[2022] Ashes of Creation Meet the Devs & Year-in-Review

Transcript (by Youtube)

11s	welcome in salutations to you all for
14s	our glorious development update for
16s	December we're coming to you live from
18s	our studio
21s	[Music]
22s	um obviously I'm here today with some
24s	new faces well not really
26s	um you've seen Lankford here before we
28s	had him on during actually it was your
29s	anniversary it was it was in February of
32s	this last year he's our executive
34s	producer and of course with me as always
36s	that Stephen Sharif our one and only
38s	creative director hello and I'm Margaret
41s	Crone here comedian marketing lead and
44s	this is different it's different right
46s	actually when was the last time that we
49s	did a stream it was in our old office
52s	yeah that was like almost two years ago
54s	or something yeah a little over actually
56s	yeah that's right it's crazy to see how
58s	much we've grown as a company and I mean
60s	this is the perfect segue of like what
62s	this stream is about too is that like
64s	you you've just
66s	it's been a crazy year yeah of growth
68s	not even just a year like during the
70s	pandemic we grew an immense amount yeah
72s	but this year especially though has been
73s	pretty considerable as well yeah and
75s	it's you know we talked a lot about kind
78s	of showing off the studio and giving
80s	people a peek inside you guys saw some
82s	old uh if those of you who have been
84s	following since like Circa 2018 2019
87s	with my phone kind of doing that now
90s	this is a little bit different higher
92s	production quality uh but of course
94s	we're still keeping the Casual Vibes
96s	yeah and the whole Spirit of this is to
98s	invite you guys in let you take a look
99s	under the hood meet some of the
101s	developers and actually it's been pretty
102s	fun to do some of these interviews yeah
105s	Steven's already done one earlier so
107s	yeah these are a little pre-recorded
109s	obviously so that we can make it before
110s	but we're trying not to cut as we didn't
113s	cut as much as possible right so uh
115s	we're very much just trying to have free
117s	flowing conversations which is really
119s	fun and I think these types of things
120s	are really good actually because you
122s	know obviously we do our monthly updates
124s	yeah but not everybody has an
125s	opportunity to kind of watch each month
127s	what's happening and what those updates
129s	are and this is a great way at the end
131s	of the year to kind of concisely bring
133s	in what's happened and give people a one
136s	segment kind of look at all that's
138s	transpired over the last 12 months yeah
140s	that's kind of cool you get a little
141s	glimpse into areas in our studio so you
144s	can kind of see that and once we do have
146s	all of our cool murals up and our art we
149s	will definitely do a proper Studio Tour
151s	we just want to make sure that we'll
152s	kind of give you a glimpse early on and
154s	I know those of you who are kickstarters
156s	who you're going to get like a real life
158s	tour
159s	we want to make sure that it's really
161s	fun for you all so that's probably going
163s	to be nearer to you know closer for long
165s	yeah for sure right I mean we're talking
167s	about the kind of business busyness of
169s	this year but honestly on the production
171s	side you know your team has grown
174s	immensely that's very true yeah we're
176s	doubled inside it did it did it doubled
178s	in size and it's like super duper cool
180s	to have all these people like
182s	actually supporting the teams no like we
185s	talked about this a long time ago when
186s	we were moving from like a small company
187s	yeah it's like a bigger company right
189s	and we're like we're gonna need a lot of
190s	support and we're kind of there now I
192s	mean we still got a long ways to go with
193s	a lot of like a lot of growth still to
195s	come but uh it's super exciting I think
197s	it's been really cool to kind of watch
198s	quarter after quarter this year as we're
201s	doing the production strategy meetings
202s	and going over the the Milestone
204s	schedules just seeing Oh the new face
206s	new face new face new face you know
208s	keeps on going yeah that's absolutely
210s	true and we talked about annual reviews
211s	last last month how we were moving into
214s	wrapping those up and you guys have like
216s	way more people that you have to do
218s	reviews for for me my channel is a
220s	little smaller but you know we also are
222s	supporting the development team in order
223s	like we're different people like the
225s	people who are talking to you on you
228s	know like Twitter and hanging out with
230s	you on Discord we're a whole other team
232s	so when when you when we get comments
234s	that are like why are you talking to me
236s	and not developing the game these guys
238s	are hardcore working super every day
241s	really hard and passionately as you're
243s	gonna see when you meet some of the
245s	developers now and our leads team has
247s	grown too significantly yeah we did some
250s	leadership training yeah we did that was
252s	it was incredible we had we had a few I
255s	think we did like almost six days
257s	between the two different groups of
259s	those leadership meetings and they were
261s	a lot of fun just being holed up in a
263s	room for like 10 straight hours each day
267s	it made us realize like where we're
268s	lacking things where we need to work
270s	towards and things of that sort and
272s	sometimes you need that reflection and
274s	for people who aren't haven't been
275s	leaders and Leadership roles before it
277s	also helps you realize like how to talk
279s	to people or how to right but you know
281s	my my most important takeaway I think
282s	from those particular leadership
284s	meetings this year was just the level of
287s	alignment that existed already between
289s	us and the leads and the development it
292s	was so she sent to us she said to us
293s	that like the biggest problem that most
295s	other companies have is the camaraderie
297s	and like sharing the same vision and
299s	she's like that's the one thing you guys
300s	don't like that was the thing it was so
303s	cool to see her come in and then go like
304s	wow you guys already got this like this
306s	is crazy like how how connected you guys
308s	already are I do tons of these and you
311s	know and then she like went off on some
312s	of the like ones that she's done and it
314s	was like oh my gosh like you guys are
317s	gelling so much better and my favorite
318s	my favorite thing about that whole
320s	process actually was as we were going
322s	through each categories and we were
323s	filling out like scaling one through ten
325s	numerical values of like those
328s	particular things and we put all of our
330s	stickies up on each of the categories
331s	like whoa these are all really strange
336s	where our problems are and we're all
338s	we're all in the same page absolutely I
340s	would agree with you that yeah it was
342s	really good you know it's really cool
343s	though uh the whole point of this last
345s	month of the year is that we get to kind
347s	of look back on everything that we've
349s	accomplished on all the things that we
350s	have plans for the future and just
352s	reflect on on kind of the course of the
355s	studio over the last year yeah it's
357s	really a great opportunity for us to get
359s	kind of get that back looking
360s	perspective absolutely yeah not our
363s	friend so like my teams are looking at
365s	like the data from social media what
366s	things went well things didn't how can
368s	we you know engage with you all in a
370s	better way and obviously you've seen us
372s	continually progressing over that over
374s	the years I mean even the way we do our
376s	live streams has changed and like next
377s	year we do we plan to make more changes
379s	so
380s	um that's we're definitely keeping an
382s	eye out on like the things that you guys
383s	say to us how you interact with us and
385s	obviously on the development front
387s	continually progressing and making sure
388s	that we are just being more efficient
390s	with our production yeah and of course
392s	you know I'm I'm you know we're all
393s	watching kind of coverage for the game
395s	from our awesome content creators out
398s	there who yeah constantly kind of thank
400s	you you know review what the live stream
402s	updates are and and everything for the
405s	game for our audience and I think one
407s	thing that can be said that all of you
409s	are going to agree with
411s	2022 was a very different pace of year
415s	for our updates
418s	but you guys got to see each month you
422s	know significant progress and of course
425s	that comes in part due to the company
427s	scaling over this last year which was
429s	very significant but in addition just
431s	kind of as development continues these
435s	things will ramp almost in a in a very
439s	vertical way right yeah and that's
441s	something that I think people get to
442s	look forward to for 2023. of course and
445s	I think you know a lot of times you see
447s	games that are developed and you get to
448s	see it like right one of the betas which
450s	their beta is like pretty much their
452s	games ready to launch and they're just
453s	testing and polishing for us like you're
455s	getting to follow us on this journey and
457s	making an MMO is a big beat it is much
460s	bigger than people think and I and I
462s	hope that you are getting a glimpse into
463s	like all the little details and the new
465s	details yeah what it takes because it's
468s	a lot more effort than sometimes I think
469s	people think right and I know that's not
471s	for everybody and that's why we always
472s	say like we make different pieces of
474s	content for different types of folks
475s	absolutely I mean this phase that we're
477s	in from a development perspective is
478s	really catered towards those individuals
481s	in the community who are interested in
483s	watching the development of a game
484s	because like you're saying this is not
486s	just something that many players
488s	experience but also development teams
490s	don't typically think about how they're
492s	actively working on its features and you
495s	know assets that that get shared live
498s	you know essentially I cannot think of
500s	another company that has invested this
502s	much in their Community this far in
503s	advance yeah like we've been bringing
505s	this uh you know going this going on us
508s	for three four or five years now
510s	building this community and it's amazing
511s	yeah so amazing I was actually in a you
514s	know obviously if you watch our streams
515s	live you get to see all the amazing fan
517s	art that people send us and I was
519s	talking to Zach who you're going to see
520s	in an interview following this segment
523s	um and I was actually saying how crazy
525s	it is that we have all this amazing fan
527s	art and one of the walls in our hallway
529s	actually like right near us over there
531s	is where we're planning to do this huge
533s	cork where we're going to put all the
534s	fan art so keep sending us those things
536s	we love seeing them and we've already
539s	had people making cosplay and we're
541s	definitely going to put that up there so
542s	we appreciate you all so much and we
545s	hope that you know this to kind of segue
547s	into what you're going to be able to see
548s	for the rest of today is that you know
550s	you're going to get a glimpse into our
551s	studio we want to set expectations that
553s	you know we haven't quite decorated
555s	everything yet Intrepid style we are
557s	planning to do that we have some cool
558s	murals I chatted with John about like
560s	what pieces we're going to do and stuff
561s	so once those things get put up and we
564s	have a little bit more of a you know A
565s	vibe that we want to share with you
567s	we'll definitely give you a proper tour
569s	and we also bought some equipment like
570s	gimbals and stuff like that all of
573s	you've been seeing our production
575s	quality for extra life increasing and
577s	obviously this so we do have plans of
579s	showing you guys those things
581s	um but you know this is going to be
582s	opportunity for you kind of get cozy
584s	with the developers get to know them a
587s	little bit more not just about what the
588s	work that they work on but like them as
590s	people and the kind of what they like
591s	about games and so we'll be chatting
594s	with the folks who helped with the
595s	Unreal Engine update character creator
597s	seasons and environments combat
599s	Gathering and of course crafting so we
602s	hope that you enjoy that and of course
604s	we're going to look back at the year and
606s	kind of do a little year in review bring
608s	your tissues get ready to cry
611s	shout out to Mike Vecchio who also made
613s	this tree oh I love the tree oh my gosh
616s	the attention to detail on the little
618s	ornaments this little guy's face for the
620s	ornament is so cool yeah and he even
622s	made
625s	this guy the little vet down here yeah
629s	yeah oh it looks so cool they're really
631s	really cute
632s	um maybe someday we'll have ornaments
634s	that we sell for us I know that'd be
636s	great I should totally do that yeah uh
639s	so before we go into everything I do
641s	want to Spotlight our comment for
643s	YouTube and of course if you want to be
645s	spotlighted be sure to subscribe to us
647s	on YouTube on our development update and
650s	also leave a comment and you could
651s	possibly be in this Spotlight so today's
654s	Spotlight is Eric three or six three
656s	four and they wanted to know I'm very
658s	curious what work Intrepid is doing to
660s	capture valuable data in Alpha 2 has
663s	Intrepid built dashboards and data
665s	Gathering tools and I feel like this is
668s	a great oh man I was gonna say who gets
669s	this one yes I feel like we're all hyped
672s	about that yes of course yes well we do
675s	we love data so yes there is actual work
677s	going into data and collecting and game
680s	logs and stuff that we'll be using down
683s	the road a lot especially during our
685s	Alpha yeah to help us to guide us to
688s	understand where know we're meeting our
690s	marks and beating our marks and what we
692s	want to be accomplishing as far as we're
693s	finding the fun is right yeah yeah and
696s	of course you know those come along with
697s	a complimentary set of tools that are
699s	created by our developers to collect
701s	that data not just from game play
703s	because that's one important aspect of
705s	it what players are doing in the game
707s	yeah but another part of it which
710s	completes that picture is active
712s	Community engagement with those players
714s	as well to tell the tale from the
716s	player's perspective not just the
718s	actions in game right and I feel like a
720s	lot of companies and many of us probably
721s	in the community have experienced this
723s	in other games decisions get made from
725s	just data points that are numerical
728s	right but it must be a full picture that
731s	requires some investment on the
733s	company's behalf of that community
734s	outreach and engagement right yeah and
737s	that's what I I mean that's one of the
738s	reasons why I started working here is
740s	one of the first conversation Stephen
741s	and I had on the phone Milton's we ate
743s	lunch
746s	um because mCP was like you need to come
748s	work with us and I was like I don't know
750s	and chatting with Stephen really like
752s	and I think back on it that was like
754s	four years ago yeah
756s	um but the reason why I was like this is
758s	a place where I want to go is because
760s	you really understand Community you
762s	understand how important is that we are
763s	Gamers also and that we you know are
766s	making games for gamers right and I
768s	often work in the past with people who
771s	maybe aren't Gamers and they didn't
772s	really get the perspective of that or
774s	we'd be making decisions because it's
775s	like hey this is the bottom line and
777s	we're trying to hit that and if you
778s	don't hit this you're fine and there's
780s	nothing more frustrating from a player's
782s	perspective when something changes in
784s	the game and it changes for the wrong
786s	reason because some value in some cell
788s	in some Excel sheet says hey this is the
791s	data that we scrapped from player
793s	activity yeah and so what we're doing
794s	when we're sending reports over we're
796s	like hey the numbers are down for this
797s	because X and Y we give some analyzation
800s	to it and I think that sometimes that
802s	part is not read or looked into as much
804s	as it should be right and it's so
805s	important to not just like look at data
807s	and make decisions but also understand
808s	like why that data is that way in the
811s	like in the Grand Studio in the grand
812s	scheme of things yeah all right and with
814s	that I think that we're gonna head on
816s	over and meet up with our Unreal Engine
818s	and character creator folks who Stephen
820s	was interviewing so we hope that you
822s	enjoy the rest of the stream and we will
824s	see you all I love the Fireside field
827s	it's so good we aren't gonna stop that
830s	we definitely want the genuine Vibe and
832s	I think hopefully you guys all feel that
833s	way through this you know all of our
835s	streams have been that way we want even
837s	just these types of ones to feel that
838s	way too so yes we'll see you guys in a
840s	little bit
848s	hey guys I am joined by three of our
852s	awesome developers we have some of our
855s	Engineers here at the studio why don't
857s	we take a second for you guys to
858s	introduce yourselves hello uh I'm
860s	Clayton you might remember me from the
862s	Character Creator live stream
864s	hi I'm Mitch I've been here at Intrepid
867s	for coming up on four years now and I'm
869s	a senior engineer I'm Zach you might
872s	also recognize me from the Character
873s	Creator live stream and me and Zach are
875s	also Engineers yeah we are also yeah
878s	also gameplay Engineers yeah so that was
881s	a a fun live stream but let's talk a
883s	little bit about earlier in the year
886s	actually it was at the end of 2021 and
889s	into January of 2022 we showcased our
893s	transition over to Unreal Engine 5. yeah
896s	that was quite an Endeavor yeah we had a
900s	lot of things going on all at once yeah
902s	it was a lot going on there were a lot
904s	of people who participated in kind of
905s	getting the project over to Unreal five
908s	talk to me a little bit about what that
910s	process entailed yeah Mitch and I were
912s	at the Forefront of that especially uh
915s	Mitch I was helping out a lot with the
918s	Version Control we have a lot of
920s	additions to our custom version of
922s	Unreal Engine that allow our designers
925s	to do what they need to do and allow
927s	custom features for our engineers and
929s	getting those reconciled with all of the
931s	awesome new features from Unreal Engine
932s	5 was a lot of work so right yeah more
935s	the more custom changes that occur in
937s	the engine makes that process a bit
939s	longer and a bit more intricate right
941s	right and when we get a new version we
944s	have to make sure that all of the
945s	previous edits we'd made to Unreal
948s	Engine still apply or still are needed
951s	yeah so we had to step through pardon me
954s	basically everything we had done up to
957s	that point and
958s	one by one say do we need this do we
961s	need something else and and talk to us a
963s	little bit about kind of what benefits I
966s	know the audience obviously has had an
968s	opportunity over this course of this
969s	last year to see the benefits that
971s	unreal 5 bring to the project from a
973s	visual Fidelity standpoint but also a
975s	little bit behind the curtain on the
977s	tech side what type of benefits come
979s	from Unreal Engine 5. well there's a lot
981s	finer control uh for one for the map and
985s	for things like separating out things
987s	into they call a world partition yeah to
991s	greatly increase the the performance of
994s	especially the client in very cluttered
997s	areas right the large scale of distance
999s	that's been really helped Fashions from
1001s	the regards that we were already going
1004s	to have this massive world and the
1005s	engine
1007s	the feasibility of it just improved on
1009s	that regard yeah like one thing that a
1012s	lot of people don't consider is how you
1014s	bring all of the people on a massive
1015s	team like this to actually work on the
1018s	same thing because previously a lot of
1021s	the files would be saved in larger
1023s	chunks versus now in Unreal Engine 5
1025s	things are saved as individual actors so
1028s	people can actually access the same
1030s	level simultaneously and contribute work
1033s	to the same features of the project or
1036s	the same parts of the content without
1038s	stepping on each other's toes right and
1040s	from a workflow perspective that is very
1042s	nice to have because previously you
1045s	would have to wait as a handoff or some
1047s	particular checkout to be checked back
1049s	in before you could start working there
1051s	yeah
1051s	as well as the environment team very
1055s	often yeah that was a big problem
1056s	especially on the art workflow side for
1058s	the environment team yeah it's a big
1060s	relief yeah and then finding out that
1062s	someone had something you needed to make
1064s	a specific engineering change yeah and
1067s	and having to wait a couple days you
1069s	know at the worst case yeah to uh to be
1073s	able to access the file yeah and now you
1075s	can just work on the same thing it's
1076s	beautiful and tell me a little bit about
1078s	kind of um some of the performance
1080s	related benefits that come on the asset
1082s	side things like nanite or just the
1085s	visual Fidelity of the world with things
1086s	like Lumen a lot of people hear terms
1089s	like Lumen and nanite and uh they just
1092s	see that it looks awesome but you don't
1093s	realize that these are also actually
1095s	just fundamental changes to how the
1098s	graphics are handled under the hood
1102s	because with Lumen so previously a lot
1105s	of people are familiar with Hardware
1106s	accelerated Ray tracing and uh so many
1110s	people are familiar with that yeah it's
1111s	simulating in the audience especially
1112s	yeah simulating Global illumination and
1114s	shadows and like well it was it was a
1116s	really big thing whenever uh graphics
1119s	card companies were coming out and
1120s	saying you know this is going to be the
1121s	the new amazing Tech and they were
1123s	tested some of that with Tristan I think
1125s	back in 2017 or or 18. yeah and we had
1129s	little side by sides and watch the
1130s	perfect yeah they're like oh Ray tracing
1132s	on Ray tracing off and one thing that
1134s	Lumen does is it allows you to actually
1136s	simulate Ray tracing on the software
1139s	side so well it's not simulating Ray
1140s	tracing they're solving the same problem
1142s	with a different solution with software
1144s	simulated Global illumination instead of
1146s	Hardware simulated so uh now it's more
1149s	accessible to people and that's what why
1151s	Lumen looks so amazing and that's
1153s	actually one of the reasons why in early
1155s	in the year when we showcase the video
1158s	transitioning over to Unreal Engine 5.
1160s	we use that cave area to kind of show
1163s	the benefits of that Global illumination
1165s	bouncing or cascading off of the
1167s	environment yeah exactly when you
1169s	combine that with the virtualized
1171s	geometry yeah and it's just it's a win
1173s	yeah not to mention obviously the
1175s	performance game as well because nanite
1177s	is per pixel geometry which is amazing
1180s	like for large worlds a lot of the times
1183s	you have massive textures that are that
1186s	are considered virtual wise and this is
1188s	like a a very common practice previously
1190s	for handling giant textures as you
1191s	virtualize the texture which means that
1193s	it's now streaming from disk instead of
1195s	all being loaded into memory at once and
1197s	nanite now provides that for geometry so
1199s	you can stream in the geometry more
1201s	granularly which is huge per pixel
1203s	geometry so it's pretty incredible it's
1205s	very cool now obviously it doesn't end
1208s	with Unreal Engine 5 as the community is
1211s	aware starting next month we're actually
1214s	going to be making the move over to 5.1
1217s	yeah and talk to me a little bit about
1219s	what that process is going to entail and
1221s	also what types of benefit it's going to
1222s	bring it should be a fairly uh smooth
1225s	process smoother than our initial
1227s	initially we we did the pre-release
1230s	version of 5.0 and that was a little
1232s	rough but 5.1 should be better and we're
1236s	looking forward to a lot of the
1237s	performance games especially with things
1239s	like uh they're partitioning the nav
1241s	match along the same lines as the world
1243s	partition and talk to us a little bit
1244s	about what partitioning navmesh means it
1247s	means that different
1248s	servers and different clients will have
1251s	to can load partial sets of the navmesh
1254s	instead of the whole nav mesh and that's
1257s	a lot a lot less memory and the nav mesh
1259s	is essentially for people who don't know
1260s	that is how NPCs path around the world
1264s	essentially correct and that's how they
1266s	know where Collision is and what they
1267s	can move around and how they get to a
1269s	Target location exactly go walk through
1271s	the tree walk around right absolutely
1273s	and talk to me a little bit about the I
1275s	know artists are very excited about 5.1
1278s	why is that well a lot of the features
1280s	that were still in like a beta form for
1284s	the engine are now coming online or uh
1287s	as like more performant versions or more
1289s	reliable versions so like the entire
1291s	studio will be able to move over to
1293s	DirectX 12 for our primary Graphics API
1296s	which that's going to save the artist a
1299s	lot of headache because a lot of the
1300s	time somebody will be like hey this
1301s	looks better like I'm getting these
1303s	weird glitches on the textures or I'm
1305s	crashing and now you know a lot of it's
1308s	just coming into charity with 5.1 and
1310s	they're also incorporating nanite as
1312s	part as I understand it with the foliage
1314s	actors as well yeah trees yeah there's
1317s	there's some talk of that yeah yeah
1318s	that's cool I know Tech Art's a little
1320s	excited about that yeah yeah they've
1322s	been waiting for it for a long time yeah
1324s	yeah I remember they were talking to me
1326s	about it almost six months ago I think
1327s	yeah
1329s	um awesome so
1331s	after we showcased our move to Unreal
1335s	five earlier this year we had a stream
1338s	about our Character Creator and this was
1340s	something that for a long time we had
1343s	been talking about kind of our goals
1345s	since 2017 you know what are some of the
1348s	character creators that that we've seen
1350s	that we've loved in other games
1353s	um talk to me a little bit about your
1354s	experience as a gamer first what are
1357s	some of the things that you look for in
1358s	a character creator and why you were
1360s	excited to bring something a little bit
1361s	that level and Beyond potentially with
1363s	ours for me it's the freedom of
1366s	expression to make the character that
1368s	you want to make yeah without the
1370s	limitations that sometimes seem kind of
1373s	arbitrary that developers put in I
1376s	really enjoyed uh Baldur's Gate
1378s	I thought that was a lovely one that
1381s	really made me feel like
1383s	I was in a Fantasy Realm crafting my own
1386s	character
1387s	as well from the I guess purely Tech
1389s	side of Black Desert online I really
1393s	enjoyed the more of the tactile
1396s	drag yeah the customized character the
1399s	direct manipulation exactly yeah
1402s	for me it's usually can I be green
1405s	can he be green
1408s	oh it's like a lizard folk or an orc I'm
1411s	just kidding all of the above all of the
1413s	above you know actually on that note
1415s	that's that's a great segue into one of
1418s	my favorite character creator stories
1419s	which was actually Oblivion back in I
1422s	think it was 2006 Elder Scrolls uh it
1425s	wasn't like an amazing character creator
1426s	but they had a lot of options and you
1427s	were able to sort of uh manipulate it in
1430s	a way that you could push the limits by
1432s	like dragging one slider back and one
1434s	slider the other way and I would always
1435s	make my person like red or green just
1437s	for fun
1439s	of course we don't allow for that in our
1442s	character creator we talk about only
1443s	allowing positive results or adding
1446s	constraints that you can have a high
1449s	degree of control while making sure that
1452s	the final result is going to look good
1454s	no matter what right
1455s	um and of course good good can be
1458s	somewhat subjective yeah for sure but I
1460s	want to make Igor yes exactly but
1463s	whenever you see yourself as in this
1465s	fantasy role-playing setting you should
1468s	be able to make that in the Character
1469s	Creator and express yourself well I
1472s	thought you know the work that you guys
1474s	did and that the artist did with
1476s	bringing kind of the first iteration of
1479s	Ash's character creator to life was
1481s	really phenomenal I know it got a lot of
1483s	positivity and response from the
1485s	community
1485s	talk to me a little bit about that
1487s	process what did that entail
1490s	that was a whole lot of r d at first
1492s	yeah yeah
1494s	I guess possible Within the engine we're
1498s	working in and especially like what we
1499s	wanted for it yeah because we had a lot
1501s	of Demands that
1503s	we couldn't really point to you in other
1505s	games and be like let's just do that you
1506s	know yeah it was a lot of bespoke
1509s	functionality that was novel to you
1511s	ashes right yeah and it's one thing to
1514s	make it work in the Character Creator
1516s	and it's a completely different thing to
1518s	take the character that you made in the
1520s	Character Creator and make that work in
1522s	game right and make it performant and
1524s	that's one thing that Zach played a huge
1526s	role in was actually getting the assets
1528s	gameplay ready by threading the uh the
1531s	skeletal mesh merge process that was
1533s	that was pretty awesome yeah it wouldn't
1535s	really be possible unless we did a lot
1537s	of heavy Tech in the background yeah to
1540s	make it reasonable very cool and then
1542s	another aspect obviously is the tech you
1545s	guys worked on doesn't just facilitate
1548s	the front facing character creator for
1550s	the player but it's also something that
1552s	can be utilized internally as a tool
1554s	when creating NPCs correct yeah when we
1557s	were in the ideation phase of the
1560s	expirator we always thought that it'd be
1562s	great to have
1563s	organizational Suite or design so they
1565s	can go and make Quest NPCs they can
1567s	populate the world with their custom
1569s	characters they can go in and give life
1571s	almost to each individual NPC if they
1574s	wanted to yeah and really make them
1575s	unique and customize yeah yeah and
1579s	designers of course love having that
1580s	tool available because they don't have
1582s	to go and make specific requests
1584s	necessarily to character on a particular
1586s	type of of NPC they can just jump into
1589s	the tool itself and create those things
1591s	and of course that technology isn't just
1594s	restricted to humanoid type NPCs but
1596s	also can be able to leverage across
1598s	creature creators as well potentially is
1601s	that true well big plans for a lot yeah
1604s	that's that one's uh it's still very
1607s	much in the oven but uh yeah we want to
1610s	leverage a lot of the technology that we
1612s	that we made for the character creator
1615s	for things like animal husbandry and for
1617s	populating the world with unique
1620s	variations of creatures as well yeah
1628s	yeah in creating the Character Creator
1630s	uh that one of our biggest points of
1632s	emphasis is while we're making this is
1634s	thinking about how it can be reused in
1635s	other parts of the project so yeah
1637s	absolutely
1639s	um because I can edit the size of my
1640s	Pug's eye
1642s	to make them really oversized
1646s	talk to me a little bit about what yeah
1647s	we obviously talked a little bit about
1648s	you know
1650s	one of the aspects of the future uses
1652s	for the character creator with creatures
1653s	potentially but what are some of the
1655s	other things you're excited about uh to
1656s	continue working on getting the
1658s	character reader to a point where
1660s	you know it's going to be live or launch
1663s	what are some of those features I know
1665s	we took a lot of feedback from the
1666s	community when they gave us responses
1668s	during the discussions Thread about what
1670s	they're looking for they talked a little
1672s	bit about more hair options and their
1674s	abilities to do tattoos perhaps even to
1676s	customize those things what are some of
1678s	the things you guys are excited to add
1680s	yeah so one one thing that I'm really
1682s	excited to work on next is the hair
1684s	customization uh well a lot of the
1686s	functionality for the hair customization
1688s	is there but I think that you saw in the
1689s	demo it was still using sliders we
1691s	really want to expand how much you can
1694s	customize individually on the hair and
1696s	also incorporate that same mechanic of
1699s	direct manipulation so that you're
1701s	dragging different parts of the hair or
1703s	actually
1704s	configuring it that way especially with
1706s	longer braids and jewelry and more of
1709s	the granularity you can use to really
1712s	customize your character yeah we saw a
1714s	lot of commentary about that those
1715s	additional and of course players as you
1718s	guys understand those might not always
1720s	be available at the Inception of a
1722s	particular character but might be
1724s	unlocked through achievements in a game
1726s	that you can then revisit the Character
1727s	Creator through salon services and nodes
1730s	and start to customize further as your
1732s	character's history matures within the
1734s	world right yeah that's one thing that
1736s	I'm super excited for is the gameplay
1739s	integration of the Character Creator in
1741s	in real time and and how we integrate uh
1744s	different customization features and tie
1747s	that into your character progression I
1748s	can't wait to see like the different
1750s	scars that I can unlock from yeah you
1753s	know
1754s	like reputation based tattoo yeah
1757s	yeah I've never seen that before that is
1761s	cool yeah going into the tattoo parlor
1763s	in the dunier node and getting like a
1766s	special do near tattoo oh my it's gonna
1768s	be awesome it would be also cool as a
1770s	feature if you're capable of inspecting
1771s	other players you know customization
1773s	options and what they represent so if
1775s	you do add the scar from the dragon
1776s	fight another person can see ah they
1778s	have a scar and it's on that dragonfly
1780s	right exactly yeah that is there's a
1782s	wealth of gameplay I guess options that
1785s	we're going to give designers to be able
1787s	to populate the world with quests and
1789s	reputation yeah yeah that's super cool
1791s	very very cool
1794s	um well awesome you know I I guess
1797s	um one final question that I would have
1798s	for you guys
1800s	um is
1801s	um as someone who takes a long time to
1804s	to create your character
1806s	um do you generally just randomize and
1808s	go or do you sit there and Fiddle with
1811s	it I know that in an MMO setting
1813s	sometimes when you're making that
1815s	character and obviously this is a
1816s	service we've talked about offering is
1817s	prior to launch players will be able to
1819s	access the Character Creator and prep
1821s	for that launch time because you want to
1823s	get into the server as quickly as
1824s	possible you don't want to lose any time
1825s	right trying to progress but do you guys
1828s	like to fiddle with a character creators
1829s	spend a long time doing it customizing
1831s	everything or do you just randomize It
1832s	Go
1833s	well at first I do both actually really
1836s	at first I randomized them go and I give
1839s	the game I'm super picky I give the game
1841s	an hour nice and if I'm not captured in
1844s	an hour right I get a refund yes and
1847s	then a lot of people do that then I
1849s	spend two hours in the character creator
1850s	making my real name okay so first you
1854s	vet the game then if you like it you
1855s	spend the time right what about you guys
1857s	uh yeah no so normally I'll randomize to
1860s	find a starting point that I like and
1861s	then I'll customize from there
1863s	um but uh it normally I don't actually
1866s	put a lot of time into the Character
1868s	Creator really oh
1870s	oh my gosh the soccer Legend I'm just
1872s	kidding I spend a lot of time in Kick
1875s	creators on if there's ever an option to
1877s	mod it like Skyrim yeah I'll add even
1880s	more customization options yeah like
1882s	modest Skyrim just so I can have
1884s	full control and like if it's not a Time
1887s	gate we're like I'm waiting to get into
1889s	the game
1890s	if I have like a single player game I
1893s	will spend a full play session oh yeah
1896s	yeah I generally if I'm if I'm starting
1899s	a game especially in MMO and I know that
1902s	I mean in the past the MMOs that I've
1904s	experienced it was rare to kind of visit
1905s	that character creator again
1907s	um and get to change things so I would
1909s	spend a lot of time uh building out the
1912s	character and customizing things I don't
1914s	know I'm kind of happy for the role play
1915s	side yeah one of the nice things like
1918s	Clayton did was he worked on a really
1920s	nice randomization feature oh yeah
1922s	absolutely but it
1924s	like if you're not one of those players
1926s	that
1927s	like me that spends a lot of time in it
1929s	you can just randomize through and
1931s	you're gonna get like amazing results
1933s	every time yeah and like
1936s	Clinton did a really good job with just
1937s	the breadth of the customization with
1940s	the randomization and then you can
1941s	always use that to do uh yeah I was
1944s	having a fun time just kind of spamming
1945s	that randomize button and just watching
1947s	the different shapes and figures and
1950s	faces just roll through the Character
1952s	Creator that was actually pretty cool
1954s	yeah seeing how many different ones you
1955s	could generate in a short amount of time
1957s	that's neat and that's also that's going
1959s	to be at the Forefront of uh our content
1962s	designer's ability to populate the world
1963s	with convincing good looking characters
1965s	is a decent looking random randomizing
1968s	feature awesome yeah very cool well guys
1970s	thank you for taking the time to chat
1972s	with me and our audience we're gonna
1974s	have a fun little segment coming up next
1979s	foreign
1983s	[Music]
1985s	and welcome over into the environment
1987s	and season side I am joined by three
1990s	absolutely awesome members of the team
1992s	Tristan you want to introduce yourself
1994s	I'm Tristan snograz I'm the lead
1996s	environment artist here at Intrepid
1997s	Studios absolutely we also have
1999s	Brian Gins lead tech artist and of
2002s	course the amazing I'm Kat Nary and I am
2005s	the audio lead at Intrepid yay so
2008s	we actually pulled off some fun Feats
2010s	this year and showcasing to the
2012s	community some pretty exciting stuff one
2014s	of which was The Season's showcase and
2018s	we did that in the uh the riverlands
2020s	biome is that right correct that was the
2022s	first bomb that we actually implemented
2023s	the actual Tech that Brian and Hal and
2026s	James actually worked on right and talk
2029s	to me a little bit about that Tech what
2031s	did it entail
2032s	we're just touching every single
2034s	component of unreal where uh a lot of
2038s	things had to be harmonized like the
2039s	cloud the volume Cloud stuff and there's
2041s	part of the effects for the rain and the
2042s	snow I think I mentioned it in the live
2044s	stream for the yeah
2045s	but yeah that's and it was just so many
2048s	parts to it yeah I mean it was amazing
2049s	to see like you know we talked about it
2051s	during of course the demonstration that
2052s	I've never personally experienced any
2054s	type of tech like that in an MMORPG
2056s	before where you actually get to see the
2058s	biome change in front of your eyes on a
2060s	seasonal basis right how difficult was
2062s	that to achieve and how much how much
2064s	did moving over to Unreal five we just
2066s	talked about in the previous segment
2066s	moving over to unreal5 help with that I
2069s	think it's helped with it a lot I think
2070s	uh a lot of the cases in unreal that's
2073s	all you're looking for is a button
2074s	button press or a check box or something
2076s	but there are a lot of different systems
2079s	to harmonizing gameplay implications
2082s	that and it's probably like one of the
2084s	hardest things is the planning out of
2086s	how to start it so that it's the whole
2089s	approach is future proof and does
2090s	everything you want it to do or might
2091s	want it to do right yeah and that of
2094s	course has implications on the audio
2095s	side because as an environment changes
2098s	of course the ambience doesn't sound the
2099s	same those things have to those tracks
2101s	have to change how is that implementing
2103s	I mean first doing season Tech is
2106s	something I wanted to do for like 20
2107s	years in the game industry so when I got
2109s	to see what what the artists were doing
2111s	I was really excited to work on this
2113s	um
2114s	you know
2115s	you would think that there's just four
2116s	seasons and so you make your four sounds
2118s	of summer winter fall right spring but
2120s	we're going to go high-tech and we're
2122s	going to do eight variations that
2124s	seamlessly go through ideally you won't
2126s	hear the changes because you'll be so
2127s	seamless and they'll just kind of go
2129s	through yeah it's something you don't
2130s	get to see in the live streams right now
2131s	because uh you do changes in 30 seconds
2133s	right so um when we do the sounds for
2136s	them and as the audio team continues to
2137s	grow like right now I went out and
2139s	recorded the rare rain in San Diego a
2141s	couple of weeks ago so that kind of
2143s	stuff gets into the game
2145s	um and as it grows we'll go do more
2147s	field recording um you know we try to
2149s	make as much Custom Sounds as we can
2150s	that fit the environment that we see and
2152s	I of course haven't received yet your
2153s	itinerary of all the places in the world
2155s	you plan to travel to the collection
2158s	I will be asking for reimbursement I
2160s	can't wait when I go to Fiji yeah yeah
2163s	exactly I am more than happy to travel
2165s	to collect the perfect references
2170s	talk to me a little bit about that what
2172s	were some of the Inspirations I know
2173s	James did a lot of work on the C
2175s	seasonal showcase for those assets how
2177s	do you guys kind of derive what you're
2179s	going to fill those biomes with so first
2182s	it was just trying to find some real
2183s	world references that we could take as
2185s	you know inspiration then of course we
2187s	do get constant images derived from that
2190s	the ad the fantasy Flair that we're
2191s	going to have right so then you know we
2193s	want to do real world but we're also
2194s	doing High fantasy yeah and we'll kind
2196s	of elements to it so
2198s	they chose Wales as essentially the
2201s	biome for this which is basically like
2203s	where my family is from so I was like
2205s	all right I remember seeing your shots
2208s	that you took while you were in Wales
2209s	and you were posting them all throughout
2211s	the art channels and you're like all
2213s	right this is great for this this is
2214s	great for this and we need more
2216s	references I called up my mom and I was
2218s	like hey I wanted
2224s	do you fill out any jira tasks for her
2226s	when you ask her to do that stuff yes
2227s	she's still asking for her money
2229s	we'll figure it out she's retired she's
2231s	okay but yeah so then we moved on to the
2234s	desert biome right after that and so
2236s	that wasn't necessarily seasonal Tech
2237s	implementation right there but we had a
2240s	whole bunch of stuff to kind of think
2241s	about how we wanted to approach
2243s	seasonal attack from a very different
2245s	environment right especially like the
2247s	one that's desolate as a desert right
2248s	and so how do we make that environment
2251s	change over four biomes and make it feel
2252s	like unique and interesting and
2254s	different but also not just do a
2256s	traditional desert yeah so we'd like to
2259s	make like the winters maybe slightly
2260s	different that you might see I know we
2262s	talked a little bit about that and
2263s	there's some cool stuff that we've done
2265s	for things that might come down the line
2267s	but one of the things that we wanted to
2270s	do was also out here in Anza Borrego we
2272s	get the desert super blooms which is
2274s	where everything turns into like this
2278s	um yeah the flower blooms are just
2280s	mind-blowing beautiful so there's some
2283s	stuff that we have been trying to make
2285s	happen that is going to probably blow
2287s	people's minds even more than we've
2288s	already done with the Riverland
2289s	absolutely and I I think that people are
2292s	going to be really excited to see that
2293s	stuff I think just the Glimpse that we
2294s	got actually at the desert area that
2296s	desert biome right um there's already I
2299s	mean just such beauty and that you did
2300s	with the Oasis and the tech across the
2302s	rolling uh winds over the sand dunes
2305s	talk to me a little bit about how you
2307s	kind of accomplished the the wins for
2309s	the sand dunes there's a couple of
2311s	techniques I think uh a lot of times the
2313s	environment artists will take stab at
2314s	what they want to do and then I'll pick
2316s	it up and work it and massage it in a
2318s	little bit better with some of the
2319s	systems that are in there already make
2322s	it a little more fun
2325s	as well but yeah they they know they
2328s	have an idea what they want in their eye
2329s	and I just like okay I get it and let's
2331s	kind of use that in a particle effect to
2333s	do that as well and
2336s	um it's kind of like use a different
2337s	system but in the same way that they're
2339s	envisioning yeah to cover like all
2342s	different things unreal can do like the
2343s	grass the foliage and the virtual
2345s	textures and everything and there's
2346s	there's a lot of ways to do things but
2348s	there's often the best way to do
2349s	something and it's kind of like
2352s	put that in there like heat Distortion
2354s	was done one way it's just let's put
2355s	that in the particle system and they all
2357s	kind of layer on top of each other these
2359s	different systems that you're utilizing
2361s	yeah if you take one out then the whole
2363s	scene just kind of falls apart and uses
2365s	that and now of course you know we have
2367s	certain types of weather events that are
2369s	of course going to impact audio as well
2370s	for these areas like we talked a bit
2372s	about one of the boss designs that are
2374s	intended for the desert biome having
2377s	this kind of Whirlwind of Sandstorm and
2380s	when players get inside of those things
2382s	how does that kind of change audio yeah
2384s	no Brian's been awesome to work with
2385s	because he's built a lot of systems that
2387s	can drive the audio dynamically so I'll
2389s	go out and record various levels of
2392s	sounds and then they'll procedurally
2393s	change in the game to really make you
2395s	feel like you're in there even the same
2396s	with the trees if you go under the trees
2398s	right now with the wind you know yeah
2400s	the little leaves will kind of go up and
2401s	down with the uh the wind parameters
2404s	that Brian's set up and it's really
2406s	really neat and really interactive and
2407s	not just the winds I noticed that as you
2409s	know I kind of move through the game and
2410s	I get close to some of these particular
2412s	you know foliage actors I hear birds
2414s	chirping or you know some type of cue
2416s	that just happens in the background the
2418s	birds are super cool too because they're
2419s	going to be assigned to certain trees
2421s	and um you know sometimes you'll find
2423s	that really cool bird you'll want to sit
2424s	under it and then sometimes you'll find
2425s	a bird that maybe you don't want to be
2426s	near and so maybe you'll chop down that
2428s	tree and then take away his home or you
2430s	know move away that's a terrible but you
2433s	know yeah
2434s	that is actually very genius I noticed
2437s	also you know as we were kind of
2438s	showcasing some of the um Ranger footage
2441s	that design and the combat engineers
2443s	have been working on
2445s	um there was that almost pollen-like uh
2448s	fog that was just throughout the level
2450s	that you know created that almost
2452s	morning dust look in that area yeah one
2454s	of our newer artists John Wayne has
2456s	actually been implementing a lot of
2457s	those kind of features to get I mean
2459s	that's just another atmospheric element
2461s	that completely adds to the mood right
2463s	right and those are seasonal as well
2464s	right like I mean those are going to be
2465s	specific attuned to specific Seasons so
2468s	and not just Seasons but also weather in
2470s	general you know so you might get a
2471s	foggy morning
2472s	you know there's been several pretty
2474s	amazing games recently that I've played
2476s	that have some of these elements and you
2477s	know that really changes the vibe of
2480s	when you're running around like you know
2481s	one day to another is completely
2483s	different and that's that's a great you
2484s	know Point like we're all Gamers we all
2486s	play games in our spare time that's why
2488s	we're in this industry is because we
2490s	love games we like seeing the smiles on
2491s	people's faces when we make something
2493s	that excites them how much inspiration
2495s	do you draw from the games that you play
2498s	that's a tough question because there's
2500s	so many different types of games that
2502s	you can play obviously and I don't
2503s	really stick to one and none of them
2505s	have a shortage of awe-inspiring Feats
2507s	that their Dev teams accomplish as well
2508s	yeah and you know like for me in
2510s	particular Red Dead Redemption it's an
2514s	amazing game where I could just ride
2515s	around and enjoy the nature all day or
2517s	the shenanigans that the horses have
2519s	yeah
2520s	all the little things you know but like
2522s	yeah like that specific game has a lot
2524s	of atmospheric elements for when I'm
2526s	running around I just really enjoy and
2527s	not just the visual elements but then
2529s	the sound does kick in and sound to me
2531s	is one of the things that really truly
2534s	sells like a movie or okay yeah
2536s	especially the music and such like that
2538s	but like if the audio doesn't feel right
2539s	then you know I uh absolutely I mean
2542s	that was something that was big for me
2544s	not just in gaming but like I find in
2548s	many different forms of entertainment
2549s	especially media television movies like
2551s	that that the soundtrack the music that
2555s	accompanies
2556s	what's happening more often than not
2559s	elicit stronger emotions for me than the
2561s	visuals of the dialogue my goal for Vera
2564s	audio is you should be able to find a
2566s	nice little safe place to sit down and
2568s	leave it on in the background is a nice
2570s	ambient audio generator and you can go
2572s	and work on your thesis or whatever else
2575s	you're working on or just nice little go
2576s	to bed to it oh I want you to like feel
2579s	like you're always in there
2580s	that's what I'm saying yes
2583s	we'll do that we should totally throw up
2585s	like a YouTube Loop that people can just
2587s	leave on oh that would be a great idea
2589s	that's one way to fall asleep yeah
2591s	absolutely so as we kind of you know
2593s	look forward into 2023 what are some of
2597s	the areas that you guys have on your
2600s	excited list of things to tackle right
2603s	what what's the biome you're looking
2605s	most forward to so the Redwood Forest is
2608s	something that we're aiming to push into
2610s	we've already kind of started pushing
2612s	into it slowly but
2614s	um you know just being surrounded by it
2616s	giant massive trees that just don't seem
2619s	to be making any sense of why they exist
2621s	like when you're walking through a
2622s	redwood forest in real life like up in
2624s	Northern California it's just it's it's
2626s	all inspiring and there's a lot of cool
2628s	seasonal stuff that we can do with that
2630s	yeah so that's my yeah I was talking to
2633s	design a little bit about group gameplay
2636s	Dynamics when we instituted the
2637s	Gathering Tech
2639s	um
2640s	and having specific assets that require
2642s	multiple players in order to actually
2643s	chop down a particular tree yeah I don't
2645s	think you can really take down a redwood
2647s	with a simple one person yeah six swings
2650s	we're good
2651s	let's see how that plays out that's
2653s	going to be an interesting feature to
2654s	actually make it work because from the
2656s	tech side of things
2660s	harvesting Tech is going to play into
2662s	that right yeah and it's relevant of
2664s	course to Seasons because not just the
2667s	ambience and the audio changes but the
2668s	assets that are available and spawn
2669s	those change as well and those have
2671s	actual economic implications when it
2673s	comes to uh the world economy
2676s	um so yeah that's that's that's super
2678s	cool
2679s	um well talk to me a little bit about
2681s	kind of how you blend the work between
2684s	setting up these zones these biomes for
2687s	the seasonal aspects and working with
2689s	design to determine which assets spawn
2692s	when how it's affected potentially by
2694s	time of day
2695s	um and and a little bit about
2698s	um you know working with design on
2700s	setting up these uh these biomes filled
2703s	with different types of gatherables uh
2705s	essentially and how it's affected by
2707s	Seasons right they have Cycles
2709s	essentially there's going to be
2710s	different types of plants different
2711s	types of voyage that you can Harvest
2713s	during certain times of the year
2715s	um Brian I guess you're probably going
2716s	to be plugging that Tech to the all the
2718s	harvestable Assets in the sense that you
2720s	know you might get a certain plant in
2721s	winter but you're not going to get it
2722s	during right in the time where weather
2724s	might affect right and we saw a little
2725s	bit about that not just with the assets
2727s	but also with the creatures as well
2729s	correct yeah and what went into making
2732s	the creatures kind of change uh you know
2734s	with the seasons it actually is not as
2737s	difficult as it sounds
2738s	wait don't say that it's very difficult
2741s	no I'm just very complex
2743s	It's probably hard for the guys are epic
2745s	to like put it on the engine but we just
2747s	kind of you know every material every
2748s	object has access to wind direction and
2751s	speed time of year time of day it's up
2754s	to the artist to just kind of tap into
2755s	these accessible variables and say make
2758s	this color and the summer a different
2760s	colored winter
2762s	um yeah it gets complicated when you
2763s	start putting in more Dynamics with like
2765s	we want a storm in this area just so we
2768s	move across the world and it has gamble
2770s	implications and everyone all the
2772s	clients know if they're in a storm or
2773s	not and uh to that whole like process of
2777s	working with designers and how to like
2779s	uh integrate what we can do what they
2781s	want to do
2782s	I have to have like here's the ambitious
2784s	goal what everyone's talking about but
2786s	we've got to fall back Justin I need
2789s	like a fallback scale of achievability
2792s	push the really ambitious thing that's
2794s	going to blow everyone's like blow the
2796s	socks off right and we usually hit the
2798s	ambitious ones though yeah yeah somehow
2801s	some way it always works out yeah right
2802s	and then of course you have to think
2804s	about kind of all of these things from
2805s	an audio perspective where essentially
2807s	you're layering on these different
2809s	sounds and when does it become too much
2811s	if I've got a storm coming I'm in combat
2813s	with 10 creatures I've got players
2815s	around me with abilities and effects and
2817s	I got we have academic music a great
2819s	co-team and we're also using um audio
2821s	kinetics audio engine both those things
2824s	with the code team and and the audio
2826s	engine will allow us to do some really
2828s	cool Dynamic mixing that we'll get to
2829s	choose what needs to be in focus when
2831s	when you're in the storm you're going to
2832s	hear the storm but if combat's coming on
2834s	and bigger things that need to be
2835s	focused on those are going to kind of
2836s	come up while the storm will go down
2839s	that's awesome that is awesome
2842s	well with that being said we are going
2846s	to be moving over into our discussion
2848s	about combat and I want to thank you
2851s	guys for joining us and chatting a
2852s	little bit about uh the seasons and what
2854s	it takes to actually make this stuff
2856s	exist in game so awesome job guys and we
2859s	will be seeing you in just a second
2868s	and we are back with a fun little
2872s	discussion with some of our awesome
2874s	developers who are involved in the
2876s	development of our combat and classes
2879s	and special effects all the fun stuff
2881s	that makes an MMO and MMO
2885s	um first thing I want to ask is for you
2886s	guys each to introduce yourself start
2888s	with you Jim I'm Jim I am the lead
2890s	effect hard yes trap yep I'm Tara
2893s	Thompson I'm a senior combat designer on
2896s	the project awesome yep I'm Keenan I'm a
2899s	gameplay engineer I mostly work on uh
2901s	combat and movement
2902s	so we have shown some fun stuff this
2905s	year and I think uh the audience of
2908s	course would agree that the look at
2910s	Ash's development since the start of
2913s	2022 has ramped up in a very fun and
2917s	engaging way for the community to kind
2918s	of take a look at how development works
2920s	here you guys all are involved in a
2922s	process of course that is very near and
2925s	dear to many players Hearts which is the
2927s	identity of their archetypes the
2928s	abilities they have access to those
2930s	classes how they interact from a role
2932s	perspective with combat in general in
2934s	the game what are some of the
2936s	Inspirations what are some games that
2937s	you guys have played in the past that
2939s	kind of helped to influence the
2940s	decisions that we make on ashes
2943s	oh you know that's a good question
2945s	because I mean if you're playing an MMO
2947s	you're gonna have to think of kind of
2949s	the big players out there and I got
2951s	thousands of hours in World of Warcraft
2953s	really that will definitely influence
2955s	how I shape kind of some of the iconic
2957s	imagery the colors and shapes I think
2960s	really
2961s	um a lot of that motivation comes back
2962s	to the feedback I get from the community
2964s	and from the other developers like tread
2967s	is always kind of saying hey man what
2969s	about this shape or this Sizer I'm
2970s	thinking about this mechanic yeah so I
2973s	guess it's a
2974s	circular absolutely I mean all of us
2977s	have been experiencing MMOs I mean we're
2978s	all MMO Gamers that's part of the
2980s	question that I ask in the final
2981s	interview
2983s	MMOs the real qualified yes the
2985s	qualifying question
2987s	um Trev what are some MMOs or games in
2989s	general inspiration there are so many I
2991s	would have to narrow that down to uh
2993s	I'll I'll pick an MMO since that's one
2996s	of the most relevant but um I'd say the
2998s	most influential MMO on me on just you
3001s	know as a gamer has been a Dark Age of
3002s	Camelot oh um I remember actually our
3004s	interview uh when you asked me about
3006s	like my MMO experience that was the one
3008s	I chose to talk about I loved it was
3011s	such a fun game yeah yeah that was
3013s	really the game I think that uh really
3016s	well that in RuneScape those if you
3018s	qualify RuneScape as an MMO that one as
3020s	well but like Dark Age was really where
3022s	I think I realized the magic of an MMO
3025s	and yeah um it really is what got me
3028s	into like open world PVP and that's what
3030s	really excites me about this project is
3032s	bringing back kind of thing back you
3033s	know just that really spontaneous
3035s	gameplay that you run into out in the
3037s	field and you just never know what to
3039s	expect yeah what about you
3042s	um for me
3043s	I think it's probably wow yeah
3045s	specifically
3047s	um the re-release of vanilla wow classic
3049s	wow
3050s	um oh yeah I thought that was a
3052s	phenomenal experience I actually never
3053s	played in vanilla uh so when I traveled
3056s	so that was your first time in the
3057s	classic that was my first time with
3058s	classic and I feel like it brought back
3060s	some of the some of the old school
3062s	Adventure that a lot of us have been
3064s	missing back yeah the Nostalgia we've
3066s	got a group playing right now oh yeah
3067s	really hopefully we'll start back up
3069s	again on old war
3071s	really cool so obviously you know as our
3074s	audience has kind of seen throughout the
3076s	year and they're you know kind of seeing
3078s	now as we put little clips into this
3079s	particular video
3081s	um you know we've shown off a little bit
3082s	of the Ranger we've shown off a little
3084s	bit of uh basic weapon attacks and melee
3087s	some of the fighter skills we've shown
3089s	off the cleric most recently
3091s	um tell me a little bit about the
3093s	process that goes into actually making
3096s	these archetypes obviously the ability
3097s	side is very important that needs to
3099s	have support from engineering and VFX
3101s	and stuff but what typically goes into
3103s	to and we have a lot of classes to make
3105s	right and we're deep within the thralls
3108s	of that process but what does it take
3109s	yeah I could uh start on that um so
3112s	obviously a class has or an archetype
3114s	has to start on on paper right
3116s	um you know we don't you know a lot of
3118s	the time we'll go into prototyping and
3120s	start building out stuff and see what's
3121s	fun but just about always we start on
3123s	paper um on a design document and we're
3126s	talking about specific abilities when we
3128s	start out on paper right
3130s	um first we actually go about
3131s	establishing the class fantasy and the
3134s	identity and the role within the party
3136s	right
3137s	um because that really helps to inform
3139s	what those abilities then are yeah so
3142s	that's usually the first step is you
3144s	know what is this archetype what
3145s	identifies it what what is the role that
3147s	it's trying to accomplish once that is
3150s	done then we go into what you're
3152s	suggesting there where you know we'll go
3154s	and brainstorm a whole wide list of
3156s	abilities and class mechanics and then
3159s	once we've got all those you know a lot
3161s	of them will get the chopping block and
3163s	you know some of them will make it
3164s	through some will get iterated and you
3166s	know kind of redesigned reimagined and
3168s	then after that step
3170s	usually we go to you and we have a sort
3173s	of review meeting
3175s	and you know you'll pick ones that you
3177s	like you'll pick ones you want to change
3178s	or the second chopping block
3181s	second shot yeah there you go we try and
3183s	filter it on our end as much as Stephen
3185s	makes sure it gets done one way or
3187s	another
3188s	um and then you know once once that's
3190s	done then we jump into the prototyping
3193s	right
3194s	um and then it starts down the pipeline
3195s	process right yeah yeah and rapid
3197s	prototyping is a really important step
3199s	of the design process for combat because
3202s	we want to build and fail early or you
3205s	know succeed early and we find the fun
3207s	we find what's not fun and we can all do
3210s	that within you know the tools that are
3212s	very talented Engineers provide us and
3214s	we're always working to improve that
3216s	stuff and the better tools we have the
3218s	better the designers can do their job
3220s	and of course engineering kind of fields
3222s	requests from a capability standpoint on
3225s	what design can actually provide a
3228s	particular ability to do right talk to
3230s	me a little bit about you know how you
3232s	feel those requests how you incorporate
3234s	that as part of the ability system all
3235s	those things
3236s	well we always do feasibility on any
3239s	requests that we get but our designers
3241s	are really good about that and we don't
3242s	usually have too many issues there
3244s	usually
3246s	I like to run wild sometimes
3249s	for me as an engineer though I think a
3251s	lot of times the challenge is in um you
3254s	know they're they're trying to get the
3256s	fantasy right and the question is like
3259s	how do you make somebody who's playing a
3262s	game feel like they are being delivered
3264s	on that band
3265s	so when design asks us for something we
3267s	usually play it a lot ourselves as we're
3269s	making it and we we search for that
3271s	feeling and you know we're all Gamers so
3273s	we know what it feels like yeah so we're
3275s	looking for it as we build it that's one
3276s	of my favorite things is I'm walking
3277s	past your desk going to my office
3279s	sometimes I'll just be like hey Stephen
3281s	you got two minutes and then you put me
3283s	at your desk at the keyboard and you're
3284s	like how does this feel do you feel like
3286s	a ranger I know dude you're like a
3288s	ranger does this sword slash feel good
3290s	yeah yeah absolutely I mean and
3292s	obviously you know you guys you and Adam
3294s	have had a very instrumental hand as
3296s	part of working with design and visual
3298s	effects to kind of capture not just that
3301s	role but that feeling as you described
3302s	and sometimes that incorporates working
3305s	with animators to get the right types of
3307s	authored animations for like a
3308s	particular weapon uh attacks and or
3311s	abilities and the timing on those things
3313s	is is pivotal in creating the right
3315s	feeling right there's so many technical
3317s	components to it and as is often the
3320s	case with engineering it's like
3321s	eliciting the right human response out
3324s	of the very mathematic cool thing is is
3326s	the challenging part yeah and Jim
3329s	obviously you know audio and visual
3331s	effects they come in kind of near the
3333s	end of that pipeline where you know uh
3335s	design and Engineering has provided the
3337s	tools to design designs iterating with
3339s	authored animations and then VFX comes
3343s	in and says how can I make this look
3344s	spectacular I mean there's a tremendous
3347s	amount of thought that's already been
3349s	placed into this uh mechanic or design
3351s	or ability or whatever so on top of that
3354s	we're thinking about how can we push the
3356s	MMO space we don't want to recreate the
3359s	other games we want to make it our own
3361s	game yes and we want to push the effects
3363s	to a level that you just don't see in
3365s	the industry period but at the same time
3367s	we don't want to create visual effects
3368s	soup so we're working on creating a
3370s	visual language it's something that the
3372s	gamers here are playing us are going to
3374s	understand like hey that's like an
3376s	Arcane ability or that's like a tank
3378s	mixed with this you know Summoner or
3380s	whatever so we have to figure out how to
3382s	do all of this not make it too muddy but
3384s	actually X cute in a way that looks cool
3386s	so it's really really nice to have
3388s	people like tried and our engineer team
3390s	right to go back and forth and be like
3391s	hey can we connect this beam here can I
3393s	parameterize it and can we expose this
3395s	to the UI guys so we can ramp it up or
3397s	down to do stuff yeah and you hit on a
3399s	really interesting point which is visual
3402s	effects is obviously not just about
3404s	creating things that are awesome but the
3406s	language that communicates in the style
3408s	guide of how these effects translate to
3410s	particular classes from just a
3412s	silhouette perspective shape language or
3414s	visual Fidelity in the Hues and colors
3416s	that are used to communicate at long
3418s	distances like hey I know what I'm going
3420s	up against especially if it's PVP
3422s	scenario or if you see your group kind
3424s	of doing something there are visual cues
3426s	for you to respond appropriately and
3428s	synergistically from a rotations
3430s	perspective and that's something I know
3432s	early on you know we worked with each
3433s	other kind of going through you and the
3435s	VFX team across you know what those
3437s	shaped languages should look like for
3438s	particular types of abilities the colors
3441s	that should be associated with
3443s	particular types of archetypes the
3444s	symbology and iconography that's used as
3447s	part of those particular visual effects
3449s	some of which obviously people saw in
3450s	the last cleric demonstration but how
3453s	has that been for you kind of defining
3455s	those things and creating that style
3456s	guide I mean it's a comprehensive list
3458s	there's 64 classes right and how do you
3461s	how do you steer make sure that it
3463s	doesn't become that visual suit that so
3465s	many people I mean I've played games
3467s	where it does become visual soon yes and
3470s	especially it starts to break down every
3473s	10th player you add into the mix or
3475s	every 10th you know actor NPC or
3477s	whatever right how do we accomplish that
3480s	oh I love that question so I mean I'm a
3483s	gamer and I think that especially in
3485s	MMOs when you get to that in-game
3487s	content and you're in this huge raid
3489s	whether it's like 10 people or 100
3490s	people and all of a sudden it's like you
3491s	can't find your mouse cursor you're like
3493s	if you're not hockeyed you're lost right
3495s	so but to answer your question we're not
3498s	instead what we're going to do is we're
3500s	going to give that to the player so the
3501s	player is going to be able to tune that
3503s	experience so we are going to create a
3506s	very smart parametized subset of Matrix
3510s	particle systems that's a fancy way of
3513s	saying that we're going to let you tune
3514s	what it's like in single player versus
3516s	maybe you and your buddy versus a
3518s	five-person party or a Giant Raid not
3520s	only that but let's make it to where we
3522s	can change uh the camera Shake yes and
3524s	the post process and the particle
3526s	intensity and then do a global one that
3528s	skills all of that give that to the
3529s	player because I mean really visual soup
3531s	is a thing but there's a scale that's
3534s	subjective kind of to the player on how
3536s	much they want to see of those things
3537s	yeah happening in a particular area and
3540s	this is how something obviously you guys
3541s	have been following the project for a
3543s	long time is what we've talked at since
3545s	the very Inception of Ashes is a desire
3547s	to tackle that particular issue that
3549s	many of us have experienced in other
3551s	games of course so talk to me a little
3553s	bit about
3554s	um our 64 classes right in those roles
3557s	those those class fantasies you know
3560s	where do we kind of live when
3561s	incorporating and obviously we have an
3563s	eight-member party right and we have
3565s	eight archetypes that are associated
3566s	across our game and people know it's
3569s	kind of a matrix of eight by eight in
3570s	which creating these classes the augment
3572s	system all that type of stuff people
3574s	have just now been starting to get a
3575s	peek under the hood of the creation of
3577s	these archetypes and these classes what
3579s	are you most excited to kind of tackle
3581s	come 2023 I know that there's a lot of
3584s	stuff in the works right now and
3585s	building up towards Alpha 2. of all 64
3587s	of this yes yes probably the Dreadnought
3590s	because that's my default character
3593s	but actually like I don't know that
3596s	there's any particular class yet I mean
3598s	we haven't even shown everybody all the
3599s	archetypes
3601s	um but I will say I'm pretty excited to
3603s	see what the Summoner becomes yeah we
3605s	haven't shown anything on the Sumner and
3607s	um I'm not necessarily a pet class
3609s	player myself but I feel like every
3612s	Summoner type class that I've seen in
3614s	games
3615s	um they they usually fall a little bit
3618s	flat in my opinion maybe that's why I
3620s	don't blate them right
3621s	um but I'd like to see something a
3623s	little bit more Dynamic with like you
3625s	know summoning real time in combat
3627s	rather than oh I summoned my pet right
3629s	at the beginning of combat and then that
3631s	it's done it's out there doing its own
3633s	thing yeah I think there's a lot left to
3635s	be explored there and I'm pretty in fact
3637s	we've already written up some stuff
3639s	about it oh yeah absolutely some stuff
3641s	that we've shared a little bit with the
3642s	community just a little just a little
3644s	bit but I think they're going to be
3645s	excited to see next year kind of some of
3647s	the stuff that's gone into that what
3648s	about you Keena what are you kind of
3650s	excited about from either a technical
3651s	challenge perspective when it comes to
3654s	these ability systems or combat in
3656s	general or class-wise
3658s	I think if you're talking about what I'm
3660s	most excited to work on I would say all
3663s	of The Bard classes ah okay I think that
3666s	the The Bard has seems to have been
3668s	largely forgotten by modern gaming so
3670s	I'm excited to bring it back and show
3672s	off some of the cool ideas that we have
3673s	yes I think next year as well people are
3675s	going to be excited to see how that
3677s	class interacts from a support
3678s	perspective for the uh for the party and
3681s	how it kind of lives next to but doesn't
3683s	Encompass the same space as the Healer
3686s	which is what a lot of previous games I
3688s	think that try to bring in that Barn
3689s	perspective do they just throw it on top
3691s	of the healer's role and that can be a
3693s	little bit boring there's a lot more to
3695s	support than health Bargo is right right
3700s	how about you Jim what about you on the
3703s	on the visual effects side I know you
3704s	guys got a lot of fun Tech working with
3706s	the tech art teams uh for supporting
3709s	visual effects not just from a class
3710s	perspective but also on the monster side
3712s	NPC encounter site as well oh yeah I
3715s	mean we're gonna have so much fun like
3716s	Monsters and boss fights are gonna be
3718s	unreal because if we can just dial that
3720s	up and really have fun with all the
3721s	actual Tech that's built in the engine
3723s	the custom deck I think from uh just a
3726s	like a real technical perspective yeah
3729s	I'm super excited about augments I want
3731s	to do the augmentations and see how
3733s	these different classes interact and how
3735s	we can create like the difference
3736s	between a cleric and a paladin for
3738s	example
3739s	but from up just a selfish point of view
3742s	yeah all about the Necromancer man it's
3744s	gonna be incredible
3751s	uh some of the augments I don't know if
3753s	everyone picked up on them during some
3755s	of the demonstrations there were a few
3756s	abilities that had some of the augments
3759s	associated with them but next year I
3761s	think in preparation for Alpha 2 there's
3763s	going to be a lot of that stuff that
3765s	players are going to get access to and
3766s	kind of see you know it's something
3768s	that's interesting to me is I think next
3770s	month we're showcasing uh the tank uh
3773s	archetype and we're gonna be showing
3775s	some of those abilities and within the
3776s	next Cup oh I might have actually just
3779s	leaked that up I'm so sorry okay it's a
3782s	little leak in the in today's video but
3785s	um
3787s	uh within the next um within the next
3790s	couple months or I think it's the next
3791s	two to three months we're also going to
3792s	be talking a little bit about and
3793s	showcasing the one of the one of the big
3795s	raid bosses the Cyclops and I know that
3797s	has a lot of visual effects that's going
3799s	into that encounter as well as some
3802s	Unique Mechanics that are associated
3803s	with supporting some of that ability
3805s	that the actual Cyclops has available
3807s	and I think people are going to be a
3808s	little bit shocked by that because it's
3810s	it's pretty cool oh it's gonna be epic
3813s	oh yeah it's gonna be it's gonna be
3814s	insane I mean you have this unique
3816s	problem with big bosses in general yes
3819s	now have I'm going to leak a little more
3822s	um hopefully you guys have to edit sorry
3823s	I know I'm ready I'm scared so we're
3825s	gonna have this this monstrous creature
3827s	just going across our terrain it's not
3829s	going to be your flat Arena that you see
3831s	in every MMO it's gonna have different
3833s	heights altitudes obstacles to climb on
3836s	and we got to solve for that we don't
3837s	want our effects just hanging in there
3839s	we want to mold to the train and do
3841s	different stuff so I think that's going
3843s	to be something that I'm really excited
3844s	about it's really technical but it's
3846s	also going to be something that people
3847s	are really going to dig they're going to
3849s	enjoy it oh for sure I totally agree
3850s	every little Edge case we missed is
3852s	going to be scaled up
3859s	is we get to encounter those problems as
3862s	the course that we're bringing this to
3864s	life and as we're addressing them we're
3866s	showing the community as well right not
3868s	something that's super cool another
3870s	thing you know obviously we're building
3872s	a massively multiplayer game and a lot
3875s	of our encounter design a lot of the PVP
3878s	scenarios that players are going to be
3879s	subjected to those are very dense
3883s	populations and when you're building out
3886s	this concept of these ability systems
3889s	how much of that massively multiplayer
3892s	component gets taken into account when
3894s	creating ideating so to speak these
3897s	mechanics that are provided by
3898s	engineering but also the class kits as a
3900s	holistic view you know what abilities
3902s	we're actually authoring do you take
3904s	into that account or is this you know
3906s	something that's really more focused
3908s	around solo gameplay group gameplay or
3910s	massive gameplay oh we've got to think
3912s	about all of it right you know know from
3914s	the ground up and in that phase I was
3916s	talking about earlier like the ideation
3918s	phase when we're brainstorming these
3920s	abilities we always always have to think
3922s	about how does this scale up right a lot
3925s	of games have the luxury of not having
3926s	to do that you know they can design any
3930s	number of abilities without without even
3932s	having to necessarily consider the
3934s	performance implications it would have
3935s	in a networking environment there's a
3938s	lot of additional things as designers
3941s	and engineers and artists that we've got
3944s	to think about every time so it kind of
3946s	blows up the scale of you know it gives
3948s	you it kind of it can be a little bit
3949s	mind paralysis sometimes when you think
3952s	but you know we have we we get through
3953s	it yeah and we've gotten pretty good at
3955s	it from a performance is authoring kind
3957s	of these as visual effects how useful
3959s	has the the migration of an unreal five
3962s	been with the use of Niagara in its
3964s	system oh it's key it's very critical so
3967s	every single effect that we author we
3969s	have to author for different scenarios
3970s	how far away it might be even my coal
3972s	stuff how close it's going to be we're
3973s	all also going to call stuff right
3975s	there's no point in having something
3976s	that just blocks your entire view yeah
3978s	so all this will happen like in real
3980s	time dynamically so we can scale down
3982s	particle systems based on how many
3984s	players are active or how your
3986s	performance might be changing or
3988s	anything really maybe it's a
3989s	Thanksgiving day and we want to have
3991s	less effects we can do that but super
3993s	robust with the amount of control we
3996s	have over every aspect of visual effects
3998s	right and we'll be needing to do all of
4000s	that to set all these things up because
4002s	we don't want to have a situation where
4004s	hey our game is really great until we
4006s	got into the open world PVP now stock so
4008s	we're not going to make this the effect
4010s	should be there but it shouldn't be
4012s	definitely right it's complementing
4014s	absolutely the mechanics and the
4015s	gameplay 100 Keenan obviously on the
4019s	engineering side the gameplay
4020s	engineering side you of course have to
4022s	field these requests for different types
4023s	of mechanics that need to be authored
4024s	but when you think about performance
4028s	related considerations for the ability
4031s	systems stats to kind of quickly update
4033s	all of the stuff interacting with the
4035s	network how has that been for you from a
4037s	challenging point
4039s	yeah with the scalability requirement
4042s	cranked to 10 it pretty much makes every
4044s	aspect of combat like three times harder
4046s	than it would otherwise be yeah but
4049s	ultimately I think we've got a handle on
4051s	it and uh we've been very intentional
4054s	with our with our data and with our
4056s	systems so that we can modulate how
4059s	quickly they receive and send updates
4061s	based on who cares the most yes and so
4064s	that's going to help us with scalability
4065s	a lot yeah that's something that I I
4067s	think a lot of players kind of are we're
4069s	noticing in Alpha One Last year was just
4072s	the sheer density that was achieved
4075s	during some of the castle Siege fights
4077s	that we had where there were 300 plus
4078s	players in a in a particular area not
4081s	many people I think in today's age have
4083s	experienced that and experienced in a
4085s	way that was performant right and that
4087s	was something that I think is wholly
4090s	unique to this project and what we're
4091s	trying to achieve and accomplish not
4093s	just from the combat's perspective and
4095s	these class kits that we're creating but
4096s	how they harmonize with many players in
4098s	the particular area
4100s	so you guys have been doing an awesome
4101s	job on that well thank you guys for
4104s	joining us and talking a little bit
4105s	about what it takes to make this magic
4107s	come to life uh I think I speak on
4110s	behalf of the community you guys are
4111s	doing an awesome job and not just you of
4113s	course the teams that work in
4114s	association with you and that you're a
4115s	part of we're really appreciative of
4117s	that
4120s	[Music]
4125s	well welcome over to our conversation a
4127s	little bit about
4128s	Gathering and crafting and earlier this
4130s	year of course we showed
4132s	um some of the recent work that's been
4134s	done towards uh Gathering particularly
4136s	around trees and the bushes and Mining
4140s	but I'm joined today by some of the
4143s	developers who worked on those things so
4145s	a little introduction Hal yeah I am Hal
4148s	Anderson and I'm an environment artist
4150s	so that means I work on things like
4152s	rocks trees kind of anything you just
4154s	see in there everything that makes the
4156s	world beautiful
4158s	we also have Alex uh hello I'm Alex
4161s	godoli I'm a senior gameplay engineer
4163s	I'm a generalist I wear many hats I work
4167s	with animation environment many
4169s	departments all the things they say
4171s	exactly we have Corey hi I'm Corey rice
4174s	I'm a technical designer and I usually
4176s	focus on artisanship I do a little work
4179s	with AI and also our design tools yeah
4181s	and a lot of economy stuff too as well
4182s	yeah yeah so obviously a lot of people
4185s	saw the Gathering demonstrate that we
4188s	showed where currently like harvesting
4191s	trees and stuff we just talked about
4192s	what goes into kind of inspiring you
4195s	guys around you know the experiences
4199s	you've had in other MMOs or other games
4201s	where you're out and you're Gathering
4202s	things and crafting what are some of the
4205s	favorite experiences you guys have had
4207s	for me personally
4215s	illegal plants you find around in Elder
4218s	schools online yes they're so good oh my
4221s	gosh there's so many of them too I love
4224s	just kind of scouring you know the
4225s	environment kind of thing that you can
4227s	find I think they have such good design
4228s	too you can all those like visually
4230s	really spot them but all of them I'm
4232s	gonna go over there
4234s	yeah what about you all uh for me
4236s	probably realism yeah uh specifically
4239s	our cage I spent a lot of time scouring
4243s	all the lands to find all the illegal
4245s	Farms all of that but like any trees but
4249s	the fun part of it is like after a while
4251s	you go outside and be like oh I know
4253s	what that tree is oh no what that tree
4255s	is a little bit of learning yeah exactly
4256s	yeah it's like oh this is a Nest and
4258s	Tree I know that I do like that too
4260s	where there's a hint of realism kind of
4262s	in what you're experiencing in the game
4263s	and how you can associate that with the
4265s	real world what about you Corey yeah
4266s	totally I I really like the exploration
4268s	part of it searching around for things
4270s	and like Kyle mentioned there being like
4273s	things that catch your eye Ai and
4274s	oftentimes you're like oh there's some
4276s	gold and then you find yourself at the
4277s	bottom of the dungeon and you're like oh
4279s	God what am I doing here maybe meet some
4281s	friends and wait a minute that's not a
4283s	friend exactly this guy's trying to take
4285s	my gold and then we fight and yeah just
4288s	get you into all sorts of different
4289s	adventurous situations such an important
4291s	part obviously of MMO design right it
4294s	brings kind of the environment that
4296s	you're in the world that you're in and
4297s	it makes it a bit tactile it makes it
4299s	something that you can leverage to
4302s	further Advance your character your
4304s	position the wealth that you might have
4305s	and you know one of the things that I
4308s	think was really interesting about our
4310s	approach on these gatherables out in the
4313s	real world was even simulating a bit
4315s	more of that realism not just from the
4317s	type of thing you're Gathering but how
4319s	that thing interacts with you in the
4321s	world and one of the things that sticks
4322s	out is the design of these trees falling
4325s	and the physics associated with them and
4326s	I know we talked a little bit about
4327s	during the demonstration but you know
4329s	talk a little bit about what it took to
4331s	get there from a tech tech feasibility
4333s	perspective oh it's a lot of work I mean
4336s	it's a lot of cross Department mental
4339s	work right
4340s	um for example like we have to work
4343s	figure out how we want to assimilate the
4345s	physics what kind of collisions we want
4347s	to have to have on trees
4349s	um
4350s	as well as making sure that they
4353s	simulate similarly on every client as
4355s	well so that it doesn't feel off-putting
4357s	for one player to see it falling to the
4359s	left rather play Falling to the right
4361s	like oh my God this tree just hit me in
4363s	it hit that guy exactly yeah so but yeah
4366s	no physics is as I was saying before is
4368s	it's a wild beast to tame uh it's it's
4371s	just a lot of tweaks you have to have a
4374s	lot of patience uh figuring out all the
4376s	constraints you know all the volumes
4379s	um it's just it's just hard work and
4381s	even from a performance perspective
4383s	right we have thousands of foliage
4386s	actors that might live within a
4388s	particular area that's very small maybe
4389s	one and a half by one and a half
4391s	kilometers out right yeah exactly and
4393s	you want to make sure it's a prayer
4395s	request so as you're chopping down so
4398s	it's not always you know there otherwise
4400s	you know alkaline FPS probably going to
4402s	be pretty bad right so we do a neat
4405s	trick when you are coming up to the tree
4407s	we swapped it to skeletal mesh and then
4410s	you cut it down and then it starts
4412s	starts to Bow we start simulating
4414s	physics and as it falls down we kind of
4417s	like freeze it up at the end and it
4419s	slowly like dissipates right inhale tell
4422s	me a little bit about what it takes to
4424s	actually bring one of those assets with
4427s	joints in a skeletal rig so that the
4429s	impact on the tree can show the physics
4432s	and the branches moving what did that
4433s	take from an environment perspective oh
4435s	yeah absolutely so I think the
4438s	um definitely got a lot of help from
4440s	animation you know how many animators on
4442s	our team kind of getting that set up but
4444s	I think the from an environment
4446s	perspective kind of most challenging
4447s	thing was kind of setting up the
4449s	skeletal rigs so they can all kind of
4451s	communicate efficiently and kind of
4453s	finding a nice balance between
4455s	um so like you know one branch doesn't
4457s	have all the weight you know it's able
4458s	to kind of fall and be in a fluid yeah
4461s	um and you have to make different states
4463s	as well right because it's not just
4465s	about being able to gather this
4467s	particular uh thing in the world but
4470s	also at what stage is that thing is it
4472s	an adolescent is it a young tree what
4474s	type of harvest can I get from it if I
4477s	were to let's say gather it earlier in
4479s	its lifespan right that has some design
4480s	principle associated with those yeah
4482s	definitely like we wanted it to look
4484s	good when it falls down but we also
4486s	wanted the environment to look really
4487s	good during different seasons and
4489s	different stages of life of the the
4490s	thing that you're harvesting so not only
4493s	did they have to do that work one time
4495s	making a tree look good but we wanted it
4497s	to work on all the variants and we
4498s	wanted to work when it's a small little
4499s	sapling or a mature tree so
4502s	um yeah just figuring all that out and
4504s	all the different different permutations
4505s	of it was interesting it's interesting
4508s	and also not only that but when you
4510s	think about kind of showcasing those
4513s	different stages of life for a
4515s	particular asset that obviously creates
4517s	an additional amount of work on the
4518s	asset side right to create those
4522s	particular stages of that meshes
4524s	lifespan right yes yeah it does
4528s	[Music]
4530s	in a forest like
4532s	one thing that was really important for
4533s	the environment team was kind of showing
4535s	not just one kind of Monolithic tree but
4538s	having different kind of varieties so
4539s	you can see that it is like a living
4540s	Forest it like grows and like has
4542s	different stages of life and um it
4545s	definitely is a lot of work
4547s	because they're not just making the tree
4549s	at the adult stage you're making it at
4551s	the sapling you're making it at the
4552s	evidence and then talk to me a little
4554s	bit about kind of how we achieve that
4556s	scaling between these different stages I
4559s	think the the first thing we wanted to
4561s	achieve is to make sure that environment
4563s	artists can place them at the you know
4566s	painted stage so that it sets up the
4569s	general environment and then creating
4571s	multiple states that it iterates over uh
4574s	efficiently once you can chop down like
4576s	adult stage and go for example to empty
4579s	it has to make sure it replicates to
4581s	every other player and then it
4583s	transition into a sapling stage into
4585s	young stage and all the data needs to
4587s	make sure propagates to every client
4589s	that sees it and make sure that also the
4592s	bandwidth is not too large because we
4595s	want to you know we don't want to work
4597s	traffic exactly yeah exactly but I want
4600s	you to run through the forest and like
4601s	400 megabytes oh my God exactly Corey uh
4606s	obviously you know design has some
4608s	significant intents when it comes to the
4611s	variety of the types of gatherables you
4613s	have access to and as many of our
4616s	players know
4617s	um the the professions that relate to
4619s	these particular gatherables and what
4621s	you can do with them are also expansive
4623s	how do you guys on design go about kind
4626s	of architecting what that pyramid so to
4629s	speak of gatherables are within the
4631s	world it is the base of the economy
4634s	right so all the processing professions
4636s	and crafting professions kind of start
4638s	with what's gathered from the world so
4640s	we start why like
4642s	determining what needs to get to be the
4644s	need to be fulfilled so players need
4646s	armor and consumables and weapons and so
4649s	each one of those things sort of like
4650s	fits in their Lane and we need to Define
4653s	what things should exist in the world so
4654s	that we can make those right so that was
4657s	kind of the first step yeah absolutely
4659s	now obviously it's it's interesting to
4662s	see when you go up to a particular Rock
4665s	and you and you mine it and there's
4667s	obviously you know some amount of time
4668s	that it takes to to gather that
4670s	particular resource what types of
4674s	profession related progression can
4677s	influence that time that's spent but
4680s	also and we've talked a little bit about
4682s	this in the past there's an element of
4685s	prospecting that occurs yeah um talk to
4687s	me a little bit about that and how it
4689s	interacts with the system yeah so we
4691s	definitely want progression right like
4693s	the more time you spend Mining and the
4694s	more effort you put into understanding
4697s	how mining Works in ashes along with
4699s	other Gathering professions we want you
4700s	to get better at it and there's
4702s	different ways right you can get gear
4704s	you can progress to the profession and
4706s	like you said get get faster and maybe
4708s	find better stuff and one of the ways to
4710s	be able to find better stuff is through
4712s	surveying and surveying is a way of kind
4714s	of scanning the area narrowing down what
4716s	you're looking for you know maybe
4717s	there's one recipe for a golden sword
4720s	that you're trying to fill for your
4721s	friend and he wants it to be of a of a
4724s	certain level and certain power and so
4726s	you need you need this specific gold
4728s	door so you know you're you're not
4730s	looking around for any gold do you want
4731s	the specific gold so we want to give
4732s	players the tools to be able to kind of
4735s	find what they're looking for and
4737s	that'll be another thing that they can
4738s	get better at and work with others to
4740s	increase their productivity absolutely
4742s	and with having such an expansive list
4744s	of gatherables that are available how
4747s	walk us through a little bit of what
4748s	that pipeline looks like I mean what
4750s	does it take to actually make a specific
4752s	type of tree or a specific plant how
4754s	does that process begin
4756s	um tell us a little bit about that I
4758s	think kind of first step in any type of
4760s	kind of asset creation like that would
4762s	be kind of gathering like a reference
4764s	board kind of finding out what sort of
4766s	like real life things we want to draw so
4768s	to make sure that stays kind of grounded
4769s	and then also kind of deciding sort of
4772s	what kind of like a voodoo we want to
4773s	elicit you know like is it going to be a
4775s	spooky tree is it going to be more like
4778s	oh like is it gonna be magical you know
4780s	if you feel like oh and kind of
4782s	establishing that so we kind of know
4783s	what to go go into the process exactly
4787s	yeah yeah get that like that mood right
4790s	and yeah after that is kind of
4793s	established we would go into a program
4795s	called Speech read normally
4797s	um which kind of allows us artists to
4798s	set up kind of these like almost little
4800s	logic systems you know like ah we want
4803s	trees with like branches that are
4804s	approximately the size you know and kind
4806s	of randomize that so it has that kind of
4808s	organic element that just you know kind
4810s	of the human brain can't quite can't
4813s	quite do as well but yeah so after we
4815s	have that and we have all our Geo done
4817s	we would then important to unveil where
4819s	we would set up all of our like wind
4821s	data and all of our seasonal technology
4823s	yeah yeah and there's a lot that goes
4825s	into that right because when we talked
4827s	about this in an earlier segment about
4829s	seasons and how that impacts kind of all
4831s	the assets that are within the world
4832s	because they all have to not just have
4834s	stages of growth when they've been
4836s	gathered but they also need to reflect
4839s	the season as well so that tree might
4841s	lose leaves right or that plant might
4844s	not even be available within a
4845s	particular season and that's something
4847s	that ties into on the engineering side
4850s	which is something you have to take into
4852s	account on the spawners
4854s	um right and how you're kind of bringing
4855s	that up how does that work well um we
4858s	just need to hook we basically hook into
4860s	the seasonal Tech and we query our
4863s	service to figure out okay is this the
4865s	winter is the spring this is you know
4867s	summer and when the tree transitions to
4870s	state to another we check okay oh is
4873s	this supposed to happen during winter is
4875s	this supposed to happen during spring
4876s	what kind of yield it's supposed to
4878s	maybe give right and that manager not
4880s	doesn't just take into account
4881s	necessarily all that information as well
4884s	but it also takes into account another
4885s	system that we've talked a little bit
4887s	about which is Land Management and that
4889s	can also affect kind of spawn rate
4892s	frequency density within a particular
4895s	area length and longevity of time to
4897s	promote to different stages tell me a
4899s	little bit about your expectations for
4901s	Land Management as it affects things
4903s	like Gathering and crafting as a whole
4905s	yeah my my expectations are that it
4907s	creates cool entry points for Content
4910s	um you know players have different
4913s	expectations of the things that they
4914s	want to achieve for themselves and they
4916s	they extend that out to groups like
4918s	their guilds or their node and whatever
4919s	right so you know you might not want to
4922s	chalk down every single tree outside of
4923s	your node because you like using those
4925s	trees for harvesting the fruit right and
4927s	if another group of players wants to cut
4930s	them down because they want wood before
4931s	a seed tray like those are those are
4934s	conflicts that players will need to work
4935s	out and and interact with each other to
4937s	solve right and then we can hook up into
4939s	content that we create ourselves not
4941s	necessarily player to player where you
4943s	know maybe you cut down all the trees
4945s	and you piss off a tree and it's a
4946s	predicate right exactly so that's why we
4950s	think that Land Management is so
4951s	interesting because it gives us a way to
4953s	to hook into all these different content
4954s	points and and do cool stuff and so much
4957s	in the world of Vera is built around
4959s	this idea of players commit an action
4962s	and the action has a response from the
4964s	system or from other players potentially
4966s	right and as we're talking about how
4969s	Land Management is just another value
4971s	that can represent some predicate system
4973s	in that event or in allowing a policy
4977s	perhaps you're a more industrious node
4979s	if you constantly keep the Land
4980s	Management at a low value right all of
4982s	those things are just giving the tools
4984s	that we get to implement around either
4986s	from a narrative perspective or from a
4988s	systemic one yeah and that I think
4991s	creates a very Dynamic atmosphere that
4993s	not a lot of players are accustomed to
4995s	in the games that we play which offer
4997s	things like Gathering you know typically
4999s	it's a very kind of binary system I do a
5002s	thing I get a thing but here I do a
5004s	thing and there's a whole host of stuff
5006s	that can happen as a response exactly
5008s	yeah the the non-binary part of it is is
5011s	is very important because it's not
5013s	always this action equals bad right it
5016s	is a whole slew of options of of things
5019s	that can happen so even if you know you
5021s	think that cutting down all the trees is
5023s	going to piss off the tree end there
5025s	might be a whole slew of positive things
5027s	that happen you know after you defeat
5029s	the Triad or when the Triant spawns and
5032s	becomes someone that you can interact
5034s	with in the world so it's not always
5036s	black and white whether an action is
5038s	good or bad which I think is very
5039s	interesting it is very interesting and
5041s	for example that Trend many years ago I
5044s	think Circa 2018
5046s	we showed a big Trent model that Keith
5051s	worked on you remember that guy yeah I
5054s	don't know maybe we'll see him but
5055s	people chop down a little too many trees
5057s	that might be interesting yeah so
5060s	obviously you're all MMO Gamers we've
5061s	been talking with a lot of MMO Gamers
5062s	here at the studio of us are MMO Gamers
5065s	what are what is the profession you're
5067s	looking most forward to
5069s	oh
5071s	yeah
5073s	what type of thing do you like to do
5075s	from a crafting Artisan perspective
5078s	oh I think my personal favorite would be
5081s	kind of anything in line with like the
5084s	like harvesting Gathering potions oh
5087s	Alchemist okay yeah I feel like getting
5090s	the perfect ingredients to make some
5092s	type of potion that's going to come in
5094s	handy during some engagement yep that's
5096s	awesome I also love Alchemy by the way
5099s	don't tell anybody that no
5103s	um what about you Alex for me probably
5105s	would be whichever corn is the market
5109s	opportunists there you go so whatever is
5112s	most worthwhile exactly because
5114s	especially with our note system a lot of
5116s	notes gonna need a lot of materials to
5117s	resources I'm gonna have to uh yeah it's
5120s	just you know and that makes that
5122s	actually brings up a really good point
5123s	because
5125s	um the way that the environment is
5128s	constructed a lot of these gatherables
5131s	and Ergo the craftable components of
5135s	those gatherables are determined by
5137s	location and so you're not just creating
5141s	one giant economy you're also creating
5143s	local economies as well which relate to
5146s	the transition of those goods across the
5148s	world which could make it more
5149s	opportunistic with some danger or risk
5151s	involved yeah that's super interesting I
5153s	like the two I'm kind of there too
5155s	what about your court for me I like it'd
5158s	be really hard to choose just one I love
5159s	fishing I'll try fishing in every game
5161s	now matter what I really like crafting
5165s	of equipment whether that's like armor
5166s	or weapons there's something special to
5168s	me about like outfitting yourself or
5170s	another person for like an adventure
5172s	that they're going on you have that
5174s	interaction of like what do you need
5175s	yeah I can make that for you there's an
5177s	initial investment and you know they
5179s	they take that thing with them and they
5180s	may trade it and sell it and that item
5182s	specifically has a story right it's not
5184s	the same as consumables where you're
5185s	like
5187s	you can use it like 100 of them a day so
5189s	and then engineering is really
5191s	interesting to me I like little gadgets
5193s	those usually end up being the things
5195s	that like break some of the rules and
5196s	you get to do special funny things so
5198s	engineering is always like very very
5201s	interesting and interesting you know
5203s	it's um it actually uh brings up
5206s	something else that I was just thinking
5208s	about which is essentially that you're
5211s	working on something with engineering uh
5214s	regarding kind of a gameplay layer
5216s	around crafting itself right
5219s	talk to me a little bit about what that
5221s	is so yeah we're uh we're trying to put
5223s	together kind of a more haptic or rooted
5226s	in the world I guess the right word is
5228s	like diegetic experience for for making
5231s	weapons you know oftentimes in other
5233s	games or other MMOs I've played there's
5236s	a lot on the front end of like you get
5239s	stuff and you you have the stuff and
5242s	then you push a button and the item
5243s	comes out execution's just a button yeah
5245s	and all of the there is like skill and
5248s	and
5249s	um some gameplay to that portion right
5251s	and I think that that will also be great
5253s	in ashes where you know I have to
5255s	acquire all the things and there's risk
5256s	and there's trade but I also think that
5258s	it's interesting to have skill involved
5261s	in the actual crafting so what we're
5263s	trying to put together is a a way to
5266s	make weapons where it feels like you're
5268s	actually making the thing right and how
5270s	you do in in making the weapon results
5273s	in what the stats of the weapon are
5275s	going to be very cool so uh that that's
5277s	what we're working on and that's
5279s	something that I think think players are
5280s	going to have an opportunity next year
5281s	to kind of take a look at and we're
5283s	going to have an opportunity to collect
5285s	good feedback from you around whether or
5287s	not you like that element of gameplay
5289s	layer associated with the crafting
5292s	professions right I think that's going
5294s	to be super cool well guys I want to
5297s	thank you for having this conversation
5298s	with me and our audience of course
5300s	they're very grateful for your
5301s	contributions to making ashes of
5303s	creation a reality and you guys are
5305s	doing a phenomenal job so thank you so
5307s	well done we are going to be moving on
5309s	next to a little video that showcases
5312s	this last year with our studio and the
5316s	project
5321s	you know building games is difficult
5323s	that being said we built an amazing team
5326s	at Intrepid and it feels very much like
5328s	a family so getting up each day and and
5333s	going to into the office and working
5335s	with you know the colleagues at Intrepid
5338s	is a delight
5340s	[Music]
5349s	foreign
5355s	[Music]
5368s	the team has been hard at work you've
5370s	seen the progress of Ashes of creation
5372s	over the last you know four or five
5373s	years and you've seen where we've come
5376s	from in that time to our Alpha One
5378s	presentation and you can see how things
5380s	develop
5382s	super excited with that with the
5385s	Character Creator and I have very rarely
5387s	ever encountered a character creator
5389s	even at this state uh that is as capable
5393s	uh as what our team has been able to
5395s	develop
5396s	[Music]
5397s	every day that passes and I'm watching
5401s	the tech continue to get refined and the
5404s	environments continue to get these
5406s	passes and I'm just talking to the team
5408s	and like so good
5410s	[Music]
5413s	the new world map
5416s	in all its 1200 square kilometer Glory
5421s	[Music]
5433s	I love what the new Skybox is doing and
5436s	I mean it's just visually great
5440s	[Music]
5445s	I am so happy to see the excitement from
5449s	the mmor RPG community at large like
5452s	that looks skin crazy good
5456s	that is just oh my God like whenever
5459s	people are talking about how they want
5461s	Fantasy games this is what they're
5463s	thinking
5465s	what it grows into a horse I didn't know
5468s	that
5469s	this game looks amazing
5477s	ashes of creation it will be the most
5479s	ambitious fantasy MMORPG ever attempted
5483s	no no it was good
5486s	grab your sofa
5489s	foreign
5490s	[Music]
5509s	[Music]
5514s	[Music]
5526s	foreign
5532s	thank you everyone so much for joining
5535s	us that's going to be a wrap for us for
5536s	our December live stream update we hope
5538s	that you enjoyed it and loved getting to
5540s	know our developer that was so much fun
5542s	chatting with everyone they're so sweet
5544s	everyone's amazing and you can just see
5546s	the vibe is just so everyone's just
5548s	passionate and loves what they do and
5550s	that's kind of like the best time yeah
5552s	it's just a great team absolutely of
5555s	course if you have feedback for us head
5556s	on over to our forumsforums at
5558s	ashesofcreation.com we love hearing from
5560s	you guys we interact with you always
5562s	we're sending reports to our developers
5564s	so they can continue to make sure that
5565s	we're on the same page as we move
5567s	forward in creating the world of Vera
5569s	and those reports are super important I
5571s	mean really they are the community team
5573s	does such a great job of picking out all
5575s	the tidbits of information from the
5577s	players on the forums on Twitter on
5579s	Reddit everywhere read everything and
5580s	they compile it in a huge report and
5583s	there's an hour that we kind of sit down
5585s	with the developments of particular
5586s	features and or systems and kind of hear
5589s	from the community team and all the
5591s	thoughts that you you guys give about
5593s	these particular subjects so it's very
5595s	important make sure you guys go and give
5596s	commentary on stuff and most often the
5598s	thing is
5600s	[Music]
5603s	you know that we're all on the same page
5605s	so thank you so much for joining us and
5607s	of course you can follow us in all
5608s	places at ashes of creation we are
5610s	constantly posting and giving you guys
5611s	updates on the daily basis and
5613s	interacting with you and we love all
5615s	your fan arts so please keep sending
5616s	that to us so good absolutely and 2022
5620s	isn't just
5622s	I was gonna say like it's really cool to
5624s	just looked back at what we accomplished
5626s	this year in 2022 as a team the growth
5629s	of the studio has been huge but it's not
5630s	done yet now we're still going we're
5632s	going strong into 2023 so keep that in
5634s	mind you guys check out our career page
5636s	and uh come join our family and direct
5639s	others people out there your favorite
5641s	developers share that stuff you've
5643s	you've seen make sure to go out on
5645s	Twitter and share the the careers
5646s	opportunities that that entrepid because
5648s	2030 is going to be a huge year oh my
5649s	gosh yeah I've done a big thing for
5652s	Steven to put together a whole like
5653s	spreadsheet
5655s	so we've got a lot to come it looks
5658s	super good and guys you haven't seen
5660s	anything yet 2023 is going to be an
5663s	unbelievable year for the studio for the
5665s	project we have so much to show you I
5667s	know Margaret is just chomping at the
5669s	bits to get in there
5671s	stuff and share with you guys and you
5674s	know honestly I just want to comment on
5675s	the fact that this development that we
5678s	have this Rapport that we've built with
5680s	you guys as a community and the safety
5683s	we feel in Sharing works and progress
5685s	with you sharing the development along
5687s	its lifespan of development with each of
5690s	you out there is very important and near
5691s	and dear to our hearts so keep tuning in
5694s	in 2023 keep commenting give us your
5697s	feedback give us your thoughts give us
5698s	the experiences that you guys have had
5700s	in the past because it makes the
5702s	potential for ashes of creation to be
5703s	such that much more of a great game when
5706s	you guys are participating in and that's
5708s	why we do these things that's why we
5709s	invite you in we show you what we're
5712s	working on on a monthly basis because we
5714s	want you guys to give us your feedback
5716s	and so we cannot thank you all enough
5718s	for being a part of that in 2022 and
5721s	2023 is going to be an awesome year and
5723s	we will see you in January next month
5726s	bye guys
5741s	thank you

Transcript (by Youtube)

Recent Ashes of Creation Posts

Alpha Two Phase II Testing Schedule

q about Alpha2 keys

Meme about the drama

I'm sorry, Steven and AOC devs.