Game News Project Eternity Kickstarter Update #61: New Screenshot

[Infinitron]

Tags: Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magick Obscura; Brandon Adler; Chris Avellone; Obsidian Entertainment; Pillars of Eternity

This week's Project Eternity Kickstarter update has pretty graphics! Check 'em out:

We showed you this concept that Polina Hristova had developed, back in Update #55.​

And here is the in-game level--about to get violent--as developed by environment artist Sean Dunny:​

​

We think it looks pretty good. Thoughts?​

Love the look of those characters! Graphics whores with complaints about the lighting and shadows may be interested in Josh Sawyer's follow-up comments here.

In other news, Chris Avellone's Arcanum misadventures continue here:

​

The full update also has some job postings from Obsidian, for work on a "3D world" with "3D effects". Is that for Project Eternity or could it be something else?

 

[pakoito]

The characters suffer from a "floating in the scene" feeling to them. More than videogame usual anyway. Other than that I was quite impressed, honest.

 

[Zed]

That was Polina Hristova's concept? She just climbed the Obsidian rankings.

The game is looking crazy good. They should take a look at that stone debris near the door though, it clips through the wall.

The characters suffer from a "floating in the scene" feeling to them. More than videogame usual anyway. Other than that I was quite impressed, honest.

Yep they either need shadows cast from lighting (more than 1 shadow) with a fade the further away the shadow is from the character.

Or go with blob shadows.

 

[pakoito]

Apparently they won't

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/64238-update-61-in-game-art/page-2#entry1358932

The character models only have one shadow cast from the scene's directional light. Per-character point light shadows (especially multiple point light shadows) would get computationally expensive very fast. The characters are lit using dynamic lights placed in scene, but real-time lighting is never going to perfectly match the pre-rendered lighting of the scene.

 

[Zeriel]

This is the first classic "Baldur's Gate" style RPG I've seen with good character models. Interest went from "this'll be good" to "DON'T STOP NOW I'M SO CLOSE".

Edit: Excluding Torment of course, the art of which I can't even critique, it was just solid everywhere.

 

[Excidium]

That come at me bro relaxed stance looks mighty stupid but I assume it's placeholder

 

[Grotesque]

axe & ball+chain dual wielding is such badass!

 

[selkin]

Floating is the first thing that came to my mind as well when I took a glance at the character models.

 

[selkin]

Other than that it's gorgeous.

 

[DemonKing]

How do the adventurers know what's on the other side of the door? Did they open it once, peer in, have second thoughts and then close it again for a rethink?

Or is it just fancy Next-Gen powers where you can detect what's on the other side of doors using your super spider sense?

 

[Zeriel]

How do the adventurers know what's on the other side of the door? Did they open it once, peer in, have second thoughts and then close it again for a rethink?

Or is it just fancy Next-Gen powers where you can detect what's on the other side of doors using your super spider sense?

Not for nothing, but you're being a gigantic faggot.

 

[Excidium]

Maybe PE will implement the revolutionary feature of listening at doors

 

[tuluse]

Can you hear an ooze?

 

[Brother None]

How do the adventurers know what's on the other side of the door? Did they open it once, peer in, have second thoughts and then close it again for a rethink?

Or is it just fancy Next-Gen powers where you can detect what's on the other side of doors using your super spider sense?

Fog of war isn't in yet.

The back end/data for fog of war is implemented, but not the rendering side. Also, if the room were obscured by fog of war, that would be a pretty crummy screenshot.

 

[undecaf]

Maybe PE will implement the revolutionary feature of listening at doors

That could be a somewhat workable feature, actually. A player initiated perception (or what ever suits the purpose) check for a possibility to get a bit of sneak peek info about what's on the other side of the door/obstacle.

 

[pakoito]

Maybe PE will implement the revolutionary feature of listening at doors

That could be a somewhat workable feature, actually. A player initiated perception (or what ever suits the purpose) check for a possibility to get a bit of sneak peek info about what's on the other side of the door/obstacle.

Mark of the Ninja had an awesome sound positioning system that shouldn't be difficult to copy. Instead of a character you see the sound he makes, the bigger the louder.



Then there's also the old RPG cue of putting words on the fog of war to represent people talking or casting a spell afar.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Looks great - but the first thing I want to do when I see something like that is to grab the camera and zoom around the world and look at it. One of the things I disliked about the IE games was walking around on a painting. Even TOEE suffers a bit from a lack of "feel" that you're there and able to interact with the environment. There were always spots where you felt like you should be able to walk - but couldn't because of the way they'd put it together.

The characters suffer from a "floating in the scene" feeling to them. More than videogame usual anyway. Other than that I was quite impressed, honest.

Technically, those characters are floating. They're the only thing in the scene that's "3D", the rest is a flat image isn't it?

 

[pakoito]

The characters suffer from a "floating in the scene" feeling to them. More than videogame usual anyway. Other than that I was quite impressed, honest.

Technically, those characters are floating. They're the only thing in the scene that's "3D", the rest is a flat image isn't it?

Pretty much, yes. And from what I understand from what Sawyer said (check my other post in this page) they don't share the lighting system because that'd be two of them to match in real time and takes a huge processor toll. Characters have a fixed lighting point that comes from the scene, several of them placed around.

 

[thesheeep]

Hmm... I guess that appeared less disturbing in IE games because there the characters also were pure 2D sprites.

What is sometimes done in various engines to better blend in models with the ground they are on is applying the ground color a bit to the bottom of the model.
If you walk on a red carpet, your feet will also become slightly red, etc.
Maybe they could do something along those lines.

 

[Semper]

Technically, those characters are floating. They're the only thing in the scene that's "3D", the rest is a flat image isn't it?

technically the characters are walking on a flat plane and every interactable object (doors, containers), the lights and visual effects (fog, water, fire, etc.) are 3d models. examples of this can be seen in update #49.

 

[Stainless Veteran]

Hm, it reminds me more of PST than BG2. IIRC, Society of Sensation interior had similar design.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Looks great.

 

[villain of the story]

I wish Tim Cain were playing and recording Arcanum. At least he would be providing commentary and we wouldn't endure Chris not having a clue and failing even at basic interface operation.

 

[Maculo]

I am rather surprised by the overall art direction. It reminds of PST with the environments and the way the characters stand out. Not sure what I was expecting otherwise, but a good update nonetheless.

Having read Sawyer's responses, I also was not aware that the lighting schemes could hog processing to such a degree.

 

[dunno lah]

Chris and Tim Play Arcanum is the best way to go. That way, Tim can also lay the smackdown on Chris for his popamolitude.