Warhorse Studios Weekly Torch

DrFusselpulli · January 5, 2018, 10:39am

Since 2014, David Sarkisjan has been working as an Animator here at Warhorse Studios. He was born in Bratislava, (in Slovakia) and moved to Prague in the Czech Republic.
Do you have any additional questions regarding him and/or his work? Just ask here!

1) How did you hear about Warhorse and when did you join?
I first heard about Warhorse shortly after it was founded. There are developers from Warhorse Studios who created one of my childhood favorites, Operation Flashpoint. Their intention was to recreate a historical setting unlike anything else. I was intrigued and I certainly hoped for the best.
A few years later and I was fresh out of Teesside University. I was madly in love with game development and therefore I reached out to someone who was in need of junior animators.
One day, I randomly thought of Warhorse and their recently announced game, KCD. It was about a week before the Kickstarter campaign. I asked about a job there and after a little test, I got in. I was lucky, to say the least!
Now I can’t just hope for the best anymore. I need to help trigger that sense of thrill I once experienced playing Operation Flashpoint.

2) What are some of your notable accomplishments?
Mentoring my girlfriend Henrieta into becoming a professional 3D artist is one for sure. It was a case of directing her efforts into the proper areas and she did the hard part by figuring out things on her own. My other notable accomplishments usually involve a lot of mistakes, but I do my best to learn from them.

3) Describe your position. What is it about being an Animator?
It’s about forgetting to eat your lunch. It’s about making your wrist scream of pain. It’s about frame-stepping. Being an animator is challenging and the technical work requires a lot of precision. You need to be methodical and figure out how to approach your tasks in order to maximize your output. I learned a great deal about that at Warhorse. When I sink my teeth into a scene and I become unaware of my surroundings, I know things are going well.
I fell in love with animation because I am very detail-oriented. I have always been fascinated by human behavior and how people act to express themselves. I consider appealing characters that mirror ourselves crucial to storytelling. Without other people to relate to, there is no consciousness and no self-reflection. Creating stories is a habit of ours that will never end until there are people out there who watch, listen and interact. Therefore, I believe my purpose is safe until the inevitable end.

4) What are you currently working on?
We motion capture animation in-house, which is a huge advantage for an ambitious studio of our size. It keeps animators busy because there is always something new in the pipeline.
I hop around to different tasks according to our department’s priorities. I am currently working on a spoiler-filled cutscene involving a Bond-like villain. I am also working on quest-related animations for NPCs and a few player-centered combat animations for people who enjoy stabbing people to death. I am looking forward to our ESRB rating. That is when I can come to the conclusion that I’ve made a video game.

5) What do you like the most about Kingdom Come: Deliverance?
Last time I played it for prolonged amount of time it was all about getting immersed in the world and its setting. Our artists recreated the world of Bohemia very well: its characters, nature, and atmospheres. I am proud of them. Our combat system is continually getting better. We listen to feedback and I believe we are doing something special there. It will make some people really happy. It will keep you engaged until you die. Do you know that our technical designer enjoys Dark Souls? Well, prepare to die.
The story is (REDACTED) or Dan Vavra will behead me.

6) What is the biggest challenge of game development?
I am still in awe of games like Heavy Rain, and yes, the now infamous No Man Sky. To be entirely honest, it is a real mystery how good a game will truly be when until it finally releases, especially when it is huge and as emergent as ours. Every developer has something to contribute and it takes time to see the whole picture and to see how the various pieces get to interact. The vision-holders have a much better idea of this.
What I actually like about game development is the very beginning of the cycle and the last push when you start seeing the end of the tunnel. It can get hard; developers need fuel to get there (you can’t burn out), but when the game is designed properly, it can be deeply satisfying.

7) How, when and with what game did you first get acquainted with videogames?
I think I was three. I don’t remember anything.

8) Are there any videogames you repeat playing over and over again?
I definitely remember playing a lot of Battlefield 2 - bunny-hopping uncontrollably in order to revive as many of my fellow clan members and strangers alike. It made me happy until I hit adulthood. At that point, I stopped spending 6+ hours playing video games and started being serious about my dental health. It is no joke folks. Go visit a dental hygienist!

9) What would a perfect game according to your wishes look like?
I am going to get serious here, a bit self-promotional and assert my opinion on this topic.
As an animator, I am naturally drawn to and deeply interested in the dramatic potential of videogames. I believe there is a lot of unexplored territories when it comes to storytelling in games when compared to other works of drama.
If you are interested in this topic as well, you can find a long opinion to what I find is the biggest challenge of interactive drama here.
It does not mean I don’t find competitive games compelling. I play Rocket League in an excessive manner and I am really looking forward to Battlefield 1.

10) What game have you been really looking forward to but turned out to be a total disappointment?
I will flip the question here and say something positive instead. I was recently surprised by Life is Strange. Most video games still fall flat when it comes to storytelling, mainly due to playtime standards of the industry and its rigid formatting Once in a while, there is a bright moment when an episodic game like Life is Strange comes out and shows us how it can be done differently.
I am glad there is an effort out there to push what I personally find so appealing about video games. However, with the growing trend of VR grabbing the attention of interactive storytellers, I fear this effort will lose some focus due to the technical challenges of VR development.
Anyway, I would love to play and develop more games like Life is Strange. It falls into that golden territory for indie developers. It was scaled to be more manageable and the formatting allowed for some interesting design choices.

11) Your favorite movie/book?
I am a sci-fi film addict, but I like when they have deeper themes and try to portray our future in a believable way. Blade Runner comes to mind as the one that comes closest to being a favorite of mine. I don’t think it’s the best movie in terms of fun, though. When it comes to fun and wonder, I seek out nostalgia-inducing films like Star Wars, The Matrix, Hook or Jurassic Park.
1984 is quite close to becoming too real for my liking. I think Kuba Holik already mentioned this also.

12) How do you relax after a hard day at work?
After a hard day, I come home hungry and tired. I eat and then fall asleep watching a TV show like Mr. Robot. It is full of twists and excellent editing, but after 40 minutes I am told that I snore like a 60-year-old baby.

13) Do you have a list of things you want to do before you die?
To die is an obvious one; should be number ten. I will keep others more ambitious, travel to Mars, going from last to first, have a therapy session with human-like AI and stop global warming.
I am really bad at this.

14) What’s your guilty pleasure?
Saying or doing something inappropriate and watching others react. It reveals character.

15) If you could say something to the fans of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, what would it be?
Thank you for your support! We are where we are due to your enthusiasm and financial backing. I am looking forward to seeing you play KCD, exploring both the good and the bad. What we are doing is all sorts of mad, so it will be intriguing watch for sure. See you in 2017.

If you have any question for David Sarkisjan and/or his work, just ask here!

DrFusselpulli · January 5, 2018, 10:40am

You had some questions and now we have the answers from David Sarkisjan:

I was involved in all of them when it comes to assembly. However, motion editing of the mocap animations was a team effort. It is rare for one person to take care of the entire creative process of cutscenes in a project like ours.

If you are looking for an exhilarating experience - play Journey on PS4.
If you are looking for tactical team play - play Rainbow Six Siege on PC.
If you are looking for a gloomy, but smart platformer - play Inside on Xbox One.

Have you seen Galaxy Quest?
You hit the mark with Gattaca. I love the soundtrack from that film and I listen to it every time I get reminded of it.

I would probably make the story more linear and less flexible/vulnerable to the player’s will. I’d edit it heavily with hard cuts and such. I am aware a lot of people enjoy exploring various branches which inspire multiple playthroughs, but not me. I play story-based games once and never come back.

Sure, we have ill people being taken care of on beds and injured soldiers walking around when they get hit and start bleeding. We don’t use health bars or any kind of artificial displays of injury for that reason. And yes, it is definitely a challenge to pretend the illness or injury when it comes to mocap.

In the Beta, you probably noticed that the faces are limited to lipsync, blinking, and change of eye direction. In the final game, this will definitely be expanded upon. Our character team is providing a lot of good material for that to happen.

Most animations are motion captured, but they have to be polished due to inaccuracies of the raw data, which occur during the capture. Then we get to retarget animations onto our character skeletons. Actors on the mocap stage differ from those that are animated in the game, when it comes to body proportions, arm length etc. Therefore, it is our job to make sure all the props are handled properly. And since we don’t capture finger motion, it needs to be hand-keyed entirely.
Another example of hand-keyed animation in the game are the animals: deer, rabbits, chickens, sheep.

For our cinematics, we indeed captured body and voice simultaneously. Otherwise, the acting performances would be compromised and feel less convincing overall. We did consider capturing the face as well, but we decided not to this time around for multiple reasons.

We check them in the editor using the Character Tools and we test their integration in small placeholder environments. For example, we have a special level just for the combat encounters. It involves a lot of cheats and debug options, which is very helpful when things don’t go as expected.

Picture a horse riding a human - one misclick while exporting animations…

Naughty Dog sets the bar pretty high. Overwatch takes a prize when it comes to non-realistic, stylized animation.

It would have to be our character lead, Jirka Bartonek. His skill set is amazing. I would most likely never get close to the skill set of the programming department.

The MotionBuilder.

DrFusselpulli · November 4, 2016, 8:15pm

Petr “Pepe” Pekař was born in Prag, Czech Republic and joined Warhorse Studios team a year ago in 2015. He is a Cinematic Designer and therefore his job is to create cutscenes for Kingdom Come Deliverance.
Do you have any additional questions regarding him and/or his work? Just ask here!

1) Where can we usually find you lurking around in the holy halls of Warhorse?
Crouching behind the monitor in one of the blindest spots in our studio. This spot allows me to stay focused on my tasks without much distraction. I can also pretend to work without worrying that someone will see my facebook account opened on my screen.

2) How did you hear about Warhorse? How/When did you join?
I believe it was in some pub. My friend told me about this super-realistic, historically accurate independent Czech game taking place in the Czech Kingdom during the medieval ages, which naturally caught my attention. When I started working in the gaming industry, I logically started to pay more attention to this project, gathering more information, discussing it with friends, wondering if it will be fun to work on such an original concept. Once I received an offer from Warhorse to work there as a cinematic designer (about a year ago), I was already decided.

3) Describe your position. What is it about being a cinematic designer?
As a cinematic designer, I´m creating cut scenes - short cinematic storytelling sequences. It´s a unique combination of filmmaking and game development. I´m applying my filmmaking knowledge and experience while working on the game engine - creating cinematic shots and editing them together to create a whole coherent scene and after that, implementing the scene into the game system. In some ways, it´s far more stressful than classical filmmaking, mainly because the process is a lot more fluid than a movie production. In comparison to film, there are no exact methods of creating cut scenes, mainly because every video game project has its own technological workflow. Within the project, you´re working on a platform that is constantly developing and changing and you must adapt to new conditions and procedures very frequently. However, the bright side is that you have almost unlimited options while
designing your scene. You can create almost every type of shot you want - crane shots, aerial shots, and complex dolly shots; shots that are very complicated and expensive in real life that can be achieved in a cut scene in few seconds. You can build a house, tear down a tree, add extras, create epic shots, battle scenes, huge crowds, various effects, and anything you need to create a dense or a cinematic scene that can be easily compared with a high-budget Hollywood blockbuster flick. Clearly there is a lot going on behind the desk. For me, this is one of the most interesting experiences of my whole career.

4) Did you ever work on Videogames before?
This is already my third video game project. I worked on Mafia III at 2K Czech with a similar position. Before that, I was gathering experience at a small Prague game development studio: About Fun, where I was working on a mobile game as a level designer.

5) Which job would you not want to do?
A Cook. I´m terrible at cooking - it´s boring, complicated and I hate the fact that the cooking itself takes a lot more time than the actual eating does. Also, I´m afraid that I would accidentally poison some consumers.

6) Please describe one of your colleagues or your department:
One colleague put a large tripod and some trash on my desk when I wasn´t in the office. So, another colleague displaced his monitors and spilled his salt all over his table in revenge. One colleague makes strange noises all the time, even though it is annoying. Another colleague has a really squeaky sneeze and one colleague acts like a dinosaur from time-to-time. The world is very strange.

7) Describe your usual day at the studio?
When you are editing, you really need a calm environment to work in. You need to pay attention to the scene pacing, you need to focus on a large amount of details such as an actor´s movement, the dialogue, the camera movement, and you need to experiment with the shots when trying to get the perfect montage. You need peace and quiet to feel the rhythm of the scene and go with it and you don´t stop until you get it right. Unfortunately, I work in an office mainly populated by the PR department. That means the type of people that are paid to talk. So, my usual day is to get up early, try to arrive in the office as soon as possible, so I have at least an hour of peace until the whole squad arrives. After that, I´m practicing self-control when trying to focus on minute scene details while ten people are having a loud conversation about the newly released video, misunderstood email, or what they will have for lunch. If my concentration fails, my main goal is to balance the music volume in my headphones so that it tunes out the office noise, while at the same time it doesn´t disturb me from focusing on the scene. I should be careful because when my music is too loud, I get scolded as it disturbs my dear colleagues from their work

8) What are you currently working on?
Right now we are in the finishing phase of editing cut scenes - creating a scene in an existing environment, adding motion capture performance of our actors, setting and scripting virtual cameras, and editing them together to create the entire scene.

9) What are some of your notable accomplishments?
I can´t speak as an individual because we are working as a small team, doing practically everything together. As a team, I believe that our greatest accomplishment is that we’ve processed a really large amount of cut scenes and we’ve invested a lot of creative energy into every single one of them. We want every cut scene to be entertaining, to have high-quality cinematics that will be (from the filmmaking perspective) superior to the better part of our competition. And so far, I believe we are pulling this off.

10) What do you like the most about Kingdom Come: Deliverance?
There are many things to like - graphics, environment, combat, story… but what I personally really enjoy is our artwork - beautiful loading screens, original GUI, a stylish game map with many details and interesting ideas, funny indication icons, and the wall paintings in the game interiors. Even the game logo or the company merchandise - it´s something that is not very common in the gaming industry and I really appreciate that we’ve made so much effort to make the game look even nicer than it already is.
Also, our female characters have bouncing boobs, which is nice.

11) What was your best/saddest/happiest, most touching video game moment?
I don´t recall a single moment, but I believe that I had the most emotional experience while playing the Mass Effect series. Even though the third entry was torn apart by the fans, I really enjoyed the whole trilogy, even the ending. I truly lived through every decision I made - I watched interplanetary conflicts in suspense, I was living and breathing with every character, I had fun watching their development through the game, and I enjoyed their stories until the bitter end. If we are talking about the most “touching” moment, it would be an eye-probing scene from Dead Space 2.

12) Which video game character or figure is the best?
Gordon Freeman. This guy never said a word and still, he´s one of the most interesting characters in gaming history.

13) Which video game character are you?
Sometimes I feel like Stanley from Stanley Parable. I blame the office work for that.

14) Are there any video games you repeat playing over and over again?
Super Hexagon.

15) How do you relax after a hard day at work?
It used to be gaming, but after two years of working in game development, I got a little sick of it. So now it’s mainly sporting - running, bike riding, climbing, everything that involves fresh air, calm nature or physical effort and doesn´t contain a computer screen.

16) Your favorite music/Spotify playlist
Everything in between Rammstein and Stellardrone.

17) Your favorite movie or book?
Regarding literature, I don´t have a favorite piece, but I do have a favorite genre - science fiction. That means I like almost everything from Clarke and Asimov, especially Rendezvous with Rama and The Foundation series. In regards to movies, my taste depends on my mood. Basically, I can enjoy everything from horror to social drama. What matters to me is fresh ideas, originality, and a character based story. What I love the most are the types of stories in which a man recognizes how pitiful his life has become, how all his dreams have become vague images of the past, and after all those years he decides to do something about it. Eventually, he finds out what his life is all about. Or, he dies, or something. So, if I had to choose, I would pick Waiter, Scarper, and American Beauty.

18) What species is your spirit animal?
A seal. Don´t know why, but it’s definitely a seal.

19) What’s your guilty pleasure?
90´s Hollywood action blockbusters

20) Is it possible to buy you with candy?
No, but it’s definitely possible with beer

21) What is your kryptonite?
Used to be women, now it´s just one woman.

22) Who is your favorite historic character?
Odysseus. He was one badass sailor, even without rum or an eyepatch.

23) Which is your favorite historic event?
The end of the Ice Age. If the Ice Age never ended, I probably wouldn’t be working in the video game industry at this moment.

24) You must fight in medieval times… who are you?
I´m not a fighter, so I probably would be operating a catapult or something. However, I would be sorry for the guys who are stationed at the castle walls, so I would probably miss on purpose, get fired and then spend the rest of my life singing, dancing, drinking and not waging war.

25) Knights or Samurai?
Witcher.

26) What was your favorite subject and what was your most hated subject at school? What were your grades in history?
I´m bad at memorizing stuff, so history was one of my least favorite subjects. Ironically, I was kind of a nerd, so my grades were great despite that. And despite being a nerd, my favorite subject was Physical Education.

27) If you could say something to the fans of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, what would it be?
Be patient. If everything goes as planned, the wait will be worth it.

Do you have any additional questions regarding Petr “Pepe” Pekař and/or his work? Just ask here!

DrFusselpulli · November 2, 2016, 3:00pm

[quote=“kaiman, post:70, topic:29619”]
What’s the purpose of cutscenes in KC:D from a game design perspective?[/quote]
The primary purpose of our cutscenes is storytelling. Kingdom Come Deliverence is a heavily story based game and some parts of the game are just better told in cinematics. First person gameplay can provide a unique experience, but with cutscenes you can better comprehend multiple actions happening simultaneously and you have more control over action and timing to better set the emotional tone to the player. Comedic situations, action sequences, battle scenes or sharp dialogue can work well in first person if they are well scripted (although it´s quite difficult in an open-world game) but will work perfectly in cutscenes with complete control over everything happening on screen. You are presenting images, information and emotion as you envision and thanks to that you can deliver a more sophisticated experience to the player.
Second purpose, which is less common is technical. Some things are just not possible in our game, or are too difficult to solve by script or AI. So sometimes the best solution is a cutscene. We can create unique animations, models, adjust cameras, or take control of the player for a while so the game can proceed without issues.

[quote=“kaiman, post:70, topic:29619”]
Will cutscenes be reasonably short?[/quote]
Reasonable length is a subjective term Some people enjoy a 10 minute long Tarantio-like dialogue and some don‘t even have patience to watch a 60 second youtube video. The length of our cutscenes depend on design requirements, information, actions or emotions that our designers intend to present to the player. Our job is to achieve these intents and make cutscenes to be entertaining at the same time.

[quote=“kaiman, post:70, topic:29619”]
Will cutscenes include actions of Henry not controlled by the player? I.e. conversation, etc.?[/quote]
Our cutscenes are not interactive, so Henry´s actions cannot be controlled by the player during the scene. As I wrote above, our game is heavily story based and cutscenes are a kind of foundation to this complex story. However that doesn´t mean you lose control of the direction of events. There are many options on how you can approach various problems leading to various outcomes and in some cases alternate cutscenes. Some approaches lead to certain custcenes and some to others, you will probably finish the game without seeing too many cutscenes only because you didn´t explore every option that the game gave you.

[quote=“kaiman, post:70, topic:29619”]
Will I be able to pause inmidst a cutscene, if important matters (read: my wife) call me away from the PC?[/quote]
Pause option during cutscenes is one of the feature that we would like to have in the game and we´re working on implementing it.

DrFusselpulli · November 5, 2016, 7:57am

Josef “Pepa” Vítek was born in Prague, Czech Republic and joined Warhorse Studios team in the beginning of this year, in march 2016. He is a Marketing Manager and therefore his job is to take care of the merchandise, physical items, design adaptation, event organisation and print products.
Do you have any additional questions regarding him and/or his work? Just ask here!

1) How did you hear about Warhorse? How/When did you join?
I’ve always been a gamer and a fan of the industry so I knew a bit about Warhorse Studios before I started working here in early 2016. In late 2015, I was introduced to Tobi, our PR manager, in a pub by mutual friends. Half a year later, I decided to apply for the job, went to the interview a few days later and voilà, here I am. And I haven´t regretted this great experience ever since.

2) Describe your position. What is it about being a Marketing Manager?
Being a Marketing Manager at Warhorse is pretty much a universal job and it includes many different, yet cool responsibilities. I cooperate closely with my PR and my production colleagues to plan and implement various communication campaigns to let the world know about our game. I’ve gotten to participate in the production of design materials and advertisements, in cooperation with our creative and artwork team. We design and manage our trade fair exhibitions, conferences and other events, including a few interesting medieval festivities quite frequently. The job also involves the production of the physical content of the game’s special editions, as well as the backer rewards which include hand-made swords, production of merchandise, etc. Working here at Warhorse Studios is a wild ride with many little obstacles on the road, but also with many cool and enjoyable moments on the way to our goal next year.

3) Have you ever work on Videogames before? What have you worked on previously?
Until earlier this year, I had been involved in the advertising field for nearly 15 years, typically working as an account manager on a variety of advertising or communication campaigns for different clients. I’ve always preferred an environment rich with different open-minded personalities and creative ideas. This is what I see with our game studio. Among other things, both an advertising agency and a game studio have to work with design, production, and online marketing campaigns.

4) What are you currently working on?
I´m getting ready for the Game Developers Session conference (You can see the pictures about it here) and I have to prepare for our presentation.

5) What do you like the most about Kingdom Come: Deliverance?
Regarding KC:D, I really like the historical accuracy we strive for. I feel our game could prove that a RPG game doesn’t have to involve any fantasy or sci-fi elements to be a thrilling adventure, especially if you have such an inventive game design team like we have. My personal favorite part in any open world RPG is the discovery/adventure and our game will be full of it. As a Warhorsian, I am proud of our entire team. They are all working hard on their tasks to put the project together in the best possible way. I feel the people here work with their hearts which is the best possible motivation for any such project.

6) How, when and with what game did you first get acquainted with videogames?
My first gaming computer was an old Atari back in the mid 80´s (when I was a kid). Back then my favorite titles were probably either Lode Runner or River Raid - games with simple controls but engaging in quick decisions. But the real gaming for me started with the early 90´s PC games (although I dreamt of Amiga back then).

7) Which class, gender, or type do you usually pick?
I usually pick a very average human male knight with neutral attitude. But sooner or later in the games, I may regret that straightforward decision, finding out that more specialized characters have better survivability. Either way, I still make the same choice every time. That’s why I like our main character Henry, an ordinary guy headed for a great adventure.

8) Which videogame character are you?
That would probably be either Nathan Drake from the Uncharted series or Gordon Freeman from Half-Life. Yes, I´m talking to you, Valve!

9) Your favorite music playlist
I listen to many genres, but it depends on my mood. My favorites this month are Nick Cave or Leonard Cohen´s latest pleasantly darker albums. On the other hand, during the office hours I’ve enjoyed the new albums from Tycho or Warpaint for background music. This year’s overall favorite of mine was the last album from David Bowie – Blackstar. Rest in peace, David. Anyways, I´m always seeking new music - it’s my life-long hobby.

10) Your favorite books or movies?
I´m a fan of science fiction, but I feel like this last decade, unfortunately, belongs only to Marvel and DC (please don’t tell my wife). I miss the action heroes of the 80´s and the “R-rated” sci-fi movies as well. I think the 80´s movies had just about the best soundtracks of all time. From the technical point of view, I admire how filmmakers had to deal with many technical difficulties and yet still had to be inventive even when there was no CGI back then. Among many others, my favorites are James Cameron´s Aliens and Ridley Scott´s Blade Runner (wish there were movies like these every month). Regarding books, I´ve always been a fan of Phillip K. Dick.

11) How do you like living in the Czech Republic?
I love my homeland! We’ve got the best beer, tasty cuisine, beautiful women, a pretty countryside and so many medieval castles like nowhere else. On the other hand, what I don´t like here is an excessive state bureaucracy that suffocates both companies and citizens alike. But if can live with that, this country is just great.

12) If you could say something to the fans of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, what would it be?
First of all, many thanks to all of you supporting our game. The project wouldn’t have been possible without your support. We hope to deliver a great game next year for all of you to enjoy, whether if you’re a fan of medieval times or if you’re simply an RPG lover like myself. And don´t forget to kill more monsters to get cool loot!

Do you have any additional questions to Josef “Pepa” Vítek? Just ask here!

DrFusselpulli · November 9, 2016, 2:06pm

We are about to present new cool merchandise (especially wearables) in our shop in a couple of weeks and hope for all of you to get excited with our new goodies. Please stand by for an announcement via upcoming newsletter.

Though we wish to have these real cool items, items like real hand weapons are in many countries considered dangerous though serving only as a decoration and might require special legal conditions to be sold along other rather standard merchandise. On the other hand, Henry´s hand-forged swords are on the list to our high-tier backers and are being made in our local armories by some of the best blacksmiths around.

We are considering some of the items to be added to the merchandise shop but it will be decided during next year, before the release.

Another contest for our prizes will be announced the upcoming weeks for sure.

This information is still not known yet and will be officially announced during the first half of 2017.

We are working on it and you will like it. Stay tuned to our newsletter

And here are more impressions from GDS on the weekend here in Prague:

DrFusselpulli · May 12, 2017, 5:20pm

Gabrielle “Brie” Adams was born in Tacoma/WA in the USA. She joined Warhorse Studios shortly after Kickstarter in 2014. Working on Bethesdas Skyrim and Fallout4 previously, she moved to Czech Republic to work on Kingdom Come Deliverance as an Environment Artist.
Do you have any additional questions regarding her and/or her work? Please ask here!
You can find a Spanish translation of this interview here.

1) How did you hear about Warhorse? How did you join?
I have been in the industry for quite a while and after moving around and working for big studios I really started to dream of what it would be like to work in a smaller startup situation. I thought there would be more potential to grow as an artist and grow with a team. One night I was searching the internet for studios in Europe and just checking out new projects when I came across Warhorse studios and KCD. The game looked like something I would really be interested in playing and it was so beautiful graphically. So on a whim I sent in my resume and portfolio and was really shocked to get such a quick response! It can be a really long wait to hear back when applying in this field… anyway I was stoked. Only this was before the kickstarter and the studio was in limbo, it was a white knuckle ride watching for news on the very fate of this great looking game. In the end it was a long wait but everything worked out. I am here and very lucky to be so.

2) Describe your position. What is it about being a Environment Artist?
I am an environment artist so I focus on the art which fills the world. I make 3D models of props, furniture, nature features, animals, etc and also sculpt paint and fill the forests and terrain so that the player has a vibrant setting to explore.

3) What is your favorite team activity?
I guess it’s a common answer but the beer activities are really fun. My most favorite is when we go to Letna park in the warm months it has a beer garden with a very beautiful view of Prague. It’s also neat when they rent this medieval fortress for a weekend. I never really dreamed you could have a team building in a legit historical setting which also fits so well with the project. It’s very nice that our company sets up such cool events for us.

4) What are some of your notable accomplishments?
I became fairly notorious for making death stuff… such as meat, dead animals, burned animals, burned people. You know the usual.

5) Most of your colleagues are male, how do you feel working at Warhorse Studios as a female?
When I went to video game school I was the only girl in my class. Looking around warhorse you can clearly see time are changing and there are quite a lot of us here. However I personally don’t put much importance in myself being a female game dev it’s your skill and what you can bring to the project which should matter the most.

6) What are you working on right now?
Currently we are going through an optimization phase. I am making LODs (level of detail) of objects which reduce the poly count of the model the further away the player gets from it. So basically when you stand next to a building you see its LOD0 and it can have as much geometry/polys as it needs to look it’s best. However as you get farther away the detail is not as apparent and you can start sacrificing some of the geometry and the building will switch to LOD1 then LOD2 and so on. So I am building the secondary LODs right now by taking LOD0 and reducing it’s poly count while still making sure it matches the original as best it can depending from how far away you are viewing it. Sacrificing onscreen geometry really helps with performance and is crucial to a good frame rate.

7) You worked at Bethesda before, was it very different compared to working at Warhorse Studios now?
Quite different! And for many reason so I’ll just say, Bethesda was a much bigger established company and they had a streamlined tried and true process. I have huge respect for the team there and how they manage to get these massive, unique and fun games out and on time.
I see us still experimenting with our pipeline and planning so it can feel a little chaotic at times but also understandable in a fledgling studio. We are getting the hang of it though.
For these reasons my day to day tasks differed. While still looking at the same 3D programs and similar enough engines at Bethesda I felt more locked down to certain aspects and tasks within which while important for organization and a smooth pipeline it was easier to feel burned out on repetition.
I really prefer the freedom and variety I get with the smaller scale operation at Warhorse. It’s really great to have a job where you look forward to coming in to work every day and not always knowing what to expect.
Something they both have in common is both studios produce games I really would want to play on my own. Before getting a job at Bethesda I thought fallout 3 was the best game ever and would be a dream to work on a project like that (we were producing skyrim when I started working there). I felt the same draw when I first saw Kingdome Come Deliverance. Where I knew what I was looking at was something special and not just a run of the mill cookie cutter title. I have a real feeling that KCD can be just as significant.
So I am super lucky to get to work on these dream projects!

8) How, when and with what game did you first get acquainted with videogames?
I am old. I was there from the early days and have fond memories of sneaking into my big brothers room to play Super Mario Bros. (when it was still new) then hiding somewhere if my parents came in because it was past my bedtime. I also remember getting the Legend of Zelda gold cartridge edition for Christmas the year it came out!

9) What was your best, saddest, happiest or most touching video game moment?
I’m just going to pretend scariest is an option. I still search for a gaming experience to deliver the kind of fear I felt while playing the first Resident Evil. I see screenshots from it now and can’t believe how much those spooky pixels gave me nightmares.

10) Which class, gender, or type do you usually pick?
Usually makes no difference as long as I can give them a stupid name and laugh when npcs have to say it or when I see it written somewhere.

11) Are there any videogames you repeat playing over and over again?
Nothing really single player except for the time I replayed Fable just to see how it felt massacring an entire village. It felt pretty good but when I play seriously I am usually a very nice non murdery person.

12) What species is your spirit animal?
I had to fire my spirit animal when I learned he was not an iguana but a reptilian overlord from the hollow earth. Now it’s Britney Spears. Oh deer…

13) Your favorite music playlist?
Currently anything that makes me feel alone in a cold, dead, winter forest. I love atmospheric black metal this time of year!

14) Is it possible to buy you with candy?
Uuhhhhhhhh pass. that sounds like an offer you would hear whispered from the tinted window of a suspicious looking white van.

What about Bittner Schokolade?

15) Your travel tip?
It takes one day to recover for every time zone you cross in the airplane. It really kicked my ass this summer when I went home to Seattle to visit.

16) How do you like living in the Czech Republic?
I really love it here. I am achieving life goals and living more these last three years than I have in the past decade. I always wanted to be able to walk to work and now I do through a tunnel every day! I can walk down the street sipping a cocktail and nobody cares, I don’t have to wear shoes at work, there are so many castles and I will never have the time to see them all, I can see my favorite music bands and not have my heart broken that they have been denied US visas yet again! I can live in the middle of the city without going broke… never deal with traffic. The list doesn’t really end.

17) What do you miss most about America?
Probably the interesting food options. Like stuffed crust pizza or bloody marys that have bacon in them…. yeah I miss how we put bacon in everything actually. The “bacon” here isn’t really bacon at all. Oh and pharmacies you can just walk into at all hours and find what you want on the shelf. Here everything is behind the counter and you have to ask another human for whatever you want. Even the most basic stuff like eyedrops.

18) Which is your favorite historic event?
During WWI the German army bombarded the Russian defenders of the Osowiec fortress with poison gas until they thought everyone was surely dead. When they moved in they saw the gas had taken it’s toll and the Russians were soaked in blood from coughing it out of their damaged lungs… yet they were still alive and ready to defend! The shock of the gruesome scene was enough to frighten the Germans into retreat losing the battle that day. And it was later referred to as “the attack of the dead men”. I don’t know if it’s my favorite event but it is pretty badass and it was all I could think about this moment.

19) If you could say something to the fans of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, what would it be?
Hi thanks for reading through another one of these. I actually think it’s pretty neat we get to do this and share some stuff with our community. And a big thank you for all your support! CHEERS!

Do you have any additional questions to Gabrielle “Brie” Adams? Just ask here!

DrFusselpulli · November 16, 2016, 1:04pm

And here are Brie´s answers to your community questions:

Thank you very much I appreciate the compliments.

The average number of lods switch from L0D0 to LOD2 and for bigger objects and vegetation they get an uber lod which is the lowest resolution possible both in geometry and texture size. I don’t think we would add more LODs for console version but we might tweak the distances in which they switch between each other for optimization instead.

It’s a town bell used to warn or alert villagers… think of it like an old timey fire alarm.

The trophies are mostly noble house/castle decorations. However there will definitely be hunt-able critters for the player too.

Haha that’s true. But it’s OK I can make one acceptation and continue to enjoy this game..

Honestly I have had no console/ computer to be able to play anything in the last few years . But I built one recently and I am most looking forward to playing Battlefield 1.

Yes the Zizkov Tunel! and thank you for the true facts! I guess I never knew it’s function or where those mystery doors go… I always thought it was a bomb shelter. O_O

Not all of them. Only the furthest LODs will get a new texture if necessary. And this is mostly to consolidate a material that could be using many textures into just one.

I have been using NDO and DDO for a long time. I would love to be better with substance painter because from what I’ve seen it’s a useful and brilliant program.

I think bacon should look like this and most important is it should be crispy!

it can get difficult especially as I’ve gotten older. I try to work on personal projects as much as I can in my free time and while it is fun when I get into it, it’s sometimes hard to get started. So I like to collect images and inspirations in a folder so if I’m ever having a mental block I can look through it and get excited to make something new. Probably not the most profound advice but it really works for me.

Haha I feel like I really need to get caught up in just the current technology. I answered another question about Substance Designer and although it’s been around for a while I still need to get my hands dirty and use it.

We used very little… I can only think of maybe 2 tree stumps using this method. Which I think is a good thing. Even with a realistic game like KCD it is really nice to see the human touch in our graphics. And for this reason I hope photogrammetry doesn’t totally take over in the future.

I can’t give an exact amount but it will help a lot. We have already gotten it much higher and are on the right path to getting a nice running (and looking) game.

DrFusselpulli · July 19, 2017, 11:07am

Petr “Baz” Ondráček was born in the Czech Republic, where he studied mathematics at Charles University. He formally worked at Bohemia Interactive on ArmA III. He later joined Warhorse Studios very early in summer 2013 (before the launch of the Kickstarter campaign). As a Senior Technical Designer, he is responsible for many parts of the game’s mechanics. He is also a scripter who implements these said parts into the game.
Do you have any additional questions to Petr “Baz” Ondráček? Just ask here!
You can find a Spanish translation of this interview here.

1) How did you hear about Warhorse? How/When did you join?
In 2012, I heard about Kingdom Come: Deliverance from an archer on a medieval market at castle Rábí. Like me, he was a history enthusiast and he read about the game in an interview with Dan (Vávra). I was working on Arma III at Bohemia Interactive in Brno at that time. I needed to move due to family matters back to Prague a year later and I was looking for a job in the industry here. Warhorse studios had an opening so I joined. It was in July 2013; we had only 25 people on the team and we weren’t quite sure if we’d ever make it to some publisher with our game, lest we shut down.

2) Describe your usual day at the Studio.
I am a technical designer and a scripter, so the usual day is partly asking around the departments for the technology and assets that are necessary for some game mechanics to work. Most of the game mechanics are already designed, however, some cases haven’t been solved yet or even discussed. The point of a good technical design is to use all that is already done and to limit what still needs to be created. Then I script the game mechanisms, quests, and assets and piece them all together into the game. Usually, this is done several times over and over and can be a quite painful and frustrating process.

3) What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on the beginning of the main quest as well as the first location where the player will visit. You meet many important characters that will reappear throughout the rest of the game. It is quite action-packed and the player is introduced to lots of game mechanics here such as lock picking, combat, negotiations, shopping, sneaking, etc. So there will be those annoying tutorials that everyone tends to skip through. I am working on solving a couple of design problems in order to have the game flow as smooth as possible.

4) What are some of your notable accomplishments?
I did a lot of prototypes in the beginning of the development and all were nearly abandoned. In time, it moved us toward the final solution that is in the game. I see my footprints in many systems (the dialog system, combat system, day cycle of an NPC system, LOD system, quest system). Moreover, I was taking part in creating our AI scripting language together with our AI department. I think my greatest accomplishment is that all of the mentioned systems are working and being used in the script. We were able to make them work and usable by constantly finding and reporting bugs to the programmers. I have a reputation for being a relentless designer who does not stop until the issue are solved satisfactorily (hence the nick Bazilisk).

5) What do you like the most about Kingdom Come: Deliverance?
It’s a chance to create a new first-person RPG franchise. It’s exciting to be able to create a new non-magical universe, based on historical accuracy and having the potential to expand it. I’m also a fan of role-playing games, so I would like our game to be different depending on how you decide to play it. Last but not least, I like open-world games such as Skyrim or Fallout 4.

6) How, when and with what platform or game did you first get acquainted with videogames?
I am a geek from the previous century, so I started playing videogames on the Atari Amiga 500. Games like Turrican, Eye of the Beholder, Settlers, Ambermoon - that was on Amiga 1000 of my friend, a 10 floppies RPG (!). Then I got my first PC (or I took it from my father) and I played Civilization I when he wasn’t watching. Those were the days…

7) Which videogame character or figure is the best?
In my opinion, it is Gordon Freeman (from Half-Life) because the character development during the game(s) were so well-written and believable. Now that I think about it, it may be because he was always silent in those games, so he didn’t spoil the player’s imagination.

8) Which class or type do you usually pick?
I almost always play wizards if such a class is available. I guess it’s because I usually have more fun paralyzing, mind-controlling or obfuscating monsters rather than hacking them with my razor-sharp-sword™. So I like games with a big palette of spells. Ironically enough, I am working on a game without magic…

9) Which videogame character are you?
I was helping in the development of our 3D face scanner and they made a prototype model of my face. It is known in the Beta as Reeky. I did not record the dubbing, however. So it is not me acting, which is a shame (I am a splendid amateur actor). As one of the devs in control of the database, I can easily turn Henry (our main character) into my face, just in time for the day of the release! Mwahahaha!

10) Most hilarious bug you have ever encountered or worst video game experience?
To my knowledge, many funny bugs have something to do with physics. The virtual world simulated by the engine, of course, has some simplifications over the real world. Otherwise, it would be impossible to calculate. One time, for example, we had huge objects in the game. They were wash tubs that the characters pour water into, in the morning. Somebody updated the engine’s physics and suddenly those wash tubs started to fly away like autumn leaves. It turned out they had the wrong weight set in the database: the engine update started to calculate the density of an object by the known formula p=m/V (where volume V was measured from the bounding box of the object and we set the incorrect weight m of all database objects to 1 kg). So it calculated that the water tub is less dense than air, so it should drift in the wind. The calculated trajectory of water tubs blown by the wind and flying in the village was impressive. They even rotated when they hit chimneys…

11) How do you relax after a hard day at work?
I am playing table tennis in an amateur league and I also act in a theater which I recently also helped directing. It is essential to me to clear my head, so I choose not to work at home. Rather, I play pen and paper RPG’s out of my own rule book. There is a catch to being a developer: once you work every day on a single game, other (similar) games are not as appealing as they once were. Either you don’t play them for very long or you look at the other game as a “competitor.” What did they do differently than us? How does their “dialog system” work? These are just a couple of reasons why I’m still searching my stronghold’s first basement in Pillars of Eternity.

12) Your favorite movie?
The Life of Brian – for the absurd humor that goes with it. Then there’s 1984 – for the ever actual general traits of totality that are described there. I have many favorite historical films (or fictions) such as Seventh Seal or a Czech film Hammer on Witches.

13) Is it possible to buy you with candy?
Oh yes and everyone is very aware of this. However, I don’t like sweets. I understand “candy” more as a metaphor.

14) What is your kryptonite?
Women. That is why I am in computer games, you see?

15) If you could say something to the fans of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, what would it be?
Continue to stay as positive as you are and hang in there, we’re almost finished! We thank you for your feedback. It is very encouraging to know somebody out there is caring about the work we do!

Do you have any additional questions to Petr “Baz” Ondráček? Just ask here!

DrFusselpulli · December 2, 2016, 5:29pm

And here are the answers to your community questions with additional pictures:

[quote=“iamidea, post:81, topic:29619”]
How much you are proud of the AI system in KCD?[/quote]
We have managed to develop the AI system into a full programming language. That is great not just as a proof of concept, but as a way to perceive and manage a world within a world: i.e. how to model information about the world the NPC is living in for the AI entity without cheating (the internal look from the AI system to the data in, say, the simulation system). We decided not to cheat in many fundamental ways previously not modelled. Such as our line of sight, for example. The AI really does not see things it should not (because it is around a corner) despite the fact that all information about surrounding objects is in the system somewhere for a different purpose. The player can use this to his advantage and we are happy if he does. You have surely come across games in which artificial intelligence was replaced by peeks into systems the NPC should not know about logically. Therefore, we voluntarily have the infamous bucket problem in our game (in original TES: Skyrim one can place a bucket over the head of a shopkeeper to prevent him/her seeing a theft from them - which we mitigate by not having a bucket interactive object). In all I am proud of it and looking forward to using it’s full potential in KCD and subsequent titles.

[quote=“iamidea, post:81, topic:29619”]
As a Senior Technical Designer, do people come to you for solving the technical issues or do you task others to solve problems diagnosed by you? Which one happens most?[/quote]
At this late stage of development it is more the case that some (many) details and corner-cases of existing design are re-discussed or re-worked. Mostly it is a combination of some programming work (always code is faster than any script), some script changes and sometimes changes in assets. So the technical issues come often from some reported bugs that are discovered in the game. The bug report is assigned to the designer of the quest (or game mechanics), which opens up some Pandora’s box, can of worms or whatnot, and then the cycle of meetings and feature assignments is at hand.

[quote=“iamidea, post:81, topic:29619”]
Are there cutscenes in side quests?[/quote]
Yes, they are. Since the side quests are designed more to “do at free will in random order” the amount of cutscenes is limited. The player can potentially kill many of the protagonists of these cutscenes before the quest starts and we could not for those cases prepare too many alternative cutscenes.

[quote=“iamidea, post:81, topic:29619”]
For this year, if you are given a chance, which game will you award for the Best Technical Design?[/quote]
I was looking for some interesting battle systems lately among turn-based games and in my opinion the best one appeared in Thea: The Awakening. I also like a lot the more recent Darkest Dungeon, although I am still not sure if it is genuine game design or insane “conquer a random game” design. Last but not least, I am glad how well Darkest Souls III went.

Nope, none

[quote=“Blacksmith, post:80, topic:29619”]
Can you explain the schematic in this picture a little?[/quote]

What you see there is our AI system scripting tool. In the central panel you see what we call “Nodes“ or “Boxes“. Those are essentially functions written in code that are “black boxes“ for script and we use them as primary building blocks of the script. They have some input values (parameters, variables) and several states: they can be passive (gray), running (blue), done successfully (green) or failed (red). Once we run the game these nodes change color as the code is executed and we can see what part of logic is processed in the brain of each NPC at any time. We can add breakpoints and stop the simulation to see what has happened. The tree structure of the nodes is an important limitation: every node has a unique parent node up to the root node, that is in the left most part of the panel. The behavior of each node is documented in our (as yet) internal perfect ™ documentation. Another important part is our link system (pic3). We have extended Crytech entity links to carry variables on the edges and we model by that a network of information and relations between objects. For example, the selected object on the screen (so-called smart object) is a quest object that is linked to every other object that is affected by the quest (be they the NPCs in the quest, items, special places, tagpoints or areas etc.). No other information about the world is needed inside the “brain“ of this object. We have nodes to query this linkage such as “give me the nearest tagpoint“ for my guard watch. It is a very powerful tool.

[quote=“Blacksmith, post:80, topic:29619”]
Is there anything, you wanted to have it in the game, but it was not possible? Something that make “competitors” better (like children)?[/quote]
Yes, there is. But there is a chance it will make it to some DLC or sequel, so I am not telling. All the great games are to be learnt from, Witcher 3 is my personal exemplar for super story-telling.

[quote=“Blacksmith, post:80, topic:29619”]
Fighting is not the best way to solve a problem/game (for me). Is it possible to finish KCD without killing an NPC?[/quote]
I am afraid there won’t be a chance not to kill any NPCs during the entire game. Some deaths push forward the story. But it is true that the number of kills player must do is very limited (you can usually make others do the dirty work). Hmm, maybe it would be a good achievement to kill only those NPCs.

Thanks

DrFusselpulli · July 19, 2017, 11:50am

Václav Prchlík was born in Tábor in the south of Czech Republic and joined Warhorse Studios in January 2015. He formally worked as a QA member, where they are producing all the bugs for the development team, but then he switched to the position of a Video Editor.
Václav has a strange talent of immitating a T-Rex, which is quite fun to watch.
Do you have any additional questions to Václav Prchlík? Just ask here!
You can find a Spanish translation of this interview here.

1) Describe your usual day at the studio?
Firstly, I would like to say that these answers are dedicated to (the lady) Dáša of Milíčov.
After breakfast, I turn on CryENGINE and start working on the production of shots from the game, which will later be used in our videos that we publish on our Youtube channel, social networks etc., or which are presented at various conferences and exhibitions. Occasionally someone comes up with the need to make a screenshot of the game (such as the character holding a torch on the cover of our weekly Torch header), or similar design data. Between tasks I go for lunch, have a coffee or chat in the office.

2) What are you currently working on?
Currently I am working on materials for our next video. I don’t want to reveal more, it will be a very interesting video… hopefully!

3) What are some of your notable accomplishments?
Because I am member of the marketing team I don´t participate directly in development, but to give an example, I acted as a little sidekick producing one of the cutscenes for the final game and the Beta Trailer. For example, I made one cutscene, which you will see in the final game, shots for beta trailer etc.

4) What do you like the most about Kingdom Come: Deliverance?
Leaving aside the visual aspect of the game, which is really beautiful, I can’t ignore such a great living world. For example, I refuse to help an NPC who wants to kill someone, but that NPC just goes and kills him without my help, and I can join him later or watch the victims die. Apart from that, there’s our Combat system - if you don’t hate our Combat system after a few minutes, you’ll start loving it.

5) How, when and with what platform or game did you first get acquainted with videogames?
I think it was Christmas 1998, me and my sister got our first PC with Windows 98 - a Pentium II 233Mhz and 32MB RAM, which in those days was quite a good computer. I also got two great games from EA SPORTS - FIFA and NHL 98. When I scored my first goal in NHL after about a month of playing, I ran and screamed around the apartment. Regarding FIFA I got to learn the proper gameplay after a longer time because I wasn´t aware I had to press the right arrow on my keyboard to control my team. I remember that several times I just watched the full 90-minute regular gameplay with just the AI on. I remember watching how AI played against AI for 90 minutes several times.

6) Which videogame character are you?
I’d like to be Max Payne or Jack O’Hara, but Artyom from Dmitry Glukhovsky’s Metro series fits me better.

7) What was your best/saddest/happiest/most touching video game moment?
OK, let me describe what was for me probably the saddest moment in my gaming “career”. I was playing FIFA Manager 07 for (our local team) Slavia Praha. It was a play-off match of the Champions League, I was playing against Arsenal and lost 1: 2. I saved the game before the rematch, but of course I lost this match and even though I replayed it with various tactics and players at least 100 times, I never won it.

8) Who is your favorite historical character?
Karel Kryl (a famous poet, singer, and a dissident during the communist era) and my grandfather’s uncle Colonel General Václav Prchlík who, after the year 1968 (the Soviet military invasion of Czechoslovakia) stated that the Soviet troops should leave, which got him arrested and demoted to the rank of Private.

9) Which is your favorite historical event?
The WW2 covert mission to assassinate the Schutzstaffel-Obergruppenführer and General der Polizei, Reinhard Heydrich, in 1942 (he was the no. 2 in Hitler’s 3rd Reich during the war).

10) Which class, gender, or type do you usually pick?
I usually pick a character with whom I can identify and I try to be honest and honor a kind of demi-god or Mirek Dušín.

11) Your favorite music playlist
It is not easy to decide but let me try to summarize it. I will not name any artists, because I would definitely forget some great ones and then I would be sad. There is nothing better than listening to a record, lighting a cigarette and having a drink. The Rolling Stone magazine once released a track list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All time, about 90% of which I concur with.

12) Your favorite movie?
I have got a lot of favorite movies, but once a year I watch the series “Chalupáři” (Cottagers) and that always amuses me.

13) Sport is…
a beautiful thing.

14) Please describe one of your colleagues or your department:
A kind punk-rocker who is afraid each day of receiving a phone call from Jirka.

15) Imagine you are a cake, what kind of cake are you and why?
Probably the saltiest one, because a colleague licked me several times in the pub and told me that I was very salty.

16) Do you have a Bucket List?
I don’t have one and I don’t plan to.

17) If you could say something to the fans of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, what would it be?
Thanks for your support, without you everything would be more difficult.

Do you have any additional questions to Václav Prchlík? Please ask here!

WH_JiriRydl · November 29, 2016, 8:10pm

This topic is no longer a banner. It will no longer appear at the top of every page.

WH_JiriRydl · November 29, 2016, 9:16pm

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DrFusselpulli · December 3, 2016, 8:16pm

[quote=“iamidea, post:88, topic:29619”]
Any plans to release CG or live action trailer for marketing purposes just like in other games viz witcher?[/quote]
We have a lot of plans

[quote=“iamidea, post:88, topic:29619”]
Did you do the Alpha teaser video?[/quote]
No, I was hired after that.

[quote=“iamidea, post:88, topic:29619”]
Do you have any plan to release bugs compilation videos?[/quote]
Good Idea, I will think about it.

One of my favorite is for example 3years old Wolfenstein: The New Order – E3 Trailer
Probably Mafia III - Worldwide Reveal Trailer, because i love Jimmy Hendrix which is singing All Along The Watchtower in this trailer but this song is written by one of my favorite person Robert Zimmerman.

Yes, here is this nice ingame screenshot you could use, especially for you

no, only T-Rex

DrFusselpulli · July 19, 2017, 12:24pm

Prokop “Proky” Filcík was born in Prague, the capital of Czech Republic and joined Warhorse Studios in 1st of April 2016, but this was no joke. Formely an enthusiastic community member now a loyal bug hunter! Beeing Part of the QA-Team, he is reviewing the latest builds of Kingdom Come Deliverance and constantly on the go between different departments to assign the spotted bugs (when he is not on the hunt for Him-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named).
Do you have any additional questions to Prokop “Proky” Filcík? Just ask here!
You can find a Spanish translation of this interview here.

1) Where can we usually find you lurking in the holy halls of Warhorse?
My workplace of course. It was previously called “cinema” because it was a big space in the hallway with projector. Well… now it 's the QA department.

2) How did you hear about Warhorse?
I first heard about the game on Facebook from a local game magazine that published a video from “new Czech historical game”. It was sometime before the Kickstarter campaign.
When Warhorse showed up on Kickstarter, I immediately backed it (I think I was among the first hundred backers)
I joined the studio this year (2016) on April 1st, which made me really nervous. However, I was active in the community since 2014 (I even became a forum moderator and I am still very active).

3) Describe your position. What is it about being a QA tester?
As a tester, you play and test the game. The game consists of several main parts: Features, Quests (and dialogues), graphics and animation. The QA department is testing all of these things. At the moment we are focused on finishing quests, which is probably the hardest thing to test.
We have a reporting system through which we can mark which objective is working and which is not. We can even link the objective with a corresponding bug.
We also have to our use a program called Skald (some might have heard about it from Dan Vávra) which is used for writing the quests and their dialogues. As testers, we use it as an ideal state for the quest and we compare it to the reality of the actual game.
The work itself consists of:
1) Learning how the quest/feature should look like (either through Skald or talking with designer/scripter/programmer)
2) Testing whether it works as intended
3) Reporting any found bugs or writing feedback if you think it should work differently.

4) Have you ever worked on Videogames before?
My last job was not in a videogame company, but in a company which specialized in producing devices for trains, trams, underground and buses. I was in charge of customer documentation. Strange how similar that job was to my current occupation.

5) Please describe Warhorse Studios:
Working at Warhorse is amazing. In my previous jobs I could barely talk about games with anyone, but here everybody plays something so there is a lot to discuss. Everyone is friendly here, except before some important dates when some things just HAVE to be done, then some people might start losing their nerves (like me).

6) Please describe one of your colleagues or your department:
There is this one guy who watches youtube videos all day. and it’s even part of his job! Fuck that guy, right?!

7) Did you enjoy the Community Event at Battle of Nations?
How could I not? We had a nice evening in a pub before BotN, where I got decently drunk (as always) and then we had great time the next day walking up that mild hill together with @Urquhart, @Wenceslaus, @Waldkauz, @tomtom and others, where BotN took place. We ended up surviving the slope (and the heat) and the reward for that was another pub where I got… you guessed it… “decently” drunk.
I’d like to thank everyone who participated and especialy to @Blacksmith who brought me some Bavarian beers. I have drank them all and the empty bottles now stand on my shelf.

8) What is your favorite team activity?
I think you will guess this one too: it’s beer activity. You can try out our own brand, I especially recommend the Knecht one!

9) Describe your usual day at the studio?
I wake up at 7 am and I arrive to work by 8 am. By this time, there is a new build downloading on my PC and then I make my way to breakfast. Did you know?! We have a breakfast every day paid by the company!
After breakfast I sit all day and test things with a (short) pause for lunch. I leave work sometimes around 5-7 pm or sometimes even later.

10) What are you currently working on?
Right now the QA department is focusing on finishing what we call the, “internal beta”. It basically means that every part of the game (features, quests, graphics, animations and cutscenes) should be in the game.
As I mentioned earlier, the main focus right now is on quests because quite frankly, we are a bit behind with some of them. That puts a real strain on the script department and us, but we are advancing in steady pace.
I think it was two months ago that we officially went into crunch mode, which basically means that the studio highly encourages people to stay longer and do more work. Because of that, we needed to upgrade our work mechanics. Now we have more strict rules for what to work on and for how long.
Anyway, I think we really did a big chunk of work in those two months. Beforehand, we had these separated parts of the game which were not even on the same level - the optimization was really bad. I was testing in 9fps max for several months and the game level was not even complete.
Presently, when all the parts have been put together, I have even seen the battle of Pribyslavitz in 30fps now… and we are still reaching higher! It is amazing to see this progress.

As for me personally, I have been testing the Sasau monastery for several weeks now. Let me say that monastery is even prettier now than when it was presented at E3. But otherwise, the monastery is very difficult for us testers, because it is a cluster of several different quests that are interconnected with each other and some even share several NPCs. So if you piss off one NPC in one quest, you won’t progress in another quest because the pissed NPC won’t speak to you anymore. So be careful when you get there!

Other than that, I am also the guy who disappoints anyone who decides to write a report on our support page, because many of the reported bugs are either known or fixed and aren’t relevant anymore. The hardware problems people keep reporting are often unsolvable since the Beta will not be updated anymore and some systems (like save/load) are obsolete.
Ceasing the updates was really necessary as every update was like a little release, which meant long nights and many lost nerves. Thank god I was not here for any of those updates (I joined a month after the beta).

11) What are some of your notable accomplishments?
As a member of QA, I often feel that we are not accomplishing much, but when you look back and remember how things were a few months ago, you realize that much has changed and you were a part of it.
My accomplishment is probably that I was able to stay here without running naked in circles and shouting nonsense like “we need to be able to look back on the horse!”

(that is Stumpy, our MoCapHorse)

12) Why do you think it’s the most important part or thing in the game?
For me it is the story, but the sandbox element makes it a big part of the game and it definitely will be the source of much, much fun.

13) What do you like the most about Kingdom Come: Deliverance?
It would be the idea of a realistic RPG without magic. As for a specific thing I really like our alchemy (nothing is better than brewing yourself some diarrhea potion).
There is a trick for enjoying this feature: just sit back and enjoy the animations, lighting and the sounds of fire and boiling water. In fact, it really is mainly a relaxing feature.

14) How, when and with what (platform, game) did you first get acquainted with videogames?
My father had a PC since I can remember. So I grew up playing PC games. The first game I can remember ever playing was QBASIC gorillas.

I played many classics like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Monkey island and Alone in the dark, which I had nightmares from. Two of my most favorite games are Warhammer 40K: Dawn of war and Start Trek: Deep space nine: The fallen.
At the end of 2009, I got into League of legends (it was not so popular back then) and I ended up playing it till now.
I enjoy action-packed games. I just don’t really have patience for more strategic stuff, even though I try some strategy from time-to-time.
Right now I am really into Warhammer: Vermintide and I am really looking forward to Spacehulk: Deathwing.

15) Which class, gender, or type do you usually pick?
I play almost always a male character (If I can choose) and as for class I tend to go for some kind of support/healer. I don’t really enjoy destroying the enemy but I enjoy keeping my teammates alive and helping them achieve a goal.

16) Which videogame character are you?
I am one of the guys you kill in the first seconds of any Call of Duty game.

17) Are there any videogames you repeat playing over and over again?
Because I like online games, I repeat playing League of Legends and Overwatch. I am kind of a mainstream player. But sometimes I go for Call of Duty 2 and MW in singleplayer mode; these are great shooters. Otherwise I like games with a strong story, but I only play through them once.

18) What would a perfect game according to your wishes look like?
I dream of a Harry Potter MMORPG. Hogwards is a perfect setting for leveling up your character and after you reach the max level and graduate, you go for dungeons and hunting Death Eaters, exploring the world and many other things. However, I am dead certain that if this game ever gets to be made, it will suck badly.

19) Most hilarious bug you have ever encountered or worst video game experience?
Well, it wasn’t 'till I started working for Warhorse that I’ve seen a rotating horse that would launch you into the air when you got too close. That was pretty funny.

20) What game have you been really looking forward to but turned out to be a total disappointment?
Definitely Watch Dogs. The advertisement it got was really disproportionate to what the game actually had to offer. You didn’t even sleep with the girl before they killed her!! Are they even serious?

21) How do you relax after a hard day at work?
Surprisingly, I play games, or watch movies or shows. This Monday for example, I finished Ori and the blind forest and I must say I had a blast, though the levels where you escape the elements drove me crazy.

22) Your favorite music or Spotify playlist
Recently I got into sea shanties. I especially like the versions from Assassins Creed: Black flag…
Or this great playlist:

23) Your favorite movie or book?
I really love Interworld from Neil Gaiman and I am heavy fan of Song of Ice and Fire series.
As for movies, I like Guardians of the Galaxy ,which is better and is the less awkward version of Avengers (which I passionately hate)

24) What species is your spirit animal?
A sloth

25) Sport is…
I regularly train Iaido, which is a Japanese martial art. And when I say regularly I mean before the crunch time was announced. Now, I don’t really even go to a pub, except on special occasions.

26) What’s your guilty pleasure?
Czech Bohemian chips. I am never too lazy to get up and get one of these.

27) What was your greatest mistake?
Repeating the last grade in secondary school, but it was more of a guided mistake. Because of that I found good friends with which I had and will always have a great time.

28) Is it possible to buy you with candy?
No, but you can buy me with beer and meat.

29) What is your kryptonite?
Beer and meat.

30) How do you like living in the Czech Republic?
Since I was born here, I have no other choice than to like it. Czechs don’t like to involve themselves in other people’s bussines most of the time, which is an ideal situation for me. We also have a good beer, I heard.

31) What is your weakest trait?
I am lazy. It’s not that much visible when I am not at home, but when I get there I could be mistaken for a very rude furniture. All I do is sit at the computer and throw curses at my enemies.

32) If you could say something to the fans of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, what would it be?
Many of the active members of our community know me and I am grateful to make their acquaintance. I hope we will be able to organize another get-together because last time was really great.
I would really like to thank to our moderators Blacksmith, Urquhart and Wenceslaus who are a real help on the support page and on the forums. Honorable mention also belongs to McWonderbeast, our former U.S. moderator who can be a sarcastic piece of salty meat, but otherwise he means well
Also, I want to thank our personal trolls which you won’t hear much from for being here with us (because of some hidden feature) and taking our (mostly mine) bullshit.
And lastly, my thanks belong to any fan out there who still has a faith in us (and even to those who don’t).

Do you have any additional questions to Prokop “Proky” Filcík? Just ask here!

DrFusselpulli · December 7, 2016, 3:34pm

And here are the answers from @ProkyBrambora:

Hi, you mighty Beast
As you can imagine, it affected it a lot. As you know I was a big fan of the game and I would play the shit out of it after the release.
Now I might consider playing just some parts, which I haven’t had chance to test. Though I doubt that there will be such parts.

Hey, bro
And go to hell. No one shall insult my games!

Nope, I live with my family. I am abusing that privilege to maximum extent.

Hopefully I will be still working at Warhorse on the next game, If Kingdom Come Deliverance will be successful.

I am exicted to see what will people say about the game and how will they like it. And simultaneously I am a bit afraid of it.

It’s something around a hundred people.

Oh yea, it was. I am not sure, though, whether the next BoN will be held in Prague again.

I depends. Does the bug blocks the progress? or does it lead to crash? Those are the angry bugs.
But otherwise I am definitely more amused. I am like “HEY… THAT’S A BUG!!!.. HAHAHA!”

Sometimes. But I confess before Warhorse I would not report bugs. Only now I am professionally deformed enough to do so.

I don’t know of any plans for closed beta.
But I do see where you are coming from and closed beta would definitely had some pros.
We do need more testers and some new ones are yet to come. But we are running out of space where to put them.

I cannot really say whether we will have our own downloader for the final release. I don’t know, that is to be decided yet, I suppose.

Oh no, in Watchdogs they killed her in the middle of the game (or was it the end?). We operate differently

Thank you!
Looking forward to meet you again.

yes

Let me assure you it isn’t easy.
It is difficult to stay sharp and critical all the time. It’s easy to get used to some bugs and that is exactly what should not happen. Every bug is a xenos filth (if you forgive me that expression) and has to be eliminated!

I still remember… Straubinger-gäubodenfest… I will go there sometime

As @GingerFOX said below. It should be out tomorrow at 8th December.

Almost not at all. Even though the alpha quests were good representation of what is coming, I surely did not expect so awesome writing and so funny and bad-ass dialogues.

As I said above, I don’t know of any plans.

I don’t think so. Even the big studios release games with many bugs and they have much bigger QA teams working for them than we have.
Bugs will always be present and at some point someone has to say “stop” and then it only comes to which bugs will stay and which will have to be fixed.

what do you think?

DrFusselpulli · July 19, 2017, 12:36pm

Tomáš Duchek was born in Pilsen, in the Czech Republic, a city famous for its tasty beer. Tomáš has an excellent taste in art, which is important because he is one of our concept artists. He joined Warhorse Studios in November 2013, even before the Kickstarter campaign.
Do you have any additional questions to Tomáš Duchek? Just ask here
You can find a Spanish translation of this interview here.

1) How did you hear about Warhorse?
It was probably in my final year at university when I realized that I wanted to pursue a career in game development. I believe that my friend told me about Warhorse because he was already a keen reader of Dan Vavra’s developers blog.

2) Describe your usual day at the studio?
After greeting everyone I sit down, put my headphones on and I focus on my work. During the day we have a consultation with our art director, Miki Podprocký, and also our researcher, Asia. If there are any important paintings to be done, we share ideas and try to help each other inside our small concept art team.

3) What are you currently working on?
Right now I am working on illustrations for our ingame codex, which is basically a small encyclopedia that contains all the information about the world, people, crafts, history setting, etc. Our goal with this is to help players be pulled into the game more easily.

4) Can we see your portfolio?
Sure, here is a link for you: https://www.artstation.com/artist/dusint

5) What do you like the most about Kingdom Come: Deliverance?
It is definitely the courage to focus on Bohemian history. When I first heard about the theme of the game, I had doubts about anybody taking interest in our little homeland. But this project proved me wrong and I believe it’s because of the passion with which this game is being developed that people care about the most.

6) How, when and with which game did you first get acquainted with videogames?
It was probably Prince of Persia. I played it with my brother and our neighbor on our black and white monitor. Good times.

7) What was your most touching video game moment?
It may sound strange, but my happiest or strongest gaming memory was probably watching a walkthrough of Journey. Even though I never played it myself it left me in awe. I still look up to this incredibly polished and well executed project.

8) Which class, gender, or type do you usually pick?
Love warriors, hate rogues.

9) Are there any videogames you repeat playing over and over again?
I wish I had no regrets after playing for a long time. Nowadays I tend to work a lot and I expect my daughter to be born in the spring, so I think I will not repeat playing any games soon.

10) How do you relax after a hard day at work?
I go climbing, or running, watch a movie, paint something fun for myself, or spend some quality time with my new family.

11) Your favorite music playlist
I enjoy a wide variety but lately, as it is so cold and cloudy outside, I listen mostly to Autumn acoustics playlists or some oldschool stuff.

12) Your favorite book?
Probably Catch 22 from Joseph Heller. I read it long time ago, but I still remember the insight from a military camp was very captivating. Seeing soldiers as regular people with all their flaws and qualities was very inspiring to me.

13) What’s your guilty pleasure?
Doing ordinary things. Sometimes I think to myself, ‘So this is how people from Earth usually spend their time.’

14) What will be your famous last words?
„What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

15) If you could say something to the fans of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, what would it be?
I am really looking forward to seeing all your walkthroughs of KCD on youtube. And please, don’t run through the world so quickly.

If you have any additional questions to Tomáš Duchek, then you can ask here.

DrFusselpulli · December 14, 2016, 3:42pm

Here are Tomáš Ducheks answers for your community questions:

There are a lot of things that they did so well in their paintings in medieval times. For example drapery, or portraits – it would take a long time to learn. But then there are things, that they didn’t know so well, like perspective, anatomy shortcuts. And mixing this correctly in a painting is very tricky.

[quote=“Feek, post:104, topic:29619”]
Anything interesting you found out?[/quote]

while I was doing research, I found so much freaky and funny illuminations you wouldn’t believe.

That’s a good question. I definitely enjoy the freedom of fantasy stuff. But I believe that restrictions boost creativity. On the other hand, too many restrictions are a little annoying. Well sometimes I wish we could loosen up the rules a little

I enjoyed it especially in the beginning. It was the best way for me to learn all the basics. But coming up with coolness can be difficult without a good research.

Including our art director we are five concept artists.

Team work comes in play mainly while working on promo art. Otherwise we communicate mostly with our art director. And the amount of paintings we have to create for anything varies greatly. Basically we have to create as many as is necessary for the 3d artists to understand perfectly what they will be modeling.

For creating visually attractive and historically accurate paintings. Each member of our team is working many sorts of things so we do not specialize.

Nowadays we know a lot about medieval culture, but we used to consult practically everything.
Using the right colors, decorations, what can be found in the medieval interior.

This painting is based on an in-game terrain. It took probably one day.

The will to learn constantly. Ability to accept criticism. Passion for the project.

I probably enjoy characters a bit more.

Oh, I love so many
Probably Princess Mononoke

DrFusselpulli · July 19, 2017, 1:02pm

Tomáš Kozlik was born in Veľký Krtíš, in the south of Slovakia. He worked on Mafia III at 2K Czech before he joined Warhorse Studios shortly after our Kickstarter campaign in early 2014 where he became our Senior Animator. Part of his job is to get his colleagues animated to work.
Do you have any additional questions to Tomáš Kozlik? Just ask here.
You can find a Spanish translation of this interview here.

1) Where can we usually find you lurking in the holy halls of Warhorse?
My table occupies the far western corner of the animation & character art office.

2) When did you join Warhorse Studios?
I joined Warhorse basically immediately after 2K Czech closed down its Prague offices. There were a few of us who made the same decision, and at one point, there seemed to be an influx of former 2K Czech employees that came into Warhorse Studios. Even the famous Lubos used to work there.

3) Which job would you not want to do?
A Tester. I definitely would not want to be a tester. I do not envy their job description. To be really good, you have to be quite proficient in programing and have knowledge of other gaming related professions as well. All your friends may think it’s easy because all you do is play video games and eat pizza all day long. Furthermore, your job description is basically to dig into other peoples’ work and to point out their mistakes, which can tick people off. That being said, I absolutely respect the guys who chose this as their job; they are really good at it. It’s hard work and a good Q&A team can really make or break the game.

4) Please describe one of your colleagues or your department:
There are many talented people in our studio. One person that stands out for me is Jan “Jabba” Zamecnik. He’s technically part of the animation team, although we sometimes joke that he’s his own department. It’s very hard to describe what his profession is, because he’s an animator, a scripter, a character artist, a tools programmer, a designer and who knows what else, all at the same time. Seriously, go ask him about a game related problem that you’re unable to solve; he had the solution figured out five years ago. At the very least he’ll have an opinion. A huge chunk of learning the ins-and-outs of game animation got way easier because I’ve worked with him.

5) Describe your usual day at the studio?
My usual day starts with my first morning cup of coffee and it ends with a fourth or fifth cup of coffee in the afternoon. I often occupy first place in our coffee consumption leaderboards. In between the coffee drinking I animate, resolve bugs, supervise mocap shoots or act on the mocap stage myself with an occasional philosophical debate with my colleagues sprinkled here and there.

6) What are some of your notable accomplishments?
I’ve been part of the combat team right from the start so the combat is the biggest feature that I’ve worked on. I took part in a combat workshop and supervised the mocap shoots with fencers. Over time, I became so involved with fencing that in the end, I was entrusted to record some of the motions myself. Towards the latter stages I recorded some of our special moves that require two characters being recorded at the same time. We had a proper fencer performing the cool, special-move, and I was the one being punched in the face.

7) What do you like the most about Kingdom Come: Deliverance?
I love that you can fight with a halberd. It’s much more badass than all the other weapons and when you see a guy in a full plate armor wielding a halberd, you know you’re in trouble. I think that one turned out very well, although it was quite a challenge to get it working in a system designed primarily for the longsword.

8) How, when and with what game did you first get acquainted with videogames?
I believe the first game I played was some kind of Robocop themed platformer. I was probably five or six at the time and my dad brought a laptop home from work. It blew my mind, although I’ve never played it since. I tried searching for it, but none of the games I found resembled anything that I can remember and I was also very young. For all I knew, it might have been a text editor that I mistook for a game.

9) What was your saddest, video game moment?
When they captured Uncle Pey’J in Beyond Good and Evil. I know it fits the drama arc of the whole story, but it took me a couple of hours to get over it and to accept Double H as a replacement of Pey’J.

10) Are there any videogames you repeat playing over and over again?
Yes, it would be Icewind Dale (the first one). I love the atmosphere and the visuals of it. I’ve always been a fan of Dungeons AND Dragons and having a PC game based on D&D was a blessing. I need to install it again when I find some spare time.

11) What game have you been really looking forward to but turned out to be a total disappointment?
I’m aware of the inflammatory nature of this subject, but for me it was Planescape: Torment. For me, the second word describes my player experience. This game was hyped by my friends so much, it felt like they were getting paid for it. I was very excited when I installed the game. It wasn’t 5 hours later until I realized that I had read a ton of flavor text in dialogues, I hadn’t progressed a single inch in the story line, and I couldn’t remember any useful information. However, I did read a lot about how different the Planes are arranged though. I compared my experience with my friends to see if I was playing it wrong, but I really wasn’t. They just forgot to tell me that most of the game, especially at the beginning, consisted of reading inconsequential flavor text. I uninstalled it with the sad thought that this would be the only D&D based game that I’ll never be able to enjoy.

12) How do you relax after a hard day at work?
Just hanging out with my wife and my daughter doing all sorts of silly things. My daughter is two-and-a-half years old and she’s able to turn any day into the best day of our lives. Whether she falls asleep watching movies or playing board games with my wife, I’m able to relax and enjoy the day.

13) Do you have a personal story?
My wife used to be my colleague at 2K Czech and now we’re both working at Warhorse. I never thought I’d marry a coworker, but I guess love doesn’t care about your thoughts. She’s a talented character artist and she manages to work from home while taking care of our little one as well. For that, I admire her eternally.

14) Your travel tip?
Go visit Crete. Take a tent (or don’t. It doesn’t rain there anyway), rent a car and just drive around the narrow roads in the hills. I guarantee you will be stopping every five meters for some, “honey we have to take a picture of this view” moments. Pro tip: take a two-year-old kid with you. If you don’t have your own, borrow one from your friends. They’ll be thankful for the much needed free time and you’ll have at least ten times as much fun exploring all the things you never thought could be interesting. Everybody wins!

15) What’s your guilty pleasure?
I listen to Lana del Rey, when I have too much and find myself working till late hours. There, I said it.

16) You have to fight in medieval times… who are you? Which weapon do you choose?
Knowing my luck, I’d probably be the guy, who gets a blunt spear and armor, that’s missing a helmet. So in short, I’d be dead.

17) If you could say something to the fans of Kingdom Come: Deliverance, what would it be?
I’d like to thank all of you guys for the continued support. If the game turns out at least half as good as all of you believe it will, it’ll be awesome to the moon.

Do you have any additional questions to Tomáš Kozlik? Just ask here.

DrFusselpulli · December 21, 2016, 2:28pm

And here are the Weekly Torch community questions and answers.

This question is best answered by somebody from the character department, as they are the ones responsible for scanning the faces. But I completely agree, that the throat area must work together with the face to create believable expressions.

[quote=“Blacksmith, post:109, topic:29619”]
Everyone wants a fluid combat and superb animation. But I prefer it more natural. If not every movement looks like a choreography. Will we have different animations for the same move?[/quote]

I don’t think those are mutually inconsistent. The motions can be fluid, well animated as well as natural. In fact I personally believe, that the fluidity adds to the natural feeling, since even in real life fencing you want the motions to flow, so that you don’t lose too much energy. As for the second part, we didn’t capture variations of the same moves for aesthetical reasons. The amount of data would be too much for the little effect that would have on gameplay. There is however a lot of variations out of necessity. Every basic attack has one version for both feet positions and each consists of two animations blended together according to the distance to the target. Multiply that by the amount of weapons, add all the special moves, ripostes, blocks and dodges and suddenly there is quite a lot of variation even as it is now.

I don’t think that was a goal from the start. We aimed more for an believable reimagining of the historical fencing. To make fencing feel as smooth and fluid as shooting, we would have to sacrifice a lot of realism and in the end we would have a system, that is very different to the actual fencing.

All our combat animations were created with one-on-one combat situations in mind. The group behaviors and large battles are handled by our AI, so from our standpoint there wasn’t a lot of extra challenges. Our role was more support and creating references, from which the AI programmers could distill their behaviors.

[quote=“iamidea, post:110, topic:29619”]
‘Historically Accurate Combat’, ‘Inverse Kinematics’, ‘3D Animation’, ‘First Person’ - What were your initial reactions on hearing this?[/quote]

To be honest I’m the kind of person who doesn’t respond much to buzzwords. What I was more intrigued by was the Kickstarter demo, which although still in an early stage looked very promising. In the end I believe that the combat team was successful in keeping those promises.