Spent a day and designed these.

Gobln

I want to preface this post with some sentiment my friends and I have had about Ashes of Creation.

We love the idea of a game that is so structured around community. But my friends and I thought that the game was missing an art direction that is less "Two Steps from Hell: The Game".

You may not be of that opinion, but I've shared this game with a lot of people, and a similar comment is always made.

I looked into the planned races for the game to see if the roadmap was similar to the current showcases, and I concluded it was.

I decided that I would look into designing some races, some based on the current races that are planned for release, and some others that might flesh out the high-fantasy theme.

I made these designs.

The idea was to create the archetypal race types that fit a world that is based around community interaction, adventuring, and race identity.

Because we are adventurers in the game, I decided to use a cloak/cape motif in all the designs.
The more order oriented the race was, the more symmetrical each design for the cloaks would be - and the more asymmetrical it would be for chaotic races.

I take slight inspiration from the high-fantasy setting Warhammer, a setting that has done race divide, and culture aesthetic markers so incredibly well.

I also wanted to incorporate races might appeal to different types of players, from mischievous and evil, to honorable and proud - and have this read as such aesthetically.

The simple and slightly exaggerated shapes are supposed help contrast other races to make sure that race identity is a heavy choice. That choice should impact how you experience the game, especially in comparison to another players choice.

I believe that this would have a pretty great impact on the world, and result in more passionate player motivations.

I also decided to include monstrous type races, not only because I have a soft spot myself for them - but because I appreciate the contrast this provides for players.

I'll drop my portfolio, and twitter, so you can understand a bit of what I do, and where these thoughts are coming from.

It's probably best if you open the image in another tab.


I would also like to hear some opinions from the people that are invested in this game.

I don't know what to expect - possibly people telling me to get the hell out - I don't want to offend anyone, I just really would like to help.

I just want AoC to be a success.

Final thing I'll say, is if you think I should continue this exploration, let me know, I could actually do that.

Thanks for hearing me out!

Tacualeon

I'm not into green people or races in general, but I really liked your aesthetic choices and style.

Gobln

The idea for "green races" is something akin to - if you don't like that, you'll atleast have the ability to align yourself so you kill which you don't like. For example, if we look at either WoW or Warhammer, there is a pride that comes with being a player on the opposite side of an archetype.

Tacualeon

I understand the idea but it does not compute for me.

McMackMuck

I like the different proportions of each of the races, it does give them each a recognizable silhouette. I think I saw that hit boxes are standardized, which doesn't matter for tab targeting, but is a bit annoying for action targeting. I understand the logic of not wanting to give smaller races an advantage though. If the only action targeting in the hybrid system ends up being ground reticule then it won't be so bad.

ashleyyn

I feel that the AOC staff in the forum will feel ignorant of better ideas. There are many excellent ideas in the forum, and there are also many bad aspects of AOC that need to work harder to improve in order to get more changes and progress, but The feedback in the forum I saw that the AOC staff in the forum chose to ignore better ideas instead of choosing to change or more ideas. Shouldn't the future of the game adopt better ideas to achieve richer performance of the game?

Riessene

I really like those designs!! They look a bit more stylised than what the game offers but I think you did a great job with them! Very easily readable silhouettes even if you put each of them in full armor. I wonder what would be your take on tulnar?

HowlingWolf80

You got talent. I really like the little undead thing.

Gobln

@Riessene I would love to volunteer my time. But have a feeling these concerns won't be payed much attention. It's a difficult situation, because I have nearly 5 projects I am juggling on my own.

To put together a maximum effort pitch, where I create identities for each of these races by designing cultural aesthetics, shape motifs and color palettes etc, all for a small chance of it to be looked at and most likely ignored completely is a rough prospect for me.

I would do that, if a developer from Intrepid responded with serious interest in my thoughts I've already shared. Regardless, changes like what I'm suggesting is probably already out of the question.

Tyranthraxus

You know, we have yet to see the 'orc' race that will be in AoC. One of the only things we know about them is that they will be the shortest of the player-races - even more so than the dwarves!

Beyond that, the field seems largely open, for 'green people'.

WoodOx

I hope they aren't, I'm not into goblin-eque characters as I prefer my orcs lean mean and slightly larger than humans

Tyranthraxus

woodox wrote: »

I hope they aren't, I'm not into goblin-eque characters as I prefer my orcs lean mean and slightly larger than humans

Yours truly just tried to find this on the wiki - but cannot! Not sure where I perhaps *thought* to have read this, so I could be wrong! The concept art makes them look about human-height.