In addition to the Mini-Videos taken by Jerrith (a Sigil programmer and long time MMOG player) and made available by yours truly and our awesome affiliate sites, I´ve also been working on several in-game videos. These are .avi files using DIVX for compression, otherwise the files would be HUGE – please make use of the variety of codecs out there that will enable you to view the videos and/or take the advice of those who post where to find these codecs on this thread and elsewhere.
A few differences, however:
1. These are taken at Very High settings with *everything* turned on that can be right now (world lighting, tone mapping, all available settings to maximum, HDR, and more). I am using a very high end system (dual 3.8ghz, ATI x1900xt, Xfi card, XP 64, etc.) Why? To show Very High, as opposed to Jerrith´s Mediums, and also to compensate some for the significant hit FRAPs slaps you with. You’ll still see some roughness with our animations as they are not fully optimized, as well as some hitching as my system loads different areas – again, please keep in mind that the game is still in beta, has many optimizations coming, and I simply show off different areas of the game regardless of how polished or finished they are (although all areas are live on beta with people playing in them -- the exception would be the video that shows the Qalian capitol city Aghram, which is not yet open to beta players and while one of the largest, if not the largest cities ever created in an MMOG, it’s neither done nor accessible on beta (though it will be soon)).
*** by no means should you assume that you will require such a system to play Vanguard when it is commercially released, even at High Settings****
2. The videos are longer (and the files bigger) than Jerrith´s and so are in lower resolution and less clear. I am also less experienced with Premiere, so my noobness there will show. But I do cut between different sets of FRAPs videos as opposed to his, which are one ´encounter´. The lower resolution means you don´t feel as in-game, but the upside is you get more variety and longer videos.
3. In the videos I either use my play character with GM powers or Aradune, my GM character, with GM powers (I usually don´t play my regular character with GM powers, but did so in the videos to expedite things). In some of the videos you basically see Aradune follow a group of players as they adventure -- I´m pretty much tagging along. I do however, sometimes, intervene, and when I do, given that Aradune is invulnerable and level 50, mobs die pretty quickly, so please take note of that when I take down a mob in one or two swings. The regions with combat that I do show are for areas under level 20.
4. I do also include some still shots showing some of the game publications Vanguard has appeared in (shameless plug on my part – what can I say?) as well as some general art and some concept art for the game as well. Hopefully you find them interesting and informative, despite their commercial nature.
Again, just like Jerrith´s videos, these are videos taken for MMOG gamers, either fans of Vanguard or just fans of MMOGs in general. They by no means take the place of the more professionally put together videos that are being put together for more high profile sites and publications that we are working with SOE on -- essentially, they have a different target audience, message, and purpose and therefore compliment each other.
I´ve made four so far, and until I get some tips on how to use Premiere better, I´ll stick to these four. I will either provide the link and/or give the link to our affiliate sites to put up. You are welcome to mirror the videos -- in fact, you are encouraged to do so in order to help with bandwidth -- thanks
Like Jerrith´s videos, these are taken live from Beta 3 and anyone who happens to appear on them are under NDA so please don´t bother them with questions as they will not be able to answer them or even acknowledge that was them. I will try to answer any questions you might have on various message boards, be it our official boards or elsewhere.
Again, these are rough and meant to satisfy people interested in Vanguard or are experienced with MMOGs in general. They also therefore include flaws, especially as some of the areas depicted are new and unfinished. Accordingly, please take them for what they are.
All of the videos are taken from Qalia, although future videos will undoubtedly include Thestra if these turn out to be popular and interesting to those viewing them. |
