New Video - Random Divinity Bullshittery (part 2)

Good morning folks. So I think I've finished the latest Divinity bullshittery. I've made a test render and it's available here for those interested. So this is the continuation straight off the back of part 1, in which the party continue to explore Fort Joy. Fumbling for a way out of the camp.

In this episode we solve Withermoore's soul jar problem. And accidently stumble upon the dirty secret at the centre of Fort Joy - what the Magisters are doing with the Sourcerers.

Huge thanks to TwistieZ and NervousHawk for their commissioned art during the episode. And to the eagle-eyed volunteers who spotted a few errors in the previous render last night.

I do somewhat worry that the episode ends a bit abruptly, more due to the fact that this is very distinctly a part 2. Meant to be sandwiched between other parts and I hope to be able to bookend it with part 3 very soon. 

This is most definitely an intermediate episode as Chapter 1 continues.

Additionally, I had some fun with the text in relation to magical effects. Which you will probably notice throughout the video. Sort of analogous to the "pew" visuals I do when showing firearms. I've decided to try and do some consistent things with the text in certain magical situations.

For example, you might notice that whenever a teleport spell is deployed I plan to show the text being blurred. And then pulled into the singularity, either by letter or by word. And maybe even being flung out the other side haphazardly.

For the Source drain spell, I've decided to use a Distort effect, along with a glow. Eventually freezing the word in a twisted, illegible form. Blurring it slightly and taking away the stroke. 

After that, the drain words are dragged to the spell caster and fade out as though consumed. As in the context of the game world, the soul of an individual appears to be made out of source. Therefore it seems appropriate that an NPC's name (or words) would be made illegible before being utterly consumed. A sinister spell indeed.

I'm sure that as the playthrough continues there will be a whole catalogue of consistent spell effects for the text. Such as burning words wobbling in heat-haze, being frozen in ice, etc.

Also, further showing off. There's this part here that I rather like. For I had the idea that some of Messy's name would scatter through the teleport as she's thrown into Digby. Therefore I've bought back a bit of 3D text there, bouncing off the ground.

The text is merely rotating on the Z access to create the illusion that it's in the frame.

But I'm up to my old tricks again. Notice how each of the letters has a shadowy twin?

Each one merely another text layer, this time in a dark font, with a slight fade. Keyframed to look like a shadow, without actually being one. It exists merely to add authenticity, before hiding beneath the yellow letter.

Moreover, Digby's head flies back, obscuring the asterisk with his real shadow. Problematic. The solution? How about a little cut-out mask that reveals the secondary asterisk waiting underneath, for just a split second? Changing the colour as though Digby did it.

And same problem with the tail. The damage effect make his whole model go white, making the text look fake. Well why not have the yellow font become the same shade of white and lose the black stroke? Just for a split second.

You'll have to forgive me for these indulgences :) For it's this sort of thing that makes editing so very interesting for me. A creative process in which challenges are presented and overcome with little bits of trickery. All hopefully adding to the presentation. Good fun!

Please let me know what you think in the comments here or on the video. And thank you once again for your extreme generosity and patience. I very much look forward to part 3 if you'd have me do it.