Nate's Sneak Peaks from the AMA (07/30/2021)

nateaguila (69)in #splinterlands • 3 years ago

I have no idea if the Splinterlands AMA (Ask Me Anything) session from earlier today was recorded or not. However, fret not! I can, at the very least, provide some insight on my portion of the program.

For those of you who scrambled afterwards to make sense of the Discord chat once it was over, you may have noticed me posting random screens and imagery. However, without my narration, you might be pondering what the heck you are looking at, haha.

So let's add a bit of insight into these juicy sneak peeks!

First of all, for those who don't know me...My name is Nate Aguila. You killed my father. Prepare to...wait, sorry. I do that sometimes.

My name is Nate Aguila, and I am the Creative Director for Splinterlands, the best game in blockchain. I oversee the creative direction of the game, spanning from UX to artwork to graphics to animation to the final UI that is then implemented by our stellar developers. As the game's success has grown, so has our ability to bring on more talented people with a wide variety of creative skills.

Little by little, we are expanding our work flow to encompass more creative work to be produced for different features/updates in parallel, making it possible to complete multiple projects at the same time. It is my hope that as we continue to refine our creative infrastructure, you will not only see a dramatic improvement to the overall player experience...but that you can enjoy more amazing updates more often!

What I'm sharing with you is a collaborative group effort (as is everything we do here at Splinterlands)!

I believe the first thing I shared was a glimpse at the updates we want to make for the mobile app.

This, along with everything else I share, is subject to change. So be aware that anything/everything could look different upon implementation. Just know that we have every intention of bringing Brawls and the new guild buildings to Mobile. Just be patient, because squeezing all that goodness into a small hand-held screen is no easy task! Just about everything on desktop has to be displayed differently. I'm guessing that it will be released in phases, starting with access to the guild buildings and what they offer.

Next, let's talk Land. Let's talk Praetoria!

In the past, players have expressed concern over whether they needed to quit their daytime jobs just to maintain their digital real estate, haha. Well, don't worry! I intend to make sure that there are multiple ways to manage and maintain land. For example, here is a screenshot in the design stages which highlights the "map view":

I say "map view", because there will also be a "card view". The button near the top right corner will allow users to toggle between the two "views". Both views will have its own set of filters, intended to optimize the experience for that respective view.

For the map view, a player should be able to select the OWNED tab to see only the Regions on the map where they own plots of land. To further filter what the map shows, the user may then select from different Land Types and Rarity, making it possible to quickly pinpoint where on the map lies the plot in question. Clicking on the region will open up a variety of options for players who want a granular approach to construction, harvesting, and crafting.

For those who want to minimize their time spent within the game, you'll notice there is a "Quick Manage" button near the bottom. This will provide the player with an opportunity to perform core actions across all the plots they own in the world. Both methods represent their own distinct pros and cons. It's up to the player to decide what they value more: Time or Optimal Performance based on strategic decisions.

One last comment about the Map View: I am hoping to allow players to experience more than just Praetoria when navigating within the map. It is my intention to allow players to at LEAST visit (however briefly) all the continents within the Splinterlands (in a broad sense at first...but hopefully, eventually in a more lore-driven specific sense as well). Just because there are is no land ownership for players in these areas does not mean we couldn't someday explore PvE methods of gameplay in ALL the areas in between the player Regions (or outside Praetoria).

Not everyone will be a land owner. That's fine. But introducing Land into the game can be so much more than that. It can be something that EVERYONE can explore and enjoy! We'll see what happens!

Speaking of breathing life into Land, the work we're doing for Brawls 2.0 is our opportunity to experiment with ideas that can be applied to Land. One of these ideas is to make our graphics feel more dynamic by introducing a sense of movement.

I think it would be cool to feel like you are gazing upon the plains, hills, mountains, forests, and swamps of the actual game world!

The last thing I shared during the AMA was a concept for the first step in making the characters and battles feel more game-like and exciting! I touched briefly on how so many games were pursuing hyper-realistic 3D, but in doing so...those games risk blending in. Everything starts to look the same. It becomes "white noise".

If done properly, 2D animation can be absolutely stunning. I don't want Splinterlands to look like everyone else. I want them to look at our stylization and say, "Hey, that's Splinterlands!".

This is a "ready" animation for one of the Gladiators:

We are working on ways to make these characters move within the game while still preserving the accessibility that a web browser provides. As we further refine the process to making character animation a reality, it is our hope to still provide our players with prompt load time and minimal data requirements. After all, that is one of the reasons why Splinterlands is so awesome! You don't need to download a client. You don't need a certain operating system or crazy computer specs. Everyone can play this game (and start earning!) from a simple browser!

How cool will it be to see the characters move? To see them change pose and expression when they attack? It's gonna be awesome!

Okay, that was all I shared during the AMA. But you know what? Since you actually bothered to read all this, I'll toss you a couple of bonus biscuits!

Here's the very first concept sketches I was making to figure out the design for the invading forces of Chaos Legion (the upcoming next big card set):

It's on an old envelope, haha! Can you guess which heraldry we ended up going with?

And finally...the initial concept sketches for what will become the new card packs for Chaos Legion and the Riftwatchers (mini-set replacing Azmare Dice) sets!