The Fourth Official Dev Chat, Hosted at StarWarsGalaxies.com - March 14th, 2002

Marluka: Tonight's topic is Star Wars Galaxies Art with Art Director Jake "Ood_Bnar" Rodgers, Character Team Lead Joe "Rystall" Shoopack, and Lead Artist, Worlds/Interiors John "JohroDjerba" Roy.

Ood_Bnar: Hi, I'm Jake Rodgers- Art Director of Star Wars Galaxies- Nice to see everyone!
JohroDjerba: Hello Everyone, John Roy, here ... Lead World Artist ... Welcome!
JohroDjerba: Joe Shoopack, our Lead Character Artist, will be here shortly.

Marluka: *JediMawk* How has that figurative "Cut and Paste" gone with Corellia to Talus?
JohroDjerba: It went well, we were quite pleased that we could use a fair amount of the same assets,, but with coloring and other features, we able to create a new planet with some uniqueness.

Marluka: *BrentStargazer* What determines which creatures you work on?
Ood_Bnar: We start with the list of planets, get all reference we can from Haden- and the designers balance a good list after that.
Ood_Bnar: then I get with Joe and Arnie (our concept artist) and come up with the look for each creature

Marluka: *JuryDuty* As artists, what are some "personal touches you've put on characters, creatures or buildings that you're very proud of?
Ood_Bnar: I wish I had time to create some art for this game, but I spend all of my time getting in and meshing well with the game.
JohroDjerba: We have found the exploring process of asset creation to be rewarding: for example, finding little nuances in Mediterranean architecture, similar to the movie reference, yet expanding the style for Tatooine structures.

Marluka: *Ricbr* How long does it take to create a charater ... from start to finish
Rystall: From start to finish a creature takes about 5-7 days to complete, building a mesh and creating texture maps.
Rystall: Creating a skeleton and doing a full animation set takes another 3 weeks or so.

Marluka: *Mistfreshie* How is water (seas and lakes) going to look like? Transparent? Simply Blue?
JohroDjerba: We will have some really cool effects for water! We will use bump mapping and other graphic tricks to give water a very liquid, and realistic look.

Marluka: *Xython* Does the staff get into fan art like the comics @ the Dewback Cantina on SlicerHQ.com or other fan sites?
Ood_Bnar: I think they would have time to do something like that if they are looking for some reference for a dewback,
Ood_Bnar: but I work them too hard to have the luxury time for things like reading :)

Marluka: *Bountytaker* Are there any non-combat Mo-Caps, other than dancing?
Rystall: We mocapped over 100 emotes, differents locomotion styles, we even shot some swimming moves.

Marluka: *Alzeya* Which Creature/Race was most difficult to design and create variations for?
Ood_Bnar: BOTHANS- They were the least known species we had to create- and any new take on them has to go through the Ranch
Ood_Bnar: And there was a bit of back and forth with them to get something we could all agree on.
Ood_Bnar: it was a fun process though.

Marluka: *Maddix_DOhm* Tell me... did you enjoy working on the Gungans?
Rystall: Working on the Gungans was great, the artist that was made some formidable looking guys.
Ood_Bnar: We use Maya 4.02 for models, animations- and photoshop textures. We also use Deep Paint 3D with Texture Weaopons to paint our 3D models.
Rystall: Remember Jar Jar is to Gungans as Jerry Lewis is to Humans.

Marluka: *Treething* What kinds of tools do you use when creating, texturing and animating the models/meshes in SWG?
Ood_Bnar: oops :)

Marluka: *Bountytaker* Will you play the game?
Rystall: Of course, especially since I get a free lifetime account. ;)
Ood_Bnar: Of course, as long as I don't get too addicted- I have an obsessive problem with finishing games
JohroDjerba: You bet! It's Star Wars. I'm always enjoying that aspect of the game :)
Ood_Bnar: and games without an end could be a problem for me

Marluka: *NeoAnalysis* Are we going to get full 32bit textures or are we going to plow the middle of the road with 16 or 24?
Ood_Bnar: Yes- 32bit

Marluka: *Alzeya* When designing Locales what is your primary concern?
JohroDjerba: We want to convey a sense of place, a mood that really make you feel like you're there.
JohroDjerba: Lighting, textures and even sound communicate this... we want to reeeally immerse you in the world! :)

Marluka: *Tiepilot68* Will each species start out with one facial template that the player can then manipulate or will there be several templates that the players can use as a starting point for their customization?
Rystall: We will propably randomize the initial face you get, from there you'll be able to customize everything from nose shape to cheekbones.

Marluka: *Futuron* Are all the buildings standard? Are there different kinds? (Multiple stories?)
JohroDjerba: ... and we use structure styling and textures to distinguish between them, and so they will be recognizable, such as a guild hall.

Marluka: *WarJade* Have you been influenced by other Sci-Fi universe? Cab you give us an example in the design?
Ood_Bnar: I have one science fiction icon for the this game - Star Wars

Marluka: *DarkNerfer* Will we be able to zoom in? And if so how will the art/graphics change?
Ood_Bnar: The camera is able to move around the character- and into first persin- so in that sense you can zoom
Ood_Bnar: The art all is ready to be shown close up :)

Marluka: *DarkEnlighter* Do the artists have their own "field" in which they work? Or do you work as one whole on, say a character
Rystall: Typically the artist in charge of an asset works on the both the mesh and texture maps. We have several artists who go further than that and animate as well.
Rystall: We also have several dedicated animators who only work on that aspect.

Marluka: *ididitallforthewookie* Which is the greater challenge, the 3-D modeling or the texture artwork? And how gas using Mo-Cap helped or hidnered the animation process?
JohroDjerba: I think texturing is always the more critical aspect and needs more attention, what colors and surfacing that goes on the model ... makes all the difference :)
Rystall: Mocap has saved s thousands of hours, we got great data and had some terrific performers. It does require a new process for implementation for implementation from the programmers but it's minimal compared to the time saved.

Marluka: *Caella40* AC2 has graphical injuries, cuts appear on the acctual avatar, does SWG plan to do something similar?
Ood_Bnar: We won't have what most people would consider "gore" in our game.
Ood_Bnar: We will have lots of reactions to getting hurt, which to me have more impact than splattery blood.

Marluka: *Phantom_Jdie* Will the playable planets mentioned each have a unique sky set?
JohroDjerba: I definitely make sure we have a unique sky and weather look to each planet, it's a great way to convey a unique planetary feel per planet... it looks cool to see different sky colors, for example ...

Marluka: *JediMawk* How is the GUI coming along?
Ood_Bnar: The GUI is coming along well - thanks to our awesome tools. I really don't need much programmer time to iterate it.
Ood_Bnar: the look has to be farily transluscent wherever possible, because we have so much to show.
Ood_Bnar: I want it to be our of your way as much as possible, but there when you need it :)

Marluka: *Monketsu* Death animations, will they all be exactly the same or will you assign differnet sequences for different damage types? (i.e. if I get killed by a rancor, will it be the same animation as getting killed by a storm trooper?)
Rystall: We'll have hit zones on avatars. so you'll get hit realistically from both different directions and at differents levels of force.

Marluka: *MayorExodus* What do you feel is your greatest achievement so far on the project?
Rystall: The well thought out Zoology of the planets.
Ood_Bnar: I have to say that the amount of customization players will is one of the most outstanding elements so far.
JohroDjerba: Im really proud of what we have been able to do with our awesome errain tool" You'll know what I mean, looking at our planets, flora and terrain textures. we've broken some new ground, I'd say (soorryy-bad joke) :)

Marluka: *SWGuy* Does the enige dynamicallyreduce the polycount of models (a la LithTech), or do you have to make multiple models for LOD?
Ood_Bnar: We are making discreet levels of detail, unfortunately- continuous lods are incompatible.
Ood_Bnar: with hor we are doing hardware TnL

Marluka: *Shunkaha* Are U using some design of Episode II's elements?
Rystall: We made some adjustments and variations to some of the player-species based on advanced images from Episode II

Marluka: *Misanthropy* Are you influenced by what other MMORPGs are doing in terms of art, or do you design in a "vacum". For example, do you look at AC2 or WOW and say, darn, they have x number of polygons in their models, let up the ante on ours?
Ood_Bnar: We have some "need to know" images to go by - from Lucas arts -
Ood_Bnar: We decided a long time ago how many polys, for example, but we are always keeping our eyes open on new ideas.
Ood_Bnar: and I have no problem stealing good ones.

Marluka: *Nrakjar* Will 4-legged creatures (like the Dragon) when turning 90 degrees towards the side, use their limbs realistically, or will they simply turn in an axis with their limbs fixed and "sliding"?
Rystall: We created realistic turn left and turn right abimations for all the creatures, so sliding should be very minimal.

Marluk: *Thursdaze* Will characters have small details, like teeth and such?
Rystall: Sure, anything that should have teeth with. If it's a small creature the teeth will be part of the texture map, for larger creatures the teeth will be polygonal.

Marluka: *Treething* What kind of computers are you using for modelling?
Marluka: This is the 10 Minute Warning.
JohroDjerba: We use PentiumIII, from 900-1 GhZ boxes, with GeForce 2-3 cards. Lots O'RAM to keep photoshop and Maya up with other tools :)

Marluka: *JuryDuty* roughly how many creatures have you created so far? How many do you plan to have at game launch?
Rystall: We've created about 90 Percent of the creatures and animation sets so far, there should be around 200 at launch.

Marluka: *Boordo*Will Naboo appear just like Ep 1, or will some of the designs be updated to account of the passage of time?
JohroDjerba: Yeah, we've updated Naboo to conform with events that occurred since Epsiode 1.
Marluka: Here's the Last Question

Marluka: *Kalsenex* I'm a graphic student and am very interested in entering game developement and artwork. How did you all get started, e.g. degrees, first jobs. Any advice to someone getting into the field?
Ood_Bnar: I believe it was easier to get into the industry when I started!
Ood_Bnar: Seriously get your hands on some tools - however you can.
Ood_Bnar: Make the tools your mate. Don't stop - unbridled vigor and passion
Ood_Bnar: is the only way to get into it- regardless of talent.
Rystall: I have a BFA in illustration and I got started in videogames with the Atari 7800, so the path is different now.
JohroDjerba: The more training and instruction you can obtain, the better IMHO. Experience is great, but a good foundation in traditional arts is critical. I can train someone to learn 3D, learning to master drawing skills takes a long time, so it's very valuable ...
Rystall: So true Johro, foundational art skills are the most important
JohroDjerba: I came in with a Graphic Design degree myself, but was an illustrator before. Design concepts really help in this industry: GUI, playing architect (one of my faves), that kind of thing. You ger to wear many art hats in game dev. :)

Marluka: Well that's all the time we have for today's chat. Thank you Jake, Joe, and John for taking an hour off from their hectic production schedule to give us all a peek behind the curtain. Thanks to everyone for sending in all those great questions. We really appreciate your interest in Star Wars Galaxies.
Marluka: Please stop by Station.com again. In two weeks, on Tuesday March 25th, I'll be hosting a live chat with Stan Lee, co-creator and original animator od Spider-Man. Stan is of course, also the man behind Hulk, X-men, and many more. Check the Station.com for more details.
Marluka: I'll also be hosting another Star Wars Galaxies chat next month on Continuity and World Building. Watch for that Announcment!
Marluka: A special thank you to Travis Ball and Jeremy Jiao for their help moderating the chat, and Mark Preston, technical Guru.
Marluka: Your Host,
Marluka: Marie (Marluka) Harrington