Weekly Torch - the barrel of questions

[GingerFOX]

1. Is it true to say that your AI system consists of a web of interconnected entities? …And that these entities are in fact villages, NPCs, animals, beds, doors, fishing rods, and everything else including Quests too? Each of these entities are created by scripter who forms existing ‘logic boxes’ into a structure of a branching tree. And so every entity has its own tree, which is actually one big script which tells it what to do and how, depending on what branch is being executed. Than all of those entities are actually programs that run separately at the same time and they communicate with each other? Also if an entity does not know how to do something, it can request and receive new branches from another entity. E.g. an NPC asks a Village how to do some fishing in the area? Or NPC would ask quest entity if it needs to act some role in a quest and than saves this new behavior to itself as a new branch? Do I get the idea?

2. Than what knowledge does a scripter need when injecting quests and implementing ‘living world’ in the AI editor? It appears that he ‘only’ needs to know how to assemble all of those ‘logic boxes’ together (like a lego). Or does he still code some parts manually when scripting quests and events?

3. I like that you plan to share your work as PhD thesis, but is there even a chance of releasing the AI editor for modding community in some shape or form later? I do not expect you to announce any official WH plans for mod support, only your personal insight point of view… I imagine that a lot would have to be solved first before releasing something usable for modding… But still, I wonder because being able to mess with the world in such AI editor sounds interestingly powerful… (but probably naive…)

4. Anyway, Where can we learn more about it? (I though something was published already) .

Good luck and thank you for all the hard work!

EDIT: UPPS… TOO LATE AGIN…

[DrFusselpulli]

I will try to get some answers anyway. But now you can ask for the next weekly Torch if you want to

[DrFusselpulli]

Now you can ask questions to Adam J. Sporka, he is very open and communicative. So don´t hesitate:

[Blacksmith]

Hi @AdamJ ,

and an orchestration of a death metal song<

That sounds interesting! What death metal song is in the game?

Which new (PC) game have you played this year (not KCD!)? Do you enjoyed it? Which will you give a try?

I just finished porting Sequence Music Engine on PS4.<

Do WH have experts for porting stuff to PS4/x1, who helped you? Or do every programmer porting his (part of) software to consoles?

The king didn’t like my harmonic progressions. He said they were too
baroque and that I should check back in 200 years. I was going to tweet
the hell out of this incident but my smartphone couldn’t get any
signal.<

Was the king Vavra?

What do you think about the soundtrack of Enderal (mod for Skyrim)?

[Urquhart]

Hello @AdamJ,

Everything about music from the Alpha and Beta sound really great. Will there be authentic pieces of music too? A hand-organ, for example, might have existed in Bohemia 1403.

The music in the game will surely have great significance. Have you ever thought about making a “Setting” of how often music is played in the game? Never, rarely, often; …
What I actually mean by this is how do you never get too much or too little music while playing the game . Sometimes the forest with its noises without music is more intense to enjoy.

By the way… What musical instruments do you master?

[DrFusselpulli]

And now you can ask questions to our Senior Character Artist David „Yeenke“ Jankes, thank you:

[Blacksmith]

How many different faces can we expect in the game?
Do you need more models? Will there be another scanning?

Will there be a customization of hair and/or beard of Henry?

I think the mouth with teeth and tongue is the most difficult part of the face (scan). Is this correct?

All NPC have in the beta the same size. Can we expect more variation in the final game?

There is many clipping with the clothing system/hair in the beta. Have you managed to reduced this?

Will we have hairworks (Nvida) in the game?

Do you hear music at the work? Which? Or is the headphone for checking lipsync of the animation?

What´s the reason for the miror on your desk?

[Earl_Thorn]

Will there be a customization of hair and/or beard of Henry?

+1

Stylistically, would be nice. Give people the opportunity to have some sort of influence on their Henry’s preferred look. Like how CDPR did with Geralt I suppose is the most logical contemporary comparison to make.

[iamidea]

MY QNS
(1) What is the poly count on faces of characters?
(2) You have worked on various game engines. How do you like working on character models in CRYENGINE?
(3)What were the main software applications used to create the characters? Have u created sperate tools for character/npc creation in cryengine? Or do u use any third party middleware?
(4) Were there any design challenges, from an artist’s perspective, that came from using the layered clothing system and armors?
(5) Can you explain the thought process behind the designs for differentiating noble NPCs, evil NPCs (cumans, bandits), normal folk NPCs and historical figures?
(6) ur favorite JRPG Character in terms of character artistry?
Thank u for taking time in answering…

[DrFusselpulli]

Now you can ask questions for our Animator David Sarkisjan.

[Blacksmith]

How many members has the animation team?

Which cut sceen in the beta have you done? Each?
After you have finished a cut sceen, who evaluates the sceen? Maybe Dana himself?

For human animation you have the scanner, but what do you do with animal animation? Do you watch only videos for inspriation?

Will we have mice in the game?
The birds in the beta are just fakes. Will we have some closeups,… maybe some raptors?

One of the biggest breaks of immersion are gliches. In the beta we saw NPCs sitting on a bench and there swords are going through the wood. Or there hands are going through there clothes. I think it is a difficult task to do animations which fit with such a situation. Do you have a solution?

You animated me to test Life is strange.
And the game is great! (The first episode is for free).
Are there other games you would recommend everyone to play?

There are tons of SciFi films and Blade Runner is great. But which not so well known are your favorite? Maybe something like Gattaca or Equilibrium?

[kaiman]

Personally, my main motivation for playing games these days is primarily to experience a good story, making P&C Adventures and story-driven RPGs my favourite genres. Visuals are secondary to me, so forgive me for jumping at the following statement:

“I believe there is a lot of unexplored territories when it comes to storytelling in games when compared to other works of drama.”

Are you satisfied with how this aspect is handled in KC:D?

If you had a say in the writing department, what would you add, change or remove?

[Waldkauz]

1. Will there be disabled or ill NPC’s (fever, limping, hunch, harelip, blind, one-eyed etc.) in the game and if how difficult is it to get some data for the animation, so it looks realistic?

2. Did you have to do some research how a mass was celebrated at 1403? Is it well known or was it partial guessing?

3. Could we expect to see NPC’s doing old craftmanship that is forgotten or nearly forgotten?

4. Any specials about the dog animations?

5. Any chance to see hunting animals like a fox taking a chicken?

6. Will there be different personal expressions of emotions? The emotional expression from some people nearly everybody is able to interpret varies to some other people showing only poker faces.

[iamidea]

My Qns:
(1) Nowadays, people are utilizing full performance capture (body, face and voice). Are u using any such method now? or planning to do in future Acts?

(2) Tomáš Plch mentioned about adaptive animations. What is it actually?

(3) How do you test your animations while the game is still in development?

(4) What improvisations do u usually do in making of cutscenes? (in other words, going beyond the storyboard provided) Did u get appreciations for such improvisations? Any instances?

(5) Any funny bug encountered while making animations or cut-scenes?

(6) Which are the recent games u awed for the quality of animations and cutscenes?

(7) Ur favorite buddy whom u usually hangout in workplace?

(8) Any person u envy in KCD for their talent/genius? Who is it?

Thank u…

[DrFusselpulli]

Now you can as questions to Cinematic Designer Petr “Pepe” Pekař.

[kaiman]

I am a bit torn when it comes to cutscenes in video games. In the past, when the actual in-game graphics were restricted by technology, a cutscene could be very rewarding for the player indeed, and convey information that could not be easily presented in-engine. In modern games, however, I see less need for cutscenes, and rather have every part of the experience be interactive, especially if it is a first person game like KC:D. So my questions:

• What’s the purpose of cutscenes in KC:D from a game design perspective?
• Will cutscenes be reasonably short?
• Will cutscenes include actions of Henry not controlled by the player? I.e. conversation, etc.?

Another gripe of mine with cutscenes in many games is that they often cannot be paused, and neither be replayed. I know this does not fall under your responsibility, but perhaps you’re in the know regardless:

• Will I be able to pause inmidst a cutscene, if important matters (read: my wife) call me away from the PC?

[DrFusselpulli]

And now it is time to ask questions to our Marketing Manager Josef “Pepa” Vítek.

[Blacksmith]

Can we expect new merchandise products in the shop?
Maybe Henrys hand forged “stealth” dagger?
The kickstarter stuff, … the coins etc?
Will there be (another) contest to win cool stuff?
Can we expect a PS4 or X1 bundled with KCD?
Waiting for a new video…

[DrFusselpulli]

And now you can ask question to our Environment Artist Gabrielle “Brie” Adams. It´s fun!

[Blacksmith]

Your grafics look fantastic! Can´t wait for more…

I am making LODs (level of detail) <

How many different LOD will we have in the game (PC version)? Any difference to the console version?

Is the bell on the screenshot funktional? Can the player ring the bell?

The trophys on the wall,… can the player hunt all of them?

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.<

You can´t rename Henry,… are you working on the wrong game?

What is your favorite current game? Which game (and film) is your all time high?

Prage is a nice city. Do you stay longer, and work on… KCD2?