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over 1 year
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Ashes of Creation
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| 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 |
