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Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest news on Alpha Two.
Check out general Announcements here to see the latest news on Ashes of Creation & Intrepid Studios.
To get the quickest updates regarding Alpha Two, connect your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Skybox reworked 3 times??!?!?!!?
PherPhur
Member
I'm hearing this issue brought up as though Intrepid is wasting time on non critical components before the release of A2.
I just wanted to throw out some dev insight to anyone who may happen to not know why this is hardly of any concern.
It's odd to me that people wouldn't have come to this conclusion quickly by themselves, but in a studio not everyone knows how to do everything, and many things either can't be made until something else is or has a delay on development because of unfinished design.
Additionally, the visual component of AoC has been harshly criticized for many years now, actually I'd say it's probably got the most widespread criticism of any aspect of the game, and on some level rightfully so, the spell FX looked absolutely horrendous(and this is coming from someone who is incredibly tolerant of artistic liberties).
So considering it's apparent that people are willing to harshly criticize a game that wouldn't even be considered alpha by todays standards because it's so unfinished, and especially because of the current climate of consumers(even moreso MMORPG gamers), it's also apparent that people are willing to drop AoC like a bad habit before they even get their hands on it if things aren't in a really great state visually.
Most dedicated followers don't care a bunch about alpha graphical polish considering there are much more critical issues to hammer out, but the fact is, that's how the wider community feels. And MMOs require people, lots of people, not just for the gameplay itself, but for future development costs. So it's what must be done and in a sense, it to is critical.
I just wanted to throw out some dev insight to anyone who may happen to not know why this is hardly of any concern.
It's odd to me that people wouldn't have come to this conclusion quickly by themselves, but in a studio not everyone knows how to do everything, and many things either can't be made until something else is or has a delay on development because of unfinished design.
Additionally, the visual component of AoC has been harshly criticized for many years now, actually I'd say it's probably got the most widespread criticism of any aspect of the game, and on some level rightfully so, the spell FX looked absolutely horrendous(and this is coming from someone who is incredibly tolerant of artistic liberties).
So considering it's apparent that people are willing to harshly criticize a game that wouldn't even be considered alpha by todays standards because it's so unfinished, and especially because of the current climate of consumers(even moreso MMORPG gamers), it's also apparent that people are willing to drop AoC like a bad habit before they even get their hands on it if things aren't in a really great state visually.
Most dedicated followers don't care a bunch about alpha graphical polish considering there are much more critical issues to hammer out, but the fact is, that's how the wider community feels. And MMOs require people, lots of people, not just for the gameplay itself, but for future development costs. So it's what must be done and in a sense, it to is critical.
1
Comments
― Plato
It doesn't sound like they oppose the longer dev time at all. The impression I got is that they are acknowledging that the visuals have bothered a large *enough* portion of people interested in the game (i.e. the non hardcore AoC community) but that it's probably warranted for the long term goals of the game (capturing the largest possible audience without compromising principles?).
His main line that they are not opposed themselves: "I just wanted to throw out some dev insight to anyone who may happen to not know why this is hardly of any concern."
I think the subject is an /s to draw attention to people making a mountain out of a molehill.
All in all, the people posting on the forums here are in majority the people that want Intrepid to take their time, so I suppose this post isn't going to sway the kind of people they'd want it to.
Yea, I'm definitely in the camp of people wanting them to take their time. There's about a million variables to consider, but if you look closely enough at this vision that Steven has, almost the exact same vision Steven had from the start, you'll see something almost no one talks about, what the game is going to look like when it's done.
I mean what it's going to look like with a bunch of people in it. I don't think people understand, if this game is made the way that Steven says it is, what that's even going to mean. I think people think they know what that's going to look like, but I don't think they really have any idea. It's going to blow peoples mind. If this game didn't have very serious potential to be BY FAR the best MMORPG ever made, I very likely wouldn't care.
But why rush something like that, especially considering the shit MMORPG players have had to put up with for countless years now?
And I know this isn't the best place to voice this topic, but to be honest.. Youtube comments are a void, AoC reddit is hell, and Discord is too transient.
Tell me more about how developers have no unintended downtime. Maybe in a publicly traded studio where tasks have a known time to completion(because it's forced, ready or not), but Intrepid doesn't live in clown world.
In the real world of game development, where masterpieces are made, in development of one of the most ambitious MMORPG to date, time to completion varies and even small variations cause unintended downtime for particular devs and/or artists.
In that downtime you move to less critical components. Also, who do you want working on the skybox, Tom the artist who's been making them for 20 years or Shawn, the artist who knows how to make them, but has only ever done a couple before.
At studios where every point on the almighty stocks chart is their God and they're making a one and done single player RPG 120$ box cost cashgrab, I doubt they care. But when you're trying to make a high risk game like an MMORPG where tens of thousands of people are staring at that skybox for hopefully numerous years minimum and still enjoying it, those things are pretty important.
The skybox rotating will help the Constellations to come in-line with their future gameplay mechanics.
In general if people are upset about them working on the skybox, need to realize it's supposed to be more than just a visual aspect, and does have gameplay implications. While also not affecting other aspects of the game.
Not seeing a Dünir in-game in the 3 years between Alpha 1 and ALpha 2 is more disconcerting.