Hail Elyrians!

Are you ready to shine once more? Today I wanted to talk a little bit about what makes a Mann. Yep, that’s right, I’m talking about clothes. In most games, clothes really don’t matter. (Beyond the satisfaction of knowing you look good, of course!) But in Chronicles of Elyria, where your character has a reputation and where people form opinions about you based on what they know about you, clothes really can make the mann. This is no less true with the Prelyria version of those clothing styles, either. In fact, even though we strive for rapid iteration with our Prelyria assets, we still took the time necessary to make sure the tribes’ various styles translated into the lower fidelity of Prelyria well.

(The value of looking good is not lost on the To’resk)

Right from the beginning, as we started to look at the… uh… looks… of the various tribes, we knew that clothes and clothing would be important. Whether you were a lord pretending to be a peasant so you could see your domain without being recognized, or a travelling grifter pretending to be a foreign lord, the first step was always going to be picking the right outfit.

(Even in the armor, and even in Prelyria, the To’resk have their own unique aesthetic)

We had a few different goals sort of competing for their influence on clothing design, though. Sure, we wanted clothes to look good, but they also had to be reflective of the environments they were meant for, on the one hand, and each tribe had to have a unique style of their own, on the other.

(The Janoa have less focus on style, but that is a far cry from no focus on style. It’s all about making an impact.) Another concern we must contend with is that we need to allow a high degree of customizability which has led us to think of the basic clothing recipes as “platforms” for further player modification and embellishment. Whether it’s color choice, through textile dyes and the like, or literal embellishments like a popped collar or ruffles, we must design each article of clothing to look good when player modifications are made.

(People like to think of the Dras as ugly or unsightly, but I dig their aesthetic, honestly)

Thumbnails likes these, which Heat put together as we were moving to the Prelyria style, help us set up our Prelyria assets while keeping our end goals in mind. From these simple thumbnails, we produce the Prelyria assets. Heat them gives them a once over to illustrate the desired sort of color and “shading” for each type that is produced. (Prelyria doesn’t really do extensive shading, so it’s more like a suggestion to illustrate material types than a true shader plan, but the point is that it lets the rest of the content guild know what they need to build towards, which is a big bonus for the Prelyria art-style over less-detailed placeholder assets.)

I hope you enjoyed a sneak peak at some of the fashion and clothing styles you’ll see in Prelyria and beyond!

Until next week, stay shiny my friends!