Hello Players,
Adam here, one of the artists over here at Mad Otter Games. We wanted to share with all of you a sneak peek of what's to come, something that we are really excited about. As many of you may have noticed, Ardent and the Seven Realms have gotten a pretty significant makeover in the last few months, and we hope you are all enjoying it. But what's the good of gorgeous new environments without also giving some love to the most important part of the game: all of you! So without further ado, I would like to give you a little preview of some updates to the player character models!
We have added more geometry to the faces themselves so that the characters you have all created and come to love should look smoother and more defined than ever before, as well as redoing many of the hair models in the game to have more detail. You should all notice the new models in the next update. You will find that the new faces improve on the old ones, while maintaining their iconic character.
We've added some extra subtle detail to faces as well, employing specular and normal maps to the faces (a specular map helps the game engine tell how light reacts to a surface, while a normal map helps it define more subtle face geometry such as creases and wrinkles). Previously, the faces were also mirrored, and we have now rebuilt them to allow for asymmetrical faces in the future. Think of possibilities for scars and tattoos, not to mention the previous eye texture had opposite glistens on the two eyes (perhaps a pet peeve to the artists only?) You may also notice other small changes; ambient blinking animation, increased options for hair, eye, and skin tones, and a "bald" option for female characters.
It was important to us that we refine the characters' look, but adhere to the personality of our established setting. The world of Ardent and the Seven Realms is a quirky one, more akin "The Princess Bride," than "Game of Thrones," and our art needs to support that aesthetic and feel. And perhaps most importantly, we wanted to give you, the players, more choice. You are all the heart of our game, and giving you more power to create your characters the way you want them only makes our world richer and deeper.
So why else is this facelift so important? Certainly we want to make sure that your avatars look as good as possible in the new engine, and stay up to date with the rest of the game's graphics. But the other major reason behind this overhaul is a systematic one: we are laying down some groundwork to implement many more character customization options in the new future. The way the old models were handled, it would have been very difficult to introduce any of the new plans that we have in store. With our work now, you can all look forward to a slew of new options for your characters, from new head, hair, and color choices, not to mention brand new options such as scars, tattoos, make-up, and beards. Ultimately, we want to give you all much more control to make your character truly unique. And don't worry about having to roll a new character completely to see these additions! You will eventually find a barbershop in game with the changes that will allow you to change your style on a whim.
The team is hard at work over here getting these new features ready for you, and hope you enjoy this upcoming feature. We realize some of you may want to play around with some of the new character options, so upon updating, you will find that each of your existing characters has been given a one-time-use "makeover" option, so you can change your look to your liking! In the future, changing your appearance will be as easy as visiting a vendor.
Thanks for reading, player, and hope to see you in-game!