[2023] Development Update with UI Process & Progress - 11AM PT Friday, February 24, 2023 | Ashes of Creation Dev Tracker

Transcript (by Youtube)

14s	[Music] foreign [Music]
16s	and Welcome to our glorious February development update for ashes of creation we hope that
22s	you've been having a wonderful and lovely month if you haven't been following us we
27s	did release a really cute calendar with lots of lovelies oh yeah that was that was so cool
34s	yeah I loved a little calendar Peter uh came up with the concept and um I think Mike Vecchio
41s	was the one who put it together so social media and Graphics team like we always say
47s	we have like a different team that handles like Community stuff versus um the lovely
52s	development team that's rocking and rolling on the dev side um because I didn't notice
57s	some comments that were like why are you guys working on this when you should be working
60s	on the game like they're different people
61s	yes there's a lot of that a lot of people contributing absolutely yeah and our team
70s	is always trying to make sure that you guys have cool stuff and you get to see all the
73s	things on this social media and things of that sort if you you know you aren't able
78s	to keep up with us at every moment it was the it was the month of love with the Valentine's
83s	Day we had a little uh a little guess um a thing that Margaret did with the studio you
91s	put a bunch of candies in this like heart-shaped um Voss and then you told everyone to uh to
99s	kind of guess and we had a bunch of winners didn't we yeah we um I tried to like use like
105s	heart-shaped jelly beans because this is how nerdy our Engineers are they're like like
110s	well I know how how much a jelly bean weighs and they're like trying to math it out to
114s	guess it was really funny and there were some artists that wanted to render actually the
118s	size of the heart-shaped in a 3D model I think as well I heard too fun um but yeah I had
127s	like four three different colors of jelly beans and so they guessed the overall and
131s	then each of the different colored jelly beans and the two closest to each of them Price
136s	is Right style so you can't go over at the guess I know I can announce them if you um
143s	actually afterwards when I found out um you know kind of the prize and whatnot I I suggested
150s	that the studio should have collaborated on all guessing one so that everyone would have
153s	tied for first place and it would have just been a studio-wide pizza party oh see next
158s	time you guys uh he's letting us game aside don't you gonna get yourself into trouble
163s	I can't they're not letting it's a game Studio I'm surprised no designer said hey we should
168s	do this but yeah Cody um Yamamoto because we have multiple Cody's uh Trad Roy and Kyle
176s	Grossman and Cameron and Jason Glenn and Mitch Evans and Matthew Lim so those were our winners
182s	the closest guessers and the only person who guessed like spot on I believe was uh let
187s	me double check because I've wrote it because only one for the guest spot on spot on number
193s	wow that was Cameron Cameron got like the red candies exactly the amount which was 154
199s	and then Kyle was the closest to getting almost all of them right because he was very close
204s	on all the guesses except for the red ones I was like dang he he was pretty good at like
208s	guessing how many were in the jar um but yeah it was kind of fun just fun it was fun internal
215s	stuff and then we had little candy you know like little candy treat bags for everybody
218s	as well oh that was cool we celebrated a little bit with the month of love for funsies and
224s	made a little game out of it because you know we're game designers game folks game developers
228s	um but with that of course we do have a lovely stream for you all today which is going to
233s	be uh just to if you've never been here before uh down below you can see kind of what the
238s	Run of show will be which uh we'll be going over reminders quick we have a UI update well
243s	we actually had a chat with Colby who's our UI ux lead or lead UI ux designer I think
249s	is the actual title um and Stephen and I had a lovely chat with them and we will be playing
255s	that because yeah we noticed some people don't want to do this last recordings right well
260s	we noticed that last um uh last month when we were showcasing uh the tank that there
267s	was a lot of positivity around the direction of the UI styling and the UI windows that
274s	you guys got to get a little sneak peek of and so for this month we thought it would
278s	be a really great idea to kind of walk through what updates have are now existing in the
284s	UI lands uh for ashes of creation and it is it is a pretty in-depth process um and I think
291s	you guys are going to be tickled to kind of learn more about it so anyways we had a good
297s	conversation we've shown the process of how we create other things in the past but we
300s	haven't gone over necessarily the nitty-gritty when it comes to UI so we hope that you guys
305s	like seeing that and you know we won't do all all of things like this but you know yes
310s	and then one thing that's nice one thing I want to make sure though as you guys are seeing
315s	some of these windows so so the beginning of the the kind of um uh discussion is going
320s	to be more about the modularity and the elements of the um of the UI and then near the end
326s	of the conversation we show some full-on um uh system Windows some of those are going
331s	to be crafting some are going to be a few other things remember it is very important
336s	to remember that the we are still in active development and what you see on those windows
341s	because I know everyone out there is going to start inspecting and zooming and talking
346s	about all the little numbers and and details that live on these system Windows that everything
353s	is subject to change uh through development so um take that with a grain of salt yeah
359s	and we will also be going over some character art and there's a little bit of a concept
364s	our environment that's part of that as well and then we'll do our studio update and questions
369s	and answers and then we have a little outro that a little teaser about what's to come
374s	so definitely stay all the way till the end um but uh with that we'll just get right into
381s	the quick updates and first and foremost we have our YouTube subscriber comment um so
387s	if you'd like your uh your comments spotlighted all you have to do is follow our YouTube channel
393s	or subscribe to our YouTube channel and comment on our development updates so whenever we
396s	put this video up we will be looking to see who folks who are subscribed to us and this
402s	comment today is from fish toes8901 maybe they're a tolnar uh but they asked
412s	what are your plans for rewarding exploration for instance will there be hidden secret quest
417s	lines or possibly secret doors zones that give no hints to being to being there but
424s	if you have a specific class group composition you can use your synergies to open them up
429s	and then be rewarded with either rare items or even better unique items that are limited
434s	to either only one or very few per server we do have artifacts yeah absolutely um boy
441s	their exploration is a huge part of the game and there are a lot of systems that are dedicated
449s	to rewarding exploration I don't know for many of you who have been following for a
455s	while now um Circa 2018-2019 we gave a few pre-alpha demonstrations around some utility
464s	spells the ability kind of to discover hidden tracks or doorways that can only be revealed
470s	through a Mages utility spell of Arcane eye or something and those can reveal passageways
476s	that might contain hidden quests they definitely Grant exploration experience there are relics
485s	in the world that can only be discovered if you're in a certain location at a certain
489s	time there are constellations that can only be seen at a certain time at a certain location
495s	so you know it it's it's it's kind of um uh widespread how exploration can affect many
505s	different progression paths within the game um and and it's not just about kind of visiting
510s	an area once and never coming back because timing matters as well um so you know it's
517s	it's part of what makes an MMO and MMO is that immersive feeling being able to go out
521s	into the world and discover things and have those discoveries impact your gameplay to
526s	a degree um you know that's part of creating a holistic world uh that feels immersive so
533s	exploration is a very big part of of Ashes of creation it intersects with a lot of different
538s	systems yeah explore click things look around interact with people and NPCs who you don't
545s	you know normally see there will be things absolutely for sure for you to to do I remember
551s	in a um one of uh one game I played um they had these unique achievement a unique Achievement
559s	System where they granted you items for kind of reaching um uh unique locations within
565s	the world like if you got to the top of a mountain for the first time you would unlock
568s	yeah you'd unlock like a a a unique achievement and that would Grant you an item that you
573s	could then use economically in some way shape or form um and we don't necessarily do that
579s	for just reaching certain Vistas however there are also Treasures that can exist out in the
584s	world and maps that you can find that take you and and kind of encourage that that exploration
592s	where you can reap a reward that is uh economic and gain so that's also another episode one
599s	we had a couple little jumping puzzles and people who got there oh yeah the treasure
603s	chests that were there that had leaving them so don't worry we'll we'll have stuff for
607s	y'all trusted love making those jumping puzzles I'm certain they do and of course just a quick
613s	reminder of our monthly cosmetic swap over for songs of the Goddess that is scheduled
618s	for March 8th and we'll have our next set are ready for you as well and reminder that
622s	these are things that we're going to be using for NPCs creatures buildings and stuff like
627s	that in the world so our goal is to kind of utilize them for design oriented things and
635s	by the way I noticed there's a few comments I apologize I'm not in the studio uh this
638s	week I'm actually in Las Vegas again there is a yes there is a convention here for the
644s	gaming industry for executives and and kind of the business side of things uh in Vegas
651s	and so I'm here for that but I'll be returning back to the studio today I was just a quick
654s	trip I was here just a couple very quick trip because you just left I know like last night
659s	right in the news yes coming back today um but yeah we you may see a few of us every
665s	once in a while at some of these events for for this year primarily for Biz Dev stuff
669s	so but if you see us say hi you know yeah and if you're a developer and if you know
673s	what developers and you want to recommend them to the studio we will be at I will be
678s	at gdce and perhaps a couple more in the studio will be at GDC next month as well which is
683s	the game developer conference up in San Francisco so um just to keep thoughts of that and I'll
688s	be at PAX East and Gen Con this year so definitely come say hi if you're you're looking to chat
693s	with us yeah yeah and with that I think we are ready to move on to our UI update I think
700s	we'll just toss it over there and we'll see you when we return back yeah and I know you
704s	mentioned this real quick this was recorded a couple of days ago um so you're gonna see
710s	the discrepancy in the time of day it's night time but yeah we had a lot of fun
723s	and welcome a new face to our lovely development update we have Colby how are you doing hello
731s	welcome welcome Colby I'm doing really well yeah excited to be on the live stream yeah
736s	I know this is the first time this is the first time we've ever actually had an in-depth
739s	focus on UI in the game and and uh I think it's gonna be a pretty interesting topic a
744s	lot of people are going to get some insight yeah tell us a little bit about yourself yeah
748s	well let's see um where to start I guess I've been a gamer for my entire life as long as
755s	I've known um what was the first game that you remember playing he came out of the room
760s	with an Atari yeah um let's see NES playing some Mario yeah dying a lot um but yeah so
772s	been a gamer my whole life got into gaming after going to school for you know 3D art
778s	and being a concept artist and then eventually found my way into UI and I've been doing that
783s	for seven or eight years now so yes awesome when it comes to UI what's like your favorite
789s	part about it like what what kind of inspires you yeah it's kind of a mixture of things
795s	I mean I love being able to use all my artistic skills that I've built up over the years but
799s	then it's kind of a cool logical puzzle right we're like looking into how people react psychologically
805s	too yeah you know different information Pure Element of design that always intrigues me
811s	too there's a lot of that when it comes to Communications as well which is like you know
816s	a lot of Behavioral stuff um whenever you're creating UI it's not just you you've got some
822s	homies as well do you want to talk a little bit about your team I know that was something
826s	you really wanted to do be careful once you start naming names like Steven does you gotta
830s	name it gotta get all of them yeah um no we've been super fortunate here I came in and joined
837s	the team about a year ago and was joining the scene with grat and Tim who are to our
842s	two of our UI engineers yeah um and then we grew the team pretty quickly on the UI Art
848s	and Design side so we've got Jeff we've got Natalie and we have drew who are all helping
854s	make this all happen so everything you'll see is going to be yeah you guys have you
859s	have built actually a great team and you know for the longest time um many of you guys out
864s	in the audience will know as watching the project over time that there hasn't been much
868s	love given to uh the UI front over the years but you probably now have seen especially
875s	with our last stream a little bit of the peak under the hood for what's been going on with
880s	the UI team and they have been doing an absolutely Stellar uh job um I think we we have found
885s	a we found the magic uh in this team so very excited for what you're going to show today
890s	Colby and the progress that everyone on your team has made for the game I mean it just
896s	looks great yeah we always have worked with a lot of programmer UI and then it comes into
899s	the beautification happens and we're we're now there yeah because because before you
904s	get to the point where you are really understanding and cognizant of the nitty-gritty details
909s	that a particular system might have some of that UI work can be wasted when it gets reauthored
914s	or it gets refactored right and now we're at a place where are a lot of these gdds and
919s	these systems are shut up or stood up or should have are stood up and ready to kind of have
924s	complementary UI associated with it and that's what we I think are are really excited about
928s	seeing that come to life seeing the style and seeing everything you guys are doing is
933s	it looks great yeah yeah that's a great transition into you know the style element of it before
939s	we even get too crazy into showing you like the end goal there's a lot of elements that
945s	are the steps prior to that so I don't know if you want to first kind of walk us through
950s	what goes into creating like a style guide for UI and if you want me to bring up anything
955s	on the screen just let me know as well yeah I mean uh there's a lot of work that goes
960s	into building UI it's not just you know coming up with a bunch of things and throwing it
965s	onto screens and um you know we we put a lot of thought into this and we wanted to take
970s	our time to build a real good style guide so we can you know make sure our windows are
975s	consistent and uh yeah we can start showing some of the stuff we can show you guys the
980s	process we went through so um so we'll first bring that you guys are going to be seeing
986s	and Colby if you want to talk just a little bit about because a lot of people probably
990s	aren't accustomed to that modular approach and how you kind of Define these borders and
993s	whatnot give them a little bit of context to what they're about to see they're going
997s	to see some of these elements and be like what is this yeah I guess we'll show you a
1001s	lot of little pieces that are going to be part of a bigger picture eventually so um
1007s	we really start with like shape language and all these little components and you know we
1012s	start designing out what are the what are the motifs these like you know simple the
1018s	graphic elements that'll help sell you know what is the ashes of creation UI what is it
1022s	all going to look like um and so we start with a lot of Explorations like this is just
1027s	a small chunk of what we've worked through um and we're using those to start building
1031s	up and building up and make what you know a cohesive style that you'll see so like these
1036s	will be like the corners of your friend your window frames um and these will be what determines
1041s	what the line breaks look like and I know it's all very subtle and a lot of people may
1045s	not notice it all the time in games but we wanted to get a really nice subtle but still
1051s	fantasy style uh going through here right and there's a lot of different directions
1055s	that UI can take I mean many of us who have played a lot of games can see the Spectrum
1061s	from really bulky invasive heavy kind of elements that you're accustomed to from the late 90s
1067s	to the early 2000s and where the directions gone for UI a little bit with more modern
1072s	games and more minimalistic approach talk to us a little bit about kind of the differences
1077s	in those philosophies yeah totally and it's it's definitely a flavor approach right so
1082s	um people choose between one of those things and so one of the first things we always do
1087s	is We Gather tons of reference and so we're all sitting down in a room and we're saying
1091s	oh what do we what do we see as the ashes of creation UI and we you know start picking
1096s	from these different more complex and artistic or more subtle and minimalistic or you know
1102s	a balance of the mix um right and I remember some of the first conversations that you and
1108s	I had um with the broader team is with those reference boards kind of dialing in what that
1114s	visual you know looks like for ashes of creation and we saw modern takes on it we saw older
1122s	takes on a traditional takes on it bulkier takes on it um and even the filigree down
1127s	to the very minute details of these borders and these and these Corners like there's just
1132s	so many examples that live there and you guys did a great job kind of condensing that feedback
1137s	down into a very cool cohesive approach for the style talk to us about a little bit about
1142s	like you know how you utilize these corners and edges to kind of populate in a more modular
1147s	fashion the broader design of the UI yeah so a big portion of what we do is kind of
1155s	creating this like tool kit basically so rather than having every time you go to a screen
1160s	we have something new it's here are all of these different things that we'll use to build
1166s	a set of windows that are all going to look like they're built the same way they're going
1170s	to have a similar theme throughout and yeah we build in engine we'll build a bunch of
1176s	these things as like components so when we go in like the first screens we built always
1181s	take the longest because it's going to be you know we're building all the little parts
1185s	that we put in and then once we do a button it's like oh hey here's the button and then
1188s	we'll keep populating those buttons throughout and then like we're trying to build as smart
1193s	as possible because we have a pretty big game ahead of us um and so everything we're doing
1198s	is built modular so that we can update in one place and it'll go throughout the whole
1203s	game so if we decide hey we want our buttons to be you know 10 brighter here you go it's
1208s	quick um absolutely yeah and as you can see some of these along the way oh go ahead sorry
1214s	I didn't mean oh yeah no it's okay um yeah as you can see on screen I mean there's a
1218s	there are a ton of different Explorations that we went through here that um you know
1223s	we started with that really rough just shape exploration and we picked our favorites from
1227s	it after we kind of had like settled on a more you know smaller narrow uh set of styles
1233s	and then we just explored what does that look like on a screen what does it look like you
1238s	know with Corner elements and line elements and breaks and then you can see we start putting
1243s	them into windows so that we can share and get you know feedback um and that this process
1249s	takes a while but it's totally worth it in the end so we have a really good foundation
1253s	to keep moving forward from I think the next group we had here was the inventory process
1261s	and this is kind of showing the process like the walkthrough of like when you first start
1265s	designing stuff into what it looks like once it's in game correct and so we'll start with
1270s	the gray box if you want to talk a little bit about how that works yeah so this is giving
1275s	people a little bit of insight on how we approach different screens so the whole UI process
1281s	usually starts with something like this which is called ux so user experience Focus design
1286s	and so what we're doing is we're you know these are just a couple of small mocks based
1290s	like the document for the inventory is actually probably like four or five pages long and
1296s	it goes over all the little details of how you interact with things um and so actually
1300s	that's a good part of the able to click an icon and drag it from one box to another like
1305s	it's a lot of those little things that designs are designing and and that's actually a a
1310s	good um uh point to bring up as part of that initial ideation or that pipeline flow you're
1315s	reviewing these GG DS and understanding kind of what are the system requirements that you
1320s	from ux perspective have to incorporate as part of these wireframes or as part of these
1324s	mocks yeah so we work with designers constantly here we're talking with them about how to
1329s	make their designs more user friendly and how to you know accommodate what we want to
1335s	what we want to make and make it the best version of it so we work back and forth we'll
1340s	create these gray boxes which can go over like uh Margaret said literally like how what
1345s	does it look like when you're dragging an item and it goes over all these little interactions
1349s	because we will build these things and then we'll pass them off to Engineers we'll hook
1354s	it all up and make all the functions work and those guys are you know trying to get
1359s	every little detail working just right so it plays really great and the next step after
1363s	the gray box is like approved we go to an art Mock and so we take that style and if
1368s	there's anything new we start applying those things and showing what filters look like
1372s	and uh other things in the in that nature and when you're talking about filters can
1378s	you go a little into more detail regarding what that is oh yeah so this one specifically
1383s	is just like the filters on the backpack so uh if we want to be able to search for just
1387s	equipment we can click equipment and it'll you know we're going to show hey like when
1392s	we do that we're gonna fade out the icon so that you can see just the equipment but we
1396s	don't want to reorganize your whole inventory because we know how players are about their
1400s	inventory storage I'm very organized I like my stuff kind of CD about it me too I'm as
1407s	organized as the button that auto sorts my inventory Colby and I have like a love for
1414s	organization I know whenever we're writing documents
1419s	yeah and then oh sorry this oh no it's okay yeah and this gets put straight into the game
1425s	um so kind of like what you've seen with our Concepts to 3D we're kind of a little bit
1430s	more of a uh kind of Silent or not silent but we have a little small team that builds
1437s	the stuff all together and we work with the designers we were the engineers your service
1442s	oriented team really these requests can come in from engineering from design from you know
1447s	art or whatever and your your guys's job is to kind of like understand where the request
1451s	needs to service and deliver kind of that um those elements to those teams yeah and
1458s	we're the support team we come in and we help make the design come to life and be playable
1462s	and interactable and then we get a lot of feedback and you know we build these things
1466s	to be easy to change and work like that's why we work so modulars because you know if
1472s	something we play it and we're like oh that's not quite right we can go and tune that and
1475s	move it back and get it working just right and so that's showing here the uh concept
1481s	coming right into the game and we have a whole toolkit that lets us build these windows a
1485s	lot faster now that we've you know assembled that yeah and a lot of players oh no no I'm
1491s	so sorry go ahead I was gonna say and obviously we're just showing the inventory but we do
1495s	this with like every piece of UI that we're going forward with and there's a lot of back
1499s	and forth and um you know obviously when we're we're creating these things we're also keeping
1504s	in mind a lot of the customization that you guys want as well um so you know there's maybe
1509s	there may be options in the future where you can change different colors and so those automatically
1514s	adjust to everything for those those specific elements and things of that sort especially
1519s	for colorblind folks we know that that's something that we want to support yeah and I was just
1523s	going to talk a little that was what I was going to comment on was um Colby share with
1528s	our audience I think kind of your philosophy when it comes to customizing and options um
1535s	you know as a player obviously I know you have your own desires when you play these
1539s	games tell us how we're going to be doing things differently in ashes yeah we're gonna
1544s	have a basically everything in the game will be customizable as much as we can support
1549s	so all of our windows will be scalable all of our um UI we have you know a bunch of scaling
1557s	options already exposed at this point in the game um and you know moving forward we've
1562s	already been working on a HUD editor you'll be able to you know uniquely scale all of
1567s	your different uh HUD elements and you know change potentially choose for different uh
1572s	styles of those elements uh it's going to be as much customization as we can fit in
1577s	there which because like a lot of streamers have specific UI colors or they want like
1584s	their camera to be in a certain spot so you build like move stuff around the way that
1588s	you kind of like it to be and I feel like every MMO player plays differently like I
1593s	like my stuff kind of like in a specific space and I know that other people do not and some
1598s	people who just have it all there I'm like it's so much well and it's not even it's not
1602s	even that each player plays differently it's almost even role dependent like when I'm playing
1608s	a cleric the positioning of my uh of my name plate for my targeting plate is very different
1616s	than if I'm playing a DPS right like I want that front and center I want to see the the
1621s	party uh you know list in the middle of my screen and have the target living in the center
1625s	as well uh but I don't necessarily want that when I'm playing a different role and so I
1629s	think you know having that as you mentioned the customization options to kind of resize
1633s	but not just resize place in different locations and Associate different connections and having
1639s	them hook into the side and you know there's just a lot of like um you know ideas that
1645s	we've discussed a lot with the UI team as a whole is like where's been our greatest
1649s	pain point as players and how can we address those in the designs that we're going to be
1654s	emphasizing with our with our UI yeah yeah I see that kind of conversation happening
1659s	more than just with UI I see that happening oh yeah when we're talking about web where
1662s	we're talking about all the design oh Colby's favorite thing is to see a designer in their
1668s	gdd try to mock up the uh the USA
1675s	I live for those you know I'm always ashamed when I'm making graphic stuff because Colby
1679s	and Mike are just amazing and I'm like oh look at my stuff oh we have a full team people
1684s	they're great at that they do amazing work so yeah but but obviously the desire there
1689s	for you know a designer incorporating that as part of their gdd is they're trying to
1692s	communicate to Colby and the team like what are they trying to get out of a particular
1696s	system with with UI right um and that's always a great informational piece but it's not you
1701s	get a kick out of it sometimes yeah well and it's one of those strengths of our team too
1705s	is people just know games right we have a bunch of we're not just developers we're all
1710s	Gamers so everybody comes together and they're like oh well in this game it worked like this
1714s	and that can give us a great like lead on oh you want it you want the design to kind
1719s	of fit this world Okay cool so you know that people are going to ask this uh specifically
1725s	because of what you brought up Steven in regards to you know different roles you want different
1729s	types of UI layouts will people be able to save a layout and be able to like loaded up
1735s	based on what role they're playing oh we've discussed that in the past that's absolutely
1739s	a desire is that as you as you're sorry go ahead Kobe oh it's okay yeah we like one of
1746s	the first things we did when we were starting to kind of block in the very base features
1751s	of our HUD editor it was talking about saving and loading profiles we're going to have options
1755s	for like hey when I'm in a raid automatically change my UI to this UI yeah when I'm in a
1762s	party I can change my UI to a specific thing so it really will lend itself to customizing
1767s	your experience and we want to have really our our kind of uh mantras really solid defaults
1772s	so most people won't need to touch anything but then the customization for everybody who
1777s	wants to yeah and that's all that's always you know it's funny when we kind of have um
1782s	points of maybe contention or subjective kind of uh differences that we as players talk
1787s	about often time it lives in the I know absolutely but it lives in the realm between well what's
1794s	default fault and then how are we giving the players the option to change that right and
1798s	that I think is is really the key in providing those things and as Colby said like you know
1804s	our objective of course on the default side is to make it most applicable to a broad audience
1809s	but give the flexibility that you can do whatever you want based on the many years you've been
1812s	playing games and have you know developed your own idiosyncrasies or habits uh that
1816s	you prefer yeah like I'm a weird player who plays with like I know a lot of people do
1820s	wazda I'm like rdfg because I like having more keys around my my hand to be able to
1825s	hit buttons versus like not so I know and I know some people are like that's so weird
1831s	I don't know how you could do that but it's just like when you train yourself for you
1834s	know 20 years uh you get used to it but it's not forever yeah I'm super weird as well I
1840s	use I I really only on my left hand use the hotkeys between tilde and five and then I
1846s	use a function uh to do the later hotkeys in the in the hot Barbara exactly I want everything
1853s	to be easy to accept access I don't have to stretch my hand across the keyboard there's
1860s	no button past six
1861s	um but and then there's some people who just like clicking stuff which I know like some
1868s	people hate that but it's it is very interesting to see how different people play um yeah and
1872s	there's a right way and a wrong way I'm just kidding yeah but we do have some more stuff
1877s	to go through so I want to kind of get through that and it's you had a lot of iconography
1880s	stuff so I don't know if you want to preempt this before we head into talking a little
1885s	bit about that yeah I mean we can just look through these slides we've done a ton of iconography
1890s	work and kind of similar to the similarly to what we're going to be doing for like a
1895s	style guide for the UI we're going to be building out style guides small ones for each of the
1901s	types of icons so these are showing like you know some ideation on the class iconography
1906s	um or the icons that go at the edge of the different um window treatments but yeah oh
1912s	yes sorry archetypes yes there are classes too yes um but yeah but also that's a good
1919s	point actually bringing up the differences between the r the archetype and the class
1924s	and how perhaps an icon can be promoted uh from its archetype State up to the class State
1931s	and still Salvage that iconography from the base archetype true so you kind of know what
1935s	your base your primary archetype is based on like your class right icon yeah we're trying
1941s	to get that whole idea you know locked down so when you can see someone you can tell what
1945s	they are and you know what I'm dealing with here so yeah and that's the primary purpose
1949s	right of these types of UI elements is communicating that information I mean you have whole purpose
1955s	is communicating the information to the player uh but at a glance with these particular icons
1960s	right and that's the whole you know I'm getting an understanding and I I'm familiar with that
1965s	sword because it's the tank or something yep yeah I mean it's it's a fine line for UI of
1970s	like making something very very like aesthetically pleasing but also also making sure you know
1975s	satisfies that like Base information it needs to tell me so here you can see some of our
1980s	ideation between the uh ability effects and how we go from you know quick you know sketches
1986s	and moving them forward into ability icons um and we're going to have different like
1991s	styles for different size of things too so you know ability icons are all going to fall
1995s	into one style and then like if we do a class emblem it'll be more detailed if we do something
2001s	really tiny it's got to be really simple as you can see with like these ones on the right
2004s	here they're just going to be some of them are map oriented so they have to be able to
2008s	you have to be able to see them and understand what they are when they're like one by one
2013s	pixel yeah some of the graphic ones are the hardest ones to do because they're just you
2017s	have to tell me what that is right there yeah [Music] yeah so we've done a lot of great
2023s	work on these um Natalie and Jeff have done a ton of awesome Explorations on these Natalie's
2029s	been doing all the painting for the uh class abilities you guys have seen in the last live
2034s	streams and they've just been fantastic [Music] very very good yeah I love the uh the Vivid
2042s	nature of these icons especially for the ability icons um the strong contrast that exists within
2049s	the icon itself that you know lends to that easy communication of the ability recognition
2055s	um is super important yeah we're hoping to have a really awesome set of icons for you
2060s	guys yeah all right yeah and with that I think we're going to move into some like actual
2067s	mocks that are in game right yeah it's not quite in game well some of them may be in
2074s	game but uh yes these are just gonna be the uh art mocks for what we've built so far there's
2080s	some extra ones that are in the works and things that are partial but these ones are
2084s	yeah nice take a look at these we're we're going to be talking a little bit about kind
2089s	of these are going to be inspected like crazy I know they're gonna zoom in on every little
2095s	thing so now I would like to preface though uh for those of you who are going to zoom
2101s	in on every little detail that as always this is a work in progress and things are subject
2107s	to change um some things are even placeholder in these uh so take it with a grain of salt
2116s	yeah not everything is built 100 accurate so every single system these are just mocks
2122s	to get everything especially as people play more of the game they'll we'll be adjusting
2128s	things and changing things and seeing what works and what doesn't so uh you know when
2132s	Alpha 2 comes around that's when the feedback is going to be very very important so yes
2137s	yeah oh and so this is kind of a we wanted to include this which is showing like all
2141s	of the different buttons and uh accordions and filter buttons and drop downs that we
2148s	use to build all these different screens so you know combined with the style guide that
2151s	we had before we're going to use these and we're we build out all of our screens which
2155s	you'll see why they're called accordions is because it like opens up these are things
2158s	that like open up and kind of expand so you can see like more of your quests or more of
2164s	whatever it is and whenever you interface with this particular UI element it actually
2168s	plays the audio cue of an accordion in the background yeah that'd be fun don't give cat
2173s	a heart attack she's like what are you getting me into also like our audio is amazing too
2179s	and not only does UI interact with design and Engineering but they're also working with
2184s	audio and visual effects like there's a lot of coordination that has to happen
2188s	is a dialogue and I think there's a couple dialogue ones right yeah we show a couple
2197s	different steps so this will be like when you're talking to an NPC going through your
2201s	your uh you know potential options of what you can talk about you could ask additional
2206s	questions or you could jump straight into a quest um hook whatever it happens to be
2212s	so some of our base treatments here and then this is the quest delivery so if you're you
2218s	know talking to that NPC and they have something for you to start you know a task you know
2222s	we'll present this as a you know make your choice do you want to start this task right
2226s	now and give you the details that you have and some some objectives may be hidden um
2232s	depending on the quest so
2233s	yeah okay what Stephen I was just gonna say you know it's a a lot of I've seen a lot of
2243s	interesting iterations for how Quest gets delivered um you know from when I interface
2249s	with an NPC I move into this kind of alternate camera mode and I have the NPC kind of talking
2254s	to me with I have the bar underneath it but I think that um you know when you're servicing
2259s	uh multiple dialogue trees that have many different options this approach is is is is
2265s	really um conducive to kind of you know keeping those options front and center to the player
2271s	letting them see that and and navigating through the dialogue tree uh with a very easy to interact
2278s	with um uh uh Quest window that you've mentioned in our previous yes in Alpha One yeah one
2287s	of our one of our early iterations um for UI as a placeholder was really that long bar
2293s	at the bottom screen kind of um uh approach um I'm really liking this it'd be great to
2298s	get feedback as you guys are kind of watching this as all always it's very important for
2302s	you guys to give feedback on what you're seeing it's uh I know we'll talk about that at the
2306s	end but um yeah I do I do love these these look great yeah in the backpack which people
2313s	got a little glimpse of some of this when we were showing our live stream last uh month
2318s	yeah everything's coming online becoming a little bit more usable and functional and
2323s	we're just our main goal as UI is to get things in game and usable so that we can really test
2328s	it because ultimately you can design anything on paper but really you got to get your hands
2333s	on it in order to absolutely I like uh I think we saw a lot of commentary in regards to segmenting
2339s	the the backpack into different uh you know like harvesting bowls and things like that
2345s	um yeah gatherables I should say in quest items people really liked seeing that oh absolutely
2351s	especially with the way our game is going to work with the materials being a little
2354s	bit you know of a different interaction so definitely yeah yeah and then the quest items
2359s	is that quality of life because as MMO players we all know searching for the you know one
2365s	vial that's not the vials of your potions but it's the quest item absolutely and it's
2371s	always great to have in the quest tracker that actually is living on the HUD with you
2374s	that accessibility for the item so you don't have to go digging for an activatable per
2379s	se oh my gosh yeah we'll be doing that too supporting that like has that support right
2384s	there for you it's nice yeah um or something that you can drag on your to your bar easily
2389s	things like that yeah exactly and then we've got blacksmithing
2393s	oh my God this is the first look I think we've shown of the crafting systems and this is
2403s	kind of our fast crafting so not necessarily what we will be end goal right Stephen yeah
2410s	absolutely yeah talk talk to us a little bit Colby about kind of Designing uh for the kind
2416s	of crafting needs yeah we work with designers a lot on these so we've been talking with
2421s	them about everything they want to get done so this one is showing kind of the base needs
2425s	that we were establishing to get this system in game and usable as soon as possible so
2431s	right now our crafting does work in game and it's all functional and we're building out
2436s	the functionality as we go to you know expand and based on what we test so and there's a
2442s	lot of information you have to communicate via this window right so how do you kind of
2447s	blend between um the idea of multiple sub pages that are required to kind of facilitate
2453s	all the information versus how much you can show on one particular page like talk to us
2457s	a little bit about that process yeah and this is where that game of you know understanding
2462s	how to organize the information right so uh we're creating kind of what we like to call
2467s	like a visual language so a lot of you our panels you'll see uh they'll have that left
2473s	side accordion list which is like a real you know if we have a lot of dense information
2477s	we like to use these accordions because you can you know have a shorter list and then
2482s	expand out the parts that you're interested in um and then we kind of do that same thing
2486s	where it's context so you start on the left and you'll move to the right so you make a
2490s	selection and then there's like details on the right and we try to create what um what
2494s	we call like visual hierarchy to help you know like okay I've clicked this and now I
2499s	move over here and I'm I've got you know buttons over here that are you know the only other
2504s	bright objects on the window so it pulls me to say like okay I can look and see if I can
2508s	craft this or whatever it happens to be and there's going to be you know some pretty robust
2514s	systems so we're really excited to see when we get our hands on it where you know where
2519s	we can make it better absolutely yeah that that is a very important component of the
2523s	test ability and the primary purpose of Alpha 2 as we've always stated is going to be to
2528s	get player feedback to get player hands on um you know giving us Direction on on how
2534s	these things play out it's such an important part of being a tester so um definitely it's
2540s	very valued yeah definitely you folks did see the journal a bit last time I saw a lot
2547s	of commentary regarding that yeah a lot of a lot of great feedback positive feedback
2551s	about the journal both from color composition to layout design to you know a lot of different
2557s	things Colby talk to us a little bit about kind of how you guys approached this style
2562s	of introducing such a broad spectrum of colors feel like yeah we we actually use the journal
2570s	as one of our test cases for the the style guide because it's a very complex screen there's
2575s	a lot of things that are going on where we have different tiers of story arcs that might
2579s	be available for players and so we wanted to make sure the color denote a different
2583s	information for them we also have iconography to support that as well and we kind of have
2590s	a little bit of a Twist on what a traditional Quest system would be like so with these story
2596s	arcs we wanted to make sure that it was organized in a familiar way but also something that
2601s	supported all of the designs needs and it's right we really like how it came out yeah
2605s	and we have a little bit more in-depth slash complicated story arc system than you might
2610s	find in most of your traditional MMORPGs and how those kind of story arcs can be updated
2616s	in real time um and kind of how players interface with different segments of that story arc
2623s	so you know this journal has to facilitate all of those uh designs which can make it
2628s	as you said one of the most complicated probably windows that we utilize for characters outside
2634s	of probably the mayoral interface but it's just going to spark more questions about like
2639s	that what do you mean I know
2642s	um uh but perhaps that's going to be a future thing we definitely need to have some more
2647s	of our narrative folks on sometime and yeah talk a little bit about well I think carpin
2652s	might be a great opportunity for that no that's true and you know if you did watch our extra
2658s	live stream you got a little teaser of some lore there um and then next up and we're also
2663s	later in this live stream we're going to be showcasing some teasers as well next month's
2669s	live stream and we've got options which you know for most of us uh it's one of the first
2676s	things that we experience in game we're like let me adjust all the things to be the way
2680s	that I like them like I want the fov to be where I want I want the audio to be where
2684s	I want and this requires even more elements for you guys to interact with and adjust I'm
2690s	sure that this was probably even more complicated to put together yeah well this is where that
2697s	like having a really strong visual language and kind of making that information really
2701s	accessible and organized in a good way was really just very important to us so one of
2707s	the other screens that we hit first not exactly the uh thing everybody's like oh let me see
2712s	the options but very important when we uh do get them out there in your hands so I think
2717s	people will be happy because last uh an apple one we had like one slider and they were like
2724s	we're constantly getting folks asking for more options there will be a few more sliders
2729s	yeah you'd be surprised you don't I don't find myself as a player interfacing with the
2733s	options menu in many games very often I do like you said kind of at the start of my game
2738s	experience but when I'm in the middle of a game and there's some option that I've newly
2742s	discovered that I was like oh God I need to change this and I need to change it fast and
2746s	I open that options menu and it is just an absolute cluster I'm like oh this is terrible
2752s	I need to now spend so much time here so easy intuitive navigation is definitely an important
2757s	aspect of this of the options menu for sure yeah definitely we'll be testing that a lot
2763s	yes yeah and definitely toss us your thoughts on that or what options you like obviously
2769s	this doesn't have everything in there but it's giving you kind of a glimpse into the
2773s	future and our character screen which you know we have shown various different versions
2780s	of this throughout the the lifespan of Ashes
2786s	many many iterations and I know there's been a couple that people haven't liked a few that
2792s	people have liked um I know that this is a there's always a lot that you have to display
2797s	here and so I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about that Colby yeah we were
2802s	building this out and we wanted to kind of create something that would handle a couple
2806s	of different roles with obviously your equipment slots for what we call a paper doll which
2812s	is that display of your character eventually it won't just be a image of your character
2816s	we hope to have the 3D character and be able to rotate around look at what you're wearing
2822s	and then we wanted to support a couple of different features here with some base stats
2827s	the equipment which will show you know what equipment you have available to Quick swap
2831s	so you don't have to have your inventory and the screen open uh detailed stats for those
2836s	people who want to get into all of the details oh yeah and then of course gear sets so this
2841s	is going to be able to to you know swaps your sets of gear quickly and being able to save
2846s	different loadouts and you know we know all the players who have two sets and there's
2851s	players who have hundreds of sets so yeah I gotta have all my costumes too you know
2856s	of course of course
2858s	yeah so this has been a lot of the stuff that we've worked on over the past you know year
2864s	we've built out the style guide while supporting all these live streams and it's just been
2868s	you know awesome to see this team get up and running in such a short time and get a ton
2873s	of work in yeah and you have definitely been supporting a lot of teams but um I know a
2878s	lot of the things that we're showcasing each month you know you guys have some semblance
2882s	of little bits and pieces that you're kind of showcasing in there so like Steven said
2887s	this is the first time we're like just focusing on you I think is kind of exciting talk to
2894s	us a little bit about kind of the types of feedback you like to see from a demonstration
2899s	like this of of the UI yeah I mean just general like people's feeling of these things the
2905s	best feedback will of course be when you guys are able to get your hands on it but if you
2909s	guys have real strong opinions on hey I want to see these kind of things in my journal
2914s	and you know UI yeah we have a lot of you know features planned and we have a lot of
2920s	good you know options available and there's going to be things that you haven't seen you
2924s	know like maybe uh your Journal ties into an archive that has a little bit more of that
2930s	lore background in it and it keeps track of what maybe stories you've participated in
2934s	um so we've really you know we're building this out oh sorry I'm sorry but yeah we're
2941s	just building this out you know part by part and we're going to be supporting the team
2945s	so if you guys see stuff that you really like you know make sure to throw a thumbs up out
2950s	there make a make a post or comments um because we do you know we do read all of this stuff
2956s	and we try to make sure that we're you know seeing the feedback people are giving um especially
2961s	I'll go ahead go ahead um we'll be putting up a thread it'll probably be up right right
2967s	now right now um we're on our forums forums.ashes of creation.com uh check it out over there
2973s	definitely leave us some thoughts on our UI we'll have a few questions that are good like
2977s	starters for you um but definitely tell us what you'd like to see some features that
2982s	you'd like to see what features you liked from the displays that we showed today uh
2986s	and then we'll be creating a report for the UI team and providing that Roshan and vacner
2993s	are always so great about putting those together and they're super in-depth they read through
2996s	everything which makes it very easy for the design team and development team to be able
3001s	to quickly read through those and get a good overview of kind of your guys's thoughts and
3007s	and feelings and suggestions you guys always some great ideas as well and always always
3012s	make sure to incorporate as part of your feedback you know the examples and inspiration for
3018s	you that you've experienced that did things well from a UI what stands out about a game
3023s	that you think had great UI what was it about that game that you felt was great uh with
3028s	regards to their UI and what were some examples of games that had bad UI and why did you feel
3033s	that it had bad UI those are those are great like Cornerstone touch points on how to give
3038s	good feedback is always using those references right because it's there that we can find
3042s	better detail-oriented kind of uh uh inspection um so yeah definitely yeah give us give us
3049s	your feedback and with that I do want to give you a chance Colby to kind of do a little
3054s	plug I know you have one of course and then anything else you want to say at the end of
3058s	year before we head on over to our character art segment uh yeah so well our UI team has
3064s	grown quickly over the past year but we are looking for one more uh UI artist or ux designer
3070s	we're looking for someone to help join the team and kind of build this out with us um
3075s	so if you guys are you know if you have some experience please you know send us your resume
3080s	absolutely apply get out there and help us raise awareness yeah and the other thing is
3086s	you know I just want to give thanks to our team because our team is awesome we work really
3091s	hard and we have a really like nice diverse set of people who are able to accomplish all
3097s	of these different tasks while we're able to you know help this game come to life so
3102s	we're just very fortunate we got a great team over here all right well uh definitely head
3106s	on over intrepidstudios.com careers if you are interested or if you know somebody forward
3112s	along that position we'd love to fill it with someone who's amazing to join our Intrepid
3117s	family and with that we're going to say thank you Colby we're gonna head on over to our
3122s	next segment which is our character art update so we will see you momentarily bye Colby thank
3128s	you see you guys welcome back we hope that was an in that was an in-depth exploration
3136s	of the UI process very much so and it seemed like you all really really enjoyed that um
3142s	we hope that you did it seems like y'all did um and obviously like Stephen mentioned there
3148s	a lot of its work in progress It's not final but we will have a lot of customization a
3152s	lot of options I can't wait to go on the Reddit later and just see all the speculation and
3161s	hypotheses and Theory crafting about these windows um and of course there will will you
3170s	guys will be able to see some more of them we usually share a lot of the um pieces throughout
3175s	the month so definitely keep an eye on our social for those things but I did want to
3180s	cover a couple different questions that Vagner and Roshan tossed my way um these were kind
3186s	of side things which is people are wondering if they'll be able to share UI layouts so
3190s	let's say I have a UI layout that I really like is that something that we may have options
3195s	to share or is that something we could explore in the future that can be um that can be a
3200s	little bit difficult um we've talked about it in the past but there are unique elements
3206s	that um would be exposed for certain classes and or characters that might not be for others
3212s	um and that data might be difficult to have a transferable or shareable but it's something
3220s	that we're not shying away from looking into so no definitive answer yet on that and I
3224s	know we did say that UI will be customizable you'll be able to move stuff around scale
3229s	things the way you'd like in most games you always are able to add extra action bars or
3234s	ability bars and they're curious if that's going to be something because we didn't say
3238s	it's explicitly yes yes absolutely yeah there is no shortage of customization that we want
3245s	to provide each player because some people like to have a very minimalistic number of
3249s	hot bars they don't need necessarily to have you know three four five hot bars that are
3253s	available but some people do like that they want to have all their items listed on their
3256s	Hotbar as well as their abilities as well as as their Mounds as well as anything that
3261s	they can essentially interact with as a as an icon they want to place it somewhere on
3266s	a hot bar that's visible so you know the breadth of customization should Encompass those desires
3272s	from the more minimal to the heavier uh player type and when we're in our betas and we have
3278s	a lot more of that stuff accessible to you all if you have any feedback along the way
3282s	you know we're all ears you you've seen our journey along the way we're constantly taking
3287s	y'all's feedback and you know maybe we won't be able to implement stuff immediately but
3291s	we'll definitely be taking your feedback and um you know communicating with you all along
3296s	the way um and then the last one here was will there be weight capacity there's been
3300s	a lot of questions in regards to that that's not really no they're not related but yeah
3304s	there's there's not weight capacity um you know weight management in my opinion and this
3309s	is of course you know subjective but weight management is not a compelling mechanic um
3316s	for players to have to deal with in an m setting it can be for sure in a survival game type
3322s	mode or you know in other types of games but really we want to focus on spacing and we
3329s	want to focus on stack size you know those kind of supplement where weight would be relevant
3336s	this is more about like how much capacity do I have what are the shapes and sizes of
3341s	the different types of materials and or gatherables that I might acquire and how does that fit
3346s	into my um gatherable bags and what are my stack limits and how can those stack limits
3353s	be kind of augmented or changed based on the bag type or quality that I purchased from
3358s	a crafter or my expertise within a particular profession when I'm gathering resources out
3363s	in the wild that's where we want to kind of make those choices be more relevant and and
3370s	compelling all right and with that I think we're ready to move on to our character art
3375s	update so we'll be doing that um let's show all the things there's so many cool things
3382s	and like I said stay till the end we've got the guy I have a little video teaser you gotta
3389s	stay for that um so with that we will first kick things off with we've got you guys did
3395s	see some Cyclops weapons before but now there's even more Cyclops weapons which these are
3401s	looking very very awesome
3405s	I I'm sad actually because I don't have my um a little extra monitors so you can't see
3412s	I know I can't see what are we like in the Run of show I usually always have all of the
3416s	images
3417s	um but these are the Cyclops weapons there's uh mace bow wand um I'm looking I'm looking
3428s	on my phone I apologize uh to the audience if I'm looking on the phone yeah you know
3432s	um to give you guys an idea um the Cyclops which you'll be seeing at some point here
3437s	in the very near future is um and you guys have seen the model for it already in the
3441s	past right um some parts it is a very large like 45 or 50 foot I think it's like over
3449s	he's carrying a tree in one of the images yeah it's like a 50 foot tall giant uh raid
3456s	boss and um he has a lot of like natural oriented weapons um that are available that he uses
3464s	um and I think the character team just did a great job with these um they really kind
3470s	of I think reflect the nature of that particular creature which is always cool to have because
3476s	it ties you into that story it ties
3478s	you gotta have some cool Cyclops Luke um and also you know we're going to talk a little
3486s	bit more about Carfin here because we're gonna show some cool car friend weapons but look
3490s	at these weapons they're so sick and uh I heard that y'all got your bingo card the community
3495s	puts together like a little bingo card of things that they think we're gonna talk about
3500s	in the live stream and I always love seeing how oh did they get a bingo bingo yeah when
3505s	you said Carpenter segment oh they got their bingo which was cute um but yeah these are
3513s	looking awesome and these are achievable uh items very very yeah again I apologize I just
3520s	want to watch it on my phone because I don't have another screen here so I'm not I'm not
3527s	distracted yeah he's he's not looking at his phone for other reason he's watching the thing
3531s	and then we've got some NPCs that have been created so this first one is an uh ambitious
3538s	academic there's a couple different versions with um you know the Petticoat vibes yeah
3546s	these are pretty cool
3547s	and um I don't know if we want to tease a little bit about the academic aspect of it
3554s	what for Carfin but oh yeah absolutely I mean I think the you're talking about the story
3560s	and yeah yeah you know you guys those of you who probably tuned in during the live stream
3566s	for uh extra life last November um got a little bit of history and story around Carfin Carfin
3572s	is a very large dungeon complex it's both um an urban area at the base and then a huge
3579s	dungeon with lots of different levels I had a lot of fun in other games as inspiration
3585s	uh with like those of you played Lineage 2 with Tower of insolence and the crew of tower
3590s	I thought were really cool um and if the story behind um the tower at Carfin is that it is
3597s	actually a part of the University complex that was initially brought to the Ayla humans
3606s	by uh the um the elves appearing elves and they kind of helped establish and taught the
3613s	humans how to master the essence and how to master magic and this was one of the great
3618s	universities of the island Empire so a lot of the a lot of the experience and encounters
3624s	there are going to be Arcane in nature they're going to be representative of that Essence
3629s	magic and and um it's going to have some powerful foes and also I was just told thank you Jeremy
3635s	for dming me uh that this is a dropped I uh set so this is not a MPC outfit this is like
3642s	a thing that you will achieve in game yes so apologies um sometimes I don't have all
3649s	the contacts uh but yeah um this is the river stalker which I already saw y'all I'm showing
3656s	it while Stephen was talking but it's very very cool um and then I don't know if you
3661s	want to say who this is I love that fur yeah I know the fur looks so good the fur looks
3666s	so good do the boots have is it boots with the fur it is there are some boots there are
3671s	boots with the fur we have a lot of boots with the fur I think people like boots with
3676s	the fur
3679s	this next one is do we want to say who she is I have her name but I didn't know if you
3684s	wanted to share that yet oh that's a question um there have been people who have been wondering
3690s	who this lady is but we haven't I think we saved that I I don't know you know I I think
3695s	next month when we do the Tower of garfin kind of walk through we can uh expand it okay
3702s	are you talking about I don't know if I'm looking at the right thing I'm looking at
3704s	a statue this is this is a different this is not the person the other person we have
3708s	talked about during that right no I'm not talking about um The Raid boss I I'm yeah
3713s	I'm talking about the influence of the uh previous deans of the college yes I will not
3719s	say her name then uh and then we've got Laria Lamont which we have talked about before yes
3728s	she was the primary uh protagonist become antagonist um in the story from last November's
3737s	live uh live stream with extra life um and now you can see her character model and um
3743s	she is a very powerful uh wizard who unfortunately in her desire to to save as many as possible
3753s	went down a path that was um unfortunately recoverable for her and uh I think we'll talk
3758s	a little bit more about that also next month I feel like this is this is what you would
3763s	hear from her just like it's just a good morning yeah absolutely
3772s	um and then we've got some concept art that we will show um and someone said Pizza Drew
3782s	said I can fix her I just imagine players saying that as they're rushing to the top
3787s	of the tower and then we've got the aylin city kind of see a little bit here oh yeah
3795s	you get to see a little bit of the of the grandiose nature of the starting um city in
3804s	the Inland Empire so this was the former uh capital of the island Empire and this is where
3810s	players are returning to uh if you choose that particular Divine Gateway it's huge uh
3817s	the QA team is kind of running through it because we were trying to see like the space
3821s	and it's just massive it is a massive area and into and again the reason why it's so
3828s	large and why this might be very atypical for us as players to experience in such a
3834s	starting area something so big is because this this place changes based on what you
3841s	do in the world and different areas of this city become accessible as the world develops
3848s	further and and there's reasons for you to come back at later levels and kind of experience
3853s	that because again part of what makes I think the system design around these nodes and World
3860s	building so compelling from an MMORPG specific perspective is that many MMOs we play we go
3867s	through progression and we leave areas and we never go back to those areas they become
3871s	essentially you know content that gets lost and that's such a sad concept to have because
3880s	a lot of time goes into making those areas compelling and beautiful and you know something
3885s	that's iconic in your experience within the game but the way that our world progresses
3891s	and that our points of interest progress as well those areas are constantly being updated
3897s	they're constantly changing and you're maintaining that traditional experience of of character
3902s	progression and leveling for new players that are coming joining later but now they're immersed
3907s	in the social environment as well because the player population hasn't moved past that
3911s	area like we see in many other MMORPGs you have an opportunity to actually graduate into
3917s	that social environment because this area has opportunity for late game players to come
3923s	back and explore and experience things yeah the persistence in our world is a little bit
3928s	different so you know what my experience as a new player is might be different from someone
3932s	else's especially especially if we both start playing it at a different time frame which
3936s	is really nice and this is concept because I know some people were asking this is concept
3941s	but I'm all you know like if we've already seen the oh our Concepts to yeah they look
3947s	petition are very one-to-one if you've seen some of our other Concepts and then our in-game
3951s	they're pretty great because our artists are just phenomenal but um I've already seen some
3957s	of this being gray boxed in the world like I said we were running around it it's massive
3961s	and then there's also the starting the all are the alien portal area which we've already
3967s	started seeing in game as well the model of it and you can see like the little people
3971s	for the scale how big this thing is it's huge said
3979s	the Stargate it's a defined Gateway there's a difference I do love Stargate though so
3986s	I know there's an RPG for Stargate which I've gotten to play it's really fun oh that's cool
3992s	but yes uh no Stargate uh with that we're gonna head into our q a segment I'll have
4002s	some images up in the background while we do q a um
4007s	love it um it's so good with that we have our first question from rufian they want to
4015s	know about ranged weapons uh with it which is what will be the differences between a
4020s	crossbow and a regular bow and I think we've talked about short bow versus a Long Boat
4025s	yeah we don't have we don't have crossbows um however uh bows of different types will
4031s	vary across many different stats um between the damage that's done the damage window that's
4038s	possible the attack speed stats that are associated with those particular types of weapons and
4045s	not only that but very important is the weapon skill progression so each weapon group or
4052s	weapon type has a Associated skill progression where you can unlock the ability to proc certain
4060s	types of effects and they also have associated with them different combos that can be utilized
4067s	sorry and you know what the chat is right I got excited to get into the Q a that I missed
4073s	the studio update again and normally I have normally I'm like looking at the run to show
4077s	but uh I just kind of passed it yeah do you have anything any updates for us for the studio
4082s	I know we talked a little bit about the fun stuff we were doing for February but yeah
4088s	you know we talked a little bit about that uh we are now moving into um well we have
4094s	moved into as of last month and this month um another round of significant hiring um
4099s	you can see that on our intrepidstudios.com website um it is of course important and and
4106s	you know just a side comment um I'm sure many of you as we are aware of the kind of um turbulent
4114s	times that the tech industry is seeing right now with the uh layoffs from different Studios
4121s	and companies and that's always a hard thing um to watch because the gaming industry is
4128s	a gaming is an industry a passion um and you know it is an industry of of creatives who
4135s	deserve an opportunity um to excel in their work and feel confident and secure in their
4140s	position and the in the jobs that they have and it's a sad thing to see when when those
4145s	things kind of happen but at intrep Studios we Endeavor to be different and I think we've
4151s	done a great and sustainable uh way to kind of proceed with this game's development um
4159s	and you know we I want to kind of shout out the fact that we have opportunities at the
4163s	studio yes we are very selective and the um the recruitment process can be a bit difficult
4171s	but um you know I just I just want to say to those people out there who are affected
4177s	you can send your applications uh into intrapstudios.com go on there take a look at the uh jobs that
4182s	are available if you don't see one that pertains to you necessarily you can still provide your
4186s	resume um and we will consider those so that that hiring process is moving forward um additionally
4194s	we've had some on that front I just want to mention that in on the careers page there
4198s	is an uncategorized section that says don't see your position uh you can still apply and
4204s	apply through that one right there absolutely um and then in addition to that um we've been
4209s	changing up a little bit uh some of our production practices um over the course since the start
4215s	of this new year we are now seeing in the month of February of the fruits of those uh
4220s	changes uh which are Bountiful and we're very happy with I think some of these production
4226s	changes that well we've seen uh Jacob spearheading that charge um has been doing a great job
4231s	in that sense um so Studio update is very strong in February um very strong indeed yeah
4239s	it's been pretty exciting for me too
4242s	um and uh moving back to the Q a segment I do want to ask a follow-up question in regards
4250s	to you because you stated there aren't crossbows but we have sold crossbow looking items are
4256s	those considered short bows uh or yes those would be those would be considered those would
4261s	be considered skins um and they um so we that's a good question let me check into that actually
4271s	because I don't know specifically what you're in reference to um and I would want to make
4275s	sure I'm giving an accurate answer so I will look into what that was it's likely that that
4280s	would be a skin that's applied to a different weapon category that's not a crossbow category
4285s	[Music]
4286s	yes and then we'll post that uh answer on the forums or uh Cody will yeah that sounds
4295s	great we can post that as a response in the live stream uh thread is that is that a thing
4300s	on the bingo card that Stephen got stumped on a question no but I think derailing is
4304s	on there oh okay perfect which you've done uh did I ever tell you about the time that
4309s	I fired a crossbow like real IRL yeah yeah I've actually very difficult to pull that
4317s	straight those in general are hard to pull back if you've oh one time out of like my
4321s	initial like thing in archery like I think I pulled it back and I shot the arrow up and
4326s	it went over the shooting range and I could have sworn I heard somebody scream but um
4332s	I'm just kidding uh I was trying to derail so whoever had that bingo card oh
4345s	digital Daydream wants to know about player corruption our corrupted players able to enter
4351s	a freehold's boundaries or access its content and if so what's stopping freeholds from being
4357s	corrupted players safe havens I actually kind of love this idea where like you're on the
4362s	run and you're like can I stay in your house
4365s	um so corrupted players can access their freeholds uh however people's freeholds uh well freeholds
4373s	are in the open world so you can move into those freeholds the protection area is in
4378s	the house um but what they what corrupted players can't do is they cannot interface
4382s	with storage uh nor can they interface with player trading um either while corrupt um
4388s	so if they had storage uh uh items that were on their Freehold they wouldn't have the opportunity
4393s	to deposit or withdraw all right hopefully that answers the question there and then we
4400s	have eth love who wants it about class specific actions what kind and how many special or
4406s	unique activities can we expect classes to perform outside of combat such as rogue's
4412s	opening locks tracking enemies as a ranger or removing corrupt corruption from the ground
4418s	as a cleric yeah absolutely um so that's funny that this question exists because just 30
4426s	minutes ago I was talking about those utility abilities um like finding tracks or cleansing
4431s	poisons um arcani to reveal secret passages um you know the idea is how do we blend the
4439s	traditional tabletop RPG role of utility and or skill checks uh into the setting of a graphical
4448s	MMORPG um and I think that um it's both a complement of the um of the skill kit that's
4456s	available and how it interacts with the world for those curated or or special designs Within
4462s	These locations so to answer that question that is intended we've shown a little bit
4468s	of that in the past and it is something that we want to make feel compelling and rewarding
4474s	and viable as a use case scenario in many different settings that you might find yourself
4478s	in within the world and um not a question that's on here but I will add it as a bonus
4484s	one because the range weapon one didn't get answered but we are moving to 5.1 I know a
4490s	lot of people were asking about that we're constantly uh keeping an eye on you know the
4495s	latest uh actually that's been a that's been a big Endeavor um over the course of the last
4500s	I would say about six weeks um and uh you know just to give you guys a bit of context
4506s	if you're unfamiliar kind of with the develop game development process um engine upgrades
4510s	can be a very uh taxing process um it especially becomes so given how many custom changes that
4518s	a project makes to the engine making those merges over can be kind of a bit of a headache
4525s	and we have a great team our networking team's been doing great job Zach has been spiriting
4531s	that process for the network changes along with Mitch and it took a little bit longer
4536s	for us to make that move over because we initially started moving over to Five Point one and
4541s	then the 5.1.1 update dropped with a lot of great additions from epic and we decided to
4548s	bite the bullet and and just take it a step further to 0.1.1 um so um I think that actually
4554s	uh Margaret you would know this QA has their hands on that now today uh so last night we
4560s	did our build lock like Steven said for the last like six weeks we've been working towards
4564s	this the next Sprint is for that team is going to be focusing on bug fixing so yesterday
4570s	we locked the build we got a good Dev build that we wanted to use as our basis and then
4576s	we will be merging that all up to our Dev engine and hopefully everything will go well
4581s	and we'll be able to move things we're locked today and then we should be unlocking again
4585s	on Monday so people can check things in I know designers are like wow one day guys um
4594s	and we're doing a lot of testing um we'll probably have a little and just so you guys
4597s	throughout the first couple weeks but we'll work out those results and just so you guys
4601s	know that what Margaret's referring to when she says check-ins and locking uh essentially
4606s	our source control method utilizing perforce is how kind of um developers make things and
4612s	they they submit those things into perforce and right now locking that down means that
4618s	we're not allowing any additional changes so that we can solidify um that point 1.1
4623s	update otherwise you're merging into stuff that's like not exactly the same and it can
4627s	cause other issues so we just want to make sure that works yeah we know what the what
4631s	the basis is and then as we merge in we'll be okay um but yeah the testing I haven't
4637s	looked at what the test results have been for that full regression test yet I'll probably
4641s	see that by the end of the today and then if everything goes well Monday we should be
4645s	rocking and rolling and we'll just be doing a lot of bug fixing for the next couple weeks
4650s	a lot of artists that are very excited to get their hands on the 0.1.1 update yes I
4655s	think all the Departments we're getting uh there were things that were blocking them
4660s	I think Tech art was literally like knocking down the doors but we had like our intrepidnet
4667s	stuff and things so like there was just a lot of things that we were trying to resolve
4670s	before we pushed uh that up so but we're good now we're moving up and we know there's a
4675s	little bit of a studio update by the way yeah there you go that should have been part of
4679s	the studio Jay there's a lot going on all the time so we're constantly working towards
4684s	things homies um but go back to the Q a here we do have a question from uh rushi's who
4692s	wants to know about racial abilities will any of your race or class choices affect your
4697s	Artisan skills
4700s	um that is something that is still up in the air a little bit we haven't touched too heavily
4705s	on the racial ability side of things um it is entirely possible that it might the concern
4712s	there though would be that we want equitability across race types with at least the benefits
4718s	that not the benefit types but at least that you're having some benefits um so that when
4723s	we talk about like you know a crafter being pigeonholed into a specific type of race that
4728s	might not align with what they want to do elsewhere they aren't forced to do that because
4733s	of a specific racial ability that only that race has access to so you know one thing we've
4738s	talked about in the past is replacing the racial abilities with more of a background
4745s	style where you get to select your background regardless of race and so those two aren't
4750s	tied intrinsically but instead it's like you know I'm an orphan who was raised in the temple
4755s	therefore I have this racial trait right um exactly um I think I think that's probably
4763s	the direction that we're going to to go in um but uh yeah hopefully that answers your
4768s	question perfect and then we've got Halcyon Days who wants to know about the threat meters
4776s	will there be a threat meter of any kind such as a tank only ability or Aura within a certain
4783s	range well I know that this is a highly contentious topic um there's DPS meter tank meter I I'm
4790s	gonna I'm gonna they like meters Stephen I'm going to give you my subjective perspective
4795s	here um is that meters in my opinion are a removal from the the game immersion um and
4809s	what I mean by that isn't necessarily even the fact that having the meter kind of takes
4813s	you out of the game per se but it is there's a lot of diegetic kind of approach that you
4818s	can take that doesn't rely on UI elements like a meter to kind of indicate how you should
4823s	do a thing and when you're not utilizing those types of meters you can do different types
4829s	of strategies and encounter design right you can have things that can be more subtle and
4833s	aren't going to be immediately given away by a meter indicating something um and that's
4839s	the type of gameplay that we think that that I believe we want to emphasize and for that
4845s	reason we're not going to be including threat meters what we will be including however are
4851s	animation indicators we're going to be including ability indicators to kind of show the tank
4859s	like hey I might be losing aggro here like I I'm observing in the world these immersive
4867s	elements that are not tied to any specific type of UI but indicate to me that this monster
4871s	might be moving off to attack somebody else in a very immediate future and now I should
4876s	be using the abilities that I'm saving to kind of regain that aggro or to lock them
4880s	down with a taunt or something right that to me is a bit more representative of the
4886s	type of gameplay we want to to bring in our encounter design and for that reason that's
4892s	why we're not including thread meters now that's different than a DPS meter right the
4897s	DPS meter to me was more about kind of what role DPS meters provide in online communities
4904s	that I've noticed in the past my experiences they can be a bit toxic they can be a bit
4908s	exclusive exclusionary excuse me um and that's why we don't want the DPS meters the threat
4915s	meters is we want to indicate threat we want to tell you hey you might be losing threat
4920s	we just don't want to do that through a meter all right and our next question is from armored
4927s	cell and it's about making friends well All Creatures be hostile and if not could I for
4933s	example give gifts to goblins to try and make them more friendly to me um not all creatures
4939s	will be hostile um I think we've talked about this a little bit in the past when um talking
4945s	about like taming and or certain types of like creature gatherable resources there are
4952s	herds that exist out there there are big game that exist out there where they're not going
4957s	to aggro and attack you per se also lower level uh monsters and and certain type of
4963s	like social monsters may not attack you off the bat so not every creature is is aggro
4969s	we toyed with the idea um early on of having kind of faction-based reputation that could
4976s	change that dynamic between you and certain NPC factions while that exists in the non-monster
4984s	NPCs that that live within nodes in our Merchant guilds or whatever we haven't extended that
4990s	out to the monster population and I don't know that we will in the first iteration or
4995s	the first um uh in the initial launch for ashes of creation that might be something
5000s	that we delegate to a future patch I'm not opposed the idea I think it's a cool idea
5003s	I think it's interesting I think it can be compelling and it plays into player agency
5007s	um but um yeah not not for the first go around it's it's an Endeavor and then a drunk ninja
5015s	wants to know about tanks and boats how will tanks hold threat on Monsters while on a boat
5020s	that's a good question um so uh there's a few ways that you can do that um one is uh
5031s	boats have um attachments that live on them those could be potion launchers they could
5037s	be other types of damage dealing um um attachments and users who are on the boat and utilizing
5046s	those types of attachments will have the damage assigned as a threat essentially as hate to
5052s	them so if I'm shooting the potion launcher and I shoot a Target the damage I do gets
5057s	assigned to me as as threat essentially but in addition I don't think I'm excited about
5061s	potion launchers again I know I know well I love potion lunches sorry in addition you
5066s	might have unique ammunition that can be used which amplify that threat but that doesn't
5072s	discount the fact that your skill sets can still be used on boats and or in water so
5078s	as a tank I'll have ranges on my taunts and on my um on my hate generation abilities and
5087s	I'm going to be expected to use those rotations in a nautical setting or on land so I think
5094s	that that's acceptable um you know outside of that I would say it's going to be relatively
5099s	normal mechanic when it comes to threat generation and utilizing your skill sets and rotations
5105s	all right and then we've got a question here from Nick about detargeting will there be
5111s	detargeting abilities in ashes of creation yes there will be detargeting abilities uh
5118s	in ashes of creation um I think that uh one of the main applications for the ability to
5125s	kind of detarget um excuse me there's in my opinion there's two types of detargeting um
5131s	there's the ability to remove hate or aggro from myself which might Transit an enemy Target
5139s	or pacify them but then in addition if we think about PVP settings and the role of taunt
5149s	or hate a lot of times for tanks and the MMOs that I've played they're where where you have
5156s	a PVE and PVP scenario those types of hate generation abilities don't really have cross
5162s	application into the PVP realm and that can feel kind of bad because typically a tank
5169s	build out can be delegated around how I generate hate and if it has no cross application into
5175s	PVP then effectively you're creating a class composition that just is not relevant in half
5180s	of the game or or in that area of the game so when we talk about how we're going to apply
5186s	hate to player targets or taunt to player targets sometimes that can move into the realm
5192s	of uh Target switching or the ability to demand that Target on the tank in a PVP scenario
5199s	as well that's something that we need to get player feedback on because there's a lot of
5204s	strong emotions around that type of mechanic I for one am a big proponent of that I think
5211s	it's interesting I think that it plays into the role of the tank and that it it it hits
5217s	a class fantasy that most tank players want to feel and I think however on the flip side
5223s	of that it is a source of control and anytime you're under the effects of some source of
5227s	control it's going to be a feel bad moment for the Target that's being controlled so
5231s	that's why I think it generates a lot of you know a lot of feelings on both sides of the
5235s	aisle there but yeah you should I still Pine on that give us your thoughts how you feel
5239s	about those types of mechanics all right and then we've got a question about the Summoner
5245s	from the pepper how will the Summoner interact with threat management for example would each
5252s	summon have their own Threat Level yeah so that that's a that's a very good question
5258s	so summons exists within uh kind of a mini um uh uh Trinity um in the sense that I can
5267s	summon certain types of pets that Excel either as DPS as supporter as um as a tank essentially
5273s	um and the ones that uh serve the role of the tank they will have their own taunt and
5278s	hate generation ability rotations as well uh that's the role of the Summoner that's
5282s	what's that's what's fun about Summoner in my opinion but in addition to that there will
5287s	be other mechanisms that are available for the Summoner themselves that don't live on
5292s	the pet some of those things might be the ability to transfer pain which is essentially
5297s	if the Summoner takes damage then the summon takes a portion of that damage um the same
5302s	might be true for hate if the Summoner takes hate they can transfer a portion of that hate
5307s	over to the summit as well and then in addition to that um
5311s	[ __ ] I lost my train of thought excuse me shoot I lost my train of thought I don't
5318s	know where I was going with that one um it was a long night last night I think I went
5323s	to bed at about 4 a.m oh my gosh I know some people were saying you look kind of tired
5329s	and that makes sense I'm sorry I don't I so I don't come to Vegas too often and I I came
5335s	and I do like to play uh poker and I was playing poke I I my last meeting ended last night
5340s	at like 11 30 and I was walking past the poker room and I was like oh there's like some poker
5345s	games I'm gonna go try poker and I ended up staying there till like four in the morning
5349s	oh really okay during dice is fun it gets a little bit uh a little hectic sometimes
5354s	at this table um sorry anyways uh where I was going with the uh the summer Summoner
5358s	there's different yeah depending on the type of some uh yeah depending on the type of summon
5362s	you'll have access to those types of abilities so yes that is intended as a mechanic for
5366s	the summons okay the answer to your guys's question basically I think the main thing
5373s	was which each summon have their own Threat Level versus like me as a Summoner having
5379s	like no the summon will have its own hate yeah there you go yeah that's the answer um
5384s	and Esra was wondering about death in war and by the way that's not just for summons
5390s	that's also for combat pets as well which is for agnostic class um that those those
5395s	are considered uh its own entity on the hate list uh and this question is are the death
5402s	penalties for losing to guild war opponents in PvP equivalent to the combatant ones or
5408s	the non-combatant ones or something else altogether and I think this stems from because in sieges
5414s	we stated that you wouldn't drop things the same way and death penalties wouldn't be the
5419s	same as in the open world correct yeah that's correct so again we have to think about those
5424s	penalties applied in um two different Realms in a sanctioned event sanction meaning that
5433s	this is something you have the option to opt out of that's a castle Siege that's a node
5439s	Siege that's a caravan that's a guild war that's a node War like you can drop your citizenship
5444s	you can drop your guild tag you can drop uh participating in one of those things in any
5449s	of those types of opt-in and opt-out events the death penalties do not exist these are
5455s	sanctioned they're they're intended to to you know allow people to engage in PvP right
5461s	now if I die to an NPC while I'm out hunting or if I die to another player through the
5467s	flagging system um those those are uh are where death penalties come into play and that's
5475s	where debt experience can be earned and that's where um you know corruption can be had so
5482s	it's important to kind of separate those two realms and that is our final question we are
5488s	going to wrap things up but stay around for the End video got a little are we going to
5494s	sign off with the teaser yeah sign off okay what do you think yeah I think so too okay
5501s	it's fun everybody in chat's like teaser now Jesus all right with that we just want to
5508s	remind you uh to check out over on our forums forums.ashes of creation.com we'd love you
5513s	for your feedback especially on the UI stuff that you saw today we will have our songs
5518s	of the Goddess cosmetic swapping over on March 8th we also have a really cool calendar if
5524s	you want to check that out over on ashesofcration.com news um you can download it and you can have
5530s	a full year calendar for yourself with some really cool ashes of creation art very lovely
5535s	art I would say and of course we want to say thank you to all of you for tuning in and
5539s	watching we really appreciate your support and your continued support following along
5544s	with our journey through develop women we know you know not a lot of companies do this
5548s	so sharing our development progress is definitely a long term Journey making games is not an
5554s	easy feat as much as people think it may be and we will launch when we are ready we assure
5559s	you that our focus is making a great quality game and we hope that you will have fun whenever
5564s	we are able to get your hands on it in Alpha 2. and we also want to say thank you to Colby
5569s	for joining us and sharing all the good UI stuff and his lovely team and of course Steven
5574s	thank you for your time I know you're very busy but we appreciate it um we hope that
5579s	you all stay safe and healthy the VOD will be up on Twitch right away after we are done
5584s	here and then we'll also upload it to our YouTube channel and if you leave us a comment
5588s	on our next on the development update and you subscribe to our Channel you may be spotlighted
5593s	as one of our winners to be spotlighted in our next Dev update next month and of course
5597s	follow us in all the places Twitter Facebook Instagram Snapchat all the places where everywhere
5602s	we constantly are posting almost every day for you guys so we hope that you enjoy that
5607s	and with that we hope you enjoy a little teaser of what's to come in our next stream bye guys
5614s	enjoy
5615s	foreign [Music]
5636s	[Music]
5646s	[Music]
5657s	thank you
5678s	[Music]
5688s	[Music]

[2023] Development Update with UI Process & Progress - 11AM PT Friday, February 24, 2023

Transcript (by Youtube)

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