Yesterday the rejected characters were cleared to move from code to modelled bodies. Today the new bodies were made. They exist as files and have not been put into the game.
One character first
The Archer went through the whole pipeline alone before the others were started.
- The roster reference was reconstructed into a clean image of the Archer: an A-pose, realistic adult proportions, empty hands, separate legs.
- That image became a textured 3D model of 1,654,626 triangles.
- A remesh brought it to 41,428 triangles.
- A humanoid rig was fitted at 1.8 m, with idle, walk and run.
The hands are empty on purpose. Weapons are still the game's own, and they were not generated.
Eight more, reference image first
Each of the other characters went through the same order, and each reference image was checked by eye before a model was made from it. The Knight was left out. The Wizard, already approved, was included because it can look better.
| character | triangles after remesh |
|---|---|
| Archer | 41,428 |
| Wizard | 40,709 |
| Barbarian | 41,157 |
| Witch | 40,005 |
The other characters fall in the same range, and the largest after remesh is 41,428. The Tank's source model, for comparison, was 2,464,522 triangles.
The rig was only as good as its markers
The automatic rig is placed from joint markers, and the markers went wrong in two different ways. Misplaced groin markers had to be lowered, and the pelvis corrected on the rest of the models. On the Ninja the scarf skewed the landmarks, so its joints were corrected individually. The Wizard's height was set to 2.05 m because the hat is part of it. All eight rigs finished with walk and run sets.
Ten Mega Bosses, one per level
The bosses followed the same route: a concept image first, checked against the identity each boss already has, then a textured model, then a remesh. Every one of the ten came out between 60,482 and 62,634 triangles. The first Mega Boss, Horrors of The Abyss, was 2,311,076 triangles before the remesh.
These bodies were not given the humanoid auto-rig. Several of them are not humanoid, and a humanoid rig does not fit a creature anatomy, so they were not rigged.
Having an animation is not the same as checking one
The rig tool reports its animations as done. When one was opened in its preview, the Wizard's walk showed as grey geometry with the head clipped outside the frame, and there were no playback controls. Movement and materials could not be confirmed either way. The files exist, and until they have been seen moving on the game's own rig, they count as unchecked.