17.1.1. Will Vanguards models look "plastic"?
I think we've done a lot better than many earlier games using newer shader tech (bump mapping, specular lighting, etc.) and that there's a lot less of the 'plastic' feel. And when we do encounter it, our artist do their best to adjust the textures accordingly. - January 2006
Source: Aradune Mithara
17.2. Will there be character emotes?
Yes. There will be many done via the text interface, and hopefully a large subset of them visible via character animations.
Source: Official FAQ
17.3. Will there be character animations?
Yes.
Source: Official FAQ
17.4. How much work is being put into the animations of the character models themselves? Will we see realistic motions for such things as movement? Has any use of motion capture been made?
Most animations for monsters will be hand generated (the trolls weren’t cooperating for the mo-cap.) For bi-pedal monsters and player characters, we will be using mo-cap data. Our animation rig allows for the animator to further add special touches on top of the mo-cap data to further set it apart. – David Gilbertson @ Vanguard Gate
Source: Official FAQ
From Gamespot Article and Video
"Vanguard will even model nuances, like hooded cloaks and visored helmets that can be raised or lowered. That is, if your character wears a cloak, you'll be able to wear the cowl up or down; likewise, if you wear a helmet, you'll be able to wear the visor up or down."
Source: Jeff Butler
To do cloaks and the like really nice, you need a pretty robust hair/cloth system. And wil will have such technology at some point, but at this point I can't say if it will be in by launch or rather after launch. Simply too early to say, but it's a 'when', not an 'if'. ~ late December 2005 (Beta 2)
Source: Aradune Mithara
17.5. Have you decided to move beyond the process of one size fits all with differing motions to fit different spells instead of one motion to represent all of casting?
The same goes for fighting as well. We are certainly making every effort to have as much diversity as possible with animations. Different walks for different races. Different fighting animations for different styles. The same with spell casting and crafting. However, since programming isn’t going to give the art department infinite animations, we will have to careful where we spend them. – David Gilbertson @ Vanguard Gate
Source: Official FAQ
17.6. Will characters react to the environment? For example, sit on a chair or lay on a bed?
Our current focus is more on interacting with the environment in ways directly relating to gameplay.
Source: Official FAQ
17.7. What are your views on item model reuse in these games? In some past MMOGs one art model was used repeatedly (items and monsters) to represent several different objects in the game.
Sadly, it’s a fact of life that’s going to happen. There is just an incredible amount of work and data that goes into these games. The trick is to be careful how they are reused so that every time you turn around, you aren’t seeing the same model again.
Source: Official FAQ
Having distinct looking items that actually look distinct in the game world is actually turning out even better than I'd hoped. While it won't be 1:1, the tech is turning out well. By sharing tiny textures and because having tons of small meshes (swords, spears, shields, polearms, etc.) aren't really a bottleneck issue for perfromance or memory, as well as some other tricks, we're getting a lot of variety in, and more every beta patch. Keep an eye out for future screenshots that will reveal this variety as it develops. - 27 November 2005
Source: Aradune Mithara
17.8. What kind of spell and ability effects will you have? I don't like over the top effects for minor abilities.
I think I feel the same way as you do about having too much flash. Or flash without substance behind it.
Vanguard *does* use a lot more particle effects than just for magic based spells. For example, if you successfully daze a mob, you see a little effect around it's head. Also, when you hit a mob there's a graphical indication. And I'm sure you've already seen text numbers for damage and such over people's heads.
I realize this is a bit controversial. Old school people oft times don't care for this stuff (at least initially). I can only assure you of this: I truly believe it needs to be there, if used right and not overdone, to make the game more visceral. Plus, there will be options to turn various things off if you simply can't stand it. So to me it's a win-win -- those who expect a lot of flash will get it, though hopefully not overdone (nor underdone). Those who don't can turn various effects off. - August 2005
Source: Aradune Mithara
17.9. Are the screenshots that you have released retouched in any way?
There are no fakes from Vanguard. It's all real in game shots. I do understand what you’re talking about, and that stuff always makes me mad when I see it. Now I know that some of it might change as we keep working on it but it IS real. (The only thing we do after the shot is taken is add the watermark, we don't even crop them. ^_^) I hope that helps to put your mind at ease. - Dave Baldwin - December 21, 2005 (Beta 2)
Source: Zinge
The screenshots are absolutely real. They have all options turned on and the more recent ones were taken by my art director so they're set up really nice, but they are very real and very much the game. Also the most recent couple of batches on our site and sent to affiliate sites have the latest in HDR, tone mapping, and world lighting turned on, whereas some of the links to older shots (e.g. the ones from Woody's site) do not have these options on (most of them weren't coded yet).
Not only that, but I can get between 15 and 30fps at that quality at 1920x1200 on a high end machine right now, and do every night when I play, and we're not even totally optimized. I am using a 3.8ghz pentium and an ATI 1800XT and fully admit that's a high-end machine that's relatively costly (though those screenshots were using 850XTs and 1800XLs depending on the date). But the card, cpu, etc. really only determines the framerate in this case, not the quality of the image. You can get that quality of an image on any shader 2.0 card (the x1800s are shader 3.0 but we're not using any 3.0 instructions as of yet). E.g. the game looks that good on a 9800XT, although currently with optimizaitons not done and all of those options on, I think most wouldn't find the game enjoyable at that rez on a lower end system with a much slower shader 2.0 card.
That said, there are many people in beta playing at lower resolutions (1280x1024, etc.) and without HDR/worldlighting on 9800s, 6800s, etc. and on 2.8ghz or so systems and playing just fine. Lastly, based on what both ATI and Nvidia are saying, cards that perform like x1800s (or even faster) will be in the under $150 dollar range by the middle of next year.
Looking at the screenshots we've released, they've continued to look better and better as we finalize the engine for release (although we'll keep updating after release). So the opposite of what you assert is going to occur -- the screenshots are going to look better in the future as we approach release, not worse. One big example is, there are still no environmental shadows. Also, there is no anti-aliasing on in those recent shots (when we put in HDR, we had to turn anti-aliasing off, although the x1800 series allows you to do both now, and I would expect to see both once it makes sense for Ryan to write the code to utilize this new tech).
December 22, 2005 (Beta 2)
Source: Aradune Mithara
(I think I can be an authority on this...)
The shots are, indeed, and in every way that you could possibly argue, real. Did we have an artist help figure out a good camera position and time of day for some of the more beautiful ones? Oh yes, indeed we did.
You would not see ME in there taking screenshots and posting them, because just because I *LOVE* a good meal doesn't mean I have any talent to cook one. Also, I have a stable of incredibly talented artists who I can say "Make my code look good" and a few minutes (hours?) later I have a batch of shots.
They're real. If they were fake, my team wouldn't have to spend so much time making the graphics engine better and faster, would it?! *grin*
You may see different quality shots on different systems, and you may see the overall quality of our shots get MUCH better in the near future (yes, indeed!), but you will never see faked shots. Why? Because we don't have to. Thanks, and enjoy. Ryan "Gebron the Demented" Elam - December 21, 2005 (Beta 2)
Source: Gebron the Demented