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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.
Why some spell effects in ashes does not fit the enviroment?
Snekkers
Member, Alpha Two
What is this post about?
It's been noticeable for a few shows now that the spell effects don't match the environment. At first I thought it was a question of how high the quality of the environment is, but in retrospect I see that it has many shortcomings, such as foliage. So why do some effects seem not to match? I found the answer to this in Narc's recently released video on mage skills.
So I would like to expand and describe this problem here based on this video for people who don't want to watch it for various reasons.
What seems to be the problem?
On the stream of the Ashes of Creation move to Unreal 5, Steven was moving around the winter biome, and even though the texture of the snow was of dubious quality, when he entered the cave, the game looked really good. Realistic lighting did a lot of work there. So it's safe to assume that Ashes uses the latest technology to bring real light to the world.
However, when we look at the effects of some skills, they seem very cartoony, and their lighting creates a strange unnatural contrast with the environment. Light doesn't actually disappear completely in an instant, which is why all hard transitions between light and shadow just look bad.
How to fix it?
Based on good quality sketches, Narc in the video showed a good visual rework of Ball Lightning's ability. In this example, we can see that there is no hard contrast between the effect and the world around. More pronounced interactions with the environment make the ability feel more in tune with the environment. The light emitted by the ability behaves naturally, which makes the difference between the darkest and brightest point smaller, which in turn makes the ability appear less shiny. In general, it seems to me that this example is the perfect scheme of what skills in Ashes of Creation should look like.
Video Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVb1FagPxQI
It's been noticeable for a few shows now that the spell effects don't match the environment. At first I thought it was a question of how high the quality of the environment is, but in retrospect I see that it has many shortcomings, such as foliage. So why do some effects seem not to match? I found the answer to this in Narc's recently released video on mage skills.
So I would like to expand and describe this problem here based on this video for people who don't want to watch it for various reasons.
What seems to be the problem?
On the stream of the Ashes of Creation move to Unreal 5, Steven was moving around the winter biome, and even though the texture of the snow was of dubious quality, when he entered the cave, the game looked really good. Realistic lighting did a lot of work there. So it's safe to assume that Ashes uses the latest technology to bring real light to the world.
However, when we look at the effects of some skills, they seem very cartoony, and their lighting creates a strange unnatural contrast with the environment. Light doesn't actually disappear completely in an instant, which is why all hard transitions between light and shadow just look bad.
How to fix it?
Based on good quality sketches, Narc in the video showed a good visual rework of Ball Lightning's ability. In this example, we can see that there is no hard contrast between the effect and the world around. More pronounced interactions with the environment make the ability feel more in tune with the environment. The light emitted by the ability behaves naturally, which makes the difference between the darkest and brightest point smaller, which in turn makes the ability appear less shiny. In general, it seems to me that this example is the perfect scheme of what skills in Ashes of Creation should look like.
Video Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVb1FagPxQI 8
Comments
you see, it's really indeterminate because there's no such thing as magic. In your video, that magical style fits the world, so it's fine there, but it wouldn't fit the style of the Ashes world. Keep in mind that magic is a loose term, because in real life bending the laws of physics would already be considered magic. No need for flashy effects. Ashes would be mature, so mature spell effects will look best in it.
I don't see what the issue is here.
that is true, i should have used the word authentic, effects should look like they fit the world, and that is the point of this post.
if we wanna go to how it would work in real life then every mage lightning spell would bounce instantly to him and shock him or would bounce to the ground cuz electric charge looks for the way with least resistance to the ground.
thats why i said some spells, cuz yea, i think chain lightning looks very good. But the example of spell that does not fit is ball lightning.
Spheres of light must be contained or the light would bleed out and be ineffective.
I think the lighting effects look bad on a 2k resolution monitor. I haven't tested a 1080p monitor. The game looks lush on my 4k Oled though. Its clear the renditions are done in 4k and downscaled. Not sure if I prefer this method or the other method of upscaling.
Light has no molecules and can be absorbed by mata. The ball in ball of lightning is the mata i presume. This is why it cannot walk like a limb and does require the ball.
1. thats why we have to keep the healthy balance of authentic and good in games. Its same with realistic games, they cant be too realistic cuz they will become annoying.
2. im not sure what you refer to with that one
3. both approaches to ball lighting effect are on the similar level of realism, they both require infinite charge point in the middle, but thats not the point, this ball creates cartoony border between spell and enviroment that looks odd in semi-realistic world.
if this ball wouldnt follow the ground it would be very annoying to use
It almost doesnt behave like tesla ball at all, and also ball still looks cartoony, tesla ball does not, he have tesla ball in real life and nobody questions it, but ball lighting does not look like it fits the world of ashes, and you might think that it does not matter, but for a lot of ppl it does
What are you basing your assessment on? We have giant yellow hammers, a golden whip and lava from a tank.
See, that is the point, not only ball lighting is a problem, fighter's hammer has similar problem
But like i said, in this post i would like to focus more on how light spreads cuz that's the problem in every spell that emits light in ashes.
And sorry but i have no clue how this thing "tesla ball" looks like, and when im trying to google it i get tesla cars kekw
Can't wait for the polish.
This looks complete and a physical reality for the game world. The lightning - not light, is contained because lightning flashes and does not linger.
This looks unfinished and unrealistic. The lightning would just flash and dissipate without a connection. Lightning has to connect to something to act certain ways. It would have the laser effect of being invisible 90% of the time and only active at a target which would equate to a smaller white ball of lightning.
Have to say i don't agree with you on this point. Bottom one looks better imo. Also bottom one looks more realistic in terms of magic.
i mean sure, but that lightning going to nowhere is just a visual juice, pretty sure you can just make sure every limb has its end point, what do you think about light (not lightning) on the second one? Remember that its made by editing the first one so its not perfect.
Being a full perfect sphere make things look more cartoonish. Things are never perfect and that is why it can be a bit overly distracting cause your eyes are very much drawn to it.
When i think ball of lightning it should be that, it is like a ball trapped in a sphere, art direction wise makes it feel more soft and not as intimating as lightning should be. Like when you are outside and you hear it, you see it moving in a unpredictable way. There can be a sense of fear. But feeling is dulled with a sphere around it, which to the human mind we associate those shapes as less dangerous.
I do not see how a Mage - who uses the highest forms of magic, can't conjure a ball of lightning in a ball. In my opinion the ball travels too slow but we're not debating the speed just the form.
When i am talking about shapes this is how it works for films, games, etc. You can't twist it into something else. It is the same way vader in star wars is very triangle-ish. I work in the industry, though this is just basic knowledge.