Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
What do you like about the current art direction of this race?
I appreciate that they are bestial. I feel that many people will turn to the Tulnar for their inherently animalistic nature. I don't want humans with animal ears/tail to be the mainstay, nor do I want them to be overly cutesy. Leaning into the bestial sides of the race does lend to its uniquness.
Is there anything you dislike about the art direction for this race, and why?
Considering that this race is a hodgepodge of minor races that didn't flee Verra I believe that they look too similar. What I mean by this is they all have the large, gruff, and fierce appearance. The Tulnar are a melting pot of evolution, which means that the variety among its people should be enourmous.
A smaller problem I have with the concepts is the restriction to Ape, Lion, and Reptile. I would just like more variety to species than this.
What are your thoughts on what was shown during the livestream for the Tulnar concept?
I'm thankful to receive any information regarding the Tulnar. The concept art makes me hopeful that Intrepid will push the boundaries of what can be done with anthropomorphic characters. I realise that the more customisation they make for the Tulnar will increase work, which will inevitably extend production time, but Intrepid has done an excellent job of maintaining and exceeding expectations. I'm sure they'll do their best, and I'm thankful for that.
Are there any specific Character Creator customizations you would like to see for the Tulnar race?
This is going to be the largest section because I will try my best to offer solutions to the complaints I've presented so far.
Firstly, allow the bestial extreme of the race be dramaticly and distinctly animalistic. This is the animal race, let people play their animals.
Secondly, allow a large variety of races. There are so many interesting species that don't get explored in fantasy. Yes we have lions, wolves, great apes, and reptiles, but I would like to be able to play with a wide variety of species. Rodents like rabbits, mice, rats, dormice, shrew, moles, squirrels, sugargliders, and lemurs (to name just a few) offer an incredible variety of ear shapes, tail shapes, body structures, and unique species specific characteristics (The spectacled dormouse's "spectacles", a rabbit's ears, lemur's ringed tails). Reptiles also have a huge variety from the thin-skinned skink, to the imposing komodo dragon.
This all lends itself to my third point, the Tulnar should not only have a large, imposing body structure. Evolution allows many different strategies for survival. What has been shown (large, tough, fierce) is a valid strategy as it invokes the power of intimidation. However, other body structures offer different evolutionary benefits. A small, lithe, and flexible frame may be best suited for escaping danger and swipping food from stronger predators (Note I did not say a cute frame). A longer, thinner frame might mimic the structure of snakes or eels and allow better motion through water. Digitigrade legs versus humanoid legs and the evolutionary picture they paint. Tails and their length, thickness, and degree of manouverability and expression should all be part of customising your character and their personality. I strongly believe that variety and customisability are going to be the greatest draws of the Tulnar race, and I would like to have as much flexibility and control as possible.
To the Intrepid team: Thank you for your hard work. Keep it up, because I and the community truely do appreciate it.
The three main hereditary trees are very interesting and clearly identifiable.
Is there anything you dislike about the art direction for this race, and why?
My one concern is whether horns are feature in all of the variations we'll be able to craft in the character creator. Can they be removed?
With the new Ren'Kai iteration I am confident the maxed out Simian won't look like an orc, but for now it did look like like the previous Ren'Kai 3D render.
What are your thoughts on what was shown during the livestream for the Tulnar concept?
I loved the vibe of the race and the bestial look to them. I like that they don't necessarily look friendly too.
Are there any specific Character Creator customizations you would like to see for the Tulnar race?
Fur colors and highlights.
Option between Horns and no Horns.
Multiple types of horns.
Options to have backward knees and types of tails being chosen separately from the mixing of the 3 hereditary trees.
I believe they've mentioned there's a specific Elven subrace that has long lived in the Underrealm, probably Drow-like and possibly an expansion or base enemy faction, but perhaps there will be nuance in a storyline between aggressive enemy Under-Elves and friendly Under-Elves.
Sadly that's not happening, they've mentioned the Sladeborn as what happened to the Avian folks, they didn't choose the Underrealm and got corrupted. Tho tbh I'd love an Underrealm Kakapo people.
I suppose you could make a High Elf, up the Palour, and RP an abusive Mayor who drains their subjects dry economically; that'd get you to a classic Vampire in theme.
As far as character customization goes, i'd like to be able to make the heads longer, like a lizard, and give them an impressive tail. The more freedom you can give us, the better.
The reptile Tulnar on the right looks somewhat dragon-esque, I think that is going in the right direction.
If you look the skin on their face looks too loose for a reptile, usually the skin on many reptiles is pretty tight on their skull, almost stretched across it, giving them a very distinctive chiselled look.
I really like this about reptiles, and I'm missing that here quite a bit.
Their face seems overly flat for a reptile. A more dragon-like snout would be pretty badass to have. If there is a slider to extend the snout that would be great too.
It be a loss to only have mammalian snouts, but no reptile ones.
The reptile teeth look too similar to the mammalian teeth.
If their teeth were to be more crocodilian like, that would make them a lot more intimidating, and help to differentiate them more from other available options and races.
Overall pretty sexy concept art.
Are there any specific Character Creator customizations you would like to see for the Tulnar race?
Since the other 2 types of Tulnar seem to have a form of piercing, can you have piercings as Reptile Tulnar? Pierced Horns or Nose maybe?
I completely agree, their face does seem extremely flat for what the concept is showing, But besides that I don't have any complaints, they all look terrific. I do know that the earlier concepts of the Tulnar showed more of an elongated snout on the lizard/dragon side of the race, I'm hoping that they'll still be along that path, possibly with different facial structure choices as well as body size/type options. Keep up the good work AoC!
-Lord Xuatep
I like that we get to see a good variety of options for the different traits. It's also very good to have something that is drastically different from the other races. With the Character Creator showcase in mind, we could see interesting blend features and sliders. I can only imagine the possibilities on the different traits of the Tulnars.
Are there any specific Character Creator customizations you would like to see for the Tulnar race?
Promote variety by choosing which blend you want. Add sliders for each features to see how pronounce they are on the body (like the beard slider). Have a selection of base traits like mouth/nose/eyes/ears/horns/etc. for a more manual creation.
It would be interesting to allow a human-like or elf-like blend into the mix. Allow maybe something like Py'rai where you can have a nose and a mouth but have the horns and beard. Such features are more relatable as the players are humans (which is why all the other races are more human-like, even the orcs have much more human-like nose). However, it's good to have the beast options, I just think more variety is always better.
I like the direction of the design, all tree representations look decent to play, however I can't help myself and I have to ask, aren't you afraid that due to the uniqueness of customization, the Tulnar will most likely become n.1 played race in the game? How do you approach this possible issue to force people to diversify more? Am I hearing racial abilities?
I would say who cares if tulnar become most popular... and i tend to play elves or humans because i find it more immersive personally to be human like.
Asking a question such as, how do you force players into certain roles... my hoped for answer is you dont. Let people do what they want.
Personally I'm hoping for something like a subterranean Chaco Canyon Urbanization with construction largely from stone building up into the cavern walls and ceilings. Large areas around fires for communal gatherings, dances (I'm expecting some kind of Necromancy Rave aesthetics, biological ornamentation with bone, tooth, claw, and the bioluminescent material of the underrealm), and feasts.
Their appearance looks very good though. Keep it up!
I want to see intricate black metal and obsidian glass structures with bioluminescence woven through it.
I hope the Tulnar have good racials for my class 😍
I am pretty sure the lore says they are decedents from 4 main races who moved underground to survive. Possible you may be able to start with one of the main races then slider the animal into them from there. This makes the most sense to me. Not sure if that would be more or less work for the team, But I would love to start off as a gorgeous empyrean female then let the serpent features and worship of the dark religion change her into a sultry agent of evil....
The concepts are pretty awesome. I'm very excited to see what the rest of the physical shape/anatomy looks like. I really like how all three concepts seem to have a "noble" characteristic to it. Not in terms of social status but instead the adjective/behavior related term. I also like how different they all seem.
Is there anything you dislike about the art direction for this race, and why?
Not so far! If you were to push me to comment, I would say that the eye/brow of all three is very similar even though the rest of the art is very different there is a lot of commonality here. I imagine it's intentional and not a gripe at all.
What are your thoughts on what was shown during the livestream for the Tulnar concept?
Based on the bit of lore drop I really like the sheer scale of variety that might be possible.
Are there any specific Character Creator customizations you would like to see for the Tulnar race?
A big thing for me is posture. As an animalistic oriented race, I can imagine that posture will be somewhat iconic towards the types of animals that the concept is drawn from. Still, within that realm, forward head posture, roll of shoulders, and the lack of ability to shift lordotic curve/pelvic tilt have kept me from playing otherwise amazing races in the past. So I would really love to see some ability to adjust these settings.