[Chivalry] - Broadsword - Aurea Elite (A Golden Blade for Elite Warriors)

Imperium101

"One day, a king asked his blacksmith:
- Create a weapon for my elite warriors; all soldiers should be able to recognize their leaders from far away thanks to the sight of that great blade.
- Your Highness, what would you suggest ?
- Hmmmm... A golden sword that would shine like the light of god, announcing the best fighter on the battlefield. It should also be made of a strong material, and be the most balanced sword you could find.
- That is truly a challenge, your Majesty. But I think I have found a solution:

The Aurea Elite

I will make a sword of the best iron and steel along with some rarer metals of my knowledge. I shall cover that blade in thin persistent gold !
- Do your work and you shall be rewarded.
- And I shall satisfy the needs of your warriors."

And so was born this idea. Updates coming soon

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CURRENT PROGRESS

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http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=395307070&searchtext=

Imperium101

Here are some images as a road map. I would love to have your opinion! This will ultimately help me decide

A) Which gold material that compose these swords do you prefer ?

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Imperium101

Which sword shape is your favorite (could only be an element, like the pommel, or the blade):

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ambitious_nomad

number 5 is the best shape in my eyes. If you want a true North Mans sword that is the shape you should go with.

zetheros

A glittery sword made of the finest iron? So not only does the enemy know who to kill, but they know who would put up the least amount of resistance with a blade made with sword metal that isn't even better than bronze, hahaha.

I'm just being an idiot ;D

Welcome, hope you have enough time. A golden sword might be pretty awesome! good luck.

Imperium101

Hahaha, the sword is made of the finest iron and of course of other metals and it just has a thin gold layer. Check my P.P.S. For more info
And yes, it is made for those who do not fear the ennemy !
Btw: I saw your work, quite impressive.
Thanks for your support ! Good luck to you too !

P.S.: as for the shape, ambitious_nomad, your advice has been duly noted, thx !

Imperium101

P.P.S.: The sword is not only composed of Iron, but iron is at the core while steel is at the edges. Some other metals might be used. I thought of it as an evidence Here is a link for more info:
http://www.thearma.org/essays/How_Were_Swords_Made.htm#.VB9BJe0azCQ

Imperium101

I should soon be able to post pictures of the first prototype.

Imperium101

Here are some pictures of the blade with a place-holder hilt so proportions ca be seen. Also, I put the norse sword close so we can see proportions are the same.

And here are the technical improvements (if it were a real sword and not a video game sword):

The blade is pointy for better thrust, the "middle valley" of the norse sword has been replaced with a flat area for better concussion, the edges are sharper for better cut.







What do you think of the quality of the gold ? Isn't it beautiful ?

P.S.: Will now work on handle, and afterwards, Zbrushing !

Imperium101

Pictures with stronger light. Shinyyyyy.

Imperium101

I finished the hilt !











Now I will work with zbrush to add details, inscriptions and ornaments. And to make the bull head beautiful !

Imperium101

Here is a video about swords, it explains the importance of the sword's concussion power at 28:37 and gives an example on a helmet. Check it out :

http://youtu.be/1SijLXKmlsw

Nolt

Are you planning on doing any high poly sculpting for some extra detailing in maybe the hilt or pommel?

Imperium101

That is exactly what I was planning to do, along with sculpting the bull head which is the crossguard.

Nolt

Ah good. I think that would help define it.

McGuire

Since this weapon would be gold plated, and not made of gold (considering gold is too soft to be a feasible lethal weapon) it could be really cool to see the plating degraded or flaked off along where the blade has been sharpened and in combat. This would give the weapon a lot of character.

Imperium101

Geat idea! I will do that in Zbrsuh. Should be able to post pictures in 2-3 days.

Imperium101

I have decided the Aurea Elite would be a more appropriate replacement for the Broadsword than the Norse Sword. The title of the thread should change soon.

Imperium101

Here are some pictures of my progress ! I decided not to do the bull head ( too high fantasy). I still have to work on the crossguard and the blade.

Imperium101

Here is my progress ! I consider my sword finished ! Time to work on normal, specular, diffuse, glossiness maps and blood mask !

Imperium101

Upddate grip:

Imperium101

Small Update:

Imperium101

I am currently working on the specular map, should be able to show pictures in engine in 3 days

Imperium101

I am late on schedule, but will make it in time. Hope to finish textures for tomorrow

zetheros

Looks like really expensive jewelry, lol. This competition is great isn't it? We both learned how to make game assets. Pretty awesome. Good luck with the specular map, it looks fairly important for your blade.

Nolt

Glad to see you are making some progress. Keep going!

Imperium101

Zetheros, 9th Knight, thank you very much for your support!
This contest is great : being helped by a great community on polycount encouraging me, advising me, and answering my questions! Hope to see your items in workshop soon !

P.S.: @zetheros: I do believe I am not the only one who wants to see my blade shine in the sun like no other on the battlefield
P.P.S.: I just finished my maps, scared to see the result in SDK :0

JO420

I hope you don't take my critique in a bad way,sadly I've probably angered a few in this competition, but do realize I say it not to shoot down your idea but to improve it. While a golden sword would work as a ceremonial item. On a Medieval battlefield it was just make no sense. As pointed out before,gold is a soft material and even if plated it would be impossible to maintain a sharp edge.

Secondly all the gold seems excessive it detracts from the design and it ends up lacking contrast The mesh is lovely and importantly Medieval in look,but all the gold makes it too much. Potentially your sword could look like Charlamagne's famous sword Joyeuse,

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joyeuse

Gold hilt,handle and sword guard , but solid steel blade. Not that it could not have gold etchings,but the solid steel would balance it all out.

Lastly reconsider elite on the blade,it feels out of time and a little odd. Consider writing it in a different font or taking it out. Maybe name the sword perhaps.

Like I said,great model and full of potential but I feel all golf doesn't work in my eyes.

Imperium101

JO420, I appreciate your critique, which is detailed and constructive. But I must say the central idea of my blade is to be "The Golden Blade".

What you said about "too much gold" is totally right and I already thought of that. I was already planning on changing the blade material to something that could be a mix of a lot of steel and some gold. Again, thanks for making constructive criticism and for the nice comment about the potential you see in my concept

Imperium101

Btw: my sword is not all gold. The grip is gold AND leather

Imperium101

Also, a lot of medieval swords had blunt edges, great sharpness not being necessary (although some sharpness is necessary). Check the video I put in the beginning of the thread. All this to say that my sword could truly have been made in medieval times (gold plated).

Imperium101

And last but not least, the "ELITE" inscription could have easily been engraved by a skilled swordsmith.

Imperium101

Pommel, and crossguard are gold, grip is leather, and blade will be of different gold.

JO420

TheMightyKnight wrote: »

JO420, I appreciate your critique, which is detailed and constructive. But I must say the central idea of my blade is to be "The Golden Blade".

What you said about "too much gold" is totally right and I already thought of that. I was already planning on changing the blade material to something that could be a mix of a lot of steel and some gold. Again, thanks for making constructive criticism and for the nice comment about the potential you see in my concept

Ahh cool i look forward to seeing it,I did see the leather off course but tends to get lost a bit within that gold,but with a blade of a different material this should be a really good entry.

zetheros

Well... I don't know about gold plated, as in electroplating, but they definitely used a lot of gold leaf, and mercury-gold amalgam (gilding) on high-end weapons and armour, basically everywhere and at any time in history. Usually they didn't cover the entire thing with gold though, and used very intricate detailing, which would make the entire weapon or suit of armour appear golden (and probably truly stunning) from a distance.




I don't know if adding 'elite' to the sword is a good idea, but it's your call. I'm not sure if the word even existed as 'elite' back in the renaissance (but medieval scripture is waaaaay out of my scope of knowledge).

Maybe instead of elite, perhaps a "king's sword" or "Sword of Champions" or something? Just suggestions.

And, well... if I were an elite or L33THAXXOR player focusing only on my K/D ratio, I wouldn't use a golden sword because it's higher visibility in the game, and easier to track and block/parry. Instead, I'd probably be that buttface MAA who dodges in and out and annoys the crap out of everyone, a vanguard who sneaks up behind you and charges you with a zweihander, or a knight who keeps spamming overhand with a maul with precise timing.

Imperium101

Well, someone who wants to show he's the best will use a golden sword, which is not necessarily the easiest to parry (think of reflections). It will simply be a sign of glory for the one who wields it.

Imperium101

But this aside, I have a BIG PROBLEM! Why do I have green dots everywhere in the udk ???



HELP !

Nolt

How good is your video card?

Imperium101

It's a GTX 860M

Nolt

Ah laptop. Um... Might just be a settings thing. Go through your nvidia control panel and make some adjustments maybe?

Imperium101

Found the solution! The SDK didnt make an auto-selection from intel graphics to nvidia.
Now it functions ! Thx for pointing it was a GPU setting problem.
I am now able to upload pictures of my finished sword with improvements (didn't keep you posted all the time, sorry, was working like hell on this )

Imperium101

There are 15 pictures of my sword which represent variations in color, blood, specularity, and light.
Tell me which is your favorite picture!

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Imperium101

Here is the final result. I made some modifications and changed color and the gold effect. You were right zetheros, the first material concept looked too much like expensive jewelry .

Imperium101

Link for workshop page: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=395307070&searchtext=

Nolt

Good job in completing it to the end. It seems like you got a lot out of this whole process. Best of luck to you

Imperium101

Thanks 9thKnight ! Good luck to you too !

Imperium101

Here are some pictures in sdk :



















Workshop page has been updated : http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=395307070&searchtext=