54 replies to this topic

[Tina Benoit]

Hello MechWarriors,

In Dev Vlog #14, we will be discussing the new Forest Colony with PGI's Art Director, Dennis De Koning!

We made this thread here for the community to ask any questions they would like for Dennis to answer, then we'll pick out a few and have him answer/discuss them in the next Dev Vlog!

(Unfortunately you only have 2 days to ask questions as we will be recording it this Friday afternoon)

Note: Your questions can be anything art related!

[Ascaloth]

Question:
Why the new dynamic weapon hardpoints on Inner Sphere 'mechs doesn't have any camouflage and looks so close to "unpainted" Clan omnipods?

[Felio]

Can you tell us any more about what exactly falls under the Art department, Tina? Concept art? Making the actual textures? Geometry? Stuff for the mech packs on the website?

[Kodiak Jorgensson]

I am curious as to what you're process is on painting camo patterns onto a mech chassis.

[Scurro]

Why so much haziness and lack of colors in maps? The changes however on the new maps are great.

[VanguardMk1]

ETA on camo support on all mechs that haven't gotten the standard camo's yet?
Perhaps his opinion about camo resolutions standardization (all resolutions for all mechs)?
ETA on the moon in River City being put back in but behind the weather effects so it doesn't look off?

Edit: Decals? Is there an ETA for that or has it been put on the backburner?

Edited by VanguardMk1, 06 August 2015 - 11:42 AM.

[Felio]

Scurro, on 06 August 2015 - 11:29 AM, said:

Why so much haziness and lack of colors in maps? The changes however on the new maps are great.

I can answer this one. The textures don't actually look like that. A graphics filter has been applied to the map. They're moving away from it as they make new maps and recreate old ones.

Question: What sorts of limitations have you had to put on your art for it to be usable in the game? Or can you pretty much create whatever you want to imagine?

Question: When creating mechs, there is a lot of art to draw from that is created by other artists, and some of it is very different even for the same mech. How do you decide which designs should most influence your work?

[Tina Benoit]

Felio, on 06 August 2015 - 11:25 AM, said:

Can you tell us any more about what exactly falls under the Art department, Tina? Concept art? Making the actual textures? Geometry? Stuff for the mech packs on the website?

All the things you've listed counts!
Except the title and badges or the decisions for what goes into the Mech packs, however we will also have Matt Newman in the Dev Vlog who will be able to answer those parts.

[CyclonerM]

Big question #1: Can you describe the philosophy behind Inner Sphere and Clan cockpits? I see the difference you wanted to achieve, however, at times i feel the two styles should be reversed: IS 'Mechs have usually cockpits described as big, open and roomy (see classic Battlemaster ..), some even having toilets, while Clan cockpits are described as cramped and spartan, reflecting their utilitaristic philosophy. In many cases in game, they feel the opposite imho.

Big question #2: Do you think that the MWO art style when it comes to 'Mech textures could be improved? For example, in 3050 many of the 'Mechs fielded by the Successor States (and in some cases by the Clans too, especially 2nd line battlemechs) are centuries-old, worn by countless battles and years of scrap-searching and less than ideal repairs and refits. Do you think anything could be done to give more of this feeling? I think this "old tech" feeling is very important for Battletech, even is by 3050 shiny new and recovered 'Mechs and technologies start hitting the field.

Big question #3 The Inner Sphere has more than a thousand of inhabitated worlds. Are there plans in the future for more Terra-like maps (or at least, less alien/inhospitable/marginally hospitable environments)? Also, a very cool map addition would be a full city map like the one featured in the MechWarrior 5 trailer: wide, long, straight streets and LOT of buildings for cover, with big open areas as well and elevated positions for snipers.. And a governement building in the center of it.



Bonus question (if you have a spare 10 seconds in the Vlog ): Russ mentioned that he wants to update the pilot model, a very welcome idea. Any chance we get a model dressed with an old classic MechWarrior attire, AKA combat boots, shorts and cooling vest? Maybe a different model for Clan and IS too, as the Clans have more advanced cooling suits.

Thank you!

Edited by CyclonerM, 06 August 2015 - 12:12 PM.

[Scurro]

Why was my question removed? I kept it clean and professional. I was asking if there were any artistic reasons for so much haze and lack of colors in most maps.

[aniviron]

Is there any chance of getting a standardized pack of high-resolution mech textures? As of our last information, they varied from 512 to 2048 and seemed to be applied with little standardization, between camo or chassis. I'd love to see a 2k or even 4k mech texture pack for those who can run the highest settings.

[MavRCK]

Q: As a prior comp player, I wonder what consideration (if any - intentional or not) was made to create firing lanes when designing or redesigning a map.

The remake of River City is, imo, rather cluttered and feels like objects were placed to obscure prior known firing lines in the old map without considering the implications of the lack of firing lines. Hence, the new River City, imo, feels cramped and lacking multiple clear areas worth fighting over to establish firing lines and control over a map.

I actually thought the old River city was a brilliant design and simply needed an general enlargement of area rather than a redesign and obscurification of the citadel areas.

Mav

[Ascaloth]

Scurro, on 06 August 2015 - 12:09 PM, said:

Why was my question removed? I kept it clean and professional. I was asking if there were any artistic reasons for so much haze and lack of colors in most maps.

Because it was already answered by Felio above

[Tina Benoit]

Scurro, on 06 August 2015 - 12:09 PM, said:

Why was my question removed? I kept it clean and professional. I was asking if there were any artistic reasons for so much haze and lack of colors in most maps.

Yes it was fine, sorry about that! Matt accidentally miss-clicked outside the window while playing a match.

[Tarogato]

Ascaloth, on 06 August 2015 - 12:20 PM, said:

Because it was already answered by Felio above

Not really. The question remains: Why was Forest Colony changed from a clear and comparatively vibrant atmosphere to a hazy blue ... miasma? Similarly, River City also had that smoggy brown ... "urrghh" to it. Tourmaline has this moody yellow tint to it, Caustic makes everything look ... well... caustic. Why were these decisions made at the time instead of introducing some of the lively and vibrant maps that we're only finally starting to see today after several whole years? I'm curious about the design decisions that led to that pervasive brown atmosphere the game has been known for.

Edited by Tarogato, 06 August 2015 - 12:58 PM.

[Scurro]

Ascaloth, on 06 August 2015 - 12:20 PM, said:

Because it was already answered by Felio above

Big difference between why it was chosen to be like this, and why it is rendered like this. I am asking for the artistic reasons behind choosing the filters and haze.

[Varhait]

Tina Benoit, on 06 August 2015 - 10:56 AM, said:

Note: Your questions can be anything art related!

If you say so...
I wil remind your words in this topic

Tina Benoit, on 13 April 2015 - 03:14 PM, said:

Hello!

Good news, we're going to be releasing these old versions of the Resistance Badges, on top of letting you keep the new ones you currently have.

We don't have an exact ETA on this yet but we'll try to release them to eligible Resistance owners in the next patch.

Spoiler

source

Almost 5 months passed. And where are they? Or, at least, some new info?

[signal]

As a guy who is really into concept art, I have to ask, at this point you mist have thousands of mockups, concepts and sketches. Do you guys have a ballpark figure on how many files you have saved over the years? And how do you archive all of that? Also, how do you sustain a creatove enviroment during the most tough challenges your tea gets to work on?

[Tennex]

Ascaloth, on 06 August 2015 - 11:03 AM, said:

Question:
Why the new dynamic weapon hardpoints on Inner Sphere 'mechs doesn't have any camouflage and looks so close to "unpainted" Clan omnipods?

The barrles and stuff have almost always been unpainted and are okay if they are.. But the entire arm have been unpainted when they go back to redo them sometimes

Edited by Tennex, 06 August 2015 - 02:49 PM.

[Jin Ma]

Clan Wave I mechs all have this crisp high resolution textures. that make it look good with every skin.

Any plans to standardize mech textures to that level in the future?

Right now it seems very inconsistent which mechs have good textures and which dont