Colour and the World

[MNONE]

There are a few threads on the kickstarter campaign and on certain speculative discussions about gameplay, but I'd like to hear more about the character of the game world.

So far we know that the world is... somehow run down. Civilisation seems to be a kind of "light in the darkness" type of affair. Monsters roam the wilds unchecked, the underworld is an infested ruin of once-great power and promise, and thaumaturges are corrupt and cruel.

So far the screens we've seen reflect this in what might be described as the mise en scène. The wilds look chilly and windswept, or at least use a lot of muted tones. So do the cityscapes (lots of stone etc.). I'm discounting the dungeons/underworld, as you'd expect them to look sombre and brooding.

I'm wondering what variation will there be to this? Will more colour be injected into the world? For example verdant, green forests or plains (which would, given the lighting engine, become rather less appealing and more menacing if you stayed too long, i.e. until nightfall).
Will we start to see colour appear a bit more in cities as the world design is fleshed out a bit? Such as elabourately painted and carved shop signs; or street performers wearing colourful clothes; or even brightly embroidered banners and pennants flying from official buildings.

I think I'd like to see a bit more colour and variation show up, just because the washed-out grey-brown-green effect has been used a lot in games, and the occasional spot-colour can draw the eye and signify something important (not necessarily to you, the player, but perhaps just to the people/civilisations in general that populate the game world). It can also be aesthetically pleasing, which is a consideration in it's own right.
The issue of course then comes down to how colour and its use affects the "feel" of the story that the team are going for. I'd like to see more vibrancy here and there, but if it doesn't fit the vision the designers have, then so be it. Would bright reds and blues accentuate certain elements? Would they negate the feel of a trodden-down populace living in constant unease about their lives? Would they make no particular difference? I don't know, but I'd like to hear more about how things like colour - and other flourishes, like the way people speak to you/one another - are going to be used to create the world.

 

[RichardTito]

I think you make a great point but I would hate for it to end up something like this in terms of vibrancy and color (Skyrim mod) ...

Its looks awesome but it is a bit on the Disney side of Fantasy.

 

[Rob]

Perhaps it will be different in different "areas". And by this I don't mean having lush woods, then snow 5mins later, in different parts of the same open-world map like in Skyrim. Rather, different distinct areas that can only be got to by long-distance traveling.

 

[Madoc]

Games often use under saturated or over saturated colours. This is a stylistic choice but can also be an excellent way of masking poorly made graphics. Even photography rarely has natural colours these days.

We have a strong background in photo-realistic architecture (cultural heritage) and luxury goods and the aim is always high fidelity. Colours don't have to look good, they have to be _exact_. This is always how we work, as much as possible we try to create something indistinguishable from the real thing and colour is often more important than anything else. Also if you give someone who works in fashion or luxury cars the wrong colours they will crucify you.

With the notable exceptions of flowers and modern chemistry and manufacturing, vivid colours are quite rare but when they are appropriate we won't shy from using them.

The "world" is going to be relatively small in scale but we'll try to make it as varied as possible as long as it doesn't compromise realism.

 

[Cooper Holt]

Perhaps it will be different in different "areas". And by this I don't mean having lush woods, then snow 5mins later, in different parts of the same open-world map like in Skyrim. Rather, different distinct areas that can only be got to by long-distance traveling.

I think it should be. going from ice and snow to plains in a few steps was very unrealistic and almost took away from how immersive the game was.

 

[Cooper Holt]

Games often use under saturated or over saturated colours. This is a stylistic choice but can also be an excellent way of masking poorly made graphics. Even photography rarely has natural colours these days.

We have a strong background in photo-realistic architecture (cultural heritage) and luxury goods and the aim is always high fidelity. Colours don't have to look good, they have to be _exact_. This is always how we work, as much as possible we try to create something indistinguishable from the real thing and colour is often more important than anything else. Also if you give someone who works in fashion or luxury cars the wrong colours they will crucify you.

With the notable exceptions of flowers and modern chemistry and manufacturing, vivid colours are quite rare but when they are appropriate we won't shy from using them.

The "world" is going to be relatively small in scale but we'll try to make it as varied as possible as long as it doesn't compromise realism.

The world will be... small?

 

[Tony]

The world will be... small?

One of the devs made a post (can't remember where) saying that the game world would be small but filled with a ton of content (as opposed to large and empty). They also mentioned something about the underworld being fairly large (if my memory serves me correctly).

 

[Psychomorph]

Some people on forums, where I introduced SG, also expressed their desire for a (realistically) colourful look unlike many games, including Skyrim. I think they were looking at the green outside area screenshots, but I explained that there is a sunset in the screenshots, which tends to colour surfaces with a brownish tone and makes lush green grass look olive green.

The way colour is seen depends on the conditions also, dense gray clouds tend to filter light differently than open sky and things look less vibrant. Clouds also soften and defuse the light and there is less contrast to be seen, while a sunny day is full of hard shadows. There's a great variety.
There is this rare occasion, probably because of some atmospheric changes perhaps, where the setting sun colours the clouds purple and the light that they reflect on the surface gives the surrounding a yellowish purple tone. That is really surreal. Nature has its tricks.
From what I've seen from the videos, things look quite accurate in SG.

Perhaps it will be different in different "areas". And by this I don't mean having lush woods, then snow 5mins later, in different parts of the same open-world map like in Skyrim. Rather, different distinct areas that can only be got to by long-distance traveling.

That's a big problem for me and the reason why I am generally less positive about the term "open world", but of course I think this can be done better than the Elder Scrolls did.

 

[Cooper Holt]

One of the devs made a post (can't remember where) saying that the game world would be small but filled with a ton of content (as opposed to large and empty). They also mentioned something about the underworld being fairly large (if my memory serves me correctly).

Hmm, well that sounds... pretty good. I would personally prefer a medium-sized world to a small world. This still sounds good. I guess updates are possible! And maybe even expansion packs.

 

[Madoc]

When we say relatively small we mean relatively. The word "world" seems quite deceptive in this context, we're definitely not making a planet with continents. Probably it will end up being similar in scale to the recent Elder Scrolls games. The tricky thing is that we likely want to add a fair amount of content after release and we definitely don't want any invisible barriers, just natural ones.

 

[Madoc]

Just joking, it will be a tiny planet with very little gravity.

 

[Blackstaff]

Like the recent update, Madoc is on fire

 

[Cooper Holt]

Just joking, it will be a tiny planet with very little gravity.

You burnin' up teh stage, Madoc!

 

[Blood Dragon]

Just joking, it will be a tiny planet with very little gravity.

That'd make for some interesting physics effects! Low grav battles FTW! LOL! One strike from a flail wielding Ogre would send your character flying backwards for at least half a kilometer!

 

[Psychomorph]

Drunk people + low gravity, this needs to be a mod in the game.

 

[Rob]

Drunk people + low gravity, this needs to be a mod in the game.

How about drunk people that you can push onto catapults. With low gravity it can send them into orbit!

 

[Tony]

How about drunk people that you can push onto catapults. With low gravity it can send them into orbit!

​

Hey, you'd finally be able to appreciate the beautiful sky they've created! ​

 

[hredthel]

When we say relatively small we mean relatively. The word "world" seems quite deceptive in this context, we're definitely not making a planet with continents. Probably it will end up being similar in scale to the recent Elder Scrolls games. The tricky thing is that we likely want to add a fair amount of content after release and we definitely don't want any invisible barriers, just natural ones.

we definitely don't want any invisible barriers, just natural ones
THANK YOU

Scale doesn't matter much when the content is fulfilling. I think we can all agree on that. As far as TESI and TesII are concerned, it took 15-20 minutes of solid sprinting to reach the next town. That is obscene.

@Madoc: You mentioned over/under saturated colors... Has everyone noticed that trend the last few years? Every damn "next-gen" game has some sort of color filter on EVERYTHING. BF3 uses a gray overtone, MW3 used Green, Diablo III sucked etc... etc...

Madoc said: "We have a strong background in photo-realistic architecture (cultural heritage')" "'Colours don't have to look good, they have to be _exact_"'

as a gamer/modder... can I buy you a beer?

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

When we say relatively small we mean relatively. The word "world" seems quite deceptive in this context, we're definitely not making a planet with continents. Probably it will end up being similar in scale to the recent Elder Scrolls games. The tricky thing is that we likely want to add a fair amount of content after release and we definitely don't want any invisible barriers, just natural ones.

As recent ES games? To me that is large. I still wonder what your strategy is to fill such a world with content? Bethesda have a huge team to create all the content (and their tools for world building by hand -actually also with procedural support for landscape- are pretty damn good and similar to what I see in your videos), so with your small team you must have a plan that involves a lot of procedurally generated content? The crux with that however has always been how to keep it interesting. What are your plans and ideas for that?

 

[Madoc]

Well, I guess mostly we're hoping to achieve better productivity. In our experience productivity doesn't scale linearly. The less time you spend fiddling with akward tools the more you can focus on the creative aspect and be productive. Tedious procedures are really tiresome and take the focus away from the task at hand. It's hard to explain. Every time we manage to remove that additional click from something we do frequently it seems like a huge achievement, suddenly something frustrating becomes a smooth experience and you just fall into the work without being distracted. Think of an artist who has to look away from the canvas and wet their brush after every stroke, having an S shaped brush handle or doing a stroke and waiting a while for it to appear. Doesn't make for a good workflow.