 874s | the daggers never really slow you down |
| 876s | they're both respecting your directions |
| 878s | but the swords will actually slow you |
| 880s | down at certain times like leading up |
| 881s | into the strike your split body movement |
| 884s | is sort of uh |
| 886s | blending down towards zero and then you |
| 888s | strike and then it blends back up toward |
| 890s | the one the daggers are are not doing |
| 893s | any blending like that you're just split |
| 895s | body and then you're striking and then |
| 896s | you're back into split body and it's |
| 898s | sick of seeing this process |
| 901s | yeah i'm just playing with the |
| 902s | directionals here i mean on the |
| 903s | animation team they did a a phenomenal |
| 906s | job i'm loving |
| 908s | the kind of foot placement and movement |
| 910s | the |
| 911s | strafing feeling on the body there i |
| 913s | know alexi did a lot of work on the ik |
| 915s | as well that we can see like when you're |
| 917s | you know kind of stepping up different |
| 918s | portions um |
| 920s | that's it feels really good to to play |
| 924s | oh yeah considering how uh physically |
| 927s | based we are and animation driven our |
| 929s | combat system is |
| 930s | uh it was super important that the |
| 932s | animators you know get all of that right |
| 934s | and they absolutely knocked it out of |
| 936s | the park i mean one of the biggest |
| 938s | things i think |
| 939s | uh to making good feeling attacks is |
| 942s | getting |
| 942s | all of the departments involved in what |
| 944s | feels good and on the same page right |
| 947s | getting everyone iterating so you know |
| 949s | like in the process we started with |
| 951s | chopping up animations to build an |
| 952s | ability that we thought felt good and |
| 954s | then we wanted to pass that off to |
| 955s | animation to finalize those animations |
| 958s | by chopping up our abilities and making |
| 960s | animations that feel good and then we |
| 962s | can all loop everyone back together and |
| 964s | finalize that ability you know vfx has |
| 966s | the same process too so you know it's |
| 969s | it's a bunch of different departments |
| 970s | iterating on a very micro scale to build |
| 973s | something that is just awesome |
| 976s | yeah the animation team definitely had |
| 978s | to take a deep breath when we went to |
| 980s | them like hey |
| 981s | you know those three-part weapon combos |
| 983s | that we like so much uh we want |
| 985s | different ones for each direction that |
| 987s | you can move in |
| 989s | oh and also you need to be able to weave |
| 991s | between the directionals at any time |
| 995s | that is pretty funny um one of the |
| 997s | things that's uh interesting and is |
| 1000s | always a point of contention for those |
| 1002s | of us who have perhaps played different |
| 1004s | games and have become accustomed to a |
| 1007s | specific |
| 1009s | visual representation of these |
| 1010s | these damage |
| 1012s | floating text right |
| 1014s | and i want to showcase a little bit |
| 1016s | i'm going to let them hit on me for a |
| 1017s | little bit just so you can kind of see |
| 1019s | directionally damage you take which is |
| 1021s | indicated in this red number floats |
| 1023s | towards your left hand side and when you |
| 1026s | do damage to a target they float to your |
| 1030s | right hand side |
| 1031s | now |
| 1032s | one of the very important aspects of |
| 1034s | these floating texts |
| 1036s | is providing the player with |
| 1039s | customization options that they can |
| 1041s | adjust the size of the floating text |
| 1043s | they can adjust the color composition on |
| 1046s | how these texts are represented they can |
| 1048s | also include damage icons to indicate |
| 1052s | the ability that's used for those |
| 1054s | floating texts um and importantly |
| 1057s | excuse me |
| 1059s | we also call out the um uh the crits |
| 1062s | that you do in a separate way how they |
| 1064s | pop in they're slightly above those um |
| 1067s | the other numbers um and then more so we |
| 1069s | also have additional functionality for |
| 1071s | cumulative damage uh value so i'm going |
| 1073s | to kind of go through that you'll see |
| 1075s | here as i press |
| 1077s | uh |
| 1078s | you know different option now we've |
| 1079s | changed the colors |
| 1081s | um whoops hold on let me see make sure |
| 1085s | is that color going off differently or |
| 1087s | am i just do i not have my |
| 1090s | hold on |
| 1092s | is it okay let me try this |
| 1095s | quick |
| 1101s | oh maybe that's not |
| 1104s | oh let me find a different monster i |
| 1106s | hope that's working if it's not we can |
| 1107s | show that a little bit later |
| 1111s | let me press this button oh here we go |
| 1114s | okay so you see the color is changing |
| 1116s | now and that's something that the player |
| 1118s | has agency over right you can assign |
| 1120s | different types of colors that you want |
| 1123s | um |
| 1124s | that was changing i think the one i was |
| 1126s | pressing actually was changing the size |
| 1128s | so let me try to change that size again |
| 1131s | there you go you can see that size now |
| 1132s | is larger you can showcase xp if you |
| 1135s | want you can bold it um |
| 1137s | the numbers a little bit as well but |
| 1139s | providing kind of maximum flexibility |
| 1141s | and character customization um excuse me |
| 1143s | player customization options for these |
| 1145s | floating text i think is super important |
| 1147s | but i love the way that they feel that |
| 1148s | kind of classic um very almost um |
| 1153s | uh what are we saying canon very vanilla |
| 1154s | vibe |
| 1155s | oh yeah sometimes the best flavor is |
| 1158s | just vanilla absolutely totally heavy |
| 1163s | yeah but the ui team's done a great job |
| 1165s | on the functionality for that i think |
| 1167s | it's feeling pretty good |
| 1171s | yeah that's very cool so |
| 1172s | where are we |
| 1173s | now when it comes to kind of the the |
| 1176s | spectrum of light to heavy attack |
| 1179s | options on these basic weapon |
| 1181s | attacks |
| 1182s | um what's kind of next for this as we |
| 1185s | showcase it to the players |
| 1188s | well i think we've sort of defined our |
| 1190s | spectrum with the light and the heavy |
| 1192s | when it comes to |
| 1193s | agency versus weight versus impact |
| 1196s | when you look at the heavy i think we're |
| 1199s | we're close to saying that this is sort |
| 1201s | of the most we want to compromise agency |
| 1204s | for |
| 1205s | weight and impact and once we have that |
| 1208s | upper bound we can sort of play with all |
| 1210s | of the different uh |
| 1212s | intermediate points right as we start to |
| 1213s | build out other weapons |
| 1215s | but we have interesting explorations as |
| 1217s | well and how all of this translates into |
| 1219s | ranged and um also ultimates we might we |
| 1223s | might take the limiters off for |
| 1224s | ultimates and just see what the coolest |
| 1226s | things we can make are yeah that that's |
| 1228s | going to be pretty interesting another |
| 1230s | component by the way of defining um |
| 1233s | kind of this weapon attacks is also the |
| 1235s | visual effects side um and weapon |
| 1238s | trailings the intensity of those weapon |
| 1239s | trailings how they scale based on the |
| 1241s | type of weapon the level of weapon that |
| 1243s | you have uh but not just the trailing on |
| 1245s | the weapon per se but also the grand |
| 1247s | ground decals like for this heavy weapon |
| 1249s | that first strike you see that kind of |
| 1251s | that decal in the ground is i love that |
| 1254s | look and even on the back swing like |
| 1256s | when i hit the ground behind me |
| 1258s | it's causing that decal |
| 1262s | yeah a lot of that stuff gets down into |
| 1264s | the really low level systems details |
| 1266s | like we want to pass |
| 1268s | the artists as much information as we |
| 1271s | can about actual combat ongoings so that |
| 1274s | they can inform the effects as precisely |
| 1276s | as they can |
| 1277s | or as precisely as they need to rather |
| 1280s | yeah and |
| 1282s | we really wanted to um |
| 1284s | build the on a technical side we really |
| 1286s | wanted to build the combat system to |
| 1289s | like like i said earlier be as physical |
| 1291s | as possible so we have it very animation |
| 1293s | driven um everything is handled |
| 1296s | uh based on a reference of animation as |
| 1298s | opposed to uh like |
| 1301s | nebulous timings right which allows it |
| 1303s | to feel very impactful and very |
| 1306s | responsive so when you hit the ground |
| 1308s | the ground decal actually |
| 1310s | appears on the ground when it should uh |
| 1312s | you know that's |
| 1314s | something that may not be seen in other |
| 1316s | mmos so we really wanted to make a big |
| 1318s | focus on that and and focus on the |
| 1320s | responsiveness |
| 1322s | yeah one thing i failed to mention by |
| 1324s | the way apologize for that is actually |
| 1326s | um you guys are seeing |
| 1328s | the pirate male for the first time in |
| 1332s | game i know we've showed him on this on |
| 1333s | the stream before |
| 1335s | um as these character races get further |
| 1337s | fleshed out but here you're seeing him |
| 1339s | in full flesh and blood so to speak |
| 1341s | virtual flesh and blood i guess um |
| 1344s | in the game that's that's pretty cool to |
| 1345s | see i can't wait for players to kind of |
| 1347s | get a look at the customization options |
| 1349s | and the character creator for this |
| 1351s | for this race um uh also another thing |
| 1354s | that's um |
| 1355s | you know |
| 1356s | really important i think is uh the audio |
| 1361s | component and cat has done a phenomenal |
| 1364s | job |
| 1366s | in both the sound design |
| 1368s | for creatures as well as for the |
| 1371s | the weapon and actually |
| 1373s | you guys haven't seen anything yet |
| 1374s | because we have a lot in store on that |
| 1376s | front that i think is going to be is |
| 1378s | going to be pretty cool and it and it's |
| 1380s | all part of the presentation right it's |
| 1382s | all part of what makes |
| 1383s | combat feel good is also the auditory |
| 1387s | component um in that talk to me a little |
| 1390s | bit about the capabilities that that the |
| 1392s | audio team has |
| 1395s | when it comes to accessing combat and |
| 1398s | the abilities |
| 1399s | yeah similar to vfx we plan on piping in |
| 1402s | a lot of information you know that's |
| 1404s | something we've been working a lot on |
| 1405s | recently |
| 1406s | is tooling for vfx and sound effects |
| 1409s | right it's a super important part as you |
| 1411s | said of the package in order to sell |
| 1413s | that weight and that immersion in the |
| 1414s | game |
| 1415s | and there's going to be a lot coming |
| 1417s | online |
| 1418s | so i'm you know really excited to see |
| 1422s | what we have in store for for that so |
| 1424s | yeah |
| 1425s | yeah i don't know if we'll ever show it |
| 1427s | on stream but we've we're we're building |
| 1429s | a sort of a |
| 1430s | singular tool that all of the teams can |
| 1432s | use to build abilities and tweak them uh |
| 1436s | sound of their |
| 1437s | sound effects visual effects animation |
| 1440s | design engineering all using the same |
| 1443s | tool grip |
| 1445s | grounded in animation |
| 1446s | you know to build these abilities |
| 1450s | yeah absolutely another component um |
| 1453s | adam which um |
| 1455s | you guys worked on is camera controls |
| 1457s | and adding |
| 1458s | um talk to me a little bit about the |
| 1462s | the kind of visuals that are provided |
| 1463s | through these cam additional camera |
| 1465s | controls for abilities and combat |
| 1467s | yeah so |
| 1468s | i mean the word of the day has been |
| 1470s | impact and weight right and a lot of |
| 1472s | that is sold through what the the player |
| 1475s | sees you know we didn't want anything to |
| 1476s | be uh nauseating or over the top and you |
| 1479s | know certainly people can adjust it in |
| 1481s | option settings but we wanted something |
| 1483s | that would uh that would sell a lot of |
| 1485s | the weight |
| 1487s | without you know being too over the top |
| 1489s | and too sort of cartoonish right |
| 1492s | and so we implemented a few different |
| 1494s | camera effects you know things like |
| 1496s | camera shake radio blur and a few other |
| 1498s | things involved |
| 1500s | and |
| 1501s | really tried to |
| 1502s | maximize uh |
| 1504s | you know our bang for the buck with |
| 1506s | those to to sell the weight of these |
| 1508s | attacks and it really adds a lot uh |
| 1510s | especially um i've noticed a lot of how |
| 1513s | your peripheral |
| 1515s | interprets the way that the attack |
| 1517s | really sells it for me as a player |
| 1519s | so that's something we've been focusing |
| 1521s | on and it's it's made huge improvements |
| 1524s | to the feeling of these attacks |
| 1527s | yeah absolutely |
| 1529s | i love it |
| 1530s | um |
| 1532s | so |
| 1533s | looking forward |
| 1535s | as we |
| 1537s | continue to flesh out both the medium |
| 1539s | melee weapons and we'll be showcasing |
| 1541s | our ranged weapons in combat |
| 1544s | in a future stream we're also going to |
| 1546s | be talking a little bit about and |
| 1548s | showcasing |
| 1550s | uh which you guys got a little sneak |
| 1551s | peek on a few abilities um some class |
| 1553s | kits and the ability systems as a whole |
| 1556s | um and what we're able to accomplish for |
| 1559s | alpha 2. um of course you know we |
| 1561s | promised at the beginning of this year |
| 1562s | that you guys would be getting some |
| 1564s | pretty exciting |
| 1566s | showcases of all the work that's being |
| 1568s | done on the project towards alpha 2 you |
| 1570s | got that with the character creator you |
| 1572s | got that with the seasons and weather |
| 1573s | systems now you're starting to get a |
| 1575s | little bit of touch on the combat side |
| 1578s | and i know that there's a lot of stuff |
| 1580s | that design has been prepping |
| 1582s | around you know the work that's been |
| 1583s | done on these class kits and and the the |
| 1585s | different archetypes that are going to |
| 1587s | be playable across alpha 2. um but |
| 1590s | there's a lot in store and there's a lot |
| 1591s | of functionality that the engineering |
| 1593s | team has provided our designers when it |
| 1595s | comes to |
| 1596s | both the functionality of certain types |
| 1598s | of abilities as well as the |
| 1600s | synergies possible between them you want |
| 1602s | to talk a little bit adam keenan and |
| 1604s | trout about um what's possible given our |
| 1607s | ability toolkit |
| 1611s | definitely man um i mean we've |
| 1613s | so this whole you know prototype process |
| 1616s | has been kind of you know two steps one |
| 1618s | of those steps was what you know adam |
| 1620s | and keenan were talking about a bit |
| 1622s | there with you know their |
| 1624s | hypotheses on you know what makes good |
| 1627s | feeling combat and they've done a great |
| 1628s | job on that but the other side of that |
| 1630s | was also just you know |
| 1633s | coming up with these almost mock class |
| 1635s | kits um and you know |
| 1637s | the idea was this might not be the final |
| 1640s | class but there will be things that we |
| 1641s | can take from it that would like and |
| 1642s | then get rid of that we don't like |
| 1644s | unless we make something |
| 1646s | and you guys have kind of seen |
| 1648s | some sneak peeks of that already from |
| 1649s | the assassin in the |
| 1651s | previous stream and now you're seeing |
| 1653s | something from weapon master uh that was |
| 1655s | the other one that we took to |
| 1658s | experiment with and contrast these |
| 1660s | different |
| 1661s | types of combat and um |
| 1663s | what i was kind of going for here |
| 1666s | was you know getting fast energies in |
| 1668s | place where you know |
| 1670s | maybe you know for example you've got a |
| 1672s | thing that if you kill someone with one |
| 1674s | of your other abilities it'll reset the |
| 1676s | cooldown on one of these abilities and |
| 1677s | there was a lot of that kind of stuff |
| 1679s | going on |
| 1680s | in this kit whereas there wasn't so much |
| 1682s | of that interaction in the kits and you |
| 1684s | know the previous outfit it was an area |
| 1686s | that we felt could really improve |
| 1688s | and the good thing about that um whole |
| 1691s | exercise that we did is we came up with |
| 1693s | a lot of cool abilities you're not |
| 1694s | seeing them all here but um |
| 1697s | they you know |
| 1699s | what it really did for us is it |
| 1700s | developed our tools because we realized |
| 1702s | oh we can't do this or we can't do that |
| 1704s | and so like the designers and adam and |
| 1707s | keenan |
| 1708s | here would |
| 1709s | kind of go back and forth and say like |
| 1710s | you know |
| 1712s | designers need to be able to do this |
| 1713s | particular thing that we can't currently |
| 1715s | do and then they would take that and |
| 1716s | make it possible |
| 1718s | so we're really putting our method |
| 1720s | forward here now we're |
| 1722s | going into like the full class design |
| 1723s | we're gonna have a lot of stuff that we |
| 1725s | can get the crowd running absolutely |
| 1727s | oh go ahead kevin |
| 1729s | oh i was just gonna sort of build on |
| 1731s | tracks point like all of these exercises |
| 1734s | or throughout all of these exercises |
| 1736s | we're very careful |
| 1737s | on the |
| 1738s | ability system side to make sure that |
| 1741s | when we're adding something new we make |
| 1743s | it as modular as possible we really want |
| 1745s | to think of these abilities as being |
| 1747s | made out of like lego pieces |
| 1750s | not being sort of like molded from a |
| 1752s | single block of clay so whenever we're |
| 1755s | trying something and we build something |
| 1756s | new that's a new piece that we can have |
| 1758s | that we have to explore and combine with |
| 1760s | all of the other pieces that we've |
| 1762s | already made |
| 1763s | absolutely um the other thing that's |
| 1765s | important and is important probably for |
| 1767s | players to understand with regards to |
| 1768s | alpha 2 is that this is another testing |
| 1771s | ground right alpha 2 is a test and |
| 1773s | in alpha 2 we're going to represent |
| 1776s | components of the class kits and the |
| 1778s | ability system that may not make it to |
| 1780s | launch but it is a perfect area for us |
| 1783s | to kind of get both player feedback as |
| 1786s | well as |
| 1787s | for us to log data |
| 1789s | around its usage its impact its um you |
| 1791s | know feasibility as essentially a |
| 1793s | component of our class kits right we're |
| 1795s | going to be experimenting a lot |
| 1797s | with regards to that for alpha 2. |
| 1801s | so |
| 1802s | it's very exciting um definitely we're |
| 1804s | just getting started yes absolutely well |
| 1807s | guys this has been a |
| 1809s | fun stream i think um |
| 1812s | i really enjoy |
| 1813s | obviously talking about this stuff and |
| 1815s | showcasing the hard work that you guys |
| 1816s | are doing everybody on the team is doing |
| 1818s | across um everyone that makes combat a a |
| 1821s | fun and tactile thing for us to play |
| 1823s | with um there's a lot that goes into it |
| 1825s | but |
| 1826s | i think the team is hitting it out of |
| 1828s | the park with these showcases as we show |
| 1830s | you know essentially what our quality |
| 1832s | bar is for |
| 1833s | ashes of creation so i want to thank |
| 1835s | everybody for tuning in and watching |
| 1838s | please make sure it's very important |
| 1839s | that you guys give feedback uh with |
| 1841s | regards to kind of what you saw today |
| 1843s | um you know it is always something that |
| 1846s | we are iterating upon uh but |
| 1849s | generally based on |
| 1851s | what feedback we already received out of |
| 1852s | alpha one and the pursuits that our |
| 1855s | engineering side as well as our design |
| 1857s | side have been |
| 1858s | have been examining and and and playing |
| 1860s | around with we feel really confident in |
| 1862s | this approach for the basic weapon melee |
| 1865s | attacks um but we want to hear your |
| 1867s | guys's feedback what you thought of |
| 1868s | today so make sure to comment both in |
| 1870s | the youtube section |
| 1871s | as well as on stream on our forums on |
| 1873s | our discord connect everywhere we value |
| 1875s | your feedback very much it is an |
| 1877s | important part of creating ashes of |
| 1878s | creation and remember this is a work in |
| 1881s | progress this is something that we are |
| 1882s | still expanding upon something that we |
| 1885s | are still improving um it is never truly |
| 1887s | finished but of course uh it is getting |
| 1890s | close to to alpha 2 ready um thank you |
| 1893s | guys again for tuning in uh adam keenan |
| 1896s | trad thank you guys for being a part of |
| 1898s | it always appreciate the insight and the |
| 1900s | talents you guys bring to ashes of |
| 1901s | creation as a as a game um we're very |
| 1904s | happy to have you guys so everybody in |
| 1906s | chat give a give hearts for our awesome |
| 1909s | guests today and i will see you guys |
| 1911s | back on stream |
| 1920s | [Music] |
| 1955s | you |