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WAR-State of the Art from Warhammer Alliance

Did a quick scan of the general information, and the first or second pages of this forum but didn't catch anything on this. Let me know if it was started elsewhere. 

http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showthread.php?p=777706#post777706

Art Director released a statement commenting on the current graphics and art in WAR.

Thought it would be an interesting read for all, and for those who might be worried about the current  graphics quality of the game.

Quoting a comment:

"I think a lot of people sort of guessed what you said, but it is very very awesome to hear it directly from you."

Edit: Posting it here for those who would not like to navigate to another site. 


All,



I have read many posts here concerning the visuals of WAR. There have been many praises. Thank you! There have been some criticisms. Thank you also. Everything we read here, at least in broad strokes, is digested and considered against our design and visual goals. The subject of this thread caught my attention in particular because it speaks to the status of where we are with WAR’s development. So first I will discuss a general point that has been echoed here before.







The visuals in WAR are a work in progress. I liken it to rendering CG movies, like the Incredibles or some of the great stuff Blur has done for us. When you watch a pre-lighting render, things just look flat. There are no shadows. There is no ambient occlusion. There is no atmospheric lighting. There is no real surface lighting. How does that relate to WAR? Well, many of the videos and screenshots we have released have been without even a first lighting bake, let along our final lighting pass, which we have never shown. You also have not seen specular maps on our terrains. We don't even have final skies, light balancing, or final light settings for our terrain shaders.







This means that you have seen visuals in varying degrees of finish depending upon how recently we worked on a zone. None of the environments we have shown you are in their full glory. The hard work of the team shows through despite being shy of complete. And that is where we are now. We are polishing, tweaking, and lightmapping like crazy and we will up until the very last stamp for gold. Until then, yes. Some stuff may look flat, or some animations may look jerky. Heck our lead animator and I finally had a moment of joy as one of the last animation system "quirks" that was making the motions look staccato and choppy was finally fixed. Huray!



In terms of visual variety, I believe we have a diverse palette of environments from ancient forests and eldritch swamps to a huge, gothic city floating over a swirling, Chaotic Abyss. With that said, even now we are working on more cool, signiture landmarks for the zones. I believe anyone browsing our material in depth will agree there is a lot there to enjoy.



So by all means continue dialoguing about what you see, let us know what you like and what you don't, and stay tuned for some more finalized shots.





Thanks!


__________________

---------------------

Greg Grimsby

Art Director

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning



 

Comments

  • GrömGröm Member Posts: 303

    That should shut the mouth of many.

    Thanks for this LiquidWolf,



    Cheers! 

  • Ascension08Ascension08 Member Posts: 1,980

    Originally posted by Gröm


    That should shut the mouth of many.

    Thanks for this LiquidWolf,



    Cheers! 

    Pfft, I wish.

    Thanks LiquidWolf I'm glad they're telling us what we need to know about the graphics.

    --------------------------------------
    A human and an Elf get captured by Skaven. The rat-men are getting ready to shoot the first hostage with Dwarf-made guns when he yells, "Earthquake!" The naturally nervous Skaven run and hide from the imaginary threat. He escapes. The Skaven regroup and bring out the Elf. Being very smart, the Elf has figured out what to do. When the Skaven get ready to shoot, the Elf, in order to scare them, yells, "Fire!"

    Order of the White Border.

  • Player_420Player_420 Member Posts: 686

    Whats so great is that IN GAME the visuals still look rly rly good

    Still has a lot of work to be done thou, I wouldnt expect a release anytime even near soon

    I play all ghame

  • NergleNergle Member UncommonPosts: 253

    Seriously, where are all the people that said that the bland WOWish colors , and such was intended when I said they were not?

    I guess things coming out a developer's mouth doesn't warrant uber flames when someone onthe forums says it, huh?

    I'm glad that they are implementing shadows,vertexes and more colored pixels in the game , maybe now people will listen when I tell them they should upgrade their 5 year old vid cards.

  • LordAxleLordAxle Member Posts: 19

    The fact that the devs actually check the forums and such for all these "complaints" and take that feedback into account gives me a great deal of hope for this game. I've had my CE on pre-order since the day they announced it (from GameStop, and I fought like a banshee to get my codes, which are now safely in my desk :D).

    I can't wait to cleave the heads off of the ignorant followers of Sigmar. In the name of the Raven.

  • LiquidWolfLiquidWolf Member CommonPosts: 516

     

    Originally posted by Nergle


    Seriously, where are all the people that said that the bland WOWish colors , and such was intended when I said they were not?
    I guess things coming out a developer's mouth doesn't warrant uber flames when someone onthe forums says it, huh?

    The wicked cringe away when faced with the light. They cling to their shadows, hiding behind cloaks  of doubt and lies. 

    They have moved on to other, darker areas to continue their vile works.

    The light of truth shall purge away the sinners and the Emperor, glory to his name, shall smite them from the face of existence.

    But fear not! We shall find them soon enough and great will be the battle where we and our enemies collide.

    We shall crush these mutants beneath our boots, and scatter their vileness into the abyss. 

    Break them of their will to speak!

    For the Emperor!

  • LordAxleLordAxle Member Posts: 19

    If you get the newsletter and watch the videos of the stuff that has all their neat lighting and shadowing effects and such on it, then you'll see why WoW looks like crap. It looks fine for now, and I'm pretty sure I read something about Blizz doing a graphical overhaul with WotLK, but WoW is really starting to show its age. Compare the new races to the old ones and you'll see the difference clear as day. WAR looks gorgeous

    Bleh. All these pitiful, short sighted "heroes" have no sense to hold their tounges. Another outburst like that and I'll remove it for the Raven God to enjoy.

     

    In fact, why wait?

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