World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 from Hardsuit Labs

[Longes]

So when is this supposed to be released?

In 2020.

 

[mk0]

You people already forgot the Christina Hendricks tie in? Hello?

Looks like another fat Karen to me, the feminists have succeeded in lowering your standards.

 

[Vincente]

You people already forgot the Christina Hendricks tie in? Hello?

Looks like another fat Karen to me, the feminists have succeeded in lowering your standards.

You have the chronic gay, I'm sorry.

 

[Infinitron]

Finally a new update: https://steamcommunity.com/games/532790/announcements/detail/2735325522595133730

Dev Diary #12: Putting the 'Blood' in Bloodlines
The VFX process of Bloodlines 2

When you hear Visual Effects (VFX), images of giant explosions and magic missiles might come to mind, but VFX for games goes far deeper than that. From a mundane leaky pipe or blowing leaves to supernatural Tremere blood magic, VFX is responsible for bringing the dynamics of the game world to life.

VFX artists must be very versatile. It’s our job to bring the vision of the Art Director to life. One day that could be creating realistic blood, the next it might be communicating an idea like Toreador Celerity, or it might be making trash blow around. It might also be something you never even considered, such as our Christmas Lights which are actually VFX!

The VFX Lifecycle

Inception
Every effect starts as a need from a department. Let’s look at the Tremere Acolyte’s Blood Orb attack. VFX usually happens toward the end, so first Design will come up with the parameters of the effect, Engineering will make The attack work as expected, and Animation will create the enemy character animations that are needed, and then VFX comes in.

We start with a kickoff meeting with the Art Director and designers so we understand what the effect needs to look like and what information it should communicate to the player. Understanding the context of the effect is really important. Next, we get concept art from the Art Director so we have a visual target and general quality part to aim for, and schedule out the work with the Production team.

Block-out
In the block-out phase, we do some fact-finding. What are the technical requirements for the effect? Is there anything we need to build or other unknowns that have to be tackled to be successful? One of the questions for this particular effect was how we wanted to handle the light effect when the Orb is activated, so we prototyped a solution and synced up with our Lighting engineers to make sure everything was going to work ok. Once all of our questions are answered, we can move on to the next phase.

Iteration
This is where we polish our effects to a shine. We work on improving the look of the effect, then we get feedback from the Art Director and improve it even more. Does the effect meet the quality standards of the Art Director? Does it tell the right story, have the right timing and tone? Once the effect is meeting all of our needs, we can move on to the final step!

Audio / QA / Final Review
Now Audio can come in and add the cherry on top. QA will hammer on the effect to make sure nothing is broken. The project directors will review it and could also have points of feedback to address.

And Ship!
Now we have a finished effect ready for the players to enjoy!

Built by a small team
Throughout the project, the VFX team has been very small. There have been times when no one was working on FX at all! We’ve had some talented people come and go from the project, and the final result is a blend of everyone who has touched Bloodlines 2. At our height, working with outsourcing partners, we had 7 VFX artists working full time on the project, but for the majority of the time it has been a single VFX artist with Tech-Art support. (Hiring VFX artists is hard!) We’re very proud of what we’ve been able to achieve given the limited resources we had throughout the project.

Every visual effect is a new set of artistic and technical challenges, and solving those challenges can be a lot of fun and very rewarding, and we are very excited for everyone to see what we’ve conjured up for Bloodlines 2!

-Hardsuit Labs VFX Team

 

[Longes]

I guess non-updates are slightly better than complete silence. It does not inspire confidence that all screenshots they show are from the same dump as the E3 gameplay demo.

 

[Vincente]

Are those ripped jeans with thigh high socks?

 

[Häyhä]

Looks like another fat Karen to me, the feminists have succeeded in lowering your standards.

The only "fat" part I'm seeing are the titties, but you do you (as I'm sure you mostly do). :D

 

[Semiurge]

Big vampire tiddies is what made Bloodlines the game it is. So long as it’s got some quality milkers, everything will be fine.

It isn't 2004 anymore. Tits are out, asses are in.

You people already forgot the Christina Hendricks tie in? Hello?

Her tits are definitely out. Out there.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

Plus it makes the game out of date before it even launches. If someone wants to include modern talking points in a game/book/series it means he's shortsighted and is only concerned about current sales and receiving social credit and some leftist award (BAFTA).

What are you talking about? Every film that spoke out against the Nazis was a masterpiece. Don't you remember Passage to Marseille? Doughboys in Ireland? Keep Your Powder Dry!? Dragon Seed? Uh, forget about that last one, no, no, no, no. We'll forget that ever happened. It would be a bad thing if people remembered that.
In seriousness, there are times when modern talking points are interesting. Conflict in the Middle-East, for one. Even games that were tied-up in the fervor of 9/11 aren't as shortsighted as we think today. Privacy and government overreach, for another. Is not Deus Ex one of the few games everyone can agree did politics right? In theory, even the subject of people being bitter about their tackle box can held with wit and wisdom. In other games. In Vampire, Masquerade or Requiem, that is a stupid thing to do. As one loading screen tip keeps reminding us, all must fall before the all-consuming impulse of the blood. Oh, no, the kine are being oppressed by the police. How can I, an immortal vampire who is eats them, help. I mean sure, there are dozens of centuries old vampires hungry for my blood, I was probably sired by someone born before the 20th century, share his views mayhap, and someone sets a fire near me I shit my pants, but yeah, let's help the kine with their minor cop problems. Vampire concerns are not human concerns, and most of them have seen worse shit than we ever will.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

there are times when modern talking points are interesting. Conflict in the Middle-East, for one

 

[Semiurge]

Watch as the selfish jerkass wankers claim that that is not natural and try to cancel the character. Conveniently forgetting that people like Hendricks and Parton exist.

The T&A is not the problem per se, but the fact that men find them enjoyable. Smiling, happy and content faces of heterosexual men vex intersectional feminists - they wonder what evil reason the men have for being so un-miserable. Male joy is a feminist issue.

 

[Infinitron]

Are those ripped jeans with thigh high socks?

You're an easily impressed fellow, but it is true that many people ITT have been arguing with their idea of what they've decided this game is about, rather than what we've actually seen with our own two eyes.

Where's the avalanche of SJW content I was promised? It might end up being like that, but so far all we've seen is a handful of derpy interviews mumbling about Malkavians being insensitive, plenty of hot vampire babe marketing, and a seemingly underfunded developer earnestly struggling to get their game to meet expected standards. (The last part is what you should really be worrying about)

 

[Vincente]

Are those ripped jeans with thigh high socks?

You're an easily impressed fellow, but it is true that many people ITT have been arguing with their idea of what they've decided this game is about, rather than what we've actually seen with our own two eyes.

Where's the avalanche of SJW content I was promised? It might end up being like that, but so far all we've seen is a handful of derpy interviews mumbling about Malkavians being insensitive, plenty of hot vampire babe marketing, and a seemingly underfunded developer earnestly struggling to get their game to meet expected standards. (The last part is what you should really be worrying about)

what

 

[Momock]

Where's the avalanche of SJW content I was promised? It might end up being like that, but so far all we've seen is a handful of derpy interviews mumbling about Malkavians being insensitive, plenty of hot vampire babe marketing, and a seemingly underfunded developer earnestly struggling to get their game to meet expected standards. (The last part is what you should really be worrying about)

Meh. The first one was a big mess, technical and gameplay-wise, and it still managed to be the BGE. The SJW part is the worrying part, it's the one that will affect the setting and dialogue. And we already know that the gameplay is garbage since they showed it.

 

[Roguey]

Should have gone stylized instead of bland photorealism, they have themselves to blame for that.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

(big-ass images)

Fair point, I should have said some games with such themes.

You're an easily impressed fellow, but it is true that many people ITT have been arguing with their idea of what they've decided this game is about, rather than what we've actually seen with our own two eyes.

Where's the avalanche of SJW content I was promised? It might end up being like that, but so far all we've seen is a handful of derpy interviews mumbling about Malkavians being insensitive, plenty of hot vampire babe marketing, and a seemingly underfunded developer earnestly struggling to get their game to meet expected standards. (The last part is what you should really be worrying about)

I'm willing to wait until final judgement when the product is out, but the writers seem to think that the old game depicted the Anarchs as the unquestionable good guys and everyone else as Dick Dastardly figures, that concerns me the most. The talk of modern issues is just the cherry on the hopefully chocolate sundae.

 

[Delterius]

to think that the old game depicted the Anarchs as the unquestionable good guys

it kinda did

Anarchs:

pros - saves your ass three times, no questions asked

brought together a vietnam veteran and a proto sjw in the embrace of FREEDOM

almost every cute gurl is an anarch (though jenny is playing both games)

nines gives you free skill points in fighting if you suck ass

cons - had you kill that one ghoul once lol

are bad at surviving chinese invasions

Camarilla:

pros - strauss is pretty suave i guess

cons - sends you to eat shit and die multiple times

tries to kill you in a blood hunt

the prince is a dumbo

Choyinese:

pros - brought us THOUSANDFOLD BLADES from Japan despite being chinese

cons - are taking AMERICAN vampire jobs (by killing them all)

Sabbat:

pros - their existence is why you get most of your exp

cons - motherfuckers are why we have a sewer level

 

[DalekFlay]

Where's the avalanche of SJW content I was promised? It might end up being like that, but so far all we've seen is a handful of derpy interviews mumbling about Malkavians being insensitive, plenty of hot vampire babe marketing, and a seemingly underfunded developer earnestly struggling to get their game to meet expected standards. (The last part is what you should really be worrying about)

Maybe whatever feminist "wave" we're on now is one of the "show our bodies and embrace our sexuality" ones again.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

it kinda did

That's one way of looking at things, but let's look at these things more closely, shall we?
The Anarchs, have Barons in Santa Monica and Hollywood, and ask you to deal with their crap to advance the plot. The Hollywood baron basically threatens you to help him at first despite it being in both parties interest to work together. Their chain may be shorter, but you still have to hop. Further, Skelter asking you to deal with the ghoul is his way of washing the blood from his hands unto the hands of some cammy stooge.
The Kuei-Jin, are generally not as evil as Cainites. They only sometimes have to eat people. They here to right wrongs, of some kind, and I think defeat some kind of demon king. I didn't read Kindred of the East that throughly, so I could be wrong. Although the Cali ones didn't get that memo, judging by how crime operates in ol' Chinatown.
The Camarilla, or rather Strauss, since he's the only one who isn't directly connected to Lacroix, treats you with respect, and whenever you complete a task for him, gives you sweet stuff. Sometimes before even.
Lacroix I only hold as not being Dick Dastardly, not evil. Its one thing that's unambiguous is that he's evil.

 

[ShadowSpectre]

Remember when the only area they kept showing was that one demo quest chasing that toad guy? Well, I wouldn't be surprised if earlier parts of the game are more polished than later parts. Some of the environments in the newer photos don't look much different than the original, here is a shot of the original sewers to give an idea:

BL2 has higher-poly character models and that fancy red couch in recent posts looks more realistically curved, but the background detail is starting to look lacking with these new images being released. More signs of development issues. Better get the boobs out for advertising, the alphabet soup isn't working. . .

 

[True Ukrainian]

Everybody posting in this thread is going to buy BL2 on day one anyway.

 

[Russia is over. The end.]

Everybody posting in this thread is going to buy BL2 on day one anyway.

Yep, they will. Never forget:

 

[DalekFlay]

You gotta put 100 hours into a game before you know you hate it. Come on guys, this is basic Codex stuff.

 

[Sarkile]

I thought we were supposed to play it for a hundred hours while saying we hate it, then shilling for it a decade down the road. On that note, I find Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening to be a very underrated expansion to a revolutionary game.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Big vampire tiddies is what made Bloodlines the game it is. So long as it’s got some quality milkers, everything will be fine.

Lol if you think the danger hairs working on this will allow nudity.

Expect lots of nudity from fat women and gay men.