CHIEF CHAT BRIEF SUMMARY FROM THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021
PLEASE NOTE: This set of notes also includes new items that were mentioned during the TWO Impromptu Chief Chats on Tuesday, October 19, 2021 (AM and PM Pacific Time) and the duplicate Chief Chat (by request) on Saturday, October 23, 2021.
==== MAIN POINTS ====
► A NEW view of Marigold skins was sent via email today [Tuesday, October 19, 2021] (see image below).
► One dollar subs will continue until Marigold goes offline NEXT Tuesday, October 26, 2021.
► The "Marilyn Bunny Cosplay skin" is expiring this weekend [Sunday, October 24, 2021]; no specific date/time.
► A purchase of the "Marilyn Bunny Cosplay skin" comes with a "Happy Hour" emote (see the video short below); current subscribers who already own the skin, already have the emote.
► We have 1, 3, 6, **AND** 12 month subscription options NOW available for the Em-8ER Patron Program.
► A NEW skin being prepped for Tuesday, October 26, 2021. It is NOT a waifu.
► Crodus update revealed!
==== GENERAL POINTS ====
► Working on animation systems for Tsi-hu!
► Some invasions could only be for light frames, or light + medium, depends severity on the invasion!
► Grummz: Bases are built like RTS's. All the bases are kind of like mini cities and they're built by players. Players basically call down the core building and it takes time to construct. Then other players can come by and donate resources to it, to speed the construction of that building. We had some early concept art which I want to say is going to be retconned. I have a different idea now of how these bases...
► V1 ship model:
► PLEASE NOTE: The interior of ships/vehicles are for different fundraising goals post launch.
==== COOL EM-8ER FACTS ====
Grummz: "Pop Quiz time. Do you guys know what other movie I watched like 15 times that is another big inspiration for EM-8ER? This is it, let's watch it together."
Grummz: "The mecha battle looks SO EPIC!"
Grummz: "The other things that have inspired Em-8ER... I'm doing this because you gotta like, set the game play fantasy right.
We've done a good job with the waifus. And now it's time to do a good job with the omniframes and the mecha, right?
This is VERY important to me. Watching these trailers with you guys gets me hyped and it gives you [an idea of what I'm thinking.]"
Grummz: "When I think of the medium omniframe, this is what I was really thinking about.
So watch this with me. Everything has to have a start up sequence, right? I would highly recommend it just for the mecha coolness!"
"METAL SKIN PANIC MADOX-01 OP clip upscaled":
Grummz: "The other thing that really gets me geeked out for Em-8ER...It's actually an anime movie. You guys will never guess what it is. I'm trying to find something that highlights what I find really cool about it. How many of you have seen this?" [posts video]
Grummz: "If you like Fire Emblem, I think it's the same character designer. It's not the best plot but, the mecha combat is pretty sick! Of course it's got fan service too but, I mean, the mech is just cool! I want to get a little bit of this music into Em-8ER somewhere. I can tell you I want guitar in the music."
"EXPELLED FROM PARADISE - PV":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TcOlXsy2Sw
Grummz: "Another inspiration for Em-8ER. And this is getting me totally geeked for the next phase of Em-8ER, which is when we do the mechs. We are doing the mechs. We actually did a draft of them and it's called a block out phase. We got some feedback from some people on the Dev Team and we're going back to refine them a bit more. Here we go, you ready? Alright let's watch this. Venus Wars? Absolutely one of my favorite animes of all time! Those doors closing? The bases have to have doors like that in Em-8ER!"
==== KETCHUP SPILL TEASE? ====
TL;DR - Grummz mentioned that there's a cross over collaboration coming up. What exactly that entails was not revealed, yet. Stay tuned!
Grummz:
"We're pivoting from waifus. There is only one waifu promotion coming out that is not related to Em-8ER. It's a cross-over collaboration. We're going to have a guest star in Em-8ER.
There are many things we are building to prepare to pivot from waifus which is one pillar of the Em-8erverse. We're pivoting to mechs/omniframes. That's what you're going to see next. We're still working on the Tsi-Hu stuff. But that is what's happening.
You're gonna see... you wanna hint? I can't hint. This is too big. It would cause a lot of feelings. I don't want to say it's a huge update, no, no it's not. I mean, just having omniframes modeled and in the engine would be huge. Which is what we're working on right now. But, there's a small bit of news that will get a lot of people excited.
And how we present it, it's going to be up to time frame...I shouldn't talk too much about it because we're still real early. I don't want to get your hopes up. Don't expect some big feature or anything like that. It's not that. It's just a small bit of information that's gonna make people really happy.
And how we present that information, could come in a variety of ways. It could be a picture, we could just talk about it, who knows. I don't want to promise what we can deliver yet because there's a LOT to do folks, there's a lot to do.
I gotta get these frames right. This will be a round 2 of the omniframes. This is our second version of the frames and I want them to be really good. The Light omniframe is taking some time. We had a rough out of the frame. A rough out is when we block out the general shapes and things like this. It's good but, it's just not where we want it to be yet. We can do better and we will."
==== CC QUESTIONS & ANSWERS [TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2021] ====
► Question: Have you ever said what type of melee system you're going for?
Grummz: “Undecided”
► Question: When will a new demo drop?
Grummz: “No ETA on that yet.”
► Question: Em-8ER is going to cap the framerate on the menu screens, right?
Grummz: “Cap the framerate on the menu screens... noted. I hadn't really thought it was a big problem until now but, maybe it is. But I don't think it's framerate that's causing it[on New World]. It's something unique to the Lumberyard engine and how they're using it. No other game has this issue. We don't use Lumberyard, we use Unreal. And I haven't heard of any Unreal game doing this.”
► Question: Gundam and Em-8ER collab when?
Grummz: “OH, a Gundam collab! I love the PC cases, the motherboards, the router, and stuff. We got the Gundam router. That's the only thing we got.”
► Question: Is there going to be an Em-8ER college?
Grummz: “There's an Em-8ER Training Academy. And there's an official school outfit for that.”
► Question: The in-engine skins that have been shown are just skins, I mean we can put them on our customized character? Or will it change the appearance to the one we see right now? [asking if they are clothes or full character models]?
Grummz: “They are clothes.”
► Question: Does Em-8ER have a character creator?
Grummz: “Yes, the game has a character creator.”
► Question: So the skins when equipped, will retain our created character? Or will it override the appearance - the face/body size, etc?
Grummz: “Yes. The shape of the character is dependent on the sliders, not the skin.”
► Question: For those that paid for the version [Max Kahuna/Kaiju Slayer/Ark Liege] that lets us create a custom NPC for the game. Can we be allowed to use that as a skin?
Grummz: “No? That was not planned. Also a little early to decide that. It depends on how we do it. So I won't rule it out either but, I'll say that's probably a ‘no’ right now.”
==== CC QUESTIONS & ANSWERS [THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021] ====
► Question: Have you decided how you're going to handle frame destruction and battlefield replacement?
Grummz: “The idea is you have a garage full of frames, as long as you have frames you can call them down to a base near your location, the closer the base is the faster the time, the farther away a base is the longer you have to wait for a frame.”
► Question: Is the strategic games AI and systems all in concept or is someone coding prototypes of it?
Grummz: “It's in concept form right now, and will be in game post Kickstarter fully implemented.”
► Question: Does every base have a player hub?
Grummz: “Yes, every base will have a main building/hub type area.”
► Question: Will there be NPC's in the bases who actively fight?
Grummz: “Yes there will be NPC's but they wont fight, you guys have to do all the fighting.”
► Question: Will there be fast travel?
Grummz: “There's no teleportation currently planned, but there are flying vehicles!”
► Question: While fighting kaiju, will there be lesser mobs as well?
Grummz: “Well, The kaiju don't come alone.”
► Question: Can we steal and use kaiju technologies?
Grummz: “The idea is to use their technologies in crafting recipes, so yes there will be use out of it.”
► Question: Will you be able to go through portals and hunt Kaiju?
Grummz: “There are concept of terraforming bubbles, not so much a melding but there is an area that is optimal to operate mechs and machinery and there’s a force field around every terraforming zone, and if you go beyond, you can but only for brief periods of time.”
► Question: Will the Kaiju be able to eat people as a killing animation?
Grummz: “Oh we have to do that!”
► Question: Will the kaiju still exist in the world until we defeat him?
Grummz: “Yes, he will keep going base after base until you defeat him.”
==== CC QUESTIONS & ANSWERS [SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021] ====
► Question: Do you have an idea of a palette direction?
Grummz: “I used to say, 'I would like the palette like Pacific Rim.' Where it's kind of like bright colors, primaries, things like this. That's the current idea. But if you see the way that Pacific Rim pulls it off, it's not garish(?). and I think it's different, it stands out from the typical Sci-Fi lighting you see on these other games. And by Pacific Rim, I mean the first one. I just think this is gorgeous. And I wanted to evoke a mecha movie. Pacific Rim is a big inspiration for Em-8ER.”
"PACIFIC RIM" MOVIE CLIP w/ COLOR PALETTE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr1oGuOwVDk
[Other influences mentioned above in "COOL EM-8ER FACTS"]
► Question: Is the building parts for player bases supposed to be spawned in as a drop from the hub above, like the drop-pods of Space Marines?
Grummz: “I don’t know how they’re going to drop in yet. But I think a fan did an animation a long time ago where the buildings were actually dropped in by drop ships, I think that would be cool; at least the building core, right? Then an idea for non-combat gameplay is you could either contribute resources to it or maybe there’s a mech like an SCV that you could use? I don’t know if that would be boring though...”
► Question: Any possibility of teasing the Light Omniframe model (in a whitebox state, no textures)?
Grummz: “No, I’m not happy with it yet.”
► Question: Hey Grummz, when will we *hear* from Bross?
Grummz: “Oh you want to hear from Bross not just see him pop up on the Dev Team? Because he’s usually at the Chief Chats. I think it would be good if we lay down some tracks and we have Bross talk about them. I think that would make a good Chief Chat. Okay, I’ll save that as an idea for the future.”
► Question: You’re not happy with the Light Omniframes, huh? I can see those being a bit difficult to properly design with a level of realism.
Grummz:
“No, well...Okay. Let’s talk about the Light Omniframe.
First of all, everyone likes the concept, right? What we’re struggling with is...when you do whitebox it’s mainly about proportions and profile. You want to make sure that if you were to turn the image black and white, just make it a silhouette, that it has a good read and that it evokes the feeling of the concept. Then you want to make sure your proportions are right. Our characters are very long-legged. Long-legged, specifically, in the thigh. One thing we’re struggling with is the size of the knee and the placement of the knee.
No, I like the knee in the concept. I’m trying to capture that in 3D without it looking dorky. You fake a lot of stuff when you draw, right? And when you translate it into 3D, it’s different. We’re definitely having some challenges with that. We’ll get through it. We want to be very careful.
Because when you do a blockout stage, that’s where you should spend the most time. When you do art, any art, you’d think all the details that you color in and the colors you choose would be the most important part. But it’s the basic shapes and light values that are. Getting that right and the proportions is more important to your drawing than anything else. It’s the foundation. So it’s really worth it to spend more time on the blockout stage before filling in all the blanks.”
► Question: The story is still quiet interesting. I enjoyed them quite a bit. Is there a place where I submit my list of corrections for the novel?
Grummz: “Thanks! I’m glad you’re enjoying the story. Don’t worry, once the draft is complete, we’ll go through and edit a lot of the things for correction. What you’re seeing is just the blockout of the story. We’ll have a call just like we did for the Vision Book, we’ll have a call for everyone to do that.”
► Question: How will weapons work? I remember my Firecat in Firefall with the grenade launcher doing some sweet damage.
Grummz: “First of all, we want to have a version of every Firefall weapon implemented in the game. We also want to include many other weapons. I think one weakness of Firefall was that it did not have enough weapons and it did not have enough options for your frame progression to really make progression feel satisfactory. The crafting was good but, it was very limited.”
► Question: Have you ever say what type of melee system you’re going for? Dynasty warrior style with charge attacks? Something stance-centric like more modern games, For Honor, etc?
Grummz:
“I’ve had conversations with Harry about this. As much as the mouse aiming combat systems in For Honor are very cool, they’re not very commercially successful, I’ll say that. I think while they’re cool, they’re not as approachable for some people. I don’t know what type of melee combat we’re going to have yet. We did talk about the weapons having some form of finesse and that includes all weapons, and I’m not quite sure where to take that.”
► Question: Finishers?
Grummz: “Yes, I want finishers and stagger states. I think they feel very satisfying.”
► Question: Power-fist and heavy flamer?
Grummz: “Power-fists we have. You can see it in the [Light Omniframe] concept. There are these big giant fists that yous strap on to the outside of your Light Omniframe.”
► Question: When will a new demo drop?
Grummz: “When we have Tsi-Hu to a point where we want to test it out. So no ETA on that yet.”
► Question: What kind of status effects, buffs, debuffs, etc. can we expect? Can my grenade launcher do DOTs and stuns?
Grummz:
“We talked about how crafting can add some secondary effects. I look a lot at say, how Destiny 2 does their weapon perk stuff. And I think that’s something that could be unlocked by the crafting system. Remember there’s a basic crafting system and an advanced crafting system. The basic crafting system is just I need x, y, and z resources so I go out and get them and, it doesn’t matter what quality level they are as long as I have xy and z resources I can craft it. Advanced crafting lets you do 2 things: it lets you tune the stats. So just like in old Firefall Beta you can nerf some stats with lower quality resources and boost the stats you want with higher quality resources.
The other thing you can do is you can craft perks for a weapon. If you want your grenade launcher to have a chance of a stun effect, a proc effect on stun nearby enemies, that’s an advanced module that could be crafted by an advanced crafter.
One issue the crafting had in Firefall was, I won’t say it was complex. But something you had to invest time into before you could actually craft something that felt satisfactory. And since everything in the game is crafted, that is a barrier for some people who just want to craft things and go. So that’s why we have 2 levels of crafting. I think splitting the crafting system into 2 is a good thing to have. In Firefall, crafting was hard to teach because there were a LOT of things you had to know.”
► Question: Will the “Knee Biters” be bullet sponges?
Grummz: “The ‘Knee Biters’ are not bullet sponges. They’re meant to pop easily. And if you don’t kill them... I’m not going to tell you what they do yet. WE have plans for that. We are not going to animate them in the traditional way because we want to draw a lot of them on-screen.
Right now they’re just represented by boxes and there’s not NEARLY enough of them. They’re also too bullet sponge-y. They’re meant to be very satisfying to just pop by the dozens.
One thing I didn’t like about the Aranhas in Firefall is it took a clip and a half from the assault rifle to kill one. Do you guys remember? I don’t think you could even one shot them with the shot gun.”
► Question: Render a lot of them on screen? Are we going with old school Doom Sprites?
Grummz: “No, they’re not going to be Doom Sprites. But there is a way to animate them. Ever play ‘Totally Accurate Battle Simulator’ and how they could render a lot of units? They use a technique called Vertex animation instead of using bones to animate it. We’ll be using a similar technique to animate these so, we’ll see how many we can get on screen.”
► Question: Is there a size comparison (re: “Knee Biters”)?
Grummz: “If you look at the boxes in the Encounter, that’s about their size, that’s about right.”
► Question: And we still shoot boxes?
Grummz: “Yes because Ricardo is moving to Spain [Grummz mentioned earlier in the stream that Ricardo is working on the “Knee Biters”]! And we have to build a simpler animation system.”
==== MORE KETCHUP SPILLED! [SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021] ====
► Grummz:
“You have seen the Tsi-Hu art pass where we modeled the Tsi-Hu, right? There's going to be another type of creature in the THMPR Encounter for the Playable Mockup, that is currently represented by boxes in the Encounter. These are what we affectionately call the "Knee Biters"; or in Firefall lingo, it would be our version of the ‘Aranhas’.
I don't know if I shared this but, we actually have this modeled. But I'm not going to share the model yet. I'm going to share the concept we did for the ‘Knee Biters’.”
Concept Art for "Knee Biters":
A NOTE FROM FAERYL: If you haven't checked it out yet, later in November, Grummz asked the community to come up with a nickname for these little pesky "Knee Biters". They already have a scientific name (has not been revealed yet) but, we were asked to come up with their nickname that Reaper Teams would call them. When you've finished catching up on this and the other October threads, please hop on over to this community-made thread to give your support for an existing nickname suggestion, or to add your own:
https://forums.em8er.com/threads/names-for-the-knee-biters.2155/
==== FUN STUFF ====
► FRAME OF SHAME!!!! (gets deployed when you run out of usable frames, lol)
► F.A.I.’s thanks raffle winner! ♦ Manyc#6827 ♦ [October 21, 2021]
► F.A.I.’s thanks raffle winner! ♦ Wayne#2173 ♦ [October 23, 2021]
==== QUOTES ====
► Knee Size & Placement for Light Omniframes. (OCT 23rd)
Ronyn (via text in Discord): ”My feedback was ‘not enough mass in the cheeks’ lol jk.”
Grummz: “Ronyn is like we’re only concerned with one mass and it happens to be, where the tail attaches.” [laughs]
PLEASE NOTE: This set of notes also includes new items that were mentioned during the TWO Impromptu Chief Chats on Tuesday, October 19, 2021 (AM and PM Pacific Time) and the duplicate Chief Chat (by request) on Saturday, October 23, 2021.
==== MAIN POINTS ====
► A NEW view of Marigold skins was sent via email today [Tuesday, October 19, 2021] (see image below).
► One dollar subs will continue until Marigold goes offline NEXT Tuesday, October 26, 2021.
► The "Marilyn Bunny Cosplay skin" is expiring this weekend [Sunday, October 24, 2021]; no specific date/time.
► A purchase of the "Marilyn Bunny Cosplay skin" comes with a "Happy Hour" emote (see the video short below); current subscribers who already own the skin, already have the emote.
► We have 1, 3, 6, **AND** 12 month subscription options NOW available for the Em-8ER Patron Program.
► A NEW skin being prepped for Tuesday, October 26, 2021. It is NOT a waifu.
► Crodus update revealed!
==== GENERAL POINTS ====
► Working on animation systems for Tsi-hu!
► Some invasions could only be for light frames, or light + medium, depends severity on the invasion!
► Grummz: Bases are built like RTS's. All the bases are kind of like mini cities and they're built by players. Players basically call down the core building and it takes time to construct. Then other players can come by and donate resources to it, to speed the construction of that building. We had some early concept art which I want to say is going to be retconned. I have a different idea now of how these bases...
► V1 ship model:
► PLEASE NOTE: The interior of ships/vehicles are for different fundraising goals post launch.
==== COOL EM-8ER FACTS ====
Grummz: "Pop Quiz time. Do you guys know what other movie I watched like 15 times that is another big inspiration for EM-8ER? This is it, let's watch it together."
Grummz: "The mecha battle looks SO EPIC!"
Grummz: "The other things that have inspired Em-8ER... I'm doing this because you gotta like, set the game play fantasy right.
We've done a good job with the waifus. And now it's time to do a good job with the omniframes and the mecha, right?
This is VERY important to me. Watching these trailers with you guys gets me hyped and it gives you [an idea of what I'm thinking.]"
Grummz: "When I think of the medium omniframe, this is what I was really thinking about.
So watch this with me. Everything has to have a start up sequence, right? I would highly recommend it just for the mecha coolness!"
"METAL SKIN PANIC MADOX-01 OP clip upscaled":
Grummz: "The other thing that really gets me geeked out for Em-8ER...It's actually an anime movie. You guys will never guess what it is. I'm trying to find something that highlights what I find really cool about it. How many of you have seen this?" [posts video]
Grummz: "If you like Fire Emblem, I think it's the same character designer. It's not the best plot but, the mecha combat is pretty sick! Of course it's got fan service too but, I mean, the mech is just cool! I want to get a little bit of this music into Em-8ER somewhere. I can tell you I want guitar in the music."
"EXPELLED FROM PARADISE - PV":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TcOlXsy2Sw
Grummz: "Another inspiration for Em-8ER. And this is getting me totally geeked for the next phase of Em-8ER, which is when we do the mechs. We are doing the mechs. We actually did a draft of them and it's called a block out phase. We got some feedback from some people on the Dev Team and we're going back to refine them a bit more. Here we go, you ready? Alright let's watch this. Venus Wars? Absolutely one of my favorite animes of all time! Those doors closing? The bases have to have doors like that in Em-8ER!"
==== KETCHUP SPILL TEASE? ====
TL;DR - Grummz mentioned that there's a cross over collaboration coming up. What exactly that entails was not revealed, yet. Stay tuned!
Grummz:
"We're pivoting from waifus. There is only one waifu promotion coming out that is not related to Em-8ER. It's a cross-over collaboration. We're going to have a guest star in Em-8ER.
There are many things we are building to prepare to pivot from waifus which is one pillar of the Em-8erverse. We're pivoting to mechs/omniframes. That's what you're going to see next. We're still working on the Tsi-Hu stuff. But that is what's happening.
You're gonna see... you wanna hint? I can't hint. This is too big. It would cause a lot of feelings. I don't want to say it's a huge update, no, no it's not. I mean, just having omniframes modeled and in the engine would be huge. Which is what we're working on right now. But, there's a small bit of news that will get a lot of people excited.
And how we present it, it's going to be up to time frame...I shouldn't talk too much about it because we're still real early. I don't want to get your hopes up. Don't expect some big feature or anything like that. It's not that. It's just a small bit of information that's gonna make people really happy.
And how we present that information, could come in a variety of ways. It could be a picture, we could just talk about it, who knows. I don't want to promise what we can deliver yet because there's a LOT to do folks, there's a lot to do.
I gotta get these frames right. This will be a round 2 of the omniframes. This is our second version of the frames and I want them to be really good. The Light omniframe is taking some time. We had a rough out of the frame. A rough out is when we block out the general shapes and things like this. It's good but, it's just not where we want it to be yet. We can do better and we will."
==== CC QUESTIONS & ANSWERS [TUESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2021] ====
► Question: Have you ever said what type of melee system you're going for?
Grummz: “Undecided”
► Question: When will a new demo drop?
Grummz: “No ETA on that yet.”
► Question: Em-8ER is going to cap the framerate on the menu screens, right?
Grummz: “Cap the framerate on the menu screens... noted. I hadn't really thought it was a big problem until now but, maybe it is. But I don't think it's framerate that's causing it[on New World]. It's something unique to the Lumberyard engine and how they're using it. No other game has this issue. We don't use Lumberyard, we use Unreal. And I haven't heard of any Unreal game doing this.”
► Question: Gundam and Em-8ER collab when?
Grummz: “OH, a Gundam collab! I love the PC cases, the motherboards, the router, and stuff. We got the Gundam router. That's the only thing we got.”
► Question: Is there going to be an Em-8ER college?
Grummz: “There's an Em-8ER Training Academy. And there's an official school outfit for that.”
► Question: The in-engine skins that have been shown are just skins, I mean we can put them on our customized character? Or will it change the appearance to the one we see right now? [asking if they are clothes or full character models]?
Grummz: “They are clothes.”
► Question: Does Em-8ER have a character creator?
Grummz: “Yes, the game has a character creator.”
► Question: So the skins when equipped, will retain our created character? Or will it override the appearance - the face/body size, etc?
Grummz: “Yes. The shape of the character is dependent on the sliders, not the skin.”
► Question: For those that paid for the version [Max Kahuna/Kaiju Slayer/Ark Liege] that lets us create a custom NPC for the game. Can we be allowed to use that as a skin?
Grummz: “No? That was not planned. Also a little early to decide that. It depends on how we do it. So I won't rule it out either but, I'll say that's probably a ‘no’ right now.”
==== CC QUESTIONS & ANSWERS [THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021] ====
► Question: Have you decided how you're going to handle frame destruction and battlefield replacement?
Grummz: “The idea is you have a garage full of frames, as long as you have frames you can call them down to a base near your location, the closer the base is the faster the time, the farther away a base is the longer you have to wait for a frame.”
► Question: Is the strategic games AI and systems all in concept or is someone coding prototypes of it?
Grummz: “It's in concept form right now, and will be in game post Kickstarter fully implemented.”
► Question: Does every base have a player hub?
Grummz: “Yes, every base will have a main building/hub type area.”
► Question: Will there be NPC's in the bases who actively fight?
Grummz: “Yes there will be NPC's but they wont fight, you guys have to do all the fighting.”
► Question: Will there be fast travel?
Grummz: “There's no teleportation currently planned, but there are flying vehicles!”
► Question: While fighting kaiju, will there be lesser mobs as well?
Grummz: “Well, The kaiju don't come alone.”
► Question: Can we steal and use kaiju technologies?
Grummz: “The idea is to use their technologies in crafting recipes, so yes there will be use out of it.”
► Question: Will you be able to go through portals and hunt Kaiju?
Grummz: “There are concept of terraforming bubbles, not so much a melding but there is an area that is optimal to operate mechs and machinery and there’s a force field around every terraforming zone, and if you go beyond, you can but only for brief periods of time.”
► Question: Will the Kaiju be able to eat people as a killing animation?
Grummz: “Oh we have to do that!”
► Question: Will the kaiju still exist in the world until we defeat him?
Grummz: “Yes, he will keep going base after base until you defeat him.”
==== CC QUESTIONS & ANSWERS [SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021] ====
► Question: Do you have an idea of a palette direction?
Grummz: “I used to say, 'I would like the palette like Pacific Rim.' Where it's kind of like bright colors, primaries, things like this. That's the current idea. But if you see the way that Pacific Rim pulls it off, it's not garish(?). and I think it's different, it stands out from the typical Sci-Fi lighting you see on these other games. And by Pacific Rim, I mean the first one. I just think this is gorgeous. And I wanted to evoke a mecha movie. Pacific Rim is a big inspiration for Em-8ER.”
"PACIFIC RIM" MOVIE CLIP w/ COLOR PALETTE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr1oGuOwVDk
[Other influences mentioned above in "COOL EM-8ER FACTS"]
► Question: Is the building parts for player bases supposed to be spawned in as a drop from the hub above, like the drop-pods of Space Marines?
Grummz: “I don’t know how they’re going to drop in yet. But I think a fan did an animation a long time ago where the buildings were actually dropped in by drop ships, I think that would be cool; at least the building core, right? Then an idea for non-combat gameplay is you could either contribute resources to it or maybe there’s a mech like an SCV that you could use? I don’t know if that would be boring though...”
► Question: Any possibility of teasing the Light Omniframe model (in a whitebox state, no textures)?
Grummz: “No, I’m not happy with it yet.”
► Question: Hey Grummz, when will we *hear* from Bross?
Grummz: “Oh you want to hear from Bross not just see him pop up on the Dev Team? Because he’s usually at the Chief Chats. I think it would be good if we lay down some tracks and we have Bross talk about them. I think that would make a good Chief Chat. Okay, I’ll save that as an idea for the future.”
► Question: You’re not happy with the Light Omniframes, huh? I can see those being a bit difficult to properly design with a level of realism.
Grummz:
“No, well...Okay. Let’s talk about the Light Omniframe.
First of all, everyone likes the concept, right? What we’re struggling with is...when you do whitebox it’s mainly about proportions and profile. You want to make sure that if you were to turn the image black and white, just make it a silhouette, that it has a good read and that it evokes the feeling of the concept. Then you want to make sure your proportions are right. Our characters are very long-legged. Long-legged, specifically, in the thigh. One thing we’re struggling with is the size of the knee and the placement of the knee.
No, I like the knee in the concept. I’m trying to capture that in 3D without it looking dorky. You fake a lot of stuff when you draw, right? And when you translate it into 3D, it’s different. We’re definitely having some challenges with that. We’ll get through it. We want to be very careful.
Because when you do a blockout stage, that’s where you should spend the most time. When you do art, any art, you’d think all the details that you color in and the colors you choose would be the most important part. But it’s the basic shapes and light values that are. Getting that right and the proportions is more important to your drawing than anything else. It’s the foundation. So it’s really worth it to spend more time on the blockout stage before filling in all the blanks.”
► Question: The story is still quiet interesting. I enjoyed them quite a bit. Is there a place where I submit my list of corrections for the novel?
Grummz: “Thanks! I’m glad you’re enjoying the story. Don’t worry, once the draft is complete, we’ll go through and edit a lot of the things for correction. What you’re seeing is just the blockout of the story. We’ll have a call just like we did for the Vision Book, we’ll have a call for everyone to do that.”
► Question: How will weapons work? I remember my Firecat in Firefall with the grenade launcher doing some sweet damage.
Grummz: “First of all, we want to have a version of every Firefall weapon implemented in the game. We also want to include many other weapons. I think one weakness of Firefall was that it did not have enough weapons and it did not have enough options for your frame progression to really make progression feel satisfactory. The crafting was good but, it was very limited.”
► Question: Have you ever say what type of melee system you’re going for? Dynasty warrior style with charge attacks? Something stance-centric like more modern games, For Honor, etc?
Grummz:
“I’ve had conversations with Harry about this. As much as the mouse aiming combat systems in For Honor are very cool, they’re not very commercially successful, I’ll say that. I think while they’re cool, they’re not as approachable for some people. I don’t know what type of melee combat we’re going to have yet. We did talk about the weapons having some form of finesse and that includes all weapons, and I’m not quite sure where to take that.”
► Question: Finishers?
Grummz: “Yes, I want finishers and stagger states. I think they feel very satisfying.”
► Question: Power-fist and heavy flamer?
Grummz: “Power-fists we have. You can see it in the [Light Omniframe] concept. There are these big giant fists that yous strap on to the outside of your Light Omniframe.”
► Question: When will a new demo drop?
Grummz: “When we have Tsi-Hu to a point where we want to test it out. So no ETA on that yet.”
► Question: What kind of status effects, buffs, debuffs, etc. can we expect? Can my grenade launcher do DOTs and stuns?
Grummz:
“We talked about how crafting can add some secondary effects. I look a lot at say, how Destiny 2 does their weapon perk stuff. And I think that’s something that could be unlocked by the crafting system. Remember there’s a basic crafting system and an advanced crafting system. The basic crafting system is just I need x, y, and z resources so I go out and get them and, it doesn’t matter what quality level they are as long as I have xy and z resources I can craft it. Advanced crafting lets you do 2 things: it lets you tune the stats. So just like in old Firefall Beta you can nerf some stats with lower quality resources and boost the stats you want with higher quality resources.
The other thing you can do is you can craft perks for a weapon. If you want your grenade launcher to have a chance of a stun effect, a proc effect on stun nearby enemies, that’s an advanced module that could be crafted by an advanced crafter.
One issue the crafting had in Firefall was, I won’t say it was complex. But something you had to invest time into before you could actually craft something that felt satisfactory. And since everything in the game is crafted, that is a barrier for some people who just want to craft things and go. So that’s why we have 2 levels of crafting. I think splitting the crafting system into 2 is a good thing to have. In Firefall, crafting was hard to teach because there were a LOT of things you had to know.”
► Question: Will the “Knee Biters” be bullet sponges?
Grummz: “The ‘Knee Biters’ are not bullet sponges. They’re meant to pop easily. And if you don’t kill them... I’m not going to tell you what they do yet. WE have plans for that. We are not going to animate them in the traditional way because we want to draw a lot of them on-screen.
Right now they’re just represented by boxes and there’s not NEARLY enough of them. They’re also too bullet sponge-y. They’re meant to be very satisfying to just pop by the dozens.
One thing I didn’t like about the Aranhas in Firefall is it took a clip and a half from the assault rifle to kill one. Do you guys remember? I don’t think you could even one shot them with the shot gun.”
► Question: Render a lot of them on screen? Are we going with old school Doom Sprites?
Grummz: “No, they’re not going to be Doom Sprites. But there is a way to animate them. Ever play ‘Totally Accurate Battle Simulator’ and how they could render a lot of units? They use a technique called Vertex animation instead of using bones to animate it. We’ll be using a similar technique to animate these so, we’ll see how many we can get on screen.”
► Question: Is there a size comparison (re: “Knee Biters”)?
Grummz: “If you look at the boxes in the Encounter, that’s about their size, that’s about right.”
► Question: And we still shoot boxes?
Grummz: “Yes because Ricardo is moving to Spain [Grummz mentioned earlier in the stream that Ricardo is working on the “Knee Biters”]! And we have to build a simpler animation system.”
==== MORE KETCHUP SPILLED! [SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021] ====
► Grummz:
“You have seen the Tsi-Hu art pass where we modeled the Tsi-Hu, right? There's going to be another type of creature in the THMPR Encounter for the Playable Mockup, that is currently represented by boxes in the Encounter. These are what we affectionately call the "Knee Biters"; or in Firefall lingo, it would be our version of the ‘Aranhas’.
I don't know if I shared this but, we actually have this modeled. But I'm not going to share the model yet. I'm going to share the concept we did for the ‘Knee Biters’.”
Concept Art for "Knee Biters":
A NOTE FROM FAERYL: If you haven't checked it out yet, later in November, Grummz asked the community to come up with a nickname for these little pesky "Knee Biters". They already have a scientific name (has not been revealed yet) but, we were asked to come up with their nickname that Reaper Teams would call them. When you've finished catching up on this and the other October threads, please hop on over to this community-made thread to give your support for an existing nickname suggestion, or to add your own:
https://forums.em8er.com/threads/names-for-the-knee-biters.2155/
==== FUN STUFF ====
► FRAME OF SHAME!!!! (gets deployed when you run out of usable frames, lol)
► F.A.I.’s thanks raffle winner! ♦ Manyc#6827 ♦ [October 21, 2021]
► F.A.I.’s thanks raffle winner! ♦ Wayne#2173 ♦ [October 23, 2021]
==== QUOTES ====
► Knee Size & Placement for Light Omniframes. (OCT 23rd)
Ronyn (via text in Discord): ”My feedback was ‘not enough mass in the cheeks’ lol jk.”
Grummz: “Ronyn is like we’re only concerned with one mass and it happens to be, where the tail attaches.” [laughs]
