Darth Hater

Star Wars: The Old Republic News, Interviews, Media & Podcast

Friday Update: Studio Insider, Eurogamer, Community Q&A

Today's Friday Update features a Studio Insider on combat animation. Principal Lead Animator Mark How discusses the process of creating combat animations, from conception to finished product. He explains what it is like to recreate epic battles between Jedi and Sith, and how Smugglers and Imperial Agents utilize complex tactical attacks to hold their own against opponents from the safety of cover.

Also featured in this week's update is the Community Q&A. This month, Lead PvP Designer Gabe Ametangelo answers questions about player versus player combat, with topics ranging from arena implementation to post-launch dual specializations.

The topic for next month's Q&A is Socialization in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Production Coordinator Courtney Woods posted a new Community Q&A thread, where members of the community can sound off for a chance to have their questions answered in a future Studio Insider.

Lastly, BioWare will attend EuroGamer Expo in London next weekend. You can read about their upcoming show here. Darth Hater will be there in full force so expect content coming from us straight from the event.

Official DevTracker posts follow the jump.
DevTracker Posts


Courtney Woods
We know the community has a lot of questions and we want to answer as many as we can. This month, we want to hear your questions about socializing in Star Wars: The Old Republic. Please post your question in the comments!

We'll select some of these questions and answer them in an upcoming Studio Insider on our website.

Please keep questions courteous and try to avoid asking questions that have already been asked. Remember, there are some questions that we won't be able to answer, so please don't feel offended if your question is not selected.


Courtney Woods
With each Studio Insider, members of the Star Wars: The Old Republic development team take you behind the scenes to give you an inside look at the work that goes in to making the game. This week, Principal Lead Animator Mark How discusses the work that goes in to creating the animations for combat in Star Wars: The Old Republic.


Hi. My name is Mark How and I am the Principal Lead Animator at BioWare Austin. Many ideas have been dreamt up since the inception of this extraordinary game and the animation team has been hard at work since the very beginning. While we see each project as a challenge, we have a lot of fun imagining all sorts of unique, action-packed scenarios that can play out in The Old Republic. Of course, the main purpose of animation is to produce characters that adhere to the basic laws of physics, but good animation also ties into many other facets of game design. Today, I'll tell you about our experiences and techniques that go in to our creating the animations that compliment the exciting and visceral combat in The Old Republic!


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Courtney Woods

Held each year at the Earls Court Exhibition Center in London, the Eurogamer Expo stands as one of the largest video game events in the United Kingdom. This year BioWare and LucasArts will be bringing Star Wars: The Old Republic to the show, letting gamers get their hands on Origin World content for each of the eight classes in the game, as well as some Player-vs-Player combat in both the Alderaan and Huttball Warzones!

The Eurogamer Expo runs from September 22nd through the 25th, with show floor hours from 11:00 AM GMT until 7:00 PM GMT. For those of you who are early entry ticket holders, the show opens an hour earlier at 10:00 AM GMT.

On Saturday, September 24th from 8:00PM until 12:00AM GMT, BioWare will be hosting a Community Meet and Greet at Gamerbase London inside the Trocadero Centre. Those who attend will be able to meet other members of The Old Republic community, have a couple of drinks with the BioWare team, and take part in a developer Q&A session.

If you aren't able to make it to the Eurogamer Expo, be sure to check back to www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com as well as our Community Forums, Twitter and Facebook for the latest information!

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Comments

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  • Tarentaal's avatar
    Gamorrean Thug
    • Posts: 48
    #3 Tarentaal Posted 9/16/2011 7:31:54 PM
    Interesting piece of info. in the Q&A "A: Dual Speccing is something we want to add soon after launch." sure they had said there would not be dual specs? Glad they've changed their minds :)
  • Shlomoshun's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 60
    #12 Shlomoshun Posted 9/16/2011 11:06:05 PM
    I agree with most, this dual-spec will be within one AC, not between both. So you can have a PvE spec, and a PvP spec, but either way, you'll still be within your single advanced class. I like that compromise alot, as I've always liked playing my PvP DPS classes with wacky/alternate skills to keep enemies offguard, but always wanted a more traditional spec for grouping/raiding.

    Certainly some classes will offer two varied specs (healer and DPS or Tank and DPS specs within certain AC's)
    I still think it'll offer two different and fun specs for the 'pure' DPS AC's as well, with one spec offering pure min/max damage dealing, while the other could offer the most utilty/Crowdcontrol/buffing.
    Or one giving one branch heavy DOT DPS vs. another branch focusing on AOE DPS. OR single target Burst DPS.
    3 ways to deal damage, so there is still alot of ways they could go within the pure DPS classes. as long as each tree is significantly focused on something different than the other trees. If the tree's aren't focused, it could really make different specs seem lame though. So that point depends on impelmentation.
  • blindworld's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #11 blindworld Posted 9/16/2011 9:47:28 PM
    My question in regards to this statment is: with duel speccing, are they saying TRUE duel speccing (ex, trooper/consular)...doesnt make much sence. I would think their duel speccing would be vanguard with commando abilities
  • flem1's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 863
    #13 flem1 Posted 9/17/2011 12:19:23 AM
    Neither. Different trees inside ACs. No AC switching, much less base class switching.
  • TheDarkKnight's avatar
    Gamorrean Thug
    • Posts: 57
    #5 TheDarkKnight Posted 9/16/2011 8:12:11 PM
    They have said beforehand that duel spec/respec'ing is something they have looked into within an AC but it holds great cost in regards to respecing. I still doubt it means you can switch ACs.
  • agentwred's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 298
    #16 agentwred Posted 9/17/2011 6:50:27 AM
    yeah, but I'm still not sure I want it.
  • flem1's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 863
    #10 flem1 Posted 9/16/2011 9:35:17 PM
    Agreed. Also, I wonder how much of this is actually decided, and how much is Gabe's own hardcore-tilted perspective. (I thought his asking fansites to lobby for a threat meter was, if at all serious, across the line.)
  • Convertible's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 202
    #2 Convertible Posted 9/16/2011 6:17:43 PM
    Thanks god for disabling comments on the official site, but goddamn for those trolls flooding Facebook now. :S
  • naddab's avatar
    Nerf Herder
    • Posts: 13
    #4 naddab Posted 9/16/2011 7:38:00 PM
    Some part of me thinks that SWTOR forums will become more restrictive when the game comes out.

    For instance private forums for people that actually subscribe to the game. It met mixed feelings in WAR, but was really needed to filter the trolls.
  • Furiel's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #8 Furiel Posted 9/16/2011 9:27:07 PM
    If they get more restrictive at launch you're not going to be able post anything on them beyond "I love Bioware" and "SW:ToR is the greatest game ever". I picked up an infraction and had a post deleted on those boards the other day just for being sarcastic because my post was "unhelpful". If anything they are going to have to loosen the reigns IMO or they will be useless come launch.
  • Whitering's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 113
    #15 Whitering Posted 9/17/2011 2:25:09 AM
    I would presume the more "restrictive" forums would simply be restricted to game owners, much like they have for Dragon Age 2 (I think). DA2 attracted a lot of hate and they certainly didn't want people who did not even own the game to be trolling those who did.

    They will definitely have spoiler and spoiler free forums much like they do for Mass Effect.
  • syllepsis's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 156
    #7 syllepsis Posted 9/16/2011 9:19:11 PM
    Good idea. Hope they do this.
  • flem1's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 863
    #9 flem1 Posted 9/16/2011 9:33:11 PM
    I'm sure they will -- Bioware has done it for all their other titles.

    Also, separate story forums (spoiler-allowed) and general/gameplay forums (no spoilers).
  • Yenisei's avatar
    • Posts: 0
    #1 Yenisei Posted 9/16/2011 6:05:46 PM
    From todays update this question really caught my eye :

    'Q: Since it has been clearly stated that there will not be dual specs for characters in the game, can you explain your philosophy behind the skill trees and how you are taking into account players that want to be able to play PvP and PvE content on the same character? - illumineart

    A: Dual Speccing is something we want to add soon after launch. Also, features like Guard, PvP Taunt, Resolve, etc. work to narrow the gap between PvP and PvE specialized skills (i.e. a +Block skill would be helpful in both PvE and PvP).'


    I don't think I've seen this confirmed before ( could be wrong though ) and it raises the possibilty of being able to use both specialisations, very tasty !
  • Socrates's avatar
    Jawa Trader
    • Posts: 414
    #6 Socrates Posted 9/16/2011 9:04:26 PM
    Pretty sure it would be dual specced within one AC. Would be nice, but still not what people are looking for. I would definitely use it if it were available, even though some classes will still only be able to do 1 thing within their AC.
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