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The discussion was about character designs and graphics, something Blade & Soul's Art Director, Hyung-tae Kim, was comfortable answering.
The attire is the center of attention in Blade & Soul. What will the attires we get from siding with one of the factions be like (the factions that appear at levels 22-25)?
It seems like a lot of the users chose the Hong Chun Cult attire (image). But I am revealing this now; the attire for the Moo-Lim Allegiance (image) will be way better looking. These attires can be upgraded as you level through their ranks. We will be adding more attire for each faction in the future content. Keep your hopes up.
The users are amazed at the amount of attires currently found in the game. What is the one attire that you put the most effort on?
All attires were made with great effort, but if I were to choose, I would say it’s the Hong Moon Clan attire (the one you get from the tutorial at level 1).
Blade and Soul's first dobok; Hong Moon School Dobok.
Users tend to choose attires that can be found on NPCs. Will users be able to wear those as well?
It will come down to whether the users can acquire it or not. All attires in the game can be worn by the players, but just not attainable yet. There will be a lot more attires that become attainable in the future, so do not worry.
What would be the best attire one can acquire in CBT2?
I can’t tell you the method in obtaining one, but the one shown in the artwork behind me (image below) can be acquired in CBT2. I don’t know when a user with that one will appear in-game though. (The attire can be obtained through the level 38 instanced dungeon.)
This outfit can be obtained in CBT2, from the level 38 instance.
The attires are designed with no difference in upper and lower parts. Moreover, there are no graphical changes when equipping accessories (rings, necklace and earrings). Any plans to change this?
There are no plans to change that. The attires can be obtained from NPCs as well as monster drops. There is a named boss called the Golden Destroyer in the Giant Desert area that drops a set. The set includes the basic attire along with a hat and a wing-like addon.
This dobok drops from the Golden Destroyer world boss and is called the Golden Dobok, aka the "winged" dobok.
We can mix these with other attires, but the one dropped by that boss is the best match. Don’t you usually try to match your shoes with your pants in real life?
We made it so that obtaining the full set will make the user feel the coolest. We initially tried to implement the graphical effects of accessories, but the minute details weren’t catching the eyes, so we decided not to implement them.
Clothing is made up of one outfit, one hat and one other head accessory, all of which carry no stats. One of each can make up an entire matching set.
I felt that a lot of online games have attires that can be worn in real life. In short, they looked too plain and simple. Isn’t a game supposed to be a place where a person escapes boring reality to feel special and look much cooler and fancier? I tried to emphasize that into Blade & Soul, and hence the results.
We steered away from separated attire (like top attire, bottom attire, foot attire, etc) to make playing Blade & Soul feel like going to a party and having fun. You always want to look your best at a party right?
We will introduce monster attires and other unique designs in the future. They will cater to the users’ tastes.
These are the outfits that the GMs flaunt around in. Expect a wider variety of outfits in the future.
The preset designs changed in CBT1 and CBT2 due to user feedback. Will they change in the future tests as well?
We take all forms of feedback into consideration. There was one user that posted a bunch of Korean art relics in an organized fashion that we took into serious consideration. We got a lot of new ideas and concepts from these relics. There was one where a tree looked like a dragon soaring through the sky, expect to see something like this in-game in the future.
We are constantly receiving feedback; NPCs and characters’ legs are too thick, the ankle is too thin, etc. So we look at helpful comments like those instead of comments like “Great game!” or “Love this game!!” to make the game better.
Speaking of feedback, it looks like love towards male characters will be lower than female characters.
That is true. I am saying this now but I hope the users will give more feedback on the male characters. The developer Team thinks they are designing cool looking male characters, but since the feedback is significantly lower than females, they are considering making the males sexier.
Guys make female characters because they are guys, and girls make female characters because they are girls.
Isn’t it because the female characters are too beautiful?
Something we are regretting. A male user should pick a male character, we are trying hard to fix this problem! =)
How do you plan to change the male characters?
Nothing special. Just changing the hair style, facial shape, and animations. We think the main problem with the male characters is that they are too plain and simple. In short, we think they lack charisma and appeal. It is hard to add different characteristics visually to male characters in online game, such as a thuggish look, reckless/brash look, bad boy look, etc.
This is easy in console games, however. Hence we altered some things, but it looks like we need to change more. Therefore we need more feedback.
What if the user feedback asks for thigh size reduction for female characters?
If we are changing body parts, we need to do it in relation to the other body parts. We don't want the users to have a “I like this character but I don’t like this body part, so I won’t play it” mentality.
Isn’t that Blade & Soul's Art Director, Hyung-tae Kim’s, trademark?
That is why there may be a limit on how much we can change. I think we will add more options for users to utilize instead of changing existing ones.
We know that a lot of manpower was used to make the stunning graphics. Was the majority of that manpower used towards the games fashion and character design?
There are actually more people for the animation and environment department. Character design is limited to only a minor group of people due to the unique artistic style. They still do their job well. I believe animation decides a game’s gameplay quality. Blade & Soul animation, in my opinion, is the peak of online games. I am confident to say it is three times better than other well-made games out there.
The important aspect is how the target I am hitting is hit rather than how I am getting hit. Blade & Soul's hit animations are different depending on how the target is hit. You can be lifted into the air, be choked, or stumble and roll over. This applies to not only humanoid mobs but all the other mobs as well. To this extent, we consider the target’s hit animation more important.
We place more importance on stylistic combat and animation with another person rather than the same animation being used in zerg vs zerg battles. We want to provide users with unique experiences by expanding on this.
Server stress seems to be enormous. In real tests, server downs may occur within an hour.
That is why the server team is struggling right now. The amount of pressure on the server during regular open-field gameplay is about the same as another game’s RvR. If you look at it the other way, I guess you can say we are making good use of our servers.
Given how good the graphics are, it looks like a lot of resources go into each character.
We did not use more polygons or special effects to increase the graphic quality. We used a technique used in movie production called Mi Jang Shen (??). It models the character around the location, environmental color effects, contrast, light/shadow, and angle of the camera.
The graphics is considered great because we adjusted this technique to be neither too detailed nor sloppy. Since you played the game, you would have found out that Blade & Soul is not that demanding of a game. The graphic engine team’s effort is a factor, but aren’t you able to play the game with semi-high settings even if you only meet the minimum requirements?
Are there extra options available for those users with high-end specs?
We are working on adding those options. Right now there is a noticeable different between high settings and max settings. We are trying to make the game look better even on the medium settings. Obviously, we are thinking of adding more options for max settings to satisfy those players.
The monsters all have unique designs and it’s hard to find the same mob in different regions. Is there a reason you are not recycling models?
We are not focusing on new designs for monsters, but rather, to make fighting new monsters in new regions to be always different.
We are not making monsters that look different, but have same attack patterns (aka easy to farm). We are focusing on the AI and the animations/behavior of each monster type. The animation team is working hard to make the skill motion look and feel unique.
Since humanoid monsters use the same skills as the player while also looking similar, there is a PvP feel to it.
We place importance on the concept of PvP. Monsters appear in martial-arts settings but person to person relationships are more important. Expect more humanoid enemies and other monsters sporting different action styles in the future.
Comments
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The film technique he's referencing here is mise en scène. It's a vague term, but basically means that everything on the screen is part of the scene, not just the characters. He's saying that they made the characters look better by making the environments match, a contiguous art style.
Great interview, thanks! Glad to see he's not opposed to modifying his art style to match consumer demands. While I usually think it's unfair to restrict artists like this, B&S needs to appeal to a broad audience to do well, not just hormonal teenage boys.
One suggestion, make Gon males not walk around on toothpicks. Those legs are so weird looking. It's a dip into the uncanny valley.
It seems like a lot of the users chose the Hong Chun Cult attire (image). But I am revealing this now; the attire for the Moo-Lim Allegiance (image) will be way better looking. These attires can be upgraded as you level through their ranks. We will be adding more attire for each faction in the future content. Keep your hopes up.
The pessimist in me says that this is a great way to balance the sides, by giving one side better looking attire.
Funny how a week changes 3-4 years worth of art and admiration.
I think I'll stop reading and await the release.
Great interview, thanks! Glad to see he's not opposed to modifying his art style to match consumer demands. While I usually think it's unfair to restrict artists like this, B&S needs to appeal to a broad audience to do well, not just hormonal teenage boys.
One suggestion, make Gon males not walk around on toothpicks. Those legs are so weird looking. It's a dip into the uncanny valley.
Agreed with you at the beginning but then you started talking about how Art Directors should compromise their art. And Gon needing a redesign? Isn't it a bit late for that?
Funny how a week changes 3-4 years worth of art and admiration.
I think I'll stop reading and await the release.
Agreed with you at the beginning but then you started talking about how Art Directors should compromise their art. And Gon needing a redesign? Isn't it a bit late for that?
It doesn't seem like pessimism to me. Kim Hyung-Tae is a fairly humble man, at least he comes across that way in interviews. He's always seeking ways to improve his art and make it more appealing. Remember, this article is an interview with the man himself. Any criticism you read into it is from his own perspective.
A majority of characters running around were female, and while a player has every right to play whatever toon they want, the developers seem bothered by the fact that more males weren't used. And I agree that aesthetically, the males are less interesting. Their outfits are more traditional, their facial textures more bland, their hairstyles less noticeable, and their body structures slightly dysmorphic. I'm not quite sure I agree that making males "more sexy" is the right solution, but I'll be interested to see what happens. A full redesign, no, but minor tweaks to their meshes wouldn't be out of order or difficult to do.
I don't like art directors compromising their art, and if Hyung-Tae's work here was just for his own benefit, I'd champion him to design in whatever way he wants. However, B&S has more riding on it, like the jobs of over a 100 people. Game design is all about compromise, and as a designer you can't be afraid to kill your own baby. This goes for art as well as story, mechanics, etc.
The majority of B&S already like the art and design how it is.
Keep it how it is won't cost them their jobs. Instead, by pleasing those complainers he'll make the other side angry.
It's their game, I just hope they don't mess it up. I'm perfectly fine with keeping to console games
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ha!~
No.
^^
And ... I'm not sure what to think regarding that faction gear ... how he's going to make one side cooler than the other. Why not make them EQUALLY cool? *boggles*
Great interview.
And I don't like someone changing to please someone else as much as the next person, but I do agree that the males were a little boring for my taste :I I mean, you have gorgeous females with all of these unique differences and then you have males that are just sort of...blah. They weren't bad, but I do think that in comparison to the females they lack a certain...something. Maybe they need facial expressions...They all just looked so serious, like robots -- or maybe that's just the ones I saw. A lot of people will choose the standard faces for males, I think, because on a young body, a face with many scars and lines looks awkward, but a face with no personality is just boring. SO people choose females, who, while their faces don't really have a lot of distinction, their bodies do, so there is their personality right there already. So maybe males do need a little bit of adjustment. Not to be stereotypical, but they did bring up a good point -- maybe a female artist should be brought in for help with the males...or just someone who likes males. A sex often picks out certain appealing details of the sex that they're attracted to. Maybe that could help a little.
And I know what they mean by "a male should play males". It's not to say that a guy can't play a woman, but the fact that a lot of people, male and female, don't want to play guys at all :| or at least a large number. And one would assume a guy would want to personify himself in a character, or at least make a guy alt at some point, and the fact that even guys don't want to play guys is...probably not so good from a game company's standpoint.
And don't need to change the art style because of the customers... it's perfect... :confident:
this! ^-^
always found the males quite bland for some reason, and am superglad Kim is aware of this / looking to spice things up on the other side, since the females are already so lovely. :)