UPDATE 19th NOV 2010: Flesh Raiders, Q&A and Fan Friday (Studio Insider)

Flesh Raider Step-by-Step

The Art Team is delighted to share another step-by-step break-down of how concept art is created for The Old Republic. Concept Artist, Diego Almazan, goes into detail regarding the process and thoughts involved in creating a set of Flesh Raiders.

When starting a concept, it’s important to get as much information as possible to help make the creature or object fit best in its place in the game. For this concept in particular, I was excited to take on the task of creating an alternate Flesh Raider which would fit alongside the current set.

After gathering and studying art work and other assets related to the Flesh Raider, I started off with a base which is a rough body sketch similar to an existing one in the game. At this point I was not exactly sure how far we wanted to stray from the original design, so in terms of the head and protrusions on the body I threw out some different ideas on what could be done. I tried not to spend too much time on the base, but wanted to give enough detail so there was a clear idea of what I have in mind. I even threw in a crazy wacky one to see if the team wanted something completely that deviated from the current Flesh Raider model.


Of course they go for the crazy one! I have not added any armor yet, so naturally this model has the most striking silhouette.


From there I went into a bit more refinement and ended up going back to something more like what I had in one of the other roughs. This is generally done to bring it back into the Flesh Raider family, and to incorporate a design that will allow the character to better accept armor. Flesh Raiders tend to pick up whatever's around and wear it for protection and to look more aggressive, so we need to have that in mind when creating the model.


Now I can start layering it on. Tattered rags, tubes, straps, and junk parts are what it's all about! I cake it on thick. Aside from the fact that these are meant to accompany the existing Flesh Raiders, this guy in some variation would be used to portray a boss or at least a stronger type so we want him to stand out. I also keep in mind that many of the parts on this model will come off for the more reasonable looking ones.


Once we have the main concept approved, I can add a back view to show what's going on there. I also started on some color variants. I used the less armored versions to show more skin detail; one has the splotchy skin pattern and the other has tribal paint. You'll also see that the rags and metal plates are different colors too, which makes them unique.

The Old Republic community has a lot of questions and we want to answer as many as we can. In fact, we’re starting a new section on the forums dedicated to this purpose. If you have questions, please feel free to post them on the Community Q & A thread. We’ll be reviewing the questions as they come in, and we’ll answer whatever we can in these updates.

We ask that you would please keep the questions courteous and professional, and that you would avoid duplicating questions that have already been asked. Keep in mind, as well, there are some questions that we’re not able to answer right now, so if we don’t get your question specifically, it’s nothing personal.

This week, Daniel Erickson took time to answer a few questions he rounded up from various parts of the forums:

Q: What happens when a group member leaves during a quest, or even in the middle of a dialog *disconnects*? Will any AI take over?

A: No AI takeovers, the quest or conversation continues without them. You can hit escape and leave a conversation (multiplayer or otherwise) whenever you like.

Q: When getting a group quest, can you get 4 Bounty Hunters or do you have a specific class requirement to start the quest? How will we know which quest we need?

A: You can make a group of any mix of classes, including four of the same. There are several play groups here that enjoy doing just that. Full Trooper groups seem to be the most popular and look pretty amazing coming over a hill.

Q: Can I turn my helmet on/off?

A: Helmets will be on a toggle so you can show or not as you like. The cinematic team has an additional override control they can use to turn it off in conversation (in case you like to keep your Trooper helmet on with the awesome voice processing). That way they can override it occasionally to keep you from wearing your helmet during your romantic kiss scene (bonk!).

Q: Will the Advanced Classes be locked into a particular role, for example: Will a Juggernaut be locked to only a tank, or if he could fulfill other roles as well?

A: Each of the advanced classes is a full, flexible class with various trees that allow specialization. So although the Juggernaut is perhaps best suited to play a ‘tanking’ role, a player could specialize in other roles depending on what skills they choose and the tactics they use with their companions.

Q: Are the origin planets simply starting grounds, or will we come back to them past level 10?

A: You definitely have reasons to come back. Korriban, for instance, is where the Dark Council often meets. There are also reasons later for all of the classes to go to some of the other classes' origin worlds. It's important to us that lower level characters get to see some high level players strutting their stuff early on.


You can see the latest from the Community >>HERE<<