Weekly Torch - the barrel of questions

[Feek]

2 Tomáš Duchek:

My question is, the whole game obviously aims to be realistic, how hard is to make art/illustrations that should look like they have been created several centuries ago? How hard was it to make it “work”? Anything interesting you found out? I love that the ingame codex illustrations are similar in style to that found in actual medieval manuscripts, perhaps with a tiny modern twist? A year ago I got a book called “Krása českých iluminovaných rukopisů/Beauty of czech illuminated manuscripts”, if one would sneak a page with illustrations from KCD into it I almost wouldn’t be able to notice. Great work!

[GingerFOX]

From your portfolio, it would seem that you like doing fantasy stuff. For KCD however, you are required to portrait real history accurately. I am quite surprised how interesting and awesome your concepts look despite of that…
…But did you ever feel creatively restricted painting the real landscapes, buildings etc.?

Have you enjoyed realism from the beginning, or is it harder for you to come up with coolness?

With how many other concept artists do you work with? What is the scope of your team work? (How many reference do you have to create for what assets / environment, icons, logos, loading screens, maps, codex, promo art… did I miss anything?). What are you responsible for the most personally?

What details do you have to consult with historian for example?

How long does it take to create something like this?
https://forum.kingdomcomerpg.com/uploads/default/original/3X/2/0/20029d02b7bd4ad54e29a45d396fe830684eb209.jpg

[iamidea]

My Qns:
(1) What are the most important qualities a concept artist should have?
(2) Which did you like creating for KCD - Characters or Environment?
(3) What are your favorite animated films?
Thank you!

[DrFusselpulli]

Now you can ask questions for Tomáš Kozlik.

[Blacksmith]

This animation flashed me. But it´s not the face, it´s the throat!!

Has everyone been scanned with the throat? It looks so much better than only a face animation! I hope we have this on every NPC.

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? It would be great, if not every time the same is shown.

[iamidea]

My Qns:
(1) Will the combat in the final game be as fluid and smooth as a First Person Shooter?
(2) What challenges and difficulties are faced in mo-cap and animation departments in creating ‘Group Combat’?
(3) ‘Historically Accurate Combat’, ‘Inverse Kinematics’, ‘3D Animation’, ‘First Person’ - What were your initial reactions on hearing this?
Thank you!

[DrFusselpulli]

Now you can ask questions for our creative director Daniel Vávra.
Please note that it may will take a while till you will receive an answer because of the Christmas holidays.

[Gulle]

You mentioned that you were interested in the hussite wars and perhaps continuing the Kingdom Come series with those as a theme. Do you think Kingdom Come will always be set in Bohemia in the 15th century, or will you perhaps branch out to other time periods and locations? Merry Christmas!

[Vojtroslav]

Do you have some fans? If you have did someone give you some gift? Like groshen or a metal figure of a knight names(Oldřich) or some fan art???

[kaiman]

Can’t really think of any question right now, but I want to take the opportunity and offer Dan my heartfelt thanks for all the hard work he and his team is putting into KC:D. While I do have some gripes (like the as yet unknown fate of the Linux port), I must say that I am really impressed with the level of professionalism on display and all the innovative and ingenious ideas, not the least of which is the focus on realism and historical accuracy.

Which maybe actually begs a question, or two: since it only seems a small step from existing open world cRPGs to one grounded in reality, why has nobody done it before? I mean there have always been more and more accurate computer simulations of planes and cars and whatnot, and even fantasy RPGs have their roots in realistic wargames. Are developers too cautious because of the risk involved with trying something new, or is the prospect of letting ones imagination run wild in a fantasy environment just too tempting?

How do you deal with the restrictions imposed by that choice? What was the feature most dear to you that had to be sacrificed on the altar of realism?

[Grubocap]

I’ll try ask in english, and repeat it in russian.

Is that true, that pierce/thrust skrikes was allowed in the arena?

Today I showed the game to my friend. He was a crossbowman in the Kulikovo field. He said, that the pierce strikes is forbidden now and have been forbidden in the medieval arenas.

Суть в том, что сегодня я показал игру моему товарищу, который был в свое время арбалетчиком. На видео был бой на арене. Он сказал, что колючие удары не только сейчас, но и тогда были запрещены на арене.

[Lieste]

We thrust all the time (well in Rapier) and a significant amount of cases in Longsword. There are reasons to prefer hewing cuts and slices, but giving point is definitely something done in HEMA with appropriate equipment (spallated or rolled tips, gambeson and mask).

It is true that in a sporting context the 1570 longsword treatise does indicate not thrusting against “fellow Germans” but this is not indicated in the earlier tradition when this weapon was a military one.

The ruleset and forbidden actions/equipment depend on context, and within HEMA we would consider a staff or mace (or blunted axe) as “sharp” and unsuited to full speed sparring/fighting, while we can use the lighter striking longsword/sidesword/rapier with our relatively soft protection with almost no restrictions (not deliberately bypassing the protection being our main requirement, and stopping on request or in the case of an equipment failure).

[snejdarek]

What are your favorite shooting ranges?

Why do you prefer V-AR over PAR MK3?

Do you concealed carry?

[miketearon]

Hello, first of all merry Christmas and congratulations for the game : ). I just wanted to ask : is it hard to create and manage your own studio ?

[Cherepanov]

From the point of view of the video game developer do you think will in the future elderly people to play games? if Yes then for what reasons? or with age, the interest in the game in any way will reduce?
I would say there are any prospects that the games will be very popular with the older population?

[Dbeat60]

As you mentioned before Daniel, Kingdome Come is a more open, free roaming game than Mafia. In this manner, do you consider that linearity must be essential in every game that is narratively heavy oriented? Does Kingdom Come relly entirely on the dinamics?

Happy Holidays!

[Freix]

Do you like the new metrosexual look of cleanly shaved Henry with perfect stylish hair cut and hair gel?

[Grubocap]

Wow, man. And do U like It :о)

[Paul]

Questions for Dan - don’t you think it might be a bit hurtful to the game’s reception to show extremely work in progress versions of the game full of placeholders? First impressions are important and some more… “casual” gamers might dismiss the game due to seeing some video from alpha with no facial animations and clunky combat, stuff like that.

And second question, is there any possibility of releasing the original publisher pitch prototype that was shown during kickstarter, to backers ? Would be cool to see how the game evolved from back then.

And last one - is there any chance you would start doing regular written blog posts about development again? I enjoyed the shit out of those. Cartography in potato land is legendary. Thanks and can’t wait for the game

[Freix]

Will it be a live-action game trailer as you were considering in the past or standard one made in the game engine (I suppose CGI is not an option due to the price…)?

Do I understand it right that you are also directing the voiceacting? If so, how is it going? I would expect it to be really hard for non-native speaker to supervise english voiceovers because non-native speaker will imo lack the proper feeling for the language. Are you confident that the voiceacting will be good?