Get to know your Trendy dev

I can confirm this. He works in the same office building.

I can confirm this. Laura can confirm confirmations.

Ice is as cool as Chuck Norris? Blasphemy Lord Plandaroit! You speak lies.

No offense to Ice of course. Please don't hurt me. :P

I can confirm this. Laura can confirm confirmations.

I can confirm this. Luska can indeed confirm that Laura can confirm Luska's confirmation. I believe that's right. :P

I said confirm so many times I don't even know what it means anymore :P

I said confirm so many times I don't even know what it means anymore :P

Right? At what point does this turn into a Monty Python bit?

I'm going to cheat:

I summon a 3D modeler to talk about how they take a piece of concept art and use it to create a model in the game!

I'm going to cheat:

I summon a 3D modeler to talk about how they take a piece of concept art and use it to create a model in the game!

Oh I really want to know about this one ^^

I'm going to cheat:

I summon a 3D modeler to talk about how they take a piece of concept art and use it to create a model in the game!

Oh I really want to know about this one ^^

I agree!

Hey guys! I'm the resident character artist and...hold on....

*SMOKE AND FIRE SPEW FORTH AS I ENTER... and umm something about dark magic...umm

OK! Depending on the type of asset being created there is some flux as to how exactly the objects get made and implemented into the game. For most things there is usually at least a sketch to go off of. For characters they will usually provide a 3/4 angle or front and back image. We use Autodesk Maya/3dsMax for modelling software and 3dCoat/Photoshop for texturing. We then try and create the object from polygons within the specifications/limitations given to us for the particular object. When the shape and silhouette is satisfactory, we create a texture skin for the object by laying out UVs and painting either on the model or in Photoshop. Some things like, weapons, have the concept art projected right on to their textures to save time/be consistent. There is usually some critique or approval that is done to make sure the asset is consistent or matches the style or looks enough like the concept etc.
Most static objects can go right into the engine at this point. For characters they need to be rigged with an animation skeleton/armature and given their respective animation sets for game play. Some assets like weapons may need to be given VFX which is where the VFX guys apply their magic. Once in engine, all objects are given a material. Materials affect how light,reflectivity,glow etc behave in game. For clarity I left a few things out but that's the jist of it.

*casts poison cloud..no wait..umm smoke..screen?..no umm teleport?

Ice Ice Baby!

a lot of text, half of which I didn't understand :(

So how much time does it take to make static objects / characters / weapons(if you do those) ? How much time all together did it take to make all 4 characters?

[QUOTE]

One more thing, I hate to be picky. But the cog activation wheel (which looks awesome by the way) is off to the side of the gate, which would mean the player activating it wouldn't be able to see the gate's effect clearly, which in turn would deprive the player from the satisfaction of seeing the orkies impaled from the spikes. [/QUOTE]

I agree the activation is off to the side. But this trap is able to be activated by being attacked So you can be wherever you want and slam that gate shut on the little minions. It is quite satisfying to get the timing right on that trap and destroy a pack of goblins. The water trap IS very fun to see and use, but takes a little less skill and timing to pull off as it is activated and throws enemies off over time. The gate trap actually came from another prototype that DID have it coming from the top and slamming down. But we wanted the player to be able to be on top of the gate bridge and have it still work.
May look into having them fly into the wall though... could be pretty visceral.

Like I mentioned in the previous post, traps are ever evolving and we are working to provide even better experiences and interactions with the map as a whole. Can't wait to show you what we have planned.

Game assets can take anywhere from a couple hours to a couple weeks.

Anyone else find it funny that Dan! has 2 posts XD. Too busy playing with his crayons!

I want to know about Ice!!!!!!

Haven't heard anything about him latley

Well lets see what I've been doing lately.

Work: This week I am working on a network/wiring restructure thingy in the office along with what I call the UPS project so that our developers don't lose work due to power outages. We get quite a few power outages for some reason. On the side of that its some other minor stuff like helping update the website/forums.

Home: Re-watching the entire Star Wars saga (on episode 5) and watching the Star Wars clone wars series on Netflix (finishing up season 2) while just building away in Minecraft. I just recently got back into Minecraft after almost a one year hiatus from it. I enjoy playing it as its quite relaxing to slowly build something from scratch on my own. Other free time is spent on imgur and reading massively along with some small web/php fun projects of mine.

One more thing, I hate to be picky. But the cog activation wheel (which looks awesome by the way) is off to the side of the gate, which would mean the player activating it wouldn't be able to see the gate's effect clearly, which in turn would deprive the player from the satisfaction of seeing the orkies impaled from the spikes.

By all means be picky it will help improve the game! To note on this specific situation we learned pretty early on to avoid these kinds of trap situations where players aren't viewing the destruction area directly. Sewers01 probably failed in this regard the worst, I can say that because I was the one that failed on that map XD, specifically the gas traps. But yes this isn't something you will see in our future maps, and your illustration is awesome!

I would love to here from the concept artist/s for this game, because though it isn't a full fledged MMO it's graphics and art are beautiful! I would love to hear some stories from them on how they came up with some things.

-Vys

This picture is amazing, and it's now my new desktop background. Thank you!

You're awesome, and no, thank you.

I agree the activation is off to the side. But this trap is able to be activated by being attacked[SUB]1[/SUB] So you can be wherever you want and slam that gate shut on the little minions. It is quite satisfying to get the timing right on that trap and destroy a pack of goblins. The water trap IS very fun to see and use, but takes a little less skill and timing to pull off as it is activated and throws enemies off over time. The gate trap actually came from another prototype that DID have it coming from the top and slamming down. But we wanted the player to be able to be on top of the gate bridge[SUB]2[/SUB] and have it still work.
May look into having them fly into the wall though... could be pretty visceral.

Like I mentioned in the previous post, traps are ever evolving and we are working to provide even better experiences and interactions with the map as a whole. Can't wait to show you what we have planned.

1. Well now I just feel silly. I wish I had known that before wasting your time. I hadn't realized that you could activate it from range, that actually sounds pretty cool. 2. It all makes sense now, thanks for taking the time to explain.

By all means be picky it will help improve the game! To note on this specific situation we learned pretty early on to avoid these kinds of trap situations where players aren't viewing the destruction area directly. Sewers01 probably failed in this regard the worst, I can say that because I was the one that failed on that map XD, specifically the gas traps. But yes this isn't something you will see in our future maps, and your illustration is awesome!

Such humility, I love it. Thanks for the info, and the compliment.

I would love to here from the concept artist/s for this game, because though it isn't a full fledged MMO it's graphics and art are beautiful! I would love to hear some stories from them on how they came up with some things.

-Vys

*clears throat*

I summon whoever is available to talk about the art involving the environments and levels! (is this EvilMrFrank?)

I only play a small part in the actual art of the environments at this point, will try and get some artists in on this one :)

I'm going to cheat:

I summon a 3D modeler to talk about how they take a piece of concept art and use it to create a model in the game!

We draw a concept and then we hit the "make 3D" button in Photoshop. Shortcut is Ctrl+3+D! :D

So how much time does it take to make static objects / characters / weapons(if you do those) ? How much time all together did it take to make all 4 characters?

Weapons in DD2 are interesting. You guys really havent seen a lot of them if you're in the council. But basically, youre looking at a production time of about a week for a good set of weapons. The concept phase usually goes through a bit of iteration to get the character and feel of the weapon. It must be approved by the CD's and FX guys before heading to modeling. Modeling is usually the quickest part, as a really good modeler can usually crank out at least 1 or 2 of them in a day. From there, any animations necessary are done and the model is imported into unreal.

After imported and the animations are hooked up by a technical artist, we have another technical artist setup the basic materials for the weapon. Things like how reflective, shiny, glowy, etc. We then make variations of the weapon material for elemental versions. For example, a lightning sword would have a lightning sword material version. Once all this is done, a VFX artist adds any idle VFX to the weapon if applicable, and then creates the elemental idle VFX components necessary for the elemental drops and ensures it looks good.

Once the FX and materials are all setup, we hook up the weapon archetypes which includes some basic weapon parameters. Base damage, swing speed, firing rate, etc. We also determine if the weapon has any special properties like dynamic glowy lights.

That process from start to finish usually takes like a week for a good batch of weapons.

i would like to try my hand at summoning as well. can i summon the person responsible for the AI of the waves. i would like to know if possible how you improved the AI from dd1 and also how long did you have to study programming to be a specialist in ai?

I have a question.... If two employees where to... let's say... dye their hair purple... What are the chances that one of them would rip down the partition for the urinal in the men's restroom?

Follow up questions... How much does the staff actually play their own game, outside of QA that is? Kind of like how many actors don't watch their own movies?

3rd question... what are your feelings on the most recent episode of GoT? Do you think they should have done the royal wedding so early in the season?

Second of all... will DunDef 2 have kewl easter eggs and unlockable non-game stuff, like the secret room in the Tavern?

To finalize my stream of consciousness onslaught and because I'm so smart... if you guys have a hub in this game (again like the tavern) you should make it customization. I want to be able to purchase "Skins" for my tavern. Like... have a space tavern that looks like the inside of the planet express ship... or a Beach Tavern that has me on a small island with a beach and a shack. The tavern was a great communal spot in the old game and even back on First and Second Wave. People would spend a lot of time arranging all their sweet loot on the floor to show it off. I want to take that a step further and really make that baby customizable.


"Dude, I PUGed into a game and the host had the Space Tavern!!! That's a legendary tavern... it costs like $15.00!!! It even had low gravity so you could jump around!!!" - Quote from user OgreBearLOVE from the year 2015 after the release of the Legendary Danford Space Tavern.

I don't feel qualified to answer the first question. :P

Follow up questions... How much does the staff actually play their own game, outside of QA that is? Kind of like how many actors don't watch their own movies?

Weekly, usually. We do an internal playtest on Fridays to get feedback on new maps, balance changes, and updates to the build. I think everyone really enjoys it, because despite how much we interact across departments, it's impossible to see what everyone is working on until you get a chance to sit down and play it.

[QUOTE]3rd question... what are your feelings on the most recent episode of GoT? Do you think they should have done the royal wedding so early in the season?[/QUOTE]

In the as-of-yet paraphrased words of Olenna Tyrell, it was a lovely wedding and money well spent.

And I'm glad it was done early. Frees up the typical episode 9 extravaganza for more of the joy and sunshine that we've come to expect from the series.

[QUOTE]Second of all... will DunDef 2 have kewl easter eggs and unlockable non-game stuff, like the secret room in the Tavern?[/QUOTE]

This and the next question are great ones for Blacksmith, I think! His summon sign is probably around here somewhere...

That OgreBearLOVE guy knows what's up, though.