Maintenance for the week of March 25:
• [COMPLETE] ESO Store and Account System for maintenance – March 28, 9:00AM EDT (13:00 UTC) - 12:00PM EDT (16:00 UTC)

ESO Art Team Reddit AMA - 7/30/14 (today) @ 4:00PM EDT

ZOS_GinaBruno
ZOS_GinaBruno
Community Manager
Hi everyone!

We'll be hosting an AMA on Reddit this afternoon with some of ESO's Art Leads and Directors. We'll be answering questions about animations, environments, figures, and anything art-related to ESO or the gaming industry.

The AMA will begin at 4:00PM EDT, and we'll be sure to post a link as soon as it starts.

ojvw7xd8li5t.jpg
Gina Bruno
Senior Community Manager
Dev Tracker | Service Alerts | ESO Twitter | My Twitter
Staff Post
  • ZOS_GinaBruno
    ZOS_GinaBruno
    Community Manager
    Here's the link where you can start asking questions. Enjoy!

    http://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/2c678s/welcome_to_the_eso_art_team_ama/
    Gina Bruno
    Senior Community Manager
    Dev Tracker | Service Alerts | ESO Twitter | My Twitter
    Staff Post
  • ers101284b14_ESO
    ers101284b14_ESO
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭
    So we can't ask on here? :(
    I don't wanna sign up for reddit so I'm gonna ask it here and on Facebook and maybe you can just send it on over to them.

    Q: First off I love the art. That being said do you have plans to make the armors look less painted on? The spots of chainmail don't look nearly as good as they could. Also when is the updated facial animations coming?
    Edited by ers101284b14_ESO on July 30, 2014 8:11PM
  • ShiftControl
    ShiftControl
    ✭✭
    Unfortunately I do not use Facebook either redit.
    So I would love to ask you guys why do we fight so many Harvester mini bosses? There is no budget to create different mobs?
    Its just to boring, same mechanics maybe one stronger then an other but thats about it, its simple boring.
    Also Cyr keeps are copy and paste also boring.
    Other then that I love the art work in the game you guys made an amazing job,
    Specially the upcoming solo zone
    Sincerelly
  • jrgray93
    jrgray93
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭
    "How do art?"

    Is this a valid question? Also, how do reddit?
    EP: Slania Isara : Harambe Was an Inside Job
  • ers101284b14_ESO
    ers101284b14_ESO
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭
    Unfortunately I do not use Facebook either redit.
    So I would love to ask you guys why do we fight so many Harvester mini bosses? There is no budget to create different mobs?
    Its just to boring, same mechanics maybe one stronger then an other but thats about it, its simple boring.
    Also Cyr keeps are copy and paste also boring.
    Other then that I love the art work in the game you guys made an amazing job,
    Specially the upcoming solo zone
    Sincerelly

    If you mean why do they copy and paste enemies and keeps? I can answer that one, It's to save computer space and is an old trick by developers. Each team is only allotted so much memory dedicated to the game so a simple and easy way to do it is to copy and paste enemies and change the color. Mortal Kombat made several characters by just swapping color, Mario brothers also did this, as well most RPG's from Super Nintendo era.
  • MornaBaine
    MornaBaine
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Man I can't believe I missed this! And I was home today! AUGH!!! And NOBODY asked about vampires and giving us a way to make the Stage 1 appearance last longer or a way for vampires to look like normal humans, which IS supported by lore. SIGH. I am SUPER sad to have missed this opportunity. :(
    PAWS (Positively Against Wrip-off Stuff) - Say No to Crown Crates!

  • Hurbster
    Hurbster
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭
    Would have loved to ask a few pertinent questions - not going to create a reddit account just to do so.
    So they raised the floor and lowered the ceiling. Except the ceiling has spikes in it now and the floor is also lava.
  • b92303008rwb17_ESO
    b92303008rwb17_ESO
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Did not have time to ask some questions in the AMA. I will just post it here and maybe someone can pass it to the design or art team please.

    We know that barber shop has been working on and I am really looking forward to it. But chances are that when barber shop is pushed out, the new hair style that I like and want to change to might not match or go well with the other face or body features. That is really going to impair the beauty of the barber shop. Is there any chance that we will also be allowed to change other features, at least the face, in addition to hair styles? Thank you.
  • Turelus
    Turelus
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    I have to ask as some other have here and in the past.
    Why Reddit? You have a working official forums with your own moderation groups where there is an active community willing to ask questions but you go to a third party site with no official links to ESO.

    EVE Online does this as well and it drives me crazy, I don't (like others) want to go and create an account on a new site just to ask questions. I have a forums account here because I am playing this game, so why can't we use these forums?
    @Turelus - EU PC Megaserver
    "Don't count on others for help. In the end each of us is in this alone. The survivors are those who know how to look out for themselves."
  • Garion
    Garion
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Hurbster wrote: »
    Would have loved to ask a few pertinent questions - not going to create a reddit account just to do so.

    Why not? It's astonishingly simple to sign up, doesn't require a lengthy process such as some forums or other discussion platforms.

    Lastobeth - VR16 Sorc - PvP Rank 41 (AD)
    Lastoblyat - VR16 Templar - PvP Rank 14 (AD)
    Ninja Pete - VR16 NB - PvP Rank 10 (AD)
    Labo the Banana Slayer - VR14 Sorc - PvP Rank 12 (EP)

    Member of Banana Squad | Officer of Arena
  • Garion
    Garion
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    Turelus wrote: »
    I have to ask as some other have here and in the past.
    Why Reddit? You have a working official forums with your own moderation groups where there is an active community willing to ask questions but you go to a third party site with no official links to ESO.

    EVE Online does this as well and it drives me crazy, I don't (like others) want to go and create an account on a new site just to ask questions. I have a forums account here because I am playing this game, so why can't we use these forums?

    These forums are limited to players only. Perhaps they want non-players to be able to ask questions also in an attempt to attract them to the game? (Marketing).

    Edit - not to mention that the whole 'AMA' concept is a just a reddit thing. If you were redditors, you would understand...
    Edited by Garion on July 31, 2014 10:49AM
    Lastobeth - VR16 Sorc - PvP Rank 41 (AD)
    Lastoblyat - VR16 Templar - PvP Rank 14 (AD)
    Ninja Pete - VR16 NB - PvP Rank 10 (AD)
    Labo the Banana Slayer - VR14 Sorc - PvP Rank 12 (EP)

    Member of Banana Squad | Officer of Arena
  • Turelus
    Turelus
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    @Garion that's fine and all but why can't we use these forums, this thread to be exact to ask questions as well.

    I understand (now) the marketing side of it but it seems somewhat silly to exclude community members on the forums who don't have reddit accounts and are not interested in creating them just for an AMA.

    After a short back and forth with an EVE player on Twitter this morning it seems that CCP Games actually started accepting questions via their forums as well so existing members could get involved whilst still using reddit for the marketing side. I hope this is something ZOS could consider in future.
    @Turelus - EU PC Megaserver
    "Don't count on others for help. In the end each of us is in this alone. The survivors are those who know how to look out for themselves."
  • KitLightning
    KitLightning
    ✭✭✭✭
    You only had enough surplus in the bank to make photocopies with the statements? No photosnopped speech-bubbles :/
    "I'd rather be insane in a sane world, than sane in an insane world!" ~Me
    Warning - This is a spoiler and looking at it for too long may cause irrecoverable eyesight issues.
    ◔̯◔

    MechWarrior: Living Legends – Total conversion modification for Crysis Wars.

    kitlightning.deviantart
  • ZOS_GinaBruno
    ZOS_GinaBruno
    Community Manager
    Turelus wrote: »
    @Garion that's fine and all but why can't we use these forums, this thread to be exact to ask questions as well.

    I understand (now) the marketing side of it but it seems somewhat silly to exclude community members on the forums who don't have reddit accounts and are not interested in creating them just for an AMA.

    After a short back and forth with an EVE player on Twitter this morning it seems that CCP Games actually started accepting questions via their forums as well so existing members could get involved whilst still using reddit for the marketing side. I hope this is something ZOS could consider in future.
    There is truth in that we want to appeal to both current players and those that haven't had a chance to pick up the game yet. That said, we are planning to start holding Q&A sessions on the forums just for you guys in the future. :)
    Gina Bruno
    Senior Community Manager
    Dev Tracker | Service Alerts | ESO Twitter | My Twitter
    Staff Post
  • LunaRae
    LunaRae
    ✭✭✭✭
    Yea I won't ever create a reddit account, but if you ever host an AMA here I'll definitely enjoy participating :smile: Either way though I'll enjoy reading through the AMA over on reddit for the time being, thanks for putting it together.
    Stands-Strong-As-Snow ~ Argonian Templar DC NA V14
    Ytheri ~ Argonian Nightblade EP Thornblade NA V14
    Heals-All-Colours ~ Argonian Templar EP Thornblade NA V14
    Stands-In-Still-Waters~ Argonian Sorcerer EP Thornblade NA V2
  • Kharnis
    Kharnis
    ✭✭✭
    I have done a (very rough and) quick summary of the AMA for everyone. However, I'd just like to caution everyone that you should confirm everything for yourselves by going to the AMA itself, because I can almost guarantee you that not only have I missed some things, I have also mis-understood what was said. So, if you see something I missed/got wrong, don't hesitate to correct the record. That being said:

    Character Models

    - "Cartooniness" is where developers tend to lean towards to deal with polygon and texture limitations; realism is pretty much impossible to achieve.
    - Models were optimised to have the game perform well with 200+ characters on the screen at the same time.
    - One of the biggest challenge was that each TES game has a different art style.
    - Would love to see different Khajiit models, but easiest to stick to one; no plans to change this.
    - More hairstyles are in development, including longer hairstyles.
    - Many new customisation options have been made; not at liberty to discuss just yet.
    - Improvements coming to long hair clipping, as well as loincloth, fabrics, and robes deformation; early iterations of ESO's engine caused limitations as seen currently.
    - While more hair and adornment options will come, unique NPCs will keep their unique looks and will not be usable by PCs.
    - Body sliders for each race were chosen to help give each race their own unique cultural identify.

    Character Animations

    - Facial animation tech is pretty much completed, currently working on refining mouth shapes and refining data.
    - Looking at ways to bring back pivoting while doing emotes; initially removed to resolve issues between 1st and 3rd person movement.
    - Changing character animations based on player level something discussed, but no plans currently to implement it.
    - Working hard to keep players in 1st person view while they perform activities such as harvesting, riding, swimming, etc.
    - Combat animations are their current focus.
    - Animations for each race was originally planned for, but addition of 1st person as well as minimal gameplay advantage for heavy development work had it scrapped; can be added in the future if there is enough demand from players.
    - No current plans for werewolf customisations other than fixing current bugs/combat responsiveness.
    - Working on an entirely new animation management system for all characters to give animators more control on how and when animations are played.
    - Continually evaluating 3rd party solutions and looking for ways to implement them into the game to improve (such as the new FaceFX technology).

    Gear/Equipment

    - Plans and some designs are in the works to support costumes, not only for RPers, but to support activities within the game.
    - Actively working on adding more silhouette changes to armour.
    - Choices for which armours to make stem from zone or feature production.
    - Constantly checking with Lore to ensure armour designs are within the proper style and motif.
    - New set of light, medium, and heavy Daedric armour that will be released with the Imperial City update will look very similar to the style seen in the cinematic trailer.
    - Armours that change colour depending on texture quality are caused by textures being scaled down/up.
    - No current plans to make more racial motifs, but there will be new motifs (eg. "Glass" rather than more Breton or Khajiit).
    - Weapons removed when mounted are because some weapons clip badly with the horse's body, which was visually distracting.
    - No plans for cloaks right now; hoping to one day implement Havok Cloth into the current engine, but not something on the horizon due to other systems currently being worked on (but is something they want to do).
    - No plans on adding a "skin" or "transmutation" system (though they are aware of many players' desires); prefer an improved costume system instead.
    - Need to be very careful about amount of unique mount textures (ie. "horse armour") as it can have an impact of frame rate in PvP, etc; plan on adding more mount types instead.
    - Next motif to be released is Dwemer.
    - Working on improving armour geometry for future sets, but performance issues will limit how far they can go with details.
    - Artifact weapons tricky, as there are supposed to only be one of each in the world; easy enough to do in single player games, but doesn't make much sense for everyone in an MMO to be running around with a supposed one-of-a-kind weapon.

    Emotes

    - Technical issues prevent emotes on horseback; no immediate plans for it, but something definitely wanted.
    - Tries to add new emotes with each major update, and always look to players for suggestions and ideas.
    - No immediate plans for walking while emoting, but high on list of emote improvements.
    - Khajiit and Argonian tails clipping through /sitchair emote was something it was decided not to devote development resources on to improve.

    Architecture and World Design

    - Architecture diversity is something currently being addressed, with plans to expand many of the existing sets.
    - World builders create, prop, and light every space in the world by hand.
    - Style of building used in each area is decided on functionality, depending on type of content and the story to be told.
    - The art teams do get a say in the racial motifs designed.
    - The more recent a past TES game, the more maps/layouts remained "true;" Imperial City close to what is remembered from Oblivion, while liberties taken with Hammerfell, for instance.
    - Sometimes, not much lore is available, so art team has to design from scratch (such as Coldharbour); constantly running things by Bethesda to ensure the look/feel is appropriate.
    - Always a fine line to walk between being recognisable by TES fans while also making sure it fits in with the current game world.
    - Design philosophy is everything should be hand crafted; though layouts (such as caves) can be repeated, the details inside are put in by hand.
    - Currently going through another pass on the delves to expand the layouts to give some form of differentiation.
    - Often considering the use of lesser-known races in Tamriel for visual diversity; stay tuned to see what's coming in the future.
    - Working on designing a better modular architecture sets to create more unique city areas rather than re-using the same house everywhere.

    Miscellaneous

    - Went through quite a few versions of Molag Bal over the course of several months.
    - Wanted a more animalistic and demonic look to him rather than a humanoid.
    - The statue from Oblivion was used as the jumping off point.
    - More vanity pets will absolutely be added to the game over time.
    - More dyes will definitely be added to the game as new achievements are added.
    - Would love to be able to support custom guild icon requests; creating the art won't be the issue, but rather making sure it will work in the back end (in the UI system).

    "Technology today is a race between engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof devices, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning."

    - Rich Cook
  • nvsg
    nvsg
    ✭✭✭
    I got a question why is werewolf berserker not black?
  • SteveCampsOut
    SteveCampsOut
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    When did AMA stop standing for the "American Music Awards"?!?
    @ֆȶɛʋɛƈǟʍքֆօʊȶ ʀʋʟɨʄɛ⍟
    Sanguine & Psijic Group Beta Tester.
    Steve's Craftiness Find out what I can make for you at my Google Doc Spreadsheet.
    Pacrooti's Hirelings Website:
    pacrootis.enjin.com/

    NA Server:
    Steforax Soulstrong CH782 Sorcerer AD
    Grumpy Kahjiti CH782 Dragonknight AD
    Rheticia Le Drakisius CH782 Nightblade DC
    Razmuzan Thrasmas CH782 Templar EP
    Sheenara Soulstrong CH782 Dragonknight DC
    Erik Ramzey CH782 Nightblade AD
    Growling Kahjiti CH782 Nightblade EP
    One of Many Faces CH782 Sorcerer DC
    Grumpasaurus Rex CH782 Warden DC
    EU Server:
    Guildmaster of Pacrooti's Hirelings AD Based LGBT Friendly Guild.
    Stefrex Souliss CH701 Sorcerer AD
    Grumpy Kahjiti CH701 Dragonknight DC
    Slithisi Ksissi CH701 Nightblade EP
    Pokes-With-Fire CH701 Dragonknight AD
    Josie-The-Pussi-Cat CH701 Templar AD
    Stug-Grog M'God CH701 Templar DC
    One With Many Faces CH701 Nightblade DC
    Trixie Truskan CH701 Sorcerer EP
    Grumpetasaurus Rex CH701 Warden EP
    ESO Plus status: Canceled!
  • ers101284b14_ESO
    ers101284b14_ESO
    ✭✭✭✭✭
    ✭✭✭
    When did AMA stop standing for the "American Music Awards"?!?
    When they stopped awarding it to musicians
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi2VLBFeD30
Sign In or Register to comment.