[O.B.S.] Operation Blue Sky

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...suggestion-add-more-skyboxes.2513/#post-33559

Last time i posted something about this topic was around the first days of July, as you can see in the link above.

As I said previously:

<< The sky during the demo [RTX] was cloudy, like an ordinary autumn/winter day. So, because the sky was cloudy, the colors around the streets of the city were more muted.

What about a bright blue sky which makes the colors more vivid around? We could see something like this during summer/spring days in-game.
Or maybe even during some winter/autumn days ( there are some days during "cold" seasons where there are no clouds around ;P ). >>

I've recently watched SoTA IGN developer commentary and looked at the pictures on the official website. The sky is ALWAYS very depressing, LOL ;P

Wsye said on my previous post, that the sky seen in RTX demo was just a placeholder: I hope he's right. We NEED sun, colors, green fields, shining oceans and stuff like that ;P



(My comment on the video)

HOW IT SHOULD BE:
BEFORE:



AFTER:




What do you think about it? I'm not the only one who would like to have something like this, there are lot of people like me around this forum who have my same suggestion. Don't you think we need to have bright skyboxes? Hear us, devs !

 

I agree, and I think that is their intent.
The skyboxes used in RTX were very much place holders, and there was much work left to do.

I don't think they'd have abandoned that idea, because the moons/planets were going to play a role in the game!

 

SotA.....brought to you by J.J. Abrams

 

LOL? what's so sci-fi about my semi-photoshopped image?

I hope so ^__^

 

Lens flare (possibly a bit excessive in that case)

 

Screen bloom and lens flare pretty much is the first thing I turn off. It looks great and if I was taking screen shots I probably would turn them back on. But games tend to put too much noise (visual) on the screen.

If you are color blind, all that noise get out of hand.

All for putting that stuff in, just needs a toggle to turn it off.

 

Guys... you're considering my image too seriously.

I know i'm not so good at photoshop and that i overused lens flare (my mistake, LOL): but that image is just a sample to show how they could change the colors in the sky and add the sun to give more brightness to the game world.

Who did ever talk about wanting to see noisy light reflections and bloom in-game... LOL ;P

 

They need to improve both the lighting and the shaders. After watching that Unity Demo, it makes SoTA look bad.

The most important thing is the game tho, the graphics can always be improved later, even by players.

 

Agreed, even if i'm talking about Artistic Direction and not "graphics" itself. I don't care about graphics... but i think Artistic Direction is very important in a game.

Playing a fantasy game with that color palette is like a funeral.
Well, except if you're playing games like Diablo 1-2 or Planescape with their dark setting and story.

 

Well, I like Stephen Danielle's work. I think he's the one giving the pro art direction that the game needs.

The game itself is way behind the curve, but for a small team, and because I don't have a gaming PC ( i game on PS4 or on the mac) I'm fine with it not being Crysis 3 like requirements.

I think the map is awesome - And I've seen a lot of maps for game worlds. It's usually extremely bad in JRPGS or in cheap games like the stuff on mobile phones today. We are getting a high quality and thought out World and that's big for me.

I love the Futhark runes and weekly jigsaw reveals.

I'll reserve the rest of my judgement until next year, theres a lot of room for improvement.

 

Again, I totally agree with you about the points you've listed: but as I said before i'm not talking about graphic engine/world map (which i very good) or runes. I'm talking about skyboxes' colors/brightness, which are part of Artistic Direction. That's all. All the other stuff is OK.

P.s.: I disagree with you about JRPGs world maps... there are lot of JRPGs around with extremely good and balanced world maps :S

 

Like what ?

 

Okay then.

But it's kind of early to talk about Skyboxes since we've only seen them in screenshots. Maybe later this week this thread will be more relevant since we'll see what the used skybox actually looks like.

 

"Like what" : P ? We're going OT, here. By the way: Final Fantasy 6, 7, lot Tales of games, shin megami series, Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, Wild Arms 1 , Valkyrie Profile 1, Xenogears, Alundra, Star ocean Second Story, Lunar... I don't think it is necesary to go on with the list of "beautiful game worlds", LOL. If you want, we can keep talking about this topic via PM

I took the image I posted above from the developer IGN commentary which is a video. By the way, you're right: the developers and the Game Designer of this game have a great portfolio, so I think they will be hearing us right now and will get for good my/our suggestions.

Hey funny guy ;P this is my idea of bright sky, no Photoshop or J.J. Abrams involved. This has been taken at 10 a.m. with my mobile phone in my city, Rome.





Oh and by the way, sky from pre-alpha is much better than the one from recent demos ;P

 

https://d2sx9mrt4zumaq.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ReleaseOne.jpg


Looks like they've been watching us ;P

 

I'd like to see the brighter skies, but I think it should be tied to the 'mood' of the current 'scene'. Darker colors with less lights in some of the dungeons. Less sunlight but lighter shadows in some of the wooded areas. Bright, open skies in open fields (baring a weather system with storms, etc). And lots of smoke and maybe some dark clouds above the vulcanoes. I suspect by the games release these will all be handled just fine.

 

I agree OP. Skies are important to me.

Give me a bright blue white cloud hi-res sky please.

Darker nights with hi-res milky way and moon kinda deal.

I thought cloud movement was great.

 

Totally Agree with both of you

 

Australia - Brisbane 24.12.13 0833

 

The pictures i've seen of the pre-alpha seem to have good skies.