COMMUNITY - FORUMS - GENERAL DISCUSSION
Pre-Production Concept Sketch - Janoan Artifacts

Greetings Elyrians!

Let us take a small diversion this shiny day: As I was looking through the concept sketches we've wracked up over the last few years, I saw an image I wanted to share. So, apologies for the diversion from the series, but this seemed like a good place for it.

Here's the image I wanted to share:


What you're looking at here is a series of style sketches for the items you might find inside a Janoan settlement or structure. It's not a comprehensive collection and it doesn't include the "set piece" items like trophy trees; it's closer to a mood board or something similar, meant to give you an idea of the "flavor" of the background in a Janoan village or home.

Mostly I wanted to share this today because I wanted to highlight things like the stove here, vs. the stove from last week's shiny. You can see how the concept evolved from the initial sketch here, which was essentially a "made with limited resources" model, into more nuanced "limited resources doesn't mean limited ingenuity" thinking that better reflects the tribe in question.

In a lot of ways, that's the point of these sorts of sketches. We take archetypes and ideas that we feel will fit our design goals, then we visualize them, consider the result through the lens of our lore, and refine from there. In that way, this sort of work is never ever throw-away: Every sketch matters and every moment we spent making them was a moment spent crystalizing the tribes in our minds so we can get to the point, as Heat has in his architecture designs, where we're thinking like the tribes do, acting as their advocates as we move each aspect of the game's design into real gameplay.

And, on a personal note, I just really love Heat's work. The entire artist guild here is full of some talented folks, and I love when they get the chance to show off.

I hope you enjoyed it! Unless you've got some special request I can fulfill, we'll return to our architecture series next week.

Until then... Stay shiny my friends! :)


  • Snipehunter
3/14/2019 8:56:11 PM #1

looks epic!, dras architecture would be even more epic tho teeheehee


3/14/2019 8:57:00 PM #2

Hrothi architecture please.


3/14/2019 8:58:32 PM #3

Seeing stuff like this gives us a glimpse of the relative technological position of the tribe and is definitely fascinating.

For example the hand spun grinding wheel (instead of having a mechanism to allow for peddle powered ones) shows a lack of need the Janoans feel to advance that technology. Kind of the leave well enough alone/ if it isn't broke don't fix it addage.

TLDR: SHINY!!!


3/14/2019 9:02:33 PM #4

hah - ya got me!

i was looking for THE artifacts that are part of the story line - though who knows - can you beat disguising a legendary artifact as an anvil


3/14/2019 9:15:44 PM #5

Fantastic Indeed.. Yay Janoa for the Win.


3/14/2019 9:19:39 PM #6

That bellows and forge look fantastic. Can't wait to start seeing some of these assets in game.


The last thing I want to do is hurt you; but never forget, it is on the list.

3/14/2019 9:20:11 PM #7

Some items certainly look interesting. But most seem like just a lot of old medival tools to me. However I absolutely love the design of the pottery in the background. The patterns and shapes are really nice and would make for good decoration pieces.


3/14/2019 9:30:13 PM #8

Would be awesome to see some the Items in the Ingame Engine


3/14/2019 9:34:41 PM #9

Posted By Snipehunter at

You can see how the concept evolved from the initial sketch here, which was essentially a "made with limited resources" model, into more nuanced "limited resources doesn't mean limited ingenuity" thinking that better reflects the tribe in question.

I will admit to being concerned about this. Are you saying that the southern biomes will be resource poor? That would really skew things for all 10 years, and not in a way that I find exciting.


3/14/2019 10:01:08 PM #10

Posted By Damocles316 at 11:34 PM - Thu Mar 14 2019

Posted By Snipehunter at

You can see how the concept evolved from the initial sketch here, which was essentially a "made with limited resources" model, into more nuanced "limited resources doesn't mean limited ingenuity" thinking that better reflects the tribe in question.

I will admit to being concerned about this. Are you saying that the southern biomes will be resource poor? That would really skew things for all 10 years, and not in a way that I find exciting.

Limited resources doesn't necessarily mean that there are no other resources available. The lack of knowledge and technology could be the limiting factor so with time there could be more resources available once the tribes learn to harvest and use them.

Anyways, thanks for the sneak peek! Heat is doing some great stuff!


3/14/2019 10:04:43 PM #11

Posted By Damocles316 at 2:34 PM - Thu Mar 14 2019

I will admit to being concerned about this. Are you saying that the southern biomes will be resource poor? That would really skew things for all 10 years, and not in a way that I find exciting.

Oh, no! Sorry! I didn't mean that at all, I assure you. :) The different resources available in each biome lead to different approaches. So, if metal is scarce in a biome, we would say that metal is a limited resource there. That doesn't mean that the biome has no metal, or that metal is scarce throughout the neighboring biomes or anything like that, though.

My comment was more about how the idea that "metal is a limited resource" could be shortcut in your head as a designer or artist into "so don't use it" instead of "so use it in a clever way that shows the people in the region understand its value and use it accordingly, likewise use the other resources that are abundant in clever ways to make up for the limited nature of the resource in question."

Hope that helps! :)


  • Snipehunter
3/15/2019 12:16:59 AM #12

Also, I assume that just because there may be less metal, that doesn't mean they don't have some other resource they have learned to work with to achieve metal like properties.

For those that have read the Riftwar Saga, think Tsurani and the way they work with wood and laminate.

I know we have precedent with that with the To'resk (?) paper armor (I think it's them).


Imgur

3/15/2019 1:17:30 AM #13

Wait a sec, simple doodads are still in the developmental stage? Damn I think the game is behind where i thought it was.


~Vanic~ ~Count of Blackheart- Dutchy of Baxteria~ County Windhaven ~NA-WEST~ ~Neran~ Friend Code: C4D3F0

3/15/2019 2:09:35 AM #14

Posted By Vanic at 6:17 PM - Thu Mar 14 2019

Wait a sec, simple doodads are still in the developmental stage? Damn I think the game is behind where i thought it was.

Before you dash your own hopes against the rocky shoals of illusory despair, you might want to read the text I posted along with the image:

Posted By Snipehunter at

Greetings Elyrians!

Let us take a small diversion this shiny day: As I was looking through the concept sketches we've wracked up over the last few years, I saw an image I wanted to share. So, apologies for the diversion from the series, but this seemed like a good place for it.

Emphasis, and original text, mine.

Hope that helps! :)


  • Snipehunter
3/15/2019 3:56:39 AM #15

Yeah, these releases are showing us content from years ago in their development. They are probably waaaay beyond this level now.

I cannot wait to see the first Alpha 1 with some of this stuff in it. <3