This interview is originally from Thisisgame.com.
Korea-based game developer Bluehole Studio has always been working hard to bring its MMORPG - TERA original game content. Three directors from the company's in-game character development department have recently taken an interview and shared certain game information, including Yun-kyeong Kim, director of the concept art team, Seok Gu, director of the creation team and Won-Kyung Choi director of the animation team.
Birth of Concept Arts of In-game Characters
As long as the direction is determined, we begin to develop ideas. Usually, we obtain desired ideas by collecting comprehensive materials from books, pictures,TERA Gold and other resources. And based on such material, the concept arts are brought forth.
Ideas about In-game Characters
In most cases, we consult books in bookstores. Having direct experience in confirming ideas is important, but it is also time-consuming actually. It's really hard to have direct experience in the various matters in the world. In this respect, books help a lot. And the online resources can also help us find out almost all we need.
Characters in TERA Gold
TERA Gold features unique characters that other games don't have. We don't apply the characters in other games directly, but develop them via imagination. TERA has targeted the global market since the very beginning, so the development of in-game characters is also driven by world-oriented thoughts. With charming boys and girls not taken into consideration at first, the game has always been developed for the sake of diversity.
Half-elf and Castanic
Though TERA has introduced certain representative characters, TERA Online Gold most of the characters like Half-elf and Castanic still enjoy great personalities.
Seok Gu, Director of the Creation Team
In Conformity with Concept Arts
Different companies have different thoughts and ideas. It's impossible to make every detail completely identical with that of the concept arts. It's OK that the characters are made with the artworks' concepts detailed in some degrees. We are striving for characters that are the same as the Japanese version of concept arts, since the character samples of the Korean developer are mostly created to be identical with the Japanese concept arts which leads to the restriction on personalities. The confident artists can just give full play to their professional skills, with no need to entirely follow the concept arts.
Coordination with the Concept Art Team
The coordination with the concept art team will never stop. At the early stage, we really encountered many conflicts of opinions. Till now, the in-game characters and the game coloration haven't been confirmed yet, with more ideas and opinions coming out as well. "It's better that it goes on in this way."
A Western Look with Korean Thoughts
We've also got the feedback from players directly. As is known to all, diversified characters are the key to abundant game content.
Won-Kyung Choi, Director of the Animation Team
Animation and Motion Capture
TERA Gold bears scenes that features real captured motions. Though it's difficult to bring actions to life via motion capture, it seems more reasonable for those general actions.
Animation and Striking Feel
Though not direct, the influence is still tremendous. The areas of effect and programming are also greatly affected. But compared with the fully rendered 2D effects, the striking aspect seems not that good, since all the actions are presented completely. Such complete presentation is just the difference between the two. Anyway, the photography techniques are growing at high speed and have also witnessed great progress in technology. The 3D animation filed is developing rapidly as well and may make greater progress in the future, which is more promising.
Graphics of TERA
If we continue to follow the present standards while developing the game, the game will be able to bear high-quality graphics that can affect other games profoundly. I wish TERA to be developed as an example for other game developers.
