Chief Chat Monday, Nov 5th, 4pm PST - Art Build Discussion

[Ronyn]

Greetings Reapers,

I am barely able to contain my excitement. Today, the eagerly awaited art build has gone LIVE!

For backers of the right level, just log into your My Em-8er.com account and check your available downloads. For those unable to download it for themselves, keep your eyes on the community because I know some folks will be putting up some videos to share these beautiful models.

Monday, November 5th, at 4PM PST, Grummz will be in the discord for an extra special chief chat. We are going to talk a bit about the art build, what it took to get to this point, and why it's only the beginning for this game. If you have any specific questions you'd like to ask go ahead and post them below in this thread. We will get to as many as we reasonably can during the chief chat.

So for now bask in the glory of the eye popping art build, then join us on Monday, to have some good talks and some good time.

I get the feeling your all as excited as I am Reapers, talk to you soon.
-Ronyn

 

[Ullrick]

Art demo is AMAZING....

only thing I would change is a way to tone music down some so can hear the readings a bit better.

But love it cant wait for more, and to play

 

[bluelight]

Very, very cool. Or cold. Get it. Loved the weather. Loved learning about the different elements of the game. The only thing that didn't wow me was the skin of the Kaiju. Looked very "plasticy" to me. Sorry. Other than that, BIG THUMBS UP !!!

 

[Wyntyr]

 

[Zednel]

Cat. 1 Kaijus eyeless (?) head and its voice reminds me of the Bioraptors from Pitch Black. Goddamn creepy...

 

[Bumblebeedingo]

Im loving the Mk2 but recon it would be more suited for the feet to be designed around the MK1 as it will give it more of a weighted look like a robot should be. when i look at something big it reminds me of large creatures and their structure like the feet of dinosaurs and elephants ect how there feet spread across the ground sorta like a tripod stand if that makes sense . when i look at the mk2 the glory of its design feels a lottle lack luster at the feet and makes it feel like its meant to walk with its arms XD.

 

[NightStroke]

Just ran through the entire demo. Loved it! Some of my highlights were, the base model of Tsihu(the red accents and glowing blue tentacles add a LOT), the mark 2 omniframe, and the clean look of the human jumpsuit. My only criticism is that the ferrofluid texture on the beast mode tsihu is weirdly handled. I understand how it was animated with the texture warping in a wave-like fashion, but knowing that its supposed to look ferrofluidic, i'd expected the base of the spikes to move around and ebb/flow in regards to size, not bend and curl. Also, the cat 1 Kaiju's skin texture doesn't look super organic; Whether thats because of the physical 3D musculature or the texr=ture itself, im not sure. I guess a good comparison for what I'd expecting it to be was more like Warframe Tenno skin.

 

[Faeryl]

Okay first thing first ...

OHMYGOD!!!!!!!!! THE CHARACTER ART DEMO IS TOTALLY & WICKEDLY AWESOMESAUCE!!!!!!!!!!

Next, as per @Grummz 's request, I checked out BOTH the female and male characters. In my humble opinion, they both look pretty damn AWESOME!!!!!!! Seriously though, females tend to carry weight differently than men do. I think the proportions look really good in that respect. I know there was some feedback about the triangular shape of the male character's torso but, I like that because it reminds me of a muscular swimmer or athlete.



Third, on my first walk through, I noticed two things to point out:

1) OH. MY. GOD. THE MOTION BLUR!! it doesn't burn but, definitely makes me slightly queasy after about 5 to 10 minutes.

2) Music needs a separate volume so we can turn it down to hear Grummz's narrations on the kiosks.


All in all it is a VERY AWESOMSAUCE Character Art Demo and has me even MORE HYPED up now (if that's possible) for the next steps!


8 FOR EM-8ER

 

[Kusiga]

My curious question for the Chief Chat is wondering will I be able to sit on my omniframe and fish? Also will fishing be in the game at all?

 

[Maven]

Well, that was quite something. Too bad, I couldn't be around for the big reveal, 3 am is too ungodly an hour to be up and about.

Exceptional work on the assets, dev team.

Do have a few gripes though.

1. The character models are well done. However, the knees seem far too weak. This is particularly noticeable when you watch their legs move during the running animation in third person. Or when you have the character stand on uneven terrain. The knee bends like it was a thick piece of plastic. This is further accentuated by the significant proportions (don't you dare change those) elsewhere on the character. On the other hand the knee region for the kaiju and the tsi-hu have a natural form to it.

2. The run animation for the female character is a bit too janky. I know that's something really tough to get right. Her legs seem to warp inwards during the forward motion, though it could be a by-product of the aforementioned knee proportions.

3. The jump distances are excessive, both vertical and horizontal. Then again it could be attributed to low gravity or some such and written off.

4. Not exactly a gripe, but I was quite surprised by how small the Beast form was, expected it to be a bit larger.

5. As mentioned earlier by others, the music is far too loud and drowns out the narration.

All that said, this is quite the achievement for such a small team, and that too mostly part-timers. Take a bow, devs. Looking forward to the rest.

Edit: Forgot to add this in earlier, but a free cam option would be nice. This would allow a closer examination of the models without having to jump up on their backs or whatnot.

 

[Drake84pl]

I have to say the art demo is really cool, can't wait to try the playable mockup, my only worry is if the game is funded will it be able to carry it's scope, even in this small demo it's looking very ambitious - mechs, bigger mechs, small beasts, giant monsters, i'm a bit worried if the engine can handle such a scope and thats just for the playable mockup, I can't even imagine if the game can pull of the big map, multiple players, mechs, monsters, combat, buildings etc. I know the unreal engine is quite versatile and powerful and that this art demo is not optimized yet, but still, the final concept of the game is enormous and so are my worries. Nonetheless Good Luck.

 

[Brohawk]

Very nice work, motion blur and mouse control was squishy but it is an art demo so not a big deal. Looking forward to the playable demo.

 

[DoktOrk]

Hi All!

I have just ran through the Art Demo.
Two thumbs up! :-D
Awesome work of an awesome Team! Keep it up!

The only thing that acts a bit weird for me is the "hair" on the back of the beast form. I would rather have it more "static". But if everybody is cool with that, so am I.

Since I can not make the CC due to my job on monday (working hard is hard...), I post my question here.
As my best experiences of FireFall were those moments where I played together with my friends:
I would like to know when (or from which release) can we play together with other reapers?

Cheers: DoktOrk :-D

 

[Zednel]

My only criticism is that the ferrofluid texture on the beast mode tsihu is weirdly handled. I understand how it was animated with the texture warping in a wave-like fashion, but knowing that its supposed to look ferrofluidic, i'd expected the base of the spikes to move around and ebb/flow in regards to size, not bend and curl.

I second this. Personally I do not have a problem with the wave-like animation itself, but it's too exaggerated. At the forehead and the the back of the beast form the ferrofluid animation loops through the body itself, and under the forehead the animation just stops abruptly.



Also, some graphics and sound options would be great. The music was a bit too loud compared to the narration, and the motion-blur causes the mouse to be a bit slow in response.

Everything else looks fantastic! Looking forward to more of the procedural terrain.

 

[VRK9]

Maybe some questions for the CC for Mr.Grummz!

1-Could this game in the future (after release and that), be on consoles with crossplay and crossplatform?
Since it is a pve game it don't need a lot of balance between pc and consoles and fortnite showed that is possible the crossplay and crossplatform between consoles and pc.

2-Since there will be events activated by pets (the thmpr activates the thumping event), could there be more events activated by others pets (or modules crafted and instaled on thmpr)?
2.1-Or other utilities for pets so they can't be only cosmetic, maybe fighting like thmpr?
2.2-Could we build omniframes (or just acessories) for pets?

3-Could head gear (like helmets or hats) have special animation for appear and disappear?
For helmets, they could grow for g-suit in the neck until cover the head, and hats could start to appear like holographic until materialize.

4-About companies: what if companies aren't fighting each other but complement each other?
All players could be part of all of them, but each one give advantages (like unlocking crafting tree levels or items). For example, by killing aliens players level up in the militaring company, by thumping players level up in mining company… all gatestriders companies with their own lore and story.

 

[WatsonDynamite]

So this is already a discussion I had with Ronyn, but in my opinion, the MK.II Omniframe's scale is a bit too large for the pilots. Now Ronyn has already reassured me that nothing related to scale in the art demo is actually definitive, but I still want to hear a dev's response on this. In my opinion, it just looks like the legs of the pilot don't actually fit comfortably inside the frame's legs, and that the cockpit has a lot of hollow space. Also looking at this screenshot that Dinsdale Piranha kindly shared with me, I also see what looks to be a head rest (which I've circled in red), waaay above the pilot's head.
I also understand that the model may have been enlarged to facilitate looking at the details.
Either way, I hope Mark can address my concerns in the chief chat. Thank you and props on such fantastic progress on the game!

 

[Zednel]

So this is already a discussion I had with Ronyn, but in my opinion, the MK.II Omniframe's scale is a bit too large for the pilots. Now Ronyn has already reassured me that nothing related to scale in the art demo is actually definitive, but I still want to hear a dev's response on this. In my opinion, it just looks like the legs of the pilot don't actually fit comfortably inside the frame's legs, and that the cockpit has a lot of hollow space. Also looking at this screenshot that Dinsdale Piranha kindly shared with me, I also see what looks to be a head rest (which I've circled in red), waaay above the pilot's head.
I also understand that the model may have been enlarged to facilitate looking at the details.
Either way, I hope Mark can address my concerns in the chief chat. Thank you and props on such fantastic progress on the game!
View attachment 2548

If you look at it from a different angle, you can see that the head rest is behind the pilots head. I think what you circled in red is just a simple panel for the cockpit light.

 

[Pandagnome]

1-Could this game in the future (after release and that), be on consoles with crossplay and crossplatform?
Since it is a pve game it don't need a lot of balance between pc and consoles and fortnite showed that is possible the crossplay and crossplatform between consoles and pc.

That would be great i hope they will eventually do that!

2-Since there will be events activated by pets (the thmpr activates the thumping event), could there be more events activated by others pets (or modules crafted and instaled on thmpr)?
2.1-Or other utilities for pets so they can't be only cosmetic, maybe fighting like thmpr?
2.2-Could we build omniframes (or just acessories) for pets?

Having other pets such as a house trained pets in accommodation or in the sky tower
Even small pets that sit inside the mech as omnires mentioned in the thought of mech racing

Cosmetic choices for pets is what i'd like to see too crafting stuff and even purchased as packs also.

I'd certainly hope so to buid omniframe say if we lost our main frame we could go to a salvage material from the junkyard/waste area to craft our temp or first frame before unlocking or discovering our main frame.

Accessories for belts like shades, belts, and other stuff hmmm wonder if i could have a small panda with a steampunk hat in my mech!

3-Could head gear (like helmets or hats) have special animation for appear and disappear?
For helmets, they could grow for g-suit in the neck until cover the head, and hats could start to appear like holographic until materialize.

Sort of like in stargate helmet but holographic?
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CollapsibleHelmet

I also like the helmet with eyes

Plus i like to see a helmet with a emoji on the front optional sort of like the thumper has but a different style perhaps hmm
The bike rider could have more options too with variety of helmet styles and hats as well

4-About companies: what if companies aren't fighting each other but complement each other?
All players could be part of all of them, but each one give advantages (like unlocking crafting tree levels or items). For example, by killing aliens players level up in the militaring company, by thumping players level up in mining company… all gatestriders companies with their own lore and story.

Ah like the warframe some might be allies and others neutral and other not so.

 

[Pandagnome]

If you look at it from a different angle, you can see that the head rest is behind the pilots head. I think what you circled in red is just a simple panel for the cockpit light.

View attachment 2550

I wonder if it is some kind of scanner that identifies the pilot and if anyone tries to hop into an unauthorized mech it would turn red and damage them ... just my guess hmm

 

[WatsonDynamite]

If you look at it from a different angle, you can see that the head rest is behind the pilots head. I think what you circled in red is just a simple panel for the cockpit light.

ah, the difference a slight change in camera angle can make! I'm sorry for that, you see, i don't actually have the art demo so I couldn't ascertain what that really was.
However, my point still stands that maybe with a very little bit of downscaling the pilot could look like they fit in their cockpit a bit better.

it does look MUCH better from that angle, though.