We’ve been playing our cards pretty close to the chest here at Gaslamp Games when it comes to showing final game assets. You know, put your best foot forward and make a good impression and all that. There were some scenes showing rendered assets (not in-engine) shown in the PC Gamer preview but we have since overhauled much of what was shown there. For today, let us focus on the characters.
Our character artist here at Gaslamp Games, Gentleman Joseph, has been very, very busy.
Just so: The Overseers — Work’s to be done and, by Cogs above, they’ll see you to it.
On The Matter of Enhancement Of Certain Qualities
After an initial run of art asset production we looked at what we had and decided there was a lot more graphics capacity to burn through. We’ve doubled the original triangle budget and texture resolution for characters’ heads, hair, and hats. Now with higher quality identifiable features on people we can now reasonably pull head-and-shoulders shots of character models directly in the UI instead of needing to separate portraits (or no portraits at all). The increased polycount even allows a degree of emotional expression, which our animator, The Talented Mr. Triolo, is going to have to run some experiments for.
Everyone in the Clockwork Empires looks like they might be hiding bodies in their cellar. Because there’s a good chance that they are. (You can’t just leave a good body laying about going to waste, what of the Cogsmass Crimble for the lil’uns?)
The Modular Makings of a Human
Clockwork Empires characters are divided into a number of modular parts which are assembled together in-engine (or in saucy Potemkin-esque renders) to form all the variety of your population. The pieces are body, head, hair and/or hat, and various retexturings of all the above.
“Why Elnora, by mine own eyes – t’is the Bounty of Nature given unto us!”
Given these people-pieces, all manner of people can be created. (I should note here as well that we intend to have a variety of skin colours available, though these shots don’t show it.)
Subjects of the Clockwork Empires take their hairstyles very seriously and so should you.
A Subject’s Station & The Betterment Thereof
The alterna-pseudo-Victorian society of Clockwork Empires is eminently class-based. As such, character parts are tagged by class. A lower class character will appear unruly, unbathed, and unshaven as befits the toiling labourer. The middle class will aspire to the grooming and encrustings of the upper class which in-turn, of course, shall tend toward neatly waxed mustaches, finely coiffed hair, and tasteless displays of wealth.
Steampunk Charles Darwin has classified all manner of mechanical finches.
There’s much to be said about how the class structure fits into gameplay, but that’s post for another week. So let’s leave you be. By the way, we’re going to be doing these Clockwork Empires updates on Wednesdays from now on because it takes us until the middle of the week to truly wake up after The Deathless Sleep.
Even the dead may not rest!
(And some props to “The Doctor” Hamilton, our environment artist, for the gravestone. More of his work shall surely be showcased soon – he’s been cranking out upgraded pipe-sections like a certain ill-begotten factory in the lost colony of Shiveringhope.)
Want a forum pic of the lady farmer ploxxorz.
I need one or the Diggles will get me. 🙁
They look so delightfully grim! And it fills my heart with reasonable joy to hear there’ll be skin color variance in the game, too. Subjects of the realm of every color can hide bodies in their basements!
You’re right, she is in everything these days…
I see the word subject being thrown around a little instead of citizen. Has the pit fighting been resolved?
Not really. But he who writes the blog post uses whatever words he wishes.
Maybe you could compromise with “peon”?
Hah! Yes. Peon is good.
They look awesome- I’m really digging the style.
Those regular human hands look a bit odd on the skeleton. I hope you guys are planning on making proper skeletal hands for the skeletons.
Other than that, it looks pretty great 😉
But no objections to a living corpse standing upright in front of his own gravestone?
Ach, can’t please everyone I guess.
Maybe he’s wearing gloves?
Looks good, lets get some different skin color options and some funky colored hair options going.
What is the overseer’s stick for?
Improving morale.
I so love that answer.
I see only six floating heads of Darwin.
I think this looks rustic, awesome, and possibly beardtastic, but I’m gonna wait to see how everything animates.
Also the class structure sounds intriguing, and probably feeds my anthropology nerdism a bit too much.
Gah! Not the burden of expectations! I hope you’ll find my animation up to snuff.
my goddamn money, Gaslamp, take all of it! Just try to make your deadline if possible. 🙂
Uhm, er…
Folks, I think a Dorf slipped in there.
why, is that such a bad thing? 😉
Oh, no, not at all.
It’s just that I thought that stone slabs created by the gods only taught the secrets of life and death, not interdimensional travel.