Pan'Theon: Rise' of th'e Fal'Len - #1 Thread in MMO

Convo_sl said:

This makes no sense. They could show progress in other areas. Why would animations alone mean they are full of shit?

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Because they said specifically they are holding back showing anything until the animations are reworked? If the animations are the same, they are full of shit. Hooked on Phonics version: If there hasn't been any progress on that between what we saw and what this stream will show, when they said the reason they aren't showing anything is specifically because they are working so hard on animations (solely at this point) that means it's more bullshit for the cause.

Pretty simple concept to understand dude.

Convo_sl said:

So maybe they changed their minds b/c they have a bunch of other shit they are proud to show off?

I don't know either way but drawing the full of shit conclusion for animations in a pre-pre alpha demo is premature!

P.S. What should we expect from animations at this point? Serious question as I don't really know the pipeline process and how important something like that is to get in/when to get in.

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Animations are cleared (And hardly passed aside from some MINOR tweaks) before a game goes Alpha. They are the most expensive, and extensive, to work on. Before world building, animations are one of the first milestones. So what you see coming out of this, is most likely what you are going to get. Honestly I was a bit taken back when they said they were holding press coverage until they finished animations. That shit is complete before any alpha of any kind. Which leads me to believe they are full of shit and just have nothing to show aside from some VERY basic shit.

Tol_sl said:

The council of 25 guys assemble in a dark room, hoods obscuring their faces. Blood is spilled, esoteric verses are chanted. They once had names, but they left those behind a long time ago. Practically another life. That was before they became one of the fallen. Alpha is for those who will come after. Bleating sheep, not the true believers; their faith is not what fuels the Pantheon. #1 approaches the podium and pops an oxy. Beneath the hood, the reflection of VR goggles peers out upon the council. "Hail to the vision, this is gonna rock"



Both. We're not gonna give up our mozz sticks and dirtbikes just because theytalka sweet game.

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FTFY

Dahlrek_sl said:

Do you _actually_ think developers actually finalize all animation content before anyone is allowed to see the game? What do the animators do for the rest of production, play foosball?

Animations are designed, prioritized, scheduled, created, reviewed, revamped, re-reviewed, and tweaked like any other art asset. Placeholders and rough animations are perfectly normal during early stages of development. It's not like the words "new animation" have never been seen in beta patch notes. If late in beta a designer decides that a particular ability activates way to slow and they need to cut the time in half, and thus need a totally different animation, do you think production just tells them too bad, or do you think they adjust the animators' schedules to get a new animation made, potentially deprioritizing of some emote no one cares about and that wasn't scheduled to land until launch anyway?

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I am talking about the majority of the animations, there are VERY minor tweaks after Pre-Alpha in a design cycle, no matter what you read in a patch note. That's at best. And when you see "Animation pass", it is usually bullshit.

If late in beta a designer decides that a particular ability activates way to slow and they need to cut the time in half, and thus need a totally different animation, do you think production just tells them too bad, or do you think they adjust the animators' schedules to get a new animation made, potentially deprioritizing of some emote no one cares about and that wasn't scheduled to land until launch anyway?

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You think they rework an animation based on activating a combat ability? Moron designers in this industry plan a game with Cooldowns of abilities attached to an animation. The animation needs to be attached to the ability and able to be interrupted - lest you see the great UI responsiveness of TESO and SWTOR via the Hero Engine and even then you have a very small pass in the quick scope to cut a few frames out of the cycle to match a GCD, but there is still going to be a noticeable delay in tenths of seconds because they can't match it up. But that's about anything that is done. Animation interrupt is key for responsiveness and also cheaper (As long as they invest more in the engine) and provides more time for the animator to actually pass their work about 5 times over before Alpha hits and world building begins. (Example: World of Warcraft) Honestly, Animators for Blizzard get 10000% more time than anyone else in the industry. And it shows in the final product. Most animations are rushed out the door in other than a handful of companies.

An Animators job is 90% complete by the time the game reaches Alpha. After that they will be moving on to another project or a planned expansion.