Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two Realms are now unlocked for Phase II testing!
For our initial launch, testing will begin on Friday, December 20, 2024, at 10 AM Pacific and continue uninterrupted until Monday, January 6, 2025, at 10 AM Pacific. After January 6th, we’ll transition to a schedule of five-day-per-week access for the remainder of Phase II.
You can download the game launcher here and we encourage you to join us on our for the most up to date testing news.
Comments
Considering both empires covered 100s-1000s of ethnicities. I don't suggest simply making all Asian peoples represented as orcs, Africans as Vaelune, Romans as Elves, Western Europeans as Kaelal. I feel it's insensitive (eurocentric). I would like for each race to have many ethnicities within themselves, but cultural and architectural design to be less varied and encompassing of all the Roman empire.
Dammit, I'll have that song stuck in my head for weeks, now...
- the tusks are puny,
- There is almost no underbite which is a crucial historical orc feature.
- The brow should be deepened for a more Neanderthal influence
- the is important l, the nose is small, and scrunched up into his eyes which is part of the reason everyone thinks his eyes look so strange and create a large awkward gap between his nose and upper lip. Additionally, if you take influence from dungeons and dragons, the orcs are historically porcine creatures. So possibly a slightly upturned nose. Though In other versions they came from eleven ancestors which would account for the pointed ears.
- For a resting face, his eyes are strangely squinted.
- the head has a humorous conical shape. I think either dulling the pointed tip of the scalp down, enlarging the top of the forehead, or fixing his unfortunate hair line\thickness could fix this head shape.
- The ears are rotated back too far, giving them a bat-like appearance. I think the ears need to be larger and more distinguished. Heck, the vex ears are basically wings.
- this is I think the biggest one that has been pointed out a bunch already, it has lots of facial hair, but no body hair. I can see the reptilian influence with the scaled skin and snake eyes, I think these conflict. You already have a race to represent the cross between hairy mammals and scaled reptiles. What I would like to see out of the ren kai personally is somewhat of a Sasquatch. Massive hairy brutes. Not quite as thick or healthy of hair as the dwarves, but hairy nonetheless. Again. Possibly porcine in influence.
I think a lot of these might just be accounted for in character creation sliders, in which case, fantastic job. I know this is only an iteration but you asked for feedback. Keep up the good work
That is my main issue with the model. The tusks are so small they look almost out of place. I'm not saying they have to be ginormous, but they should look sturdy. Those look a little frail and like they might break in combat. They are just seem out of place given how robust the model is.
I don't understand what the "scales" are. Are they actually scales or are they a tattoo? Tattoos or ceremonial body markings would be cool, but I'm not sure how I feel about scaly orcs.
Other than that, I think the model looks great. I think the team did a great job.
I would like to see lots of hair and facial hair options for the Ren'Kai. Other people have asked for body hair, and they make good points, but I am neutral in my opinion of it. I think that could best be handled with slider.
That confused me too. I couldn't tell if they were scales or some faint tattoo that was hard to make out. If they were scales, it would be weird that they were only in specific places, but if it's a tattoo I would hope it would be easier to see.
I also thought that it might have been an attempt to represent faint body hair, but if so, it didn't work.
Pug noses are generally considered 'cute', and that word should have nothing to do with these guys.
Formerly T-Elf
As far as the eyes? I'm okay with the vertical slits. I'd like to see the option to color the whites of the eyes, with this race, though; Something this large and (potentially) monstrous will have some large peepers to look into, and could fit well, with the race's overall visual appearance.
Is there anything you dislike about the art direction for this race, and why?
I really don't like the nose, I think having several options is the go as some people in here do like them, Voldemort like slits, I think that would be particularly badass. Or short stunted noses like Azog the white orc from The Hobbit. I'd like many skin colour options, eye options, more tusk options, beard styles almost as many as the Dunir. I feel the face and eyes could get some iterations, maybe the whole head bar the ears. But we've only seen a stiff expression, but I can easily see that face twisting into anger, to signs of respect. The Dunir I think have been nailed, they look intelligent, composed, waiting to act from the experience their face shows. I feel the Ren'Kai face close up, wasn't as bang on in comparison but its still only our first look at a model, seeing it action might be different.
What are your thoughts on what was shown during the livestream for the Ren’Kai race?
I was very happy, they were so much of what I wanted from them, especially for a first 3d model reveal. I was stoked. I wanted to see more of course haha, armour sets, them moving, in game stuff but all in time. Loved the livestream.
Are there any specific Character Creator customizations you would like to see for the Ren'Kai race?
Dragon influenced tattoos, beard & hair styles inspired from these creatures of immense physical power and presence, that are so heavily featured in their sigil. Honor, Power & Tranquility are their creed, something to showcase these. A jade tea set as an accessory, family tattoos or hair styles/colours to show their honor. Things that contrast their brute strength as well as symbols of it. I'd like to see stoic face expressions, aggressive face options, in the initial models we saw some had massive neck/shoulder muscles, I think options and sliders to customise their muscles would be great too, height as well within a set range so they are still tall Ren'Kai. EDIT - Underbite options as posted by others, I really like that idea. Body as a slider, not everyone will want that, some will love it.
For non character creator customisation options I hope they will feature in their armour as well, perhaps the horns of a different types of dragons attached to the sides of their helmets or one side of their shoulders, the elder dragon horns being the ultimate. Have a Shishi-odoshi (deer scarer) in their freehold gardens, then mounted on spikes along a section of the outside walls are trophies from their greatest enemies and hardest battles, a warning to all would be raiders and thieves.
That said, I think the face here is in a strange between-place where it doesn't want to look too human but doesn't really know how to look different. I think larger tusks and a heavier, stronger jaw would help balance out this face, and I definitely hope for different nose options as well. At present, the tusks look like they're just clipping out of the bottom lip. I think this would help bring them in line with how Steven presented them during the Livestream, emphasizing their imposing physical figure.
Other options I'd like to see would be accessories of course: jewelry, piercings, tattoos, I feel like the Ren'kai would really want to emphasize their forms and increase their physical presence. Options for more body hair and facial hair would be a very strong preference, and again, different nose/jaw options. A variety of hair styles from different inspirations- European, African, Asiatic- a diversity of options could give players the freedom to bring some wow-factor to their character design.
I'm very excited to see how the Ren'kai develop, thank you devs for listening to our feedback!
the model pictures look abit friendly ?
Why do you bring real life identity politics to a fantasy game? You guys are nuts
Is there anything you dislike about the art direction for this race, and why? I feel the face is a little weird for my taste, the nose to mouth region. But if I have an overall customization of the aspect I would be good with it.
What are your thoughts on what was shown during the livestream for the Ren’Kai race? I think having a dragon background and theme to the race is really cool. Again even more customization.
Are there any specific Character Creator customization's you would like to see for the Ren'Kai race? Scaling features enhanced, webbed fingers, larger teeth, webbed toes, hair, skin color, the facial features from nose to mouth.
1) know your planing to have a robust character creator. I hope we can adjust the face. ie the jaw size etc
2) I know Steven talked about them as these large hulking bruts. But, with as many classes as your gonna have in AoC. I hope we are not locked to the large hulking idea. While I like that and it would be great for warrior types it always seems odd to me to have big hulking types when it comes to the rogue or more nimble classes. While they could still be strong I hope we get the option to trim them down for those types of classes.
Over all I like the race and I think it's a great direction. I just hope they are not locked in so they are all hulking types.
We updated the images for this thread. We consolidated the full body front and back images into a single image and also removed the beard so you can see the full Ren'kai male's face.
Just a heads up! ^_^
Given some time to look this over, though, I'm a bit uncomfortable with the silly cross-eyed look of the face. I think it's mostly the nose. It's just too high and small. The noses on the older concept art looked better.
You still had the long distance from the mouth to the nose, but it wasn't the cute little button nose we have in the newer photo. I also think the jaw is too wide, the narrower jaw in the older concept was better.
I like the new ears better, and I like the red eyes and slitted pupils. Otherwise, overall, as far as the face goes, the previous concept art was more appealing to me.
EDIT: Another thing that occurred to me that is also contributing to the "doofusness" of the face; the exaggerated chin. The chin looks large and swollen. Combine that with the wide jaw sticking out the sides with huge mandibles, and the whole lower part of the head looks bloated. Again, I prefer the older concept art.
Now, if we had sliders that could shrink those features to be closer to the original concept art, I'd be very happy. I wouldn't mind the option to look like a meathead, as long as it wasn't mandatory.