Turbine Nation
If you've read Creatures and Creations, you have some idea as to the work of a member of the AC2 art team. In all honesty, there isn't much we can add to that description at this time without becoming a member of that team. (Well, or cornering one in a room withou no way out and forcing them to confess... :))
However, we do have a leftover tale of a creature that will someday be introduced to AC2...and Rockton was kind enough to send us an update on the status of the mighty Rhino.
Once upon a time there was an artist (no longer with Turbine, I believe) who was assigned the design for a creature. The history of the spec for this beast is shrouded in the mists of time. We'll call this beast the "Evil Demon Child". Not because that is the name it will have, but because that was the first thought that crossed my mind when I saw it.
The initial design we were shown of this beast looked like it belonged in the "House of the Dead" series of arcade games, rather than in Asheron's Call. Pale-skinned, with bloody stumps of legs, floating in the air as its wings beat slowly. The grin on the face of the thing could be deemed unnerving.
This was clearly skilled artwork, but not quite matching the flavor of AC2. While the art, as such, wasn't clearly unacceptable, it would certainly be rather jarring in the context of Dereth. However, if the object was to be shocking, this was definitely a successful design.
The true shock of the design, however, was in the disturbing animation given to one of the attacks it could make. The chest of the creature ripped open and a grotesque tentacle sprung from within it to savage the player who dared to attack it. With taller player models, this was the chest of the character that was assaulted...with shorter, the face. No matter which was attacked, it was a very visceral animation.
A comment was made in passing regarding Microsoft's opinion on this art. I'm not sure if it was "Imagine when they saw it" or "Imagine if they saw it". Either way, I'm sure they would have had a small nervous breakdown. I'm positive the Art Team Lead at the time twitched a bit. One of the jobs of the Art Team Lead is to notice this type of thing at some point during character design and help the other artists work to match the flavor and style of the game properly.
Following the presentation of these animations, we were shown a new character design based on the same concept. The creature was much more demonic and less bloody. A different texture and color was used for the skin of the beast. In all honesty, the creature was still recognizable from the original design. However, the creature was clearly something that belonged in the world of Dereth in some indefinable way. Shown this creature with no other hint of origin besides being from Turbine, one of my first guesses would have been that it was something new for AC2.
We likely have a good stretch of time to wait until all of us see this creature in the game. It looked like it was built onto the framework required for animation, but there were no animations shown us. Animating a creature through all its regular activities and special attacks is quite time consuming, so I would presume we have a while to wait. However, we were submitted a couple of pics from Turbine Nation, so now you can see what I have been talking about. The pics don't do justice to the clarity of the image on the screen, but you'll get the idea, I think.
Speaking of this, Rockton was kind enough to contact me and clarify the status of the Rhino. While the design is complete and (as we saw) the model has been built, there is still a long way to go. Let me break down the stages of creature creation, as I understand them. The Rhino (and the Olthoi Queen) seem to be at the end of step 3.
1) Spec requesting creature design OR a neat creature design sketch - Either a content designer or an artist has a neat idea and shares with the other. 2) Full sketch - A detailed sketch or sketches showing how the creature will appear. This will go through a few stages, often including a beautiful piece of work like the Dragdog final concept art.
Only after all this is a creature ready to be added to game, artwise. Content designers will still need to set the combat statistics of the creature, and tie that to the various animations and damage skins, so that it will reflect the attacks with the proper animation and deteriorate as it is killed.
And all this is easier than armor. Still, a very time consuming job. Thanks to all the artists who have worked on AC2...we truly appreciate the hard work you put in for us!
