Darksiders II 'Make A Weapon' Contest -- Q&A
polycounter lvl 19
Brian 'BoBo_the_Seal' Jones will be answering your questions regarding this contest. If you're unsure of something regarding the art creation, presentation or anything in between feel free to ask.
As well, if you're unsure about what to show in your thread or what to do once you're ready feel free to post here as well.
For contest guidelines and specifications please refer to the Contest Page.
Replies
How much does the render/presentation factor in the challenge? I noticed Crysis and UE3 are allowed as per standard... But is matching the rendering/shader style of Darksiders 2 something that will be part of judging?
Yup!
While I would assume whatever makes it look best would be the biggest factor, you'd still want to get it close to vigil's style to avoid finding out it doesn't actually look right in the game after you've submitted? that's my assumption anyway.
Flats example perhaps? Not sure if that's too much to ask or not.
True! Forgot about the livestream. Thanks for reminding.
Rendering-presentation: This is a raw art contest. Please use a standard diff, norm, spec shader (Emis is optional). No additional maps or post processing. The turn around of getting these in the game before ship is tight. It's also why we require finalist to submit their assets. We want to make sure what we see in the renders is actually reflected in the art.
Sorry but no collaborations. With prizes involved it will be easier all around to credit and divvy out prizes.
We can’t release source material (texture flats are source materials) but I will be talking about our texturing process in our live stream. Our style is a combination of traditional painted texture work with normal and spec maps. Don’t be heavy handed with the painted light details but don’t be flat with your shading. Be subtle.
Greentooth is ok. However, we are really looking for art that will look in-place in the Darksiders world. Please no wacky or vulgar entries.
- BoBo
Btw do I understand it right that mixing styles is a no go? Like mixing up angelic and demonic, so that you have to go with one of them alone?
damn, super bummed out now.
With that said, I'm not apposed to seeing the themes themselves twisted a bit or a new theme created. It really just needs to look like it comes from the Darksiders world.
Sticking to the established themes would be the safest route.
- BoBo
Already can't wait to see all the amazing entries.
Nice comp.
Best of luck to everyone!
http://livestre.am/1iMtU
This will be weapons Death uses!
Discussion and fapping can be done over here:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=95293
The head of the example bounding box is a squashed box and this isn't great for doing things like maces. Should weapons with radial symmetry in the head - such as maces - take the longer dimension from the head and use that as the size reference?
That means you can create one each of:
Axe
Hammer
Mace
You can then submit them as separate entries.
will we be able to incorporate particle FX into the weapon?
are we allowed to have jiggly bits, like bits of chain hanging off?
Style-wise: are floaty bits OK?
I was also wondering about this
You guys should have a reference/art direction/style guide thread stickied here though.
Here's some I found:
http://www.autodestruct.com/ds_weapons.htm
second that.
And i wonder can we curve a handle(yellow block) a little ( not in the orange area)
But if I remember correctly the angels in Darksiders have some kind of sci-fi mecha look. Are angelic typed weapons allowed to have some sci-fi bits?
More than one entry from an individual will be accepted.
No particle FX. You can submit a concept separately if you have ideas for particles. However, the weapon must stand on its own and look good without them.
No animatable pieces. Sorry but we simply do not have enough time to do any custom animations. You may do chains but they should be firmly latched/strapped to the weapon. No floating pieces.
Sickles/scythes are a completely different category of weapon in Darksiders and are not a part of this competition. I included examples of some of the other weapon categories just as reference to theme and style. Maces should firmly look like maces, axes – look like axes, and hammers should look like hammers.
This is (as all polycount contests) a work in progress challenge. You should show your development so that the community can participate in your development and vice versa.
On the Proxy, the only area that has to stay strait is the orange handle.
The angels in Darksiders were on earth. Their look has been developed in a slightly different direction in the new game. Please see the angel theme reference.
Dark Angel would be fine
Can we enter if we're using educational versions of software? I'm using the student edition of Maya and every time I fire it up I get a very sinister sounding 'Must not be used for commercial purposes'...
Now I know the participants would not get paid but of course the creations would be in a game that sells for money, so it seems like a gray area to me, which is why I wanted to clarify.
I won't win anyway but I thought it might be worth mentioning, I know a lot of people here use student versions (and let's be honest, probably pirated too) and I couldn't help but think of the legal implications of this.
Just thought I would double check!
I second that, was gonna ask this question to.