HJ-Navarre
Cadet
What I would like to see [...] are races that are not "descended" from other races, e.g., togs/humans
I would like to see extremely different races/species so that the player has an increased opportunity to have a very different character.
The big problem with "extremely different" is that every time you introduce a radically new model, you are (potentially) doubling the work of your art team. This is why you don't (often) see games with radically different humanoid models, or quadrapeds, or amoebas. This is why in most games, the Dwarf species is usually just the Human model, scaled down.
That said, what we are currently experimenting with in HJ (and I say "experimenting" because we haven't yet totally tested it out, so it's up in the air as far as I'm concerned) are three major races (Ilvari, Human, Burian), and three half-breed races (Silvan, Dranaar, and Qwi). Silvan are Human-Ilvari, Dranaar are Burian-Human, and Qwi are Ilvari-Burian. In the case of the half-breeds, we are allowing the player to blend between extremes of the major races that "parented" them.
This is really an idea that is difficult to explain without graphics. Hopefully I can get those graphics to you sometime in the future.
Anyway, the reason we can do all this is because we have technology on our side. HeroEngine (that thing that we also work on, in addition to Hero's Journey) has morphing technology. The morphing does not just extend to the half-breeds -- we also wanted the major races to have three distinct body types that a player can slide between. The goal, as always, is to give players more customization in their character model. The spectrum we're playing with right now is a triangle that ranges from "burly" to "average" to "super model" (aka "zomg get her a sandwich plz").
But if you ever wonder why most games only have one model, and it's bipedal, there's a good reason: art resources, art resources, art resources. I'd be lying if I said we didn't at one point consider just going with Humans to make life easier on our art team. The prevailing emotion in the office, though, is that fantasy games should have a wide range of character races to choose from, and that's why we're striving toward at least six at launch.
Finally, we have revised much of our racial history in the last year. Togs, when you see them, will no longer be Human half-breeds. And that's as much as I can say for now.
Steph
HJ Lead Designer
------------------------------
6 races, 3 of which are half-breeds... and Togs.
No mention of Suwari, here. I guess we will have to wait and see.
I would like to see extremely different races/species so that the player has an increased opportunity to have a very different character.
The big problem with "extremely different" is that every time you introduce a radically new model, you are (potentially) doubling the work of your art team. This is why you don't (often) see games with radically different humanoid models, or quadrapeds, or amoebas. This is why in most games, the Dwarf species is usually just the Human model, scaled down.
That said, what we are currently experimenting with in HJ (and I say "experimenting" because we haven't yet totally tested it out, so it's up in the air as far as I'm concerned) are three major races (Ilvari, Human, Burian), and three half-breed races (Silvan, Dranaar, and Qwi). Silvan are Human-Ilvari, Dranaar are Burian-Human, and Qwi are Ilvari-Burian. In the case of the half-breeds, we are allowing the player to blend between extremes of the major races that "parented" them.
This is really an idea that is difficult to explain without graphics. Hopefully I can get those graphics to you sometime in the future.
Anyway, the reason we can do all this is because we have technology on our side. HeroEngine (that thing that we also work on, in addition to Hero's Journey) has morphing technology. The morphing does not just extend to the half-breeds -- we also wanted the major races to have three distinct body types that a player can slide between. The goal, as always, is to give players more customization in their character model. The spectrum we're playing with right now is a triangle that ranges from "burly" to "average" to "super model" (aka "zomg get her a sandwich plz").
But if you ever wonder why most games only have one model, and it's bipedal, there's a good reason: art resources, art resources, art resources. I'd be lying if I said we didn't at one point consider just going with Humans to make life easier on our art team. The prevailing emotion in the office, though, is that fantasy games should have a wide range of character races to choose from, and that's why we're striving toward at least six at launch.
Finally, we have revised much of our racial history in the last year. Togs, when you see them, will no longer be Human half-breeds. And that's as much as I can say for now.
Steph
HJ Lead Designer
------------------------------
6 races, 3 of which are half-breeds... and Togs.
No mention of Suwari, here. I guess we will have to wait and see.
