Story may get all the press when it comes to Star Wars: The Old Republic, but the truth is that the final product was a team collaboration between many departments -- including the artists. Art Director Jeff Dobson sat down with Republic Trooper to talk about the process of shaping each of the game's many worlds and locales with BioWare's signature flair.
It might astound you to realize just how many different type of artists work on MMOs such as SWTOR. Dobson said the team has "concept artists, character artists, environment artists, VFX artists, GUI artists, animators, and technical artists. The world design team is worth a mention here as well, because they participate a lot in the initial visual development of an area." And that doesn't include the separate teams that did the cinematic cutscenes or pre-rendered cinematics!
Dobson said that the biggest challenge for the art team was the scale of the project. "The Old Republic has too many assets to even really take stock of how much there is. It is a lot of work to simply track this many assets as they go through the creation pipeline," he said.
Reader Comments (36)
Posted: Jan 17th 2012 9:08AM Deadalon said
SWTOR looks great. Its the things that are in it that feel mediocer. Animals dont fit in (the flying things in Jedi knight starting zone are example of the worst.) And the human mobs just feel lifeless in the world standing around way to much to be slaughtered.
The only thing I really dont like is the huge storage maps that are pretty much all the same and obviously just created to blast off some mobs for quests. Way to much of such areas and they are very lifeless.
The only thing I really dont like is the huge storage maps that are pretty much all the same and obviously just created to blast off some mobs for quests. Way to much of such areas and they are very lifeless.
Posted: Jan 17th 2012 11:48AM (Unverified) said
@Deadalon
I like the views that Star Wars has and I have been having fun playing the game. Guards and camps usually do not move around much in real life, so not moving around in a game does not bother me. I would like to see more civilians in some of the city sectors as well as more movement from the animals. Now, the queues on my server are still annoying.
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I like the views that Star Wars has and I have been having fun playing the game. Guards and camps usually do not move around much in real life, so not moving around in a game does not bother me. I would like to see more civilians in some of the city sectors as well as more movement from the animals. Now, the queues on my server are still annoying.
Posted: Jan 17th 2012 9:10AM b3n said
Well, the artists got screwed along with the players - because the game only has one graphics quality setting - Low.
And no anti-aliasing either. AA support is included in patch1.1, which was supposed to be deployed today - but it's been delayed until who knows when.
And no anti-aliasing either. AA support is included in patch1.1, which was supposed to be deployed today - but it's been delayed until who knows when.
Posted: Jan 17th 2012 9:30AM SiML said
@Deadalon,
Yeah, I was excited for TOR even buying the concept art book / explorers guide, but I cannot bring myself to buy the game after seeing the videos on YouTube that depict a really static world with groups standing around doing nothing and canteenas that have about as much atmosphere and action as a morgue.
Yeah, I was excited for TOR even buying the concept art book / explorers guide, but I cannot bring myself to buy the game after seeing the videos on YouTube that depict a really static world with groups standing around doing nothing and canteenas that have about as much atmosphere and action as a morgue.
Posted: Jan 17th 2012 9:36AM rebelyankee said
I gotta say, I'm amazed some of you have time to play any MMO given the amount of time you spend bashing a game you don't play.
Posted: Jan 17th 2012 8:05PM rebelyankee said
@Sorithal Not critizing a game. Harping. Over and over, often not even about the subject at hand.
I get it. I hate so very many MMOs out there - probably some these guys love and play when they're not busy SWTOR-hating - but I have better things to do in my life than pop into every SWTOR thread and beat the dead horse.
Think I'm wrong? I'm going to pop up to the $500 million pricetag post, I'm willing to bet you, of the 26 comments I see there right now, roughly half will rehash the same tired crap we keep reading every single day.
Please, for the love of all that is holy, speak your piece and go get some peace. It's a little personal at this point, clearly.
Reply
I get it. I hate so very many MMOs out there - probably some these guys love and play when they're not busy SWTOR-hating - but I have better things to do in my life than pop into every SWTOR thread and beat the dead horse.
Think I'm wrong? I'm going to pop up to the $500 million pricetag post, I'm willing to bet you, of the 26 comments I see there right now, roughly half will rehash the same tired crap we keep reading every single day.
Please, for the love of all that is holy, speak your piece and go get some peace. It's a little personal at this point, clearly.
Posted: Jan 17th 2012 10:13AM rebelyankee said
Well, they have plenty of time to keep it up! Judging by the lack of comments on posts about any other mmo, they don't actually play one, they're just here to bash a few.
Reply
Posted: Jan 17th 2012 10:06AM SiML said
I didn't say I hadn't played it, I said I will not be buying it myself.
No need to get personal, I'm just calling it like I see it. You cannot deny the world is static, more than it should be. Bioware should do an atmosphere pass adding crowd density and purpose.
You cannot deny that every seated NPC is sitting blankly staring ahead, and every sporadically positioned triple NPC crowd consists of one doing explanatory hand movements, one shifting from foot to foot, and the last just standing there. It feels like you are adventuring in a world frozen in time.
No need to get personal, I'm just calling it like I see it. You cannot deny the world is static, more than it should be. Bioware should do an atmosphere pass adding crowd density and purpose.
You cannot deny that every seated NPC is sitting blankly staring ahead, and every sporadically positioned triple NPC crowd consists of one doing explanatory hand movements, one shifting from foot to foot, and the last just standing there. It feels like you are adventuring in a world frozen in time.
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