Knight Lord Development

James Davis

Hey all,

Currently working on Lord and Assassin. Assassin model is done, but weapons are still in dev. Will post checkpoints as I progress through the model's creation . As for the concept, I used the Braveheart King and images provided by Colonel to make a hybrid character. Here are images of progress so far. Clicking on images will get you higher res close up

Colonel

Oh my lord!

Henningshammer would be ecstatic.

Even after the 10th time looking at his face, he says "ive seen some sheiit"

James Davis

I hope he approves. Yea I put some "experience" into his face lol, can't become a Lord without surviving a few close scrapes

Haxx

Look's great! Keep up the good work

I'm feeling the hype building up but I don't want to get rekted by MAA's 1 year wait(I cri everytim) so I'll just keep a eye on this for now

OMG THE LORD LOOKS SO COOL AND HE HAS A TWO HANDED FLAIL AND AND AND

Nive

Oh my goodness!

Major Chulain

InstantHax wrote:

I'm feeling the hype building up but I don't want to get rekted by MAA's 1 year wait(I cri everytim) so I'll just keep a eye on this for now

only 1 year?

Colonel

InstantHax wrote:

Look's great! Keep up the good work

I'm feeling the hype building up but I don't want to get rekted by MAA's 1 year wait(I cri everytim) so I'll just keep a eye on this for now

OMG THE LORD LOOKS SO COOL AND HE HAS A TWO HANDED FLAIL AND AND AND

We're phrasing these new classes as potential. There are no guarantees other than this - we're going to try. This is apart of the dream, and the community wants it, whether they are new or old! We are rightfully cautious with people we bring on board. James has proven he is strong, determined, and flexible to help us complete our goals. Obviously we'd love to get these bad boys/girls out for the fans to enjoy - and frequently. We're moving forward with our one class at a time incremental release philosophy, and to be specific, we started with the release of the SS.

In the past we ran into bottlenecks and now they are being erased one hard working dev/creator/contributor at a time. These bottlenecks appeared in many ways, either because some developers we brought on have moved on to other projects, we lacked time to zone in and focus on completing, or we need more of one skill to help finish the work. So can the team be viewed as a group at fault for long delays, the engine we're on, or individual developers? No one person should be singled out. At the end of the day, we're a group that goes through a lifecycle. we're a mod/ standalone game, and we work for free. It's the nature of many things, what happens next is more important.

We've found great people like James Davis who deserves to have his excellent work in game, and I'll stop at nothing (with the help of recruiters like banjo, cainsith or paladin) to arrange or find, or respectfully assign, someone to help us push out more content - especially amazing works of art like this.

I enjoyable digressed. Can't wait to see this stone cold stunner in game!

ɉ◎ℕ

Can you show us your Assassin model?

Sphynx

Apples. wrote:

Can you show us your Assassin model?

You are asking for a lot on the first date. Just leave him some room!

James Davis wrote:

I used the Braveheart King and images provided by Colonel to make a hybrid character.

I personally prefer the prominent jaw structure and larger beard of the concept art, but I think you got exactly the results that you wanted to achieve as per your description above and the model for sure looks fantastic!

ɉ◎ℕ

Sphynx wrote:

You are asking for a lot on the first date. Just leave him some room!

But i'm sooooo excited :DD

James Davis

@ Apples

Since the time I did this model and Now creating the Knight Lord model I have been practicing and researching anatomy and modeling/sculpting/texturing techniques for nearly 3 months. I'm really determined Knight Lord will result to look much better than Knight Assassin due to that but I still have the files to go back and tweak assassin to push the detail further. Currently working on Knight Lord, Knight Assassin, and a personal project called Necromancer Kasdeya but promise the creation of the models will be very timely and I'll post updates as I create them



Maya Results



But then it was decided that should have some blue in the attire to reflect the Knight's side so, changed the red

James Davis

Sphynx wrote:

I personally prefer the prominent jaw structure and larger beard of the concept art, but I think you got exactly the results that you wanted to achieve as per your description above and the model for sure looks fantastic!

I understand, thanks for the critiques, I always welcome them . The face may still change in the future. Mainly the robust jaw is there, but think the chainmail kind of obscures it. I wanted to show some age and experience in his expression and it's very easy to do that by creating a slightly longer face and sloping cheeks which also take away from the prominence of his jaw unfortunately. The smaller tight beard felt would express more ambience in his appearance and attitude. Mainly just the interpretation I took away from the concept. I appreciate the critique and remember the model may still change in the future

AGSMA

I look at the 3D bust and I imagine him with Jeremy Irons' voice saying "I'm surrounded by fools". Keep up the good work.

Nive

Ms. Assassin looks like she means business!
Though I will say, I can't help but feel her corset would look better if it were a neutral color rather than the blue.
The current knight classes have very little blue on them to begin with, and it's counter-intuitive to have the class based around being unseen to be the most strikingly colored.

James Davis

Maybe will see about just making her shoulder patch bluish, will talk it over with powers to be, I felt the same way

Haxx

Emerged a potential female character

Combine™

Assassin looks similar to the Archer abit which looks good!

Sphynx

I wanted to add that I feel like her face lacks a certain 'expressive power' that PVKII models usually have and which – together with the voice sounds, animations and a few other things – turns the model into a real 'character'. I haven't been able to track down the exact reasons for my feelings, but it could be a mix of head size, skin tone and eyes. It might look different with the animated eyes in a later stage, though. [I assume she would get those?]

As for the colors: it has already been mentioned that the blue/red is a tad too much. I agree with that. The colors are pretty dark, too – like those of the Man-at-Arms, maybe even darker. Compared with the brighter colors of the other characters and depending on the situation, it's harder to see them in-game on quite a few occasions, especially with the pace of combat in PVKII.

The accessories or 'equipment' near the belly region appears to be rather flat – like it's painted onto her armor. I feel the armor has the same problem in that region.

I imagine that some that some of my points are details that come into play at a later stage. I am, unfortunately, not too familiar with the steps in a model creation process.

My final 'complaint' would be that the clothing and stance of the original concept art of the 'Assassin' gave him a certain elegance, while the female version looks like she had to improvise a bit and use whatever she could find. If I saw her sitting in the streets, I wouldn't hesitate to throw her a coin – poor girl. Now, some of you might argue that this could be the perfect disguise and I won't disagree, but it might be a bit 'too' realistic that way. A pirate captain does neither always have a peg leg and a parrot nor is it a job requirement to be missing the left eye to join his crew.

James Davis

Sphynx wrote:

I wanted to add that I feel like her face lacks a certain 'expressive power' that PVKII models usually have and which – together with the voice sounds, animations and a few other things – turns the model into a real 'character'. I haven't been able to track down the exact reasons for my feelings, but it could be a mix of head size, skin tone and eyes. It might look different with the animated eyes in a later stage, though. [I assume she would get those?]

As for the colors: it has already been mentioned that the blue/red is a tad too much. I agree with that. The colors are pretty dark, too – like those of the Man-at-Arms, maybe even darker. Compared with the brighter colors of the other characters and depending on the situation, it's harder to see them in-game on quite a few occasions, especially with the pace of combat in PVKII.

The accessories or 'equipment' near the belly region appears to be rather flat – like it's painted onto her armor. I feel the armor has the same problem in that region.

I imagine that some that some of my points are details that come into play at a later stage. I am, unfortunately, not too familiar with the steps in a model creation process.

My final 'complaint' would be that the clothing and stance of the original concept art of the 'Assassin' gave him a certain elegance, while the female version looks like she had to improvise a bit and use whatever she could find. If I saw her sitting in the streets, I wouldn't hesitate to throw her a coin – poor girl. Now, some of you might argue that this could be the perfect disguise and I won't disagree, but it might be a bit 'too' realistic that way. A pirate captain does neither always have a peg leg and a parrot nor is it a job requirement to be missing the left eye to join his crew.

Unfortunately for the polycount requirement most of the detail is just normal maps. Areas like the belt area are textures and normal maps simulating actual geometry As for stance, for rigging purposes it has to be T Posed, can't match the stance in the concept for the modeling of the character. The scale of the character is matched to previous models that are in the game. As for the color, I agree, it is valid, does need adjustment. Thanks for the critique

Nive

Sphynx predicted my reaction. I think she looks better wearing less flamboyant clothing. I wouldn't consider her style to be unassuming though, she still looks majorly seedy.
And while I might look dumb saying this, I must thank you for not giving her high-heels.

Sphynx

I can't stop thinking about whether the leather pads on the sides of her pants are valid armor or not. Are they supposed to resemble something different?

James Davis

Bandwagonman wrote:

Sphynx predicted my reaction. I think she looks better wearing less flamboyant clothing. I wouldn't consider her style to be unassuming though, she still looks majorly seedy.
And while I might look dumb saying this, I must thank you for not giving her high-heels.

Is that the impression I gave? That she would have high heels? Sorry, you probably didn't intend it to sound like that, but that's kind of insulting.

James Davis

She is a bit flamboyant, but so is the Pirate Captain, attempting to give the character a unique feel, as for the patchwork on the legs. Valid armor? I intended it to be a light armor that would protect the thighs. I'm not going for an Assassin's Creed design, far too recognizable, but also not wanting to make a bland feel either, want it to have a unique quality

Nive

No, I don't mean that it seemed like you implied she'd have high-heels, but that you avoided doing something completely cliche since giving female fighter-type characters high-heels is such a terribly common trope. Sorry I didn't make that clear.

James Davis

For rigging purposes, I didn't match the pose the assassin character had. For the most part though I took the hood, gloves, and thigh high boots from the concept, adding my own finishes to it though. The gender swap was a discussion, but the corset was an idea I had. I wanted the assassin not only to be shady, but also seductive. If hiding in the shadows and stabbing didn't work, maybe flirting and poison in the goblet might. Ofcourse that was just an artistic decision I went with, but could still change in the future

James Davis

Will add detail to his outfit next and change his headpiece

Vincent Jaeger

That's swagalicious!

Sphynx

The rest of the body you added matches the Lord's head, his body structure is consistent. I really like that.
He could use an armor set that covers his full body, though. The concept art, for example, is wearing a chain mail, which is covering his head, upper arms and most probably his torso. I feel that we are looking at a two-piece set like this one:

On top of the chain mail, there is a layer of steel pieces or plates:

I'd assume that the Lord in the drawing is wearing the following layers:

1. Cotton shirt [invisible to the viewer] below
   
2. Chain mail below
   
3. Steel plates partially below
   
4. Coat
   

The current outfit consists of mostly cotton and has more in common with a peasant's outfit:

James Davis

It isn't finished, it will have chain mail and features reminiscent to the concept, but may make a few changes where I feel things don't quite fit. For examples the proportions are a bit too exaggerated aswell as the curly mustache seemed a bit out of place. Those pants and sleeves you see are going to be chainmail. Mainly the body is a block out with only basic detail. Have a portfolio of references I'm pulling from which include screens from the film Braveheart. Next post will have an update to his outfit

James Davis

I appreciate the opinions Sphynx but it isn't finished yet, the chainmail underarmor is planned, the sleeves and pants are the base model for the chain mail, haven't gotten around to detailing it yet. Assure you I have things planned out.

Thanks for the references

Pinterest page

https://www.pinteres...avis625/knight/

https://www.pinteres...or_inspiration/

James Davis

Sigh.... Forgot my Wacom pen while visiting family for Easter... time to pick up for lost time