#SWTOR R-4

[askagamedev]

So how much $ (in general) does it cost to produce a fully animated/rigged, fully voiced 1-3 minute cutscene in a game that’s in ongoing development (something like SWTOR, where they have a lot of prebuilt assets)? Like just a general low range and high range?

I’m seeing a lot of people complaining about prioritizing content they want, and don’t know enough about the behind the scenes costs to properly communicate they’re being unrealistic with their complaints.

The cost of any content in game dev is directly proportional to how much new stuff needs to be created for that content. In order to create a basic conversation cutscene to put into a game, we would need:

A narrative designer to write the script for the cutscene

A cinematic designer to script out the cinematic - which characters speak, in which order, with what timing, in which location, and what other actions they would take over the course of the cutscene

Animations for the characters to play in those positions

A rig for those characters to play those animations

Character models for the characters involved

Voice recordings for the characters to speak

A tool with which to set all of these parameters and organize the cutscene

A game system that can parse the tool data and assets and construct the cutscene from them

A script system to start playing the cutscene when the proper conditions are met

This doesn't include extra stuff like VFX, music, lighting, environments, props, etc. that might need to be created for certain specific cutscenes. In an ongoing game like SWTOR, element numbers 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 were already built long ago and already exist. As long as the designers can create the characters with the in-game character creator and reuse the existing rigs, no new resources need be expended to create them. If you need a completely new custom character model, that takes time from a character artist and a texture artist. If the character needs to animate differently than everyone else (i.e. needs its own rig), that's time from a rigger to create. If the cutscene needs new animations we need to bring on an animator to spend time building the new animations needed for the cutscene.

Using some napkin math, let's consider costs. We usually use the $10,000 per month figure to pay for a developer (salary, benefits, rent, utilities, software licenses, etc.) or approximately $2,500 per development week per person. Let's assume that each task takes a developer a week to complete.

Write the script (Narrative designer)

Script the cinematic (Cinematic Designer)

Record audio (Sound Designer + Voice Actor + studio time)

Rig one new character (Rigger) x however many new characters

Animate one animation (Animator) x however many new animations

Model one new character (Character Artist + Texture Artist) x however many new characters

Track all tasks and keep everyone on schedule (Production)

Test and validate that the cutscene works (QA)

At the very minimum, we need the script, the cinematic, production, and the QA tester, so a very bare bones cutscene that reuses all assets and has no new VO (say it only reuses the alien language) would cost 4x$2,500 = $10,000. If we add voice recording and keep it to one voice actor (let's say she voices both characters in the cutscene), then the cost jumps to 7x$2,500 = $17,500 because we need the sound designer, the voice actor, and the recording studio time. Adding in two new animations (e.g. one character throwing a punch and the second character reacting to getting punched) would add another two weeks of animator time, raising the cost to 9x$2,500 = $22,500. And so on and so forth. Those costs add up very quickly.

There are ways to get a "bulk" discount of course - we hire voice actors for blocks of four or eight hours, so we can record multiple cutscenes during that session and share some of those costs. We can create one new character and reuse her across multiple cutscenes so that we get more value out of her. Things get cheaper if we reuse stuff more, but they still cost a lot up front. The bulk discounts only really work if the things we're paying for can be reused multiple times though - the more specific an asset is (e.g. a kissing animation), the harder it is to reuse and the more expensive it tends to be relative to other assets.

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[valenteal]

Val’s History of the Jedi Part 3!

With the true Sith Empire hidden deep within the unknown regions (and not coming out for a while) we return our attention to the Jedi and their own internal struggles. For this part I’ll cover everything until the Mandalorian Wars.

Now this gets kinda complicated so get ready for a wild ride.

Six hundred years after the Great Hyperspace War in 4400 BBY Freedon Nadd, a former Jedi Padawan trained on Ossus who had renounced the Order and killed his master, before going to the heart of the Old Sith Empire seeking power, met Naga Sadow while exploring Yavin 4, where the man had spent his life after the Great Hyperspace War building massive temple complexes (the buildings the rebel alliance would call home five thousand years later in the original trilogy) and practicing his Sith Alchemy before eventually placing himself in suspended animation. After Nadd awoke the Dark Lord, Sadow took Nadd on as an apprentice and taught him the ways of the dark side, believing that together they would lead the Sith into a new golden age. Unfortunately for Sadow, Nadd did the same thing he’d done before, killed his master before going off on his own to attain more power, though this time he sought political power rather than Force power.

Deciding that he wanted a planet to call his own, Nadd used his considerable power in Sith Sorcery to conquer the planet Onderon, which he ruled over as king for over a hundred years. Once word of his rule over Onderon reached the Jedi they sent a team to kill Nadd, thinking this would end the threat. It did not.

The thing about Sith Lords is this: unlike Jedi who need to find complete harmony with the Force and understanding of themselves to retain their consciousness after death, Sith can do it much more easily using only spite and ego. It’s why their tomb world, Korriban, is so holy and also incredibly haunted. There’s one class storyline in SWTOR where you go around absorbing a ton of force ghosts of powerful Sith Lords from around the galaxy to get more powerful and it’s a wild ride. Also my favorite class to play.

Anyway, Freedon Nadd is dead. But his spirit lives on and his tomb is a focal point for dark side energy and his descendants are constantly going to him to learn Sith Sorcery and basically Onderon is still ruled by the Sith and the Jedi have no fuckin clue.

Leaving Onderon to stew in the dark side for a while, we go check in on the Jedi once again, only to find that, oh no! The Third Great Schism (never coulda seen that coming) has erupted in the 4250 BBY, only a century and a half after Nadd’s fall. Admittedly this Great Schism has less lasting consequences as the Dark Jedi were forced to flee and later annihilated themselves and the entire star system they were in, the Vultar System, trying to harness the power of an ancient device known as the Cosmic Turbine that was left behind by the Celestials after they retreated to Mortis.

Fast forward to 4000 BBY, and yet another team of Jedi are sent to Onderon, this time to settle the ongoing conflict known as the Beast Wars, which Nadd began during his reign. It’s this nearly never ending war between the Beast-Riders of the Jungle and the People of the Capital City of Iziz. Nomads vs civilized society basically. The Onderon arc in Clone Wars nods to it. Anyway. This time the Jedi sent are all Padawans, Ulic Qel-Droma, Cay Qel-Droma, and Tott Doneeta, apprenticed to Jedi Master Arca Jeth. The Padawans discover that the Onderon royal family are practitioners of the dark side and the Princess Galia was staring in “Romeo and Juliet but make it Star Wars” with the Beast-Rider leader, Oron Kira.

There’s drama, the Jedi Master who sent his Padawans into the mess, Arca Jeth, swooped in and saved the day, Galia and Oron ascended to the throne, the evil Queen Amanoa was defeated, the end!

Except it wasn’t over, because the Queen’s husband and Nadd’s decent and former pupil, Ommin was still alive, though retired. He managed to rally an NEW Naddist army, steal his wife’s remains and Nadd’s sarcophagus AND capture Master Jeth. Of course this only prompts the Republic and the Jedi to send more reinforcements who eventually overthrew Ommin, but not before Nadd gave two visiting nobles the spell books, artifacts, and Sith swords that they could use to learn the secrets of the Dark Side. Those nobles, Aleema Keto and Satal Keto, escaped back to their home system of Empress Teta.

Now, the Jedi learned their lesson this time, and sealed Nadd, Amanoa, and Ommin in a heavily fortified tomb on Onderon’s fourth moon, Dxun. Unfortunately for them, Nadd was still able to manifest outside the tomb wherever his former belongings ended up. So he left to teach the Keto cousins much about Sith Sorcery and leading them to create the Krath Cult. The Jedi had also, foolishly, brought some of the artifacts back to Ossus, allowing Nadd to appear before Padawan Ulic Qel-Droma to sow seeds of self doubt by prophesying his fall. When Ulic Qel-Droma, his master, and the other two Padawans are sent to Empress Teta to stop the growing Krath Cult Nadd’s prediction comes true after the death of Arca Jeth pushes Ulic to pursue vengeance by infiltrating the Krath Cult, is seduced by Aleema Keto, and eventually kills Lord Satal Keto and taking his place at Aleema Keto’s side.

During this, another young Jedi named Exar Kun grows curious and abandons his training in search of Nadd’s teachings. Proving Nadd’s tomb on Dxun not nearly as impenetrable as it was supposed to be, Kun meets Nadd’s spirit and learns from him, before finally, finally, killing the guy for good. Course then he heads to Yavin 4 to acquire more power just as Nadd had, before going to Empress Teta to defeat his potential rival, Ulic Qel-Droma. When the two duel they are stopped by the spirit of Marka Ragnos, just as Sadow was when first facing Ludo Kressh. Ragnos anoints both Kun and Qel-Droma Dark Lords of the Sith and bids them work together to restore the glory of the Sith. Thus the Great Sith War begins, lead by Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma, calling themselves the Brotherhood of the Sith.

I’m not going to go into every battle, it’s called the Great Sith War for a reason and all the details exist as the story was told in its entirety in comics. But suffice it to say that the war was devastating, the Sith and the Mandalorians ally after Qel-Droma defeated Mandalore the Indomitable, they conquered many planets, Qel-Droma was captured and returned to the light after he and his forces made it all the way to Coruscant before being routed. Mandalore the Indomitable was defeated on Dxun, and Exar Kun performed a ritual to sever his spirit from his body so the Republic and the Jedi would think him dead, intending to continue wreaking havoc across the galaxy, but only succeeded in trapping himself on Yavin 4.

In the end the Jedi and the republic won, but not without heavy losses. The Brotherhood of the Sith had succeeded in turning a fair few Jedi AND had caused a Supernova that devastated Ossus and forced the Jedi to relocate their main stronghold to Coruscant, as well as destroying all the records that had been kept there. (Kun did manage to snag some treasure before the energy blast got to Ossus and while the Jedi were panicking and evacuating.)

Anyway, moral of the story is: make sure your Sith are fully dead. Their ghosts can be more trouble than they were in life. Also… Marka Ragnos really likes interfering in duel from beyond the grave. Also also, there’s gotta be something wrong with the Jedi teachings if their best students keep falling so easily. I didn’t mention this earlier, but Freedon Nadd was actually a model Jedi and an absolute prodigy before the Jedi gave him a stupid hidden test that like basically shattered his confidence and trust in them. Seriously, the Jedi make all their own worst enemies. Really the Sith Empire would have 0 beef with the Jedi or the republic if the Jedi from the Second Great Schism didn’t come in and take over. And like, if they knew anything about mental health or did psychological testing before training people then a psychopath like Exar Kun never would’ve gotten so much power! Anyway, I digress. Next time I’ll be going over the Mandalorian Wars and the Jedi Civil War and do a brief overview of the Sith Civil War as well, so basically KOTOR 1 and 2. I already answered an ask about the Mandalorian Wars but I focused on the Mandalorian side so this time I’ll focus on the Jedi side.

⬅️Last part | Next part➡️

[frauleiiin]

For that swtor ask meme - 4 for Kyahni? Or any other character, I just love the troopers of the world, you know how it is :)

Thank you so much for the ask!

4. Do they have nicknames for other characters (NPC or OC), & if so, what are they?

Kyahni has a sister and she always called her 'Ann (Juhann). I'm still unsure about her brother's name but I've been leaning towards Rohan, I think she'd just call him "R" (a cute nickname would make him cringe, something like this almost sounds like a code name so I think he'd like that).

She calls bestie Elara, 'Lara outside of duty.

And last but not least, Aric Jorgan. They call each other a bunch of sweet things, "hubby", "love", etc. But I wonder if there's some terms or expressions that only Cathar ppl use to show affection, if there is they'd definitely use them.

[ebitenpura]

Games (Currently Playing): - Kirby: Planet Robobot - Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap - Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns (nearly done) - WitchSpring R (hiatus) - DragonAge Origins - Pikmin 3 Deluxe (hiatus)

Games (To Play): - Fantasy Life - Densetsu no Starfy - Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds - Mario & Luigi: Brothership/Dream Team - Rune Factory 4 Special (wait for sale)

Games (To Gif): - Haunted Castle Revisited/Castlevania Dominus Collection - Future SWTOR updates

[villainship]

This week’s R-4 sightseeing

(Past the second boss!)

[glorfinniell]

Nihrot is such a cool aesthetic.

Happy 7.1, my swtor folks.

[reconstructionlegacy]

> A Jedi makes a new friend.

[winglssdemon]

So I think im actually really enjoying R-4. I joined a random group and we went all the way to Lady Dominque where we did a few pulls but then someone had to leave and then the replacement came for one pull and mentioned they've only ever done this boss twice and both times were wiped. So a couple of us in the group we're all like, no worries, some of us haven't ever cometed this boss yet either. And then the dude just completely bounced. Left the voice chat, left the discord, and left the ops group. Like goddamn I've never seen such a clear case of someone wanting to be carried.

Anyways it was just nice to spend time playing a game without and IRL drama getting in the way.

[voidendron]

ok

progging a story mode operation is. different. reminds me of the Baby Catz doing Gods or Dxun for the first time...omg. was that seriously over two years ago??? and WOW didn't realize how much I'd missed Clueless Baby Catz Just Learning How To Raid

I'll be honest, the SM of this op legitimately feels like a hard mode right now

but my buddies and I are having so much fun! :D

both of my teams are progging R4 right now, and we're trying to do it by figuring out the mechanics ourselves instead of looking at the guides, and

voice is just FILLED with laughter as we fail horribly and wipe to figure out "well That didn't work," but we're having SO much fun.

I'll put Catz Shenanigans™ under the cut for possible boss/mechanic spoilery reasons

for the team that ran last night, it was truly a Blind Run for all but like one or two of us. started out strong with me literally YELPING and panic-clicking when the elevator disappeared from under me to send me plummeting. I 100% thought I was dead there

we learned to Not use knockbacks on the adds leading to Disco Ball because we got stuck in combat.

Gham was laughing at my woes of "THIS BOSS IS NOT SNIPER-FRIENDLY!!! D:<" as we progged the Disco Ball. "what boss IS sniper-friendly???" "NOT THIS ONE" *someone else, quietly: "Titan 6??"*

someone in guild who gave us some tips popped in to watch occasionally. I was streaming into discord, and he joins to see me standing in one of the lasers and got a kick out of it. my excuse was something along the lines of "one or two doesn't hurt so Imma be a turret" and I Totally wasn't one of the first to die that pull

for calling shapes on Disco Ball, we have the Very Normal "circle," "square," and "tri/triangle." then there's "HEXEEE" with such a Strange Pronunciation I don't even know how to type it out. "h-YEH-xee" ????

for the other team, that ran tonight:

I'm technically one of the tanks for this team, but since the first few bosses are solo-tankable, my co-tank told me to go ahead and DPS since I brought my vanguard/sniper, and ranged might be good since All of the other DPS were maras and juggs

the part where the elevator collapses under you, Gham (healing) ran way ahead of the rest of us, and ended up pulling an add group and started getting melted.

me: "u deserved that"

Gham: "no heals for Oliver!!! D:<"

The doggo resulted in "wait is the same or opposite color supposed to take that?? it said something about opposite polarity" *opposite color person steps between boss and tank* *nearly gets one-shot* "uhhhh let's try the same color this time"

The Hallway™ is literal hell and was a boss in itself wtf jakls;djks

while everyone else dealt with the boss add, I bolted for the door and barely managed to finish my channel to unlock it before I got attacked again

we only got a few pulls in on the boss after The Hallway™, and it mostly involved us floundering to figure out how to use the secondary abilities efficiently to get rid of the roots.

BUT

we were all excited to try the new op. it's fun trying to figure out the mechanics ourselves

...a little afraid of when one/both of my teams start progging it in HM, though. if it has wipe mechanics in story mode, then HM has gotta be rough

[arkannis]

I need your opinion here

A few hours ago I changed my pfp to a picture of Rivix's shoes. Whilst doing this I asked myself "How much more insanity can be caused by his shoes?"

And now I'm here saying that Rivix is an undercover bird just to make his shoes make some kind of sense....

....

Do you think I reached the maximum of insanity or is it possible to top that statement?

i kept witnessing you lose ur shit about his shoes during my hiatus it was the funniest thing ever i don't think anyone could top it. but you're right about his stupid fucking shoes. i will kick the shit out of him for crimes against fashion

[ayrennaranaaldmeri]

why can’t i make a RED twi’lek in the republic side cc 

[darth-bagel]

THIS WOKE ME UP AT 4 AM BUT ONLY NOW I HAVE SOME TIME TO ACTUALLY YELL! ✨💙 ✨💙

✨Bastard H o u r s✨

@elaphaemourra @darkshadeless òwó

sketch comms for @darth-bagel 💙🐍🔪

[chaotic-simping]

REQUEST GUIDELINES/FANDOM LIST:

last update: 03.01.2022 2nd August, 2022 14th November, 2022 1st April, 2024

If you want to request something pls give me some more or less specific ideas or a few prompts (link for prompt list).

I'll automatically do platonic relationship and they/them pronouns if it's not specified.

Also, english isn't my first language you've been warned.

What I don't take requests for:

Stuff i might write if im in the mood but probably won't ( There are always going on be warnings ofc)

smut

suggestive stuff

toxic relationships (might appear in a criminal minds fic or something like that, never romantizised)

darkfics

arguments

enemies to lovers

What I don't write in general:

romantizised toxic relationships

rape, incest, pedophilia, age gap (teacher/student as well) etc.

romance for characters under 14 y/o

male reader x lesbian character or female reader x gay character

about poc/trans/mlm struggles - they are obviously very very real but i am white and sapphic (not saying i won't write about characters that are any of these things, i'll do my best to make the reader gender, race, body size etc inclusive.)

What I write:

Character(s) x reader

Gender Neutral/Non-binary!, Female!, Male!reader. Obv gender ≠ pronouns but it's th

Mixed pronouns (ex. they/she), THEORETICALLY neo pronouns?

Background ships

AUs (SOULMATES!!!)

Crossovers (read fandom list)

Platonic, romantic, unspecified or familial relationship

Fandoms/characters:

Star Wars:

Romantic: Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala, young!Obi-wan,

Ahsoka Tano, Asajj Ventress, Bariss Offi, Rex, Echo, Fives,

Cal Kestis,

Kanan Jarrus, Hera Syndylla, Sabine Wren,

Jyn Erso, Cassian Andor,

Din Djarin, Fenec Shnad,

Rey Skywalker, Finn

+more

Platonic: Everyone above, Obi-wan Kenobi, The Bad Batch, The ghost crew, Grogu,

Won't write: Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, Hux

Ships: Anidala, Barrisoka, Kanera, Finnpoe

Knowledge: All movies, almost all shows/cartoons (except Resistance), books - Master and apprentice, games - started JFO and (barley) SWTOR

Marvel:

Romantic: Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, Hobie Brown, Peter Parker, Natasha Romanov, Wanda Maximoff, Kate Bishop

Platonic: Everyone above, Peter B Parker, Yelena Belova,

Stranger things:

Romantic: Robin Buckley, Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Nancy Wheeler, Max Mayfield (s4!), Lucas Sinclair (s4!), Chrissy Cunningham, Barbara Holland rip, Jonathan Byers, Eddie Munson + more

Platonic: Everyone above, Max (all seasons), Lucas (all seasons), Will Byers, Dustin Henderson, El Hopper, Erica Sinclair, Joyce Byers, Jim Hopper, Murray Bauman, Alexei Smirnoff, Dmitri 'Enzo' Antonov, Yuri Ismailov,

Won't write: Billy

Ships: Jopper, Lumax, Elmax, Ronance, Robin/Vickie, Steddie

Knowledge: up to season 4, none books

Arcane:

Romantic: Vi, Jinx, Ekko,

Platonic: Everyone above, almost everyone else

Ships: CaitVi

Knowledge: season 1

Avatar: the last air bender

Please include if you want the reader to be a bender (and what kind) or not

R: Zuko, Suki, Sokka, +more

P: Everyone above, the gaang, Iroh,

Ships: Suki/Sokka, Zukka,

Knowledge: All seasons, almost all comics, live action

The legend of Korra:

R/P: Most characters

Won't write: Kuvira

Ships: Korrasami,

Knowledge: All seasons, all comics

The Dragon Prince:

R: Claudia, Rayla, Soren, Corvus

P: Everyone above, Ezran, Callum, Amaya, Harrow, Gren,

Ships: All canon ships, Sorvus

Knowledge: up to season 4

Sherlock Holmes:

BBC:

R/P: Most characters

Ships: Johnlock, Mystrade,

Enola Holmes:

R/P: Enola,

Criminal minds:

R/P: Elle Greenway, Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss

Knowledge: Watching season 6

Heartstopper:

R/P: Most characters, comic or show.

Won't write: Harry and Ben.

Ships: All canon ships; Imogen x me😍 /hj

Knowledge: Comic: 7-13; show: season 1

The Blacklist:

R: Elizabeth Keen, Donald Ressler, Aram Mojtabai, Alina Park,

P: Everyone above, Harold Cooper, Tom Keen, Raymond Redington, Dembe Zuma, Kate Kaplan, Agnes Keen

Knowledge: Season 9

[astralflows]

Can i ask again? 4 & 10

sure!

4. Least favorite expansion?

KOTET! arcann gets a ✨ redemption arc ✨, but vaylin (a character that has been abused her whole life???) is beyond redemption??? sure bioware, sure. i hate how they treated saresh, i hate that we have to choose between vette and torian, the whole iokath thing is a mess and i hate............ walker.............missions.......................

10. Worst multiplayer experience?

i could make a very VERY long list so i'll just post my favorites 🙃

- some friends stopped playing the game because of that (1) homophobic dude in our raid group, he is the main reason i don't have a raid group anymore :)

- got harrassed by a group of players i had the misfortune to meet in low level pvp, they stalked me on social medias, insulted me, etc. it's a long story. they were insulting a player, i told them to stop being assholes & they didn't like it. i don't really know why they decided to harass me, but i like to think they just want me to stop doing low level pvp because i do more damage than them every time 💅

- received d*ath/r*pe threats (the player got banned because i posted the screenshots on twitter and the swtor community manager replied to my tweet lmfao) because i wasn't doing the objective in 8v8 pvp (still can't believe someone got upset over this???)

see? this is why i don't mind ninja looters and group invite spammers lol. that being said, i had a lot more positive experiences. don't be afraid to do group content (both pve & pvp), there are a lot of kind & helpful players out there. ❤️

[villainship]

I got to try the last R-4 boss w/ 2 different teams now (in SM). . . I am Learning the mechanics. . .

It is too hard tho. ;_; F

[glorfinniell]

A rare text post

I haven't posted all that much stuff because I'm not finishing much to be posted, so I instead give, all you fellow swtor players, news: I'm officially an elitist. I'm a NiM raider and we survive things. I have two Wings of the Architect, two Wings of Nihrot, a Helix Hyperpod, all timers and survivals (where applicable) for pre-5.0. I have R-4 Anomaly at 100%, bosses and achievements. We're progging--get this--NiM Dxun (first four bosses down) and NiM Gods (Tyth down) Am I a cool kid, now? I have also decided Styrak and Revan suck.