It should be pretty clear that the onos animation was made for the teaser only. It isn't impossible to bring an animation like that ingame, but you'd have to make it fit in a gameplay scenario and make sure it looks great from every angle and blends well with other animations.
Well tbh I do believe that the game will look like this, apart from the entirely scripted scene ofcourse <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
<!--quoteo(post=1708528:date=May 30 2009, 06:15 PM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ May 30 2009, 06:15 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1708528"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Awww...not posting the rant? But then it doesn't feel like a real ChromeAngel post, if you aren't hating on SOMETHING <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> .<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I can't even get away with being nice these days <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> Really, i'm not hating I just have higher expectations <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink-fix.gif" />
Under the guise of "constructive criticism" here's the rant I said I wasn't going to post <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->1) Maybe I didn't do my time zone conversions right, but it seems the teaser released is later than promised to start with.
2) Initial impression: greyness. Lacking in contrast, someone crank up the gamma! (Better than Doom, just for not looking waxy and having some light [maybe a tad too much]. Could have used more colour in the general lighting)
3) Too much time spent with white quotes on black screen in the middle of the 3D sequence (overlaid in a banner at the foot would have been better), they break the flow and immersion of the 3D sequence and were still not displayed long enough to read them, just long enough to annoy.
4) No marine HUD, no view weapon, no immersion (intercom voice sounds familiar, which is nice, still trying to put a name to the actor...)
5) The particle effects fitted invisibly into the sequence and I liked the rattle of the vents (could have put a light behind them to demo the engines dynamic lighting)
6) New Onos is stupid looking, very inorganic and blocky like it's made of plasticine boxes by an eight year old and WTF was with the bone collar? How impractical is that? What happened to the cool dreadlocks and barbs on the legs? Sounds like the Onos has been shot at before busting through (which he was doing why? marine dude was being so stealthy) but those armor plates looked pristine... and you'd expect battering against a door would scratch it or crack it a bit. Where is the infestation? Even the underbelly is clean of infestation, which just seems so wrong for an NS critter. I take it devour is gone, because that gob does not look big enough to gulp a marine. Really if you're going to leave the alien designs to Cory's 8 year old niece you may as well make it marines vs marines. Generally if this is the direction the alien designs are taking I am not impressed. (Sounded the part though, so full marks to the sound artists.)
7) After being hit by a chunky metal door I expect to see blood, marine blood, maybe on the HUD, more likely on that floor. Not asking for gallons of horror genre gore, just a nosebleeds worth (maybe the commander dropped him a [silent] medpack during the blackout).
8) What it's over already? Is that it? Without the intro, quotes and outro there is what 10 seconds actual content here... pfft..<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<!--quoteo(post=1708630:date=May 31 2009, 07:16 AM:name=FrostFire626)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FrostFire626 @ May 31 2009, 07:16 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1708630"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->All and all I was very impressed with the teaser. Unfortunately, I just don't buy the "entirely in-engine" part about it. I've never seen an animation of that quality (the onos) before in a game and I don't think its currently possible. Correct me if I'm wrong.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> Of course its all in-engine. It's a scripted sequence in the game engine... What else would it be?
<!--quoteo(post=1708725:date=May 30 2009, 10:06 PM:name=FrostFire626)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (FrostFire626 @ May 30 2009, 10:06 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1708725"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I know that this is the absolute best showcase of NS2 technology the team could make, and I really did enjoy it, but it's just not possible for this kind of animation to be present in regular gameplay. If the texturing and animations in this teaser SOMEHOW make it into general gameplay, then this game will surpass every game ever made, including Crysis. Just listen to the absurdity of that statement. But who cares? The teaser was awesome and it generated the hype (and probably the funds) the team needed.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
While the animation in the teaser does seem to be custom made for it, from an animator's stand point (myself) there is nothing stopping the quality of 'animation' that you see there being in game. Rachet and Clank has some of the most fluid and fun animation in their in-game cut scenes on a PS2.
On a technical standpoint, you only need to look at Xbox 360 games to show what's possible in games today. Gears of War 1 & 2 has a lot of motion-capture which contains much more animation data than keyframe animation would (unless it's been cleaned up and even then usually contains much more).
Textures in the teaser are in game. Bitmap textures can scale really well when they are of a half-decent sized resolution, especially when coupled with a normal map (which UWE have already shown us they are doing).
I see no reason to expect anything less than what they've shown in the teaser. It's all pretty much technically possible, even on a middle-of-the-road specc'd PC.
I've looked around and it seems that the terms "in-game" and "in-engine" aren't entirely interchangeable. What I mean to say is I don't think its possible for even a large company to make an entire game of the NS2 teaser quality, much less a 4 man + auxiliary team. BTW, I think Ratchet and Clank is a lot cartoonier than NS2 and it took a company as big as Valve to do the animations for HL2.
<!--quoteo(post=1708640:date=May 30 2009, 09:22 PM:name=daidalos)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (daidalos @ May 30 2009, 09:22 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1708640"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yeah, I also believe there was some post-rendering done, or whatever you call it. I don't think these "blur" effects actually turn up in the game, it would be distracting, too. The Onos looks much too detailed, too.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ok, everyone seems to have their own ideas about what in game rendering is and what can and can't be done.
All of that hallway and Onos scene was created and rendered out entirely in the game engine, using current art assets created specifically for the game. The Onos shown was the "low poly" game version, with a normal map applied baked out from the high poly version. So, that exact version of the Onos is the current in game version.
The blur effects, like the motion blur on the camera movement, are in engine, as well, and can be applied using the cinematic editor tool. We will be using blur effects like that and depth of field in game, though not as drastic as in the teaser. Obviously if everything is blurring all the time as you are looking around and things are moving, it can get very distracting very fast, however for the purposes of the teaser it helped make the action much more interesting, since the viewer isn't actually playing the game.
All of the lighting and particle effects are in engine, and were set up the same way mappers will be doing it for their maps.
There is nothing about the Onos animations that couldn't be in game. And in fact the roar animation will be used in game, though the exact ability that will use it is still being sorted out. The main thing is that the animations will be more separated up, rather then strung together in one long animation, and will be player dependent. So, chances are a player controlling the Onos won't walk slowly straight towards a marine and stop and roar at him, though there would be nothing keeping them from doing that. But the player will probably be running and looking from side to side and jumping or strafing or using the attacks or...you get the idea. While it might not have the same exact dramatic impact as in the teaser it will have a different but equally dramatic impact from the marine perspective, as that thing runs at you. And, we have animation blending, which will make the transitions from one animation to another much smoother.
So, really, the only thing that keeps this from being a real time teaser, is that we weren't recording us actually playing the game, walking down the hallway, having someone else play as the Onos, skulk, etc. Instead we constructed the scene the same way we would construct a map, (but without the gameplay constraints and with more of an eye to the specific camera angles shown) and placed in the camera (which the entire thing is actually one continuous animated camera shot), then recorded out the footage so that we could edit it together with the opening logo, the quotes, the end title sequence, and add some fade outs.
<!--quoteo(post=1708812:date=May 31 2009, 11:51 AM:name=ChromeAngel)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (ChromeAngel @ May 31 2009, 11:51 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1708812"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Really if you're going to leave the alien designs to Cory's 8 year old niece you may as well make it marines vs marines. Generaly if this is the direction the alien designs are taking am not impressed<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ok, I really shouldn't respond to these sort of baiting, crys for attention comments. But I'm getting tired of the insulting, immature "designed by Cory's 8 year old niece" or "could have been designed by a 3 year old" comments. I usually ignore these, but when they come from a long standing community member, with over 3 thousand posts to their name, I have to cry foul.
I understand that some people are going to dislike the look and direction of the Onos and other new aliens. I understand that people are going to post their negative feedback, which is fine. If you want to say the new Onos is stupid looking, it's not terribly helpful, but you are entitled to your opinion, so fine.
But I spend a lot of time and energy and thought into concepting out this game, and the rest of the team spends a lot of time looking at and choosing from a variety of designs for each asset, and providing me with useful and constructive criticisms so I can create multiple iterations until we get a final design that we are all happy enough to sign off on. By tossing out the above mentioned comment, it casually disregards all of that hard work from the entire team.
So, there, that's MY "rant".
As far as the Onos, we will be showing off more views of the model, and talking about the reasons behind the new look, as well as showing off the other aliens as well, in the near future.
I don't know. Cannot be please or they just don't want to be please? I think in this case the latter one is true; based on the language used. This is the simple difference behind a mindless rant and constructive criticism.
I don't even know why so many people are upset about the new Onos. When I saw it for the first time all I could think of was "Man, he looks <b>badass</b>. Awesome!" As someone mentioned in another thread before, now it really looks like a big, fething tank, With the reinforced armour-looking stuff etc.
I have to admit that Cory's 8 year old niece is an awesome designer. Im a game developer student and character designer and Im very impressed with the designs.
<!--quoteo(post=1708884:date=Jun 1 2009, 12:38 AM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ Jun 1 2009, 12:38 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1708884"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Ok, I really shouldn't respond to these sort of baiting, crys for attention comments. But I'm getting tired of the insulting, immature "designed by Cory's 8 year old niece" or "could have been designed by a 3 year old" comments. I usually ignore these, but when they come from a long standing community member, with over 3 thousand posts to their name, I have to cry foul.
I understand that some people are going to dislike the look and direction of the Onos and other new aliens. I understand that people are going to post their negative feedback, which is fine. If you want to say the new Onos is stupid looking, it's not terribly helpful, but you are entitled to your opinion, so fine.
But I spend a lot of time and energy and thought into concepting out this game, and the rest of the team spends a lot of time looking at and choosing from a variety of designs for each asset, and providing me with useful and constructive criticisms so I can create multiple iterations until we get a final design that we are all happy enough to sign off on. By tossing out the above mentioned comment, it casually disregards all of that hard work from the entire team.
So, there, that's MY "rant".
As far as the Onos, we will be showing off more views of the model, and talking about the reasons behind the new look, as well as showing off the other aliens as well, in the near future.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Lol..... don't beat yourself up over what chrome says, it would be best to ignore him all together tbh <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />.
We appreciate your time and energy into the game and I personally think the onos looks really good (as do the majority of the people who have commented on it either on UW or elsewhere). I can also understand why you have added all the armour and stuff on the onos - aliens realising that armour is good for protection, so they copy the marines. Kinda of like insects that copy their surroundings to increase chances of survival - e.g. praying mantis, leaf cutters etc.
When I first saw the onos I was a little bit surprised and not huge fan of the leg armour, but I though it did look way meaner than the old one. When charlie explained that the aliens learnt from the humans though, it all completely made sense and now I love it <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />.
I'm really surprised you fell for the bait to be honest, I suppose it just struck a nerve with you. It's a little bit unprofessional, but I suppose you're all tired from working so hard all the time.
Not gonna lie. When I first saw the onos, I was surprised. Not because it "looks terrible urrg urrrrrg!h8theworld!", but it looks pretty awesome... though, the first thing that came to mind the instant it was fully visible was a Heavy Armor marine. Wild assumptions flew through my brain like "MAYBE THE KHARAA ABSORBED HEAVY ARMOR TECH!?"
Either way, it looks like a freaking tank. And... that's kinda what an onos is supposed to be. A giant cow. I mean, Cory said it himself... the aliens have evolved, like the marines have, "squareish" armor sure hit the nail on the head as a description for the onos. And after several, scary long years of battling one another, don't you think the aliens would somehow find a way, being a big bunch of happy bacteria, to replicate their own type of steel plating beyond just a carapace? They're freakin aliens... normal science can't explain them!
I liked very much the teaser, graphics looks rock solid, i hope there isn't some trick there to make it happen.
On to the preorders: ok, we are going to get the final game after all, but i don't find the prices much fair; i mean people is going to pay for a not-so-sure release date. But what makes me scratching my head is the entry package: the NSTR was free, now we have to pay... to make content for <i>your</i> game? I say this because i followed NS since its birth and what mainly interest me is try out the tools, having to pay for that doesn't sound much fair to me.
Can you say if there's the chanche that (very good and deserving) community maps are going to be officially included in the first release or in a subsequent update/DLC, and that you are going to pay for those maps, like Valve did for good-ol-CS and TF2 maps?
<!--quoteo(post=1708891:date=May 31 2009, 05:02 PM:name=glimmerman)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (glimmerman @ May 31 2009, 05:02 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1708891"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'm really surprised you fell for the bait to be honest<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, me too . I wrote that up before I had my coffee this morning <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
And right after my 8 year old niece just finished redesigning the Onos to look wayyyy better then my version, so I was a bit touchy. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
<!--quoteo(post=1708901:date=May 31 2009, 12:31 PM:name=bl4ckd0g)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (bl4ckd0g @ May 31 2009, 12:31 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1708901"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I liked very much the teaser, graphics looks rock solid, i hope there isn't some trick there to make it happen.
On to the preorders: ok, we are going to get the final game after all, but i don't find the prices much fair; i mean people is going to pay for a not-so-sure release date. But what makes me scratching my head is the entry package: the NSTR was free, now we have to pay... to make content for <i>your</i> game? I say this because i followed NS since its birth and what mainly interest me is try out the tools, having to pay for that doesn't sound much fair to me.
Can you say if there's the chanche that (very good and deserving) community maps are going to be officially included in the first release or in a subsequent update/DLC, and that you are going to pay for those maps, like Valve did for good-ol-CS and TF2 maps?
Keep it up guys!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> They're charging for access to the alpha, but I don't think they've said they'll charge for the mapmaking tools. Whether they end up releasing those before the game, though, might be up in the air, but I agree that it would be nice to have them early.
<!--quoteo(post=1708903:date=May 31 2009, 12:43 PM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ May 31 2009, 12:43 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1708903"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Yeah, me too . I wrote that up before I had my coffee this morning <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
And right after my 8 year old niece just finished redesigning the Onos to look wayyyy better then my version, so I was a bit touchy. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't know if you will read this Cory, but keep doing exactly what you are doing and don't let a few nay-sayers try to turn you away from it. The new Onos looks awesome, the new GFXs look awesome, NS2 looks awesome. Keep it up. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
<!--quoteo(post=1708906:date=May 31 2009, 12:47 PM:name=Megahalo)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Megahalo @ May 31 2009, 12:47 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1708906"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I don't know if you will read this Cory, but keep doing exactly what you are doing and don't let a few nay-sayers try to turn you away from it. The new Onos looks awesome, the new GFXs look awesome, NS2 looks awesome. Keep it up. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd--> I don't know if you will read this Cory, but if you can, don't keep doing exactly what you are doing and don't let a few words of encouragement prevent you from taking the funny looking shin-armor off. The new Onos looks like he's dressed up to play a game of hockey. The rest looks sweet though.
<!--quoteo(post=1708929:date=May 31 2009, 02:29 PM:name=TychoCelchuuu)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (TychoCelchuuu @ May 31 2009, 02:29 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1708929"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I don't know if you will read this Cory, but if you can, don't keep doing exactly what you are doing and don't let a few words of encouragement prevent you from taking the funny looking shin-armor off. The new Onos looks like he's dressed up to play a game of hockey. The rest looks sweet though.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Even though it might be dressed up for hockey game, it still looks goddamn badass and i fell in "love" right when i saw it, and i bet im not alone....BADASS I TELL YA! That concept is just simply looking good and its working.
Btw, why there havent been anymore updates about the game, now that people HUNGER for news, even tiny ones!
Having "external armour" makes the creation of damage textures and models much easier. This means that the current teaser onos is an indicator for the team having decided to consider the extensive use of damage models/tectures.
Conclusion: I cannot wait to shoot chips of armor off the onos. :marine:
I have to say that first i was a bit disappointed about how the new onos is designed, its just how did the aliens got these materials made and how did they add them to their bodies. The armors on onos doesn't rlly look like they growed the normal way its more like some evil marine doctor added some extra protection for our beloved onos. Anyway after i've been watching this teaser like 30 times, it doesn't look that bad its actually pretty scary, does everything need to be explained, can everything be explained, hell no this is freaking future <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />.
Anyway i wanted to say im used to this new onos now and its actually pretty "handsome" <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />, i bet it doesn't have troubled to find playmates <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />.
<!--quoteo(post=1708884:date=May 31 2009, 04:38 PM:name=Squeal_Like_A_Pig)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Squeal_Like_A_Pig @ May 31 2009, 04:38 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1708884"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Ok, I really shouldn't respond to these sort of baiting, crys for attention comments. But I'm getting tired of the insulting, immature "designed by Cory's 8 year old niece" or "could have been designed by a 3 year old" comments. I usually ignore these, but when they come from a long standing community member, with over 3 thousand posts to their name, I have to cry foul.
I understand that some people are going to dislike the look and direction of the Onos and other new aliens. I understand that people are going to post their negative feedback, which is fine. If you want to say the new Onos is stupid looking, it's not terribly helpful, but you are entitled to your opinion, so fine.
But I spend a lot of time and energy and thought into concepting out this game, and the rest of the team spends a lot of time looking at and choosing from a variety of designs for each asset, and providing me with useful and constructive criticisms so I can create multiple iterations until we get a final design that we are all happy enough to sign off on. By tossing out the above mentioned comment, it casually disregards all of that hard work from the entire team.
So, there, that's MY "rant".
As far as the Onos, we will be showing off more views of the model, and talking about the reasons behind the new look, as well as showing off the other aliens as well, in the near future.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
hahaha, i wouldnt worry about it, ive seen people complain about sequels for years. the one thing i have never understood is why people say " its not like the old one" .. well no its the new one.. if you like the old one keep playing the old one and let the people who want something new have it with out your ######..
personally if i have a "8 year old niece" with enough talent to do those designs id be proud. good on ya
That teaser was great! some of my favourite gaming memories are from NS1 and I can't wait to see whats new for NS2.
It's even more impressive considering the team size <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />.
Comments
Keep up the amazing work!!!!
I can't even get away with being nice these days <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" /> Really, i'm not hating I just have higher expectations <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=";)" border="0" alt="wink-fix.gif" />
Under the guise of "constructive criticism" here's the rant I said I wasn't going to post <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->1) Maybe I didn't do my time zone conversions right, but it seems the teaser released is later than promised to start with.
2) Initial impression: greyness. Lacking in contrast, someone crank up the gamma! (Better than Doom, just for not looking waxy and having some light [maybe a tad too much]. Could have used more colour in the general lighting)
3) Too much time spent with white quotes on black screen in the middle of the 3D sequence (overlaid in a banner at the foot would have been better), they break the flow and immersion of the 3D sequence and were still not displayed long enough to read them, just long enough to annoy.
4) No marine HUD, no view weapon, no immersion (intercom voice sounds familiar, which is nice, still trying to put a name to the actor...)
5) The particle effects fitted invisibly into the sequence and I liked the rattle of the vents (could have put a light behind them to demo the engines dynamic lighting)
6) New Onos is stupid looking, very inorganic and blocky like it's made of plasticine boxes by an eight year old and WTF was with the bone collar? How impractical is that? What happened to the cool dreadlocks and barbs on the legs?
Sounds like the Onos has been shot at before busting through (which he was doing why? marine dude was being so stealthy) but those armor plates looked pristine... and you'd expect battering against a door would scratch it or crack it a bit. Where is the infestation? Even the underbelly is clean of infestation, which just seems so wrong for an NS critter.
I take it devour is gone, because that gob does not look big enough to gulp a marine. Really if you're going to leave the alien designs to Cory's 8 year old niece you may as well make it marines vs marines. Generally if this is the direction the alien designs are taking I am not impressed. (Sounded the part though, so full marks to the sound artists.)
7) After being hit by a chunky metal door I expect to see blood, marine blood, maybe on the HUD, more likely on that floor. Not asking for gallons of horror genre gore, just a nosebleeds worth (maybe the commander dropped him a [silent] medpack during the blackout).
8) What it's over already? Is that it? Without the intro, quotes and outro there is what 10 seconds actual content here... pfft..<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Of course its all in-engine. It's a scripted sequence in the game engine... What else would it be?
While the animation in the teaser does seem to be custom made for it, from an animator's stand point (myself) there is nothing stopping the quality of 'animation' that you see there being in game. Rachet and Clank has some of the most fluid and fun animation in their in-game cut scenes on a PS2.
On a technical standpoint, you only need to look at Xbox 360 games to show what's possible in games today. Gears of War 1 & 2 has a lot of motion-capture which contains much more animation data than keyframe animation would (unless it's been cleaned up and even then usually contains much more).
Textures in the teaser are in game. Bitmap textures can scale really well when they are of a half-decent sized resolution, especially when coupled with a normal map (which UWE have already shown us they are doing).
I see no reason to expect anything less than what they've shown in the teaser. It's all pretty much technically possible, even on a middle-of-the-road specc'd PC.
I don't think these "blur" effects actually turn up in the game, it would be distracting, too.
The Onos looks much too detailed, too.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ok, everyone seems to have their own ideas about what in game rendering is and what can and can't be done.
All of that hallway and Onos scene was created and rendered out entirely in the game engine, using current art assets created specifically for the game. The Onos shown was the "low poly" game version, with a normal map applied baked out from the high poly version. So, that exact version of the Onos is the current in game version.
The blur effects, like the motion blur on the camera movement, are in engine, as well, and can be applied using the cinematic editor tool. We will be using blur effects like that and depth of field in game, though not as drastic as in the teaser. Obviously if everything is blurring all the time as you are looking around and things are moving, it can get very distracting very fast, however for the purposes of the teaser it helped make the action much more interesting, since the viewer isn't actually playing the game.
All of the lighting and particle effects are in engine, and were set up the same way mappers will be doing it for their maps.
There is nothing about the Onos animations that couldn't be in game. And in fact the roar animation will be used in game, though the exact ability that will use it is still being sorted out. The main thing is that the animations will be more separated up, rather then strung together in one long animation, and will be player dependent. So, chances are a player controlling the Onos won't walk slowly straight towards a marine and stop and roar at him, though there would be nothing keeping them from doing that. But the player will probably be running and looking from side to side and jumping or strafing or using the attacks or...you get the idea. While it might not have the same exact dramatic impact as in the teaser it will have a different but equally dramatic impact from the marine perspective, as that thing runs at you. And, we have animation blending, which will make the transitions from one animation to another much smoother.
So, really, the only thing that keeps this from being a real time teaser, is that we weren't recording us actually playing the game, walking down the hallway, having someone else play as the Onos, skulk, etc. Instead we constructed the scene the same way we would construct a map, (but without the gameplay constraints and with more of an eye to the specific camera angles shown) and placed in the camera (which the entire thing is actually one continuous animated camera shot), then recorded out the footage so that we could edit it together with the opening logo, the quotes, the end title sequence, and add some fade outs.
Hope that helps clear this up a bit.
--Cory
The game looks amazing, and the PC requirements makes me speachlesl.
Just bought the SE for myself - you all deserve it for all great time I had playing NS for ages!
Thank you for everything.
Regards,
Dolores
Ok, I really shouldn't respond to these sort of baiting, crys for attention comments. But I'm getting tired of the insulting, immature "designed by Cory's 8 year old niece" or "could have been designed by a 3 year old" comments. I usually ignore these, but when they come from a long standing community member, with over 3 thousand posts to their name, I have to cry foul.
I understand that some people are going to dislike the look and direction of the Onos and other new aliens. I understand that people are going to post their negative feedback, which is fine. If you want to say the new Onos is stupid looking, it's not terribly helpful, but you are entitled to your opinion, so fine.
But I spend a lot of time and energy and thought into concepting out this game, and the rest of the team spends a lot of time looking at and choosing from a variety of designs for each asset, and providing me with useful and constructive criticisms so I can create multiple iterations until we get a final design that we are all happy enough to sign off on. By tossing out the above mentioned comment, it casually disregards all of that hard work from the entire team.
So, there, that's MY "rant".
As far as the Onos, we will be showing off more views of the model, and talking about the reasons behind the new look, as well as showing off the other aliens as well, in the near future.
--Cory
And the clarification you gave in your previous post got me even more excited!
And oh yeah, awesome job so far. Keep up the good work!
Cannot be please or they just don't want to be please? I think in this case the latter one is true; based on the language used. This is the simple difference behind a mindless rant and constructive criticism.
I don't even know why so many people are upset about the new Onos.
When I saw it for the first time all I could think of was "Man, he looks <b>badass</b>. Awesome!"
As someone mentioned in another thread before, now it really looks like a big, fething tank, With the reinforced armour-looking stuff etc.
Im a game developer student and character designer and Im very impressed with the designs.
I understand that some people are going to dislike the look and direction of the Onos and other new aliens. I understand that people are going to post their negative feedback, which is fine. If you want to say the new Onos is stupid looking, it's not terribly helpful, but you are entitled to your opinion, so fine.
But I spend a lot of time and energy and thought into concepting out this game, and the rest of the team spends a lot of time looking at and choosing from a variety of designs for each asset, and providing me with useful and constructive criticisms so I can create multiple iterations until we get a final design that we are all happy enough to sign off on. By tossing out the above mentioned comment, it casually disregards all of that hard work from the entire team.
So, there, that's MY "rant".
As far as the Onos, we will be showing off more views of the model, and talking about the reasons behind the new look, as well as showing off the other aliens as well, in the near future.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Lol..... don't beat yourself up over what chrome says, it would be best to ignore him all together tbh <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />.
We appreciate your time and energy into the game and I personally think the onos looks really good (as do the majority of the people who have commented on it either on UW or elsewhere). I can also understand why you have added all the armour and stuff on the onos - aliens realising that armour is good for protection, so they copy the marines. Kinda of like insects that copy their surroundings to increase chances of survival - e.g. praying mantis, leaf cutters etc.
When I first saw the onos I was a little bit surprised and not huge fan of the leg armour, but I though it did look way meaner than the old one. When charlie explained that the aliens learnt from the humans though, it all completely made sense and now I love it <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />.
I'm really surprised you fell for the bait to be honest, I suppose it just struck a nerve with you. It's a little bit unprofessional, but I suppose you're all tired from working so hard all the time.
Either way, it looks like a freaking tank. And... that's kinda what an onos is supposed to be. A giant cow. I mean, Cory said it himself... the aliens have evolved, like the marines have, "squareish" armor sure hit the nail on the head as a description for the onos. And after several, scary long years of battling one another, don't you think the aliens would somehow find a way, being a big bunch of happy bacteria, to replicate their own type of steel plating beyond just a carapace? They're freakin aliens... normal science can't explain them!
Cheers.
On to the preorders: ok, we are going to get the final game after all, but i don't find the prices much fair; i mean people is going to pay for a not-so-sure release date.
But what makes me scratching my head is the entry package: the NSTR was free, now we have to pay... to make content for <i>your</i> game? I say this because i followed NS since its birth and what mainly interest me is try out the tools, having to pay for that doesn't sound much fair to me.
Can you say if there's the chanche that (very good and deserving) community maps are going to be officially included in the first release or in a subsequent update/DLC, and that you are going to pay for those maps, like Valve did for good-ol-CS and TF2 maps?
Keep it up guys!
Yeah, me too . I wrote that up before I had my coffee this morning <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
And right after my 8 year old niece just finished redesigning the Onos to look wayyyy better then my version, so I was a bit touchy. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
--Cory
On to the preorders: ok, we are going to get the final game after all, but i don't find the prices much fair; i mean people is going to pay for a not-so-sure release date.
But what makes me scratching my head is the entry package: the NSTR was free, now we have to pay... to make content for <i>your</i> game? I say this because i followed NS since its birth and what mainly interest me is try out the tools, having to pay for that doesn't sound much fair to me.
Can you say if there's the chanche that (very good and deserving) community maps are going to be officially included in the first release or in a subsequent update/DLC, and that you are going to pay for those maps, like Valve did for good-ol-CS and TF2 maps?
Keep it up guys!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
They're charging for access to the alpha, but I don't think they've said they'll charge for the mapmaking tools. Whether they end up releasing those before the game, though, might be up in the air, but I agree that it would be nice to have them early.
And right after my 8 year old niece just finished redesigning the Onos to look wayyyy better then my version, so I was a bit touchy. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't know if you will read this Cory, but keep doing exactly what you are doing and don't let a few nay-sayers try to turn you away from it. The new Onos looks awesome, the new GFXs look awesome, NS2 looks awesome. Keep it up. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />
I don't know if you will read this Cory, but if you can, don't keep doing exactly what you are doing and don't let a few words of encouragement prevent you from taking the funny looking shin-armor off. The new Onos looks like he's dressed up to play a game of hockey. The rest looks sweet though.
Even though it might be dressed up for hockey game, it still looks goddamn badass and i fell in "love" right when i saw it, and i bet im not alone....BADASS I TELL YA! That concept is just simply looking good and its working.
Btw, why there havent been anymore updates about the game, now that people HUNGER for news, even tiny ones!
The new Onos looks great.
Second:
Having "external armour" makes the creation of damage textures and models much easier. This means that the current teaser onos is an indicator for the team having decided to consider the extensive use of damage models/tectures.
Conclusion: I cannot wait to shoot chips of armor off the onos. :marine:
Anyway i wanted to say im used to this new onos now and its actually pretty "handsome" <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />, i bet it doesn't have troubled to find playmates <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />.
btw skulk looks awesome <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />.
I understand that some people are going to dislike the look and direction of the Onos and other new aliens. I understand that people are going to post their negative feedback, which is fine. If you want to say the new Onos is stupid looking, it's not terribly helpful, but you are entitled to your opinion, so fine.
But I spend a lot of time and energy and thought into concepting out this game, and the rest of the team spends a lot of time looking at and choosing from a variety of designs for each asset, and providing me with useful and constructive criticisms so I can create multiple iterations until we get a final design that we are all happy enough to sign off on. By tossing out the above mentioned comment, it casually disregards all of that hard work from the entire team.
So, there, that's MY "rant".
As far as the Onos, we will be showing off more views of the model, and talking about the reasons behind the new look, as well as showing off the other aliens as well, in the near future.
--Cory<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
hahaha, i wouldnt worry about it, ive seen people complain about sequels for years. the one thing i have never understood is why people say " its not like the old one" .. well no its the new one.. if you like the old one keep playing the old one and let the people who want something new have it with out your ######..
personally if i have a "8 year old niece" with enough talent to do those designs id be proud. good on ya
Signed
Corys number one fan
When might we see a Limited Edition NS 2.0 shirt in <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/thensstore" target="_blank">The Natural Selection Store</a>?
NS was a fond memory of my childhood. Keep up the good work, guys, and I hope you are all proud of what you have and will accomplish.
It's even more impressive considering the team size <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />.