https://www.thenamemeaning.com/phyre/
But Phyre is retarded anglo spelling, the actual name would be Fira. Which ironically is closer to the actual meaning of the word in english too: fire.
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World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 - VTMB sequel from The Chinese Room - coming Fall 2024
- Thread starter Leorgrium
- Start date
But Phyre is retarded anglo spelling, the actual name would be Fira. Which ironically is closer to the actual meaning of the word in english too: fire.
Xelocix
Learned
Who the fuck cares?
Moink
Cipher
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- Feb 28, 2015
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- 674
Strange
People who like video games and want good video games to get made and released.
J1M
Arcane
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- May 14, 2008
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- 14,667
Consider the current year context. The blood witches are the only guaranteed pick. They didn't exist until last year and you are playing an elder? Why would that be an issue if you identify as one?
Harthwain
Magister
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- Dec 13, 2019
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- 4,981
In the old rules you could pick a perk (or whatever it was called) that allowed you to eat/drink, breathe or even have sex. So technically making your nails or hair grow should've been possible as well. But that was when vampires were considered to be literal walking corpses... No idea how it works nowadays.
J1M
Arcane
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- May 14, 2008
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Narrative designer = fetch quest and flavor text writer.
Delterius
Arcane
brb making a character in deadfire called fira the fampyr
ngl fira reads much less corny than phyre
flyingjohn
Arcane
- Joined
- May 14, 2012
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- 3,032
This will release in 2024 and sell millions because the fanbase is desperate. Same as cities skylines 2, the game sold millions and everybody trashed it.
Dishonoredbr
Erudite
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https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/...urce=Web&utm_medium=Text&utm_campaign=Discord
The Latest News From A World of Darkness
2023-11-01
Dev Diary #4: Creating Vampiric Concepts in Unreal
Hi, I’m Michele Nucera, Senior Concept Artist.
I’ve been looking forward to showing you the hard work that our art team has done to bring life into our game. We’re using a relatively new technique in concept art to help us. Normally all the screenshots you see are fully finished levels with lighting and details in-game. But today I’ll be showing some of the earlier versions that we use to visualise what that final product will look like.
The first thing we keep in mind is the Bloodline 2 art direction. We want to create a foggy, dark, and neo-noir environment where the player can hide and attack from the shadows. The perfect setting for a vampire!
Our goal is to provide the 3D team with a few images to show them our idea for a location or a character. We try to keep our concepts grounded to the real world, but we try to push reality up to 11 (as our Art Director John McCormack always suggests) so the player can experience something unexpected and never seen before.
Why make concepts in Unreal?
Building worlds directly in the game engine is incredibly easy and fun. Thanks to our experience on other TCR titles, we had the chance to learn Unreal and experiment with a Concept Art pipeline to add this piece of software to our workflow.
Bloodlines 2 was the perfect game to push our skills in Unreal to the next step. We had a huge asset library available in this game, including props, characters, and materials. The most logical step forward was to use Unreal to create our concepts rather than creating everything from scratch.
The fog system and the lighting in Unreal are much closer to reality than other real time engines, especially with the recent update to UE5. So this was the perfect tool to visualise our version of Seattle. We have built these underground scenes in Unreal 5, using a fog volume and lights with volumetric options active. Once the composition is approved we then rendered them and quickly painted over in Photoshop.
Paintover, Underground area – Art: Jordan Grimmer
The Creative Process
Before working on an environment, we usually receive a brief from Ben Matthews, Associate Art Director, who provides us with a rough idea of the environment he needs, together with some references. After spending some time searching for references we jump on Unreal and start working from a block-out scene done by the Level Design Team where we import our 3D assets and give “life” to their level.
As always when designing, we start from the big shapes first and then place some provisional lighting and fog. Traditional concept art generally captures the world from one perspective and you have to start from scratch if you’re painting something from another angle. Choosing a good camera angle early on is important and we usually set up a few cameras so our art director can choose what shot works better for him and then we are good to go with the final touches.
Once the first pass gets approved, we then move onto detailing our scene and this is the most fun part. This stage feels like playing a real-life simulator game where you can create little dioramas and add storytelling to the scene. If needed, we create additional assets with Blender and then import them in Unreal Engine. For example, in this bathroom piece we have modelled the toilet and bath using Blender and then imported the assets in Unreal where you can easily assign materials to them.
Paintover, Abandoned Building Bathroom – Art: Isobel Hine
Finally, we render our scene using the high-resolution screenshot tool in Unreal, import the render passes in Photoshop, compose the scene and paint over it adding more details and pushing the mood even further.
We are also lucky that we can easily import 3D characters and plug specific animation loops onto them so our environment will instantly come to life! Here we have used our 3D model of a Hunter done by Kjartan Tysdal, Senior 3D Character Artist, to populate the scenes and add storytelling elements.
Paintover, Radio Tower Callout – Art: Jordan Grimmer
Paintover, Hunters Entering an Underground Area – Art: Michele Nucera
A Fresh way to make Concepts
If you are in a rush, you can skip the thumbnailing process and do it directly in 3D, also you can show a real-time 3D scene rather than one single image so it’s easier for Directors to have the right feeling of the space. Lastly, you can provide the 3D art team with your scenes so they have a base to work with when building the scenes for the actual game… if they can figure out how to deal with our very messy layers!
The below concept shows the police looking for you in an abandoned building. To showcase this, we have built a few rooms and a corridor using our assets in Unreal Engine and then rendered a few shots to follow the story of this policeman looking for you. Since the scene was done in Unreal, the Art Director could easily navigate the space and experience the flow and mood of it.
Paintover, Abandoned Building – Art: Michele Nucera
Bloody Murder
Obviously this game contains a LOT of blood. We were lucky enough that the 3D Art Team provided us with a few blood decals to use directly in Unreal. We placed them in our scenes and lit them in an interesting way to enhance their shiny property, adding a slight hue of red light so the blood colour is not affected by the mood of the scene!
These pieces show a vampire haven under attack. We placed a lot of corpses and blood directly in Unreal and then did a paintover to add all the extra details we needed to sell the story and mood.
Paintover, Vampire Haven – Art: Jordan Grimmer
I think that creating concepts in Unreal is the future of Concept Art. A lot of Concept Artists are expanding their skill set to learn this fantastic tool. Being able to create a real-time scene that your directors can navigate and give you live feedback is priceless and it makes the game better.
We’ll be back in another two weeks, but this time with a Video Diary where we will summarise the content from our latest Dev Diaries. If you have any questions relating to the first four dev diaries, feel free to send them to us on Discord and we’ll try to answer as many as we can.
ferratilis
Magister
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- Oct 23, 2019
- Messages
- 2,483
If they're taking inspiration from a game that released just a few months ago, it can only mean that they started from scratch. This game is not coming out for at least another two years, if ever.
https://www.pcgamer.com/vampire-the...rrative-design-as-well-as-its-tabletop-roots/
https://www.pcgamer.com/vampire-the...rrative-design-as-well-as-its-tabletop-roots/
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 seeks to take inspiration from Baldur's Gate 3's narrative design, as well as its tabletop roots
By Harvey Randall
published about 4 hours ago
I spoke with a narrative designer at The Chinese Room, Arone Le Bray, earlier this week.
(Image credit: The Chinese Room)
Heavy hangs the crown of expectation. Vampire: the Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a sequel to the 2004 cult classic RPG by the now-buried Troika Games, and it has a lot to live up to. It needs to fight off the first game's powerful air of nostalgia, while also stepping into the daylight during an outstanding year for RPGs.
I interviewed The Chinese Room (TCR)'s narrative designer Arone Le Bray, who has a lot of experience under his belt. Before TCR, Le Bray was a narrative quality designer at Bioware for nearly 15 years—which means he's worked on games like Dragon Age: Origins, the Mass Effect series, the whole works.
Far from just feeding on games past, Le Bray says TCR's been looking towards current games for inspiration. "Sarah (one of our writers) is a huge fan of Baldur's Gate 3 … we're looking at how we can borrow aspects [from it], or how we can make sure we're not taking giant steps backwards in terms of stories."
Specifically, TCR is looking towards the sheer evolution of RPG narrative Larian Studios put on display earlier this year. "I absolutely classify narrative as an aspect of gameplay," says Le Bray. "How can we make the player feel like they've owned their outcomes? How can we make the player feel like they have the agency we want them to?"
That's a high bar, considering Baldur's Gate 3—Gale's uncanny thirst notwithstanding—has done some staggering things with narrative design. There's a hitch here or there, but we're talking about a game which devotes two whole hours of wordage to a single spell. A seasoned studio given a popular licence at the absolute top of its game.
The Chinese Room, however, faces a much steeper wall. For starters, Bloodlines 2 has suffered from an epic tangle of development hell, even changing studios entirely. This is also TCR's first foray into the action RPG genre, their past games being narrative-focused stuff like Dear Esther and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.
Le Bray also says they've looked to Vampire: The Masquerade's (VTM)'s tabletop origins. He mentions wanting to avoid breaking the contract between player and "Storyteller", VTM's version of a D&D Dungeon Master. "The tabletop gaming stuff comes in handy, too. Because a lot of VTM is about the storyteller … 'How do you tell that fun story?' Ultimately, you're trying to make sure [your players] are getting the best version of the story you can tell."
Just to cross-reference, VTM's latest edition describes the Storyteller's role in much the same way. "The Storyteller's primary duty is to make sure the other players have a good time. You do that by telling a good story. Unlike novelists or film directors, however, you don't simply tell the story from hook to climax." Open-ended storytelling is a lot easier when you're sitting around a table conjuring worlds with your words, though—code is far more set in stone.
"For us, it was about looking at Phyre and making sure their character feels believable in this time and setting … 'is this character acting in a way the player expects that they would act?'" Le Bray later says he wants the player to feel like they're making decisions in ways that aren't misleading, earning their outcome.
"We never want to make it feel like the player could make the wrong choice," says Le Bray, but he also wants "the choices to feel like [they could start] forum arguments. Like, 'How dare you make choice A, clearly the right thing to do was choice B!'"
We also get talking a little about moral choice in video games, and how a lot of RPGs have moved away from the 'look at how many good points I have' Paragon/Renegade systems and into the morally grey—which the VTM tabletop game happily inhabits. "If there's a clear right and wrong, that's less interesting to me."
"This is another way that VTM really helps us as an IP, because one of the first things you learn is that kindred are monsters, you are literally a monster. You have to be a predator to exist … there's humanity versus 'the Beast' in the tabletop game, where you can go closer and closer to hunger, which makes it harder and harder to do the things you want to do."
Le Bray's talking about some mechanics enshrined in VTM's rules—a character's humanity has a sliding scale. At 10 humanity, you're a saint, something the book calls rare for humans, "and [for] the vampires who have achieved it even more so." At 0 humanity, you fall under the sway of the Beast, and your character becomes a ravenous NPC. For Le Bray, that tension is part of the story: "One of the great things about [Phyre] being an elder is that being a human was so long ago … what does it mean to not remember what sunlight feels like?"
"In short, yeah. We're big nerds and we look at a lot of different things … there are nerds in the team that are super passionate about games, and the elements [from them] that you wouldn't think would make it into our version."
I don't think Bloodlines 2 is going to be another Baldur's Gate 3, obviously, even if the tasks involved creating both—like translating tabletop storytelling to the digital world—are similar. The Chinese Room just doesn't have the same access to the resources. I am curious, though, to watch it tackle those challenges in its own way. I wonder if we'll feel that DNA from the RPG greats when this long-overdue sequel rises from the grave.
- Joined
- May 29, 2010
- Messages
- 36,055
BG3 has been out in early access for years.
Delterius
Arcane
I also think its a filthy marketing lie devoid of any concrete examples.
Dishonoredbr
Erudite
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2019
- Messages
- 2,253
They sure talked a lot to say ''yeah , the game going to be a RPG, truste us'' without giving any solid example.If they're taking inspiration from a game that released just a few months ago, it can only mean that they started from scratch. This game is not coming out for at least another two years, if ever.
https://www.pcgamer.com/vampire-the...rrative-design-as-well-as-its-tabletop-roots/
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 seeks to take inspiration from Baldur's Gate 3's narrative design, as well as its tabletop roots
By Harvey Randall
published about 4 hours ago
I spoke with a narrative designer at The Chinese Room, Arone Le Bray, earlier this week.
(Image credit: The Chinese Room)
Heavy hangs the crown of expectation. Vampire: the Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a sequel to the 2004 cult classic RPG by the now-buried Troika Games, and it has a lot to live up to. It needs to fight off the first game's powerful air of nostalgia, while also stepping into the daylight during an outstanding year for RPGs.
I interviewed The Chinese Room (TCR)'s narrative designer Arone Le Bray, who has a lot of experience under his belt. Before TCR, Le Bray was a narrative quality designer at Bioware for nearly 15 years—which means he's worked on games like Dragon Age: Origins, the Mass Effect series, the whole works.
Far from just feeding on games past, Le Bray says TCR's been looking towards current games for inspiration. "Sarah (one of our writers) is a huge fan of Baldur's Gate 3 … we're looking at how we can borrow aspects [from it], or how we can make sure we're not taking giant steps backwards in terms of stories."
Specifically, TCR is looking towards the sheer evolution of RPG narrative Larian Studios put on display earlier this year. "I absolutely classify narrative as an aspect of gameplay," says Le Bray. "How can we make the player feel like they've owned their outcomes? How can we make the player feel like they have the agency we want them to?"
That's a high bar, considering Baldur's Gate 3—Gale's uncanny thirst notwithstanding—has done some staggering things with narrative design. There's a hitch here or there, but we're talking about a game which devotes two whole hours of wordage to a single spell. A seasoned studio given a popular licence at the absolute top of its game.
The Chinese Room, however, faces a much steeper wall. For starters, Bloodlines 2 has suffered from an epic tangle of development hell, even changing studios entirely. This is also TCR's first foray into the action RPG genre, their past games being narrative-focused stuff like Dear Esther and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture.
Le Bray also says they've looked to Vampire: The Masquerade's (VTM)'s tabletop origins. He mentions wanting to avoid breaking the contract between player and "Storyteller", VTM's version of a D&D Dungeon Master. "The tabletop gaming stuff comes in handy, too. Because a lot of VTM is about the storyteller … 'How do you tell that fun story?' Ultimately, you're trying to make sure [your players] are getting the best version of the story you can tell."
Just to cross-reference, VTM's latest edition describes the Storyteller's role in much the same way. "The Storyteller's primary duty is to make sure the other players have a good time. You do that by telling a good story. Unlike novelists or film directors, however, you don't simply tell the story from hook to climax." Open-ended storytelling is a lot easier when you're sitting around a table conjuring worlds with your words, though—code is far more set in stone.
"For us, it was about looking at Phyre and making sure their character feels believable in this time and setting … 'is this character acting in a way the player expects that they would act?'" Le Bray later says he wants the player to feel like they're making decisions in ways that aren't misleading, earning their outcome.
"We never want to make it feel like the player could make the wrong choice," says Le Bray, but he also wants "the choices to feel like [they could start] forum arguments. Like, 'How dare you make choice A, clearly the right thing to do was choice B!'"
We also get talking a little about moral choice in video games, and how a lot of RPGs have moved away from the 'look at how many good points I have' Paragon/Renegade systems and into the morally grey—which the VTM tabletop game happily inhabits. "If there's a clear right and wrong, that's less interesting to me."
"This is another way that VTM really helps us as an IP, because one of the first things you learn is that kindred are monsters, you are literally a monster. You have to be a predator to exist … there's humanity versus 'the Beast' in the tabletop game, where you can go closer and closer to hunger, which makes it harder and harder to do the things you want to do."
Le Bray's talking about some mechanics enshrined in VTM's rules—a character's humanity has a sliding scale. At 10 humanity, you're a saint, something the book calls rare for humans, "and [for] the vampires who have achieved it even more so." At 0 humanity, you fall under the sway of the Beast, and your character becomes a ravenous NPC. For Le Bray, that tension is part of the story: "One of the great things about [Phyre] being an elder is that being a human was so long ago … what does it mean to not remember what sunlight feels like?"
"In short, yeah. We're big nerds and we look at a lot of different things … there are nerds in the team that are super passionate about games, and the elements [from them] that you wouldn't think would make it into our version."
I don't think Bloodlines 2 is going to be another Baldur's Gate 3, obviously, even if the tasks involved creating both—like translating tabletop storytelling to the digital world—are similar. The Chinese Room just doesn't have the same access to the resources. I am curious, though, to watch it tackle those challenges in its own way. I wonder if we'll feel that DNA from the RPG greats when this long-overdue sequel rises from the grave.
J1M
Arcane
- Joined
- May 14, 2008
- Messages
- 14,667
Carna. Probably best if you don't look it up.
Xelocix
Learned
ROFL LOOK AT THIS LIKE TO DISLIKE RATIO!! NOT EVEN 100K VIEWS TOO. IT'S SO FUCKIN OVER.
Tyranicon
A Memory of Eternity
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2019
- Messages
- 6,693
I think the most telling part of the recent stream is how out of touch with the fanbase the devs are.
The only thing missing from this is "our devs are HUGE fans of the original" which they probably said at some point.
The fact that they led their marketing push with two short scenes with bad animation and lackluster dialogue... it's not looking good bros.
- Fixed protagonist
- Limited customization options
- Fully voiced
- Standard 3 dialogue choices
- 4 clans at launch
- Ugly Lou
- Etc
The only thing missing from this is "our devs are HUGE fans of the original" which they probably said at some point.
The fact that they led their marketing push with two short scenes with bad animation and lackluster dialogue... it's not looking good bros.
S.H.O.D.A.N.
Learned
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2020
- Messages
- 426
BG3 is the new Dark Souls of Insert Subgenre.
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2014
- Messages
- 13,754
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