Development Info Pillars of Eternity Kickstarter Update #79: Graphics and Rendering (and E3)

[Athelas]

Oh cool, we get to see how objects are illuminated. That should have been shown over a year ago. As a backer, I expect meaningful content updates.

For starters, it tells us there's gonna be a day/night cycle, something both Larian and InXile didn't show us until well into their beta (when it was revealed it was dropped). As for why there's no video yet, I think you answered that yourself:

Alpha animations and FX. They probably will towards the end of their Alpha 2 phase - people will just go RAAAAA animations are shit!

half-assed spell animations like in the trailer

 

[Infinitron]

Larian most certainly did talk about day/night cycles before dropping them. They were a stretch goal in their Kickstarter campaign, after all, and later on Swen talked about how he was adding more bedrooms, etc, to the towns to accommodate them.

 

[Athelas]

I thought we were talking about absence of video footage (be it of combat or a day/night transition)? Obsidian has talked plenty about every aspect of their game, they've just not shown much of anything.

That being said, I agree that Larian has been the model for Kickstarter transparency, especially considering their game could've been made without the (relatively) small amount they got from Kickstarter.

 

[Infinitron]

Well, they've certainly been the best about putting out videos. It helps that they already had a functioning and good-looking prototype while Wasteland 2 was still in pre-production and before Pillars of Eternity was even conceived.

I'm not sure I could say how transparent they are in terms of one-on-one, day-to-day engagement with the community, though. (don't follow the game closely enough)

 

[Kem0sabe]

The video overall was a good view into how unity works and how a "3d" game can be made to look like a 2D isometric game, pretty interesting stuff and the visuals of course were excellent.

One little niggle about the day night cycle tho, the way the shadow from the "church"? towards the left side of the screen is a constant presence in both the day and night scenes. I doubt the "light source" that casts that shadow has the same intensity and position during both day and night.

 

[MicoSelva]

mindx2 doesn't give a shit about interviews. He wants to see the game he funded in action - for real, not in five second miniclips. Pillars of Eternity COULD have had a 20 minute gameplay video months ago. Obsidian have chosen not to give that to us.

Yeah, I admit it would be nice to see. Not because I demand a proof that the game actually works, but out of sheer curiosity.

On the other hand, back in 1998, I only had a written review and a few printed on paper screenshots before Baldur's Gate arrived at my door, so it's not like I can't live without trailers and pre-release gameplay videos. Actually, it does build a certain amount of inner hype not to see them.

 

[Sensuki]

Yeah I remember that, some photos in a game magazine (like PC Powerplay down here) was literally all you had on a game. Ah, I miss the 90s.

 

[Roguey]

That being said, I agree that Larian has been the model for Kickstarter transparency,

I'd rather read Josh-chat than see videos. Larian can't discuss their mechanics in-depth because they have cargo cult designers.

 

[Mortmal]

Larian doesnt have to discuss the mechanics in depth, because they show us everything already in the early access, everything is clear and transparent, theres nothing to discuss, they will deliver what they promised there's no doubt about it ; except the day and night npc schedule and they apologized . While obisidian is hiding a playable demo, for the press only. Guess the unwashed backers doesnt deserves to see it .What is so terrible about it that we cant see it too ?

 

[Johannes]

I know if they did post a video I would go : This is great but ... and nitpick the shit out of it.

Isn't that like, the whole point of posting a video

 

[Davaris]

Larian can't discuss their mechanics in-depth because they have cargo cult designers.

This is a new one for me.

I know what a cargo cult is, but I can't see how it relates to game design. What are the characteristics of a cargo cult designer?

 

[Roguey]

Larian doesnt have to discuss the mechanics in depth, because they show us everything already in the early access, everything is clear and transparent, theres nothing to discuss, they will deliver what they promised there's no doubt about it ;

They make plenty of bad decisions without discussing why they made those decisions, like inXile. Josh has given a reason for everything he's done.

While obisidian is hiding a playable demo, for the press only. Guess the unwashed backers doesnt deserves to see it .What is so terrible about it that we cant see it too ?

Unlike their previous games, any given asset is finished up to an alpha state before they move on to the next one. Now that they've ended production, they're in the process of going back and polishing to completion. The ignorant masses would freak out if they saw it because it'd go right over their heads. Furthermore there are story spoilers, and the game journalists have to sign a NDA to see it.

We are in our Alpha phase right now.



We are currently going through all of our previously created areas and revising anything that we think needs more work - both art and design.



Programming is nearing feature complete. We are tracking to be feature complete in a couple of weeks. This means that we are feature locked and most of the programming team will be diverted into bug fixing, feature polish, demos, etc.



Narrative will have a full pass done in a few weeks, as well. We are almost completely finished with the first pass on our crit path narrative.



Audio and VFX are still a ways off and won't be finished until July or August. They come onto the project later than the other teams because they require that content exists in a locked down form before they can do their work.



Character Art is working on creature variants, armor variants, and other miscellaneous items. Soon they will be adding in unique armors and weapons. Also, they will be creating head and hair variants in the next few weeks.



Animation is finishing up the last remaining A priority tasks and is moving on to some of our B priority animations (special attacks and whatnot).



UI/Concept Art has most of the UI in at an Alpha level. Kaz is finishing up things like Scripted Interaction slides and special UI screens. Also, he has a ton of portraits and areas to paint in the near future.

I know what a cargo cult is, but I can't see how it relates to game design. What are the characteristics of a cargo cult designer?

Doing things without understanding why, because they're trying to copy what's been done in previous RPGs.

 

[Infinitron]

Roguey has a point, in that D:OS has undergone some pretty huge game mechanics changes (way larger than even Wasteland 2), changes that haven't been discussed extensively in their Kickstarter updates or here on the Codex. They've gotten kind of a free pass on this stuff.

It is possible that they've been talked about on Larian's own forums, however. As I said, I haven't been following that closely.

 

[Sensuki]

I know if they did post a video I would go : This is great but ... and nitpick the shit out of it.

Isn't that like, the whole point of posting a video

As people have been saying though, while we may understand that it's not finished, the "unwashed masses" will be like RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

 

[Grotesque]

For Eternity Pillars to be a true spiritual successor, it has to have shitty animations like Baldur's Gate had!

 

[Johannes]

I know if they did post a video I would go : This is great but ... and nitpick the shit out of it.

Isn't that like, the whole point of posting a video

As people have been saying though, while we may understand that it's not finished, the "unwashed masses" will be like RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Maybe, but so what. They get criticism to work on, even if a lot of it would be right on their to-do list already.

 

[twincast]

The video overall was a good view into how unity works and how a "3d" game can be made to look like a 2D isometric game, pretty interesting stuff and the visuals of course were excellent.

One little niggle about the day night cycle tho, the way the shadow from the "church"? towards the left side of the screen is a constant presence in both the day and night scenes. I doubt the "light source" that casts that shadow has the same intensity and position during both day and night.

QFT. I guess one mayn't notice so much when briskly moving through the environments, but when lingering at a place, it is sure to bother me as much as it did in that video.

 

[Decado]

Larian doesnt have to discuss the mechanics in depth, because they show us everything already in the early access, everything is clear and transparent, theres nothing to discuss, they will deliver what they promised there's no doubt about it ; except the day and night npc schedule and they apologized . While obisidian is hiding a playable demo, for the press only. Guess the unwashed backers doesnt deserves to see it .What is so terrible about it that we cant see it too ?

Obsidian has a lot of different things to worry about, including backers.

You don't go to a show like E3 with nothing to "reveal." E3 is all about generating press and noise, and the best way to do that is to have an exclusive something -- game play footage, revealing a new game, something. I get the sense that Obsidian is really going balls out with this game, and trying to make as perfect a business decision as they can make to show that these kinds of RPGs are still viable. I am also sure they want to sell some copies outside of what they owe for Kickstarted pledges. They are not above playing the marketing game, and neither are they immune to all of the bullshit hype that permeates the video game industry.

So, yeah, saving some exclusive footage for E3 is a smart business move. It will build buzz around the game, and likely get them a whole new round of interviews where they can talk about the game, put it on peoples' radar, and sell more units. As a backer I am perfectly fine with waiting a few extra weeks (if that's what is happening) to see some game play footage, especially if that means Obsidian will get a chance to generate some publicity for the game, and the genre in general.

 

[Infinitron]

Decado According to the update, you're not going to see it at all.

(though of course when the beta is released there'll be plenty of footage out there)

 

[Decado]

Decado According to the update, you're not going to see it at all.

Yeah, we are not going to see the specific footage that is being shown at E3, but I have to imagine we will see some footage after E3, probably a few days or weeks afterwards.

 

[kaizoku]

Didn't like this update.

I don't care much about the graphics or lighting. But if you're going to put some emphasis on that, then I'll have to knitpick.

I don't know how "final" that scene is, but two things bothered me:
- the window bars were not anti-aliased
- the characters don't blend in with the scene

If you're going to make an update about graphics/lighting wouldn't you want all graphical aspects be great?
The other video they did of a character running over a water stream and even the video they released during the campaign (with the light whisper thing) was a lot better than this one.

 

[Scruffy]

 

[Grotesque]

 

[Kem0sabe]

I like this emote, it transmits the rage of the codex perfectly.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I've long wanted to add that smiley here. Thanks for reminding me.