Weekly Torch - the barrel of questions

[Zub]

Hi,

Will the animations be significantly improved in final game?

I’m sorry to say it, because there is obviously lot of work behind it, but animations are so far the weakest part of Kingdom come.
When you go through village characters don’t look like people, they move like awkward robots.
During dialogue they stay like two planks. Facial animations are also not very impressive.
Both in and outside combat:
Transitions between animations are unnatural. Character are changing direction like they don’t have any weight. There is awful lot of foot sliding:

Why there is no clothes, hair and armor physics?

I just want to remind something Dan Vávra wrote in article about skyrim:

“A 2011 game where half the characters wears different coats and flowing clothes, and it does not attempt to simulate the physics of clothes is a bad game.”

Sorry to be so harsh, hope you will improve the animations.
Good luck

[sirius]

I’ve seen in trailer, that only long coats had cloth physics. Maybe, i’m wrong, but that’s it.
P.S But, we’re playing in first person, so… I’m not going to be hyped for cloth physics, if i’m not able to see this on my character like it was in Mafia 2.

[umar]

During e3 presentation the small part of gameplay was shown.the characters look wooden and even there is no movement; no blinking of eyes.Is the dialog system final in game or are u going to fix it??? In beta it seems better

[hereticka]

That is some high quality breakdancing right there.

[snejdarek]

A 2011 game where half the characters wears different coats and flowing clothes, and it does not attempt to simulate the physics of clothes is a bad game

That’s a good one!

[DrFusselpulli]

Now you can ask questions to our Lead Cinematic Designer Martin Klekner.

[Freix]

You were involved in the recent change of Henrys hair-style, can you tell us more about that?

(…) But I did make some comments about Henry looking a bit too metrosexual for a son of a blacksmith. And I probably mentioned this to Dan, Miki and Ivan…

Man of the people! True hero! You will be forever remembered as a saviour of KC:D! Who came up with the original hair cut to begin with? How come that Dan Vávra was ok with that metrosexual look, considering his ranting on fb how hard it was to find a manly actor for the main hero, because all of them were feminine hispters with high pitched voices?

[savvym]

They were not manly for their voices, they could not yell, scream, talk tough, that way it was meant. Not about the appearance. Obviously old Henry’s haircut looked too modern.

[GingerFOX]

So your 4 member Cinematic dept. has less than 1,5 year to assemble animations from mo-cap into polished 3 hours cut-scenes right? Than each of you have to produce 10 minutes of finished product each month? Or do you iterate the whole thing together with with quality passes? How do you work in the team?

"trying to achieve the best results possible in our limited conditions"
What do you feel is limiting you the most? Is it just time/money limitation? Or do you wish for better technology or more people perhaps?

The production quality of your new story trailer exceeded my expectations tremendously (congrats to 2mils views in 8 days just on WH channel), but there are some people hoping for improved facial animations. Will you take some extra care to improve on those in final product?

I wonder how difficult it is to make facial animations right? 60 hours of voice-overs must be hell. But the Google’s DeepMind AI can lip-read TV shows with shocking accuracy now. I wonder when someone will make AI to make lip-sync perfect in games.

[Pedder]

Hey Martin,

nice work with the game so far. Big fan. My question: Why do you have procedually generated mouth animations, but have to craft every blink and eye movement yourself? It should be easier to create a similar algorith which automatically lets character blink from time to time, move the eye in a natural way, and so on. Other games have done this as well. Would it not be a waste of your time to handcraft everything?

Also, you said you played the Witcher 2, but not 3. Try it some time, see what I mean - they got the facial stuff right in that game.

And about the haircut of Henry - why not make a barber ingame, where you can choose between some hairstyles? Would be nice to have. But probably not your department, so you can ignore this question, haha.

Thanks for your answers.

[Pedder]

That’s really sad. Can you not somehow adjust the engine itself to combat this bug? It really breaks the immersion. Just imagine the videos on youtube after release, showing one of your sieges (200 knights breakdancing - hilarious bug). If you can not fix it, get someone who can! Game development is hard these days, no shame in admitting that you need help. Maybe get some crytek guys to check this problem out, maybe they could help. Thanks.

[Blacksmith]

Hi Martin,
you mentioned a deadline… What’s plan B if a deadline is too short?
How many hours have you and your team worked on the teaser and the trailer?
I think your job is difficult… Because every piece of work could always improve and there is never time enough for the perfect shot. How do you manage this?
Are you just in time for release or will you need some additional help (manpower)?
Is outsourcing an option?

The short haircut of Henry is a result of layer system, or not? Wearing a helmet needs short or no hair for correct working?

Would a series (film) with Henry be a dream project for you?

[DrFusselpulli]

Now it is time to ask questions to our PR Manager Tobias “Tobi” Stolz-Zwilling

[TechMPro]

Hello! I do numismatics, it would be good if the game introduced Easter eggs in the form of finding coins scattered throughout the map. This would give the game even more interest, it would be something to do after the completion of the main quests, this would increase the game’s replay value. Coins could be introduced that time period throughout Europe. I think it’s not difficult in the implementation and there is still a lot of time before the release of the game.
Thank you! (Google Translate)

[Blacksmith]

Hi Tobi,

is there a story behind your (new) beard? A bet maybe,… or do you just want to look more serious?
(Just everything for the job…)

Was it hard to start as a “nobody” with a new studio and an unfinished product? What has changed in the last 3 years? Is it now easy(ier) to get attention at journalist/game magazin?

Everyone wants more information about the game; much more than you can give. I wounder how you stay always so cool and friendly. Have you a trick?

Have you ever lied as the PR guy, or are you 100% trustful?

Is there a secret about the game, you want to share?

Was there a question from a journalist, which was surprisingly good/bad and unexpected?

[Numsfilms]

What is in the free breakfast?

[tommycthulhu]

Hi Tobi, should KCD and its sequel succeed, what will you guys do next? Since Warhorse was pretty much established to make KCD, is there a future beyond it? Also, what do you do when there is no PR event to prepare, or are you always preparing one?

[paulenan]

Did your surrounding have an influence on you growing a beard?

[Tsunamik]

Did you receive any significant feedback after E3 previews?
Did it shift any of your priorities in final run to release date? (From videos+comments it seems that both facial and body animations - especially during conversations - are most criticized so far).
Are you overall satisfied with how E3 went?
Did you expect more/less covfefe from major websites?
Will there ever be linux/mac versions or are they scratched? (not that I personally care :D)

[WeeScot]

What was the one thing you wanted most in the game that was changed?

What do you like least about the game?