Divinity: Original Sin 2 Bullshittery - Update #4

Good evening folks. Another update on progress for Random Divinity bullshittery (part 1).

A TL;DR update:

• Editing has reached 10 minutes of 19 minutes and the next target is the 15 minute mark by Friday.
• BUT this is probably unlikely because some hours need to be spent directing artist, audio experts, or voice actors for some commissioned work I can't do myself. Making mock-ups will be a drain on man hours.
• This will also likely result in two video versions. A standard one that I can produce first for patrons/twitch subs with my keyframing and animation work (probably just using the game cutscenes temporarily). And then a better one with custom cutscenes/voicework specific to our player characters.

So last week, the keyframing on the text continued from the 5th minute to the 10th. No particular problems on that front. Though some of the text placement can be difficult, as the party members are mostly melee. Meaning we often stand on top of each other when speaking. That's something of a hassle.

The combined audio layers continues to be a pain in the arse. I'm going to need to sit there and tweak it all carefully in the QA phase at the end. My voice is about 4-5db louder than everything else.

Here's a quick shot of the timeline for part 1. Note that the green and the red parts are mine. But the yellow cutscenes will serve as interconnective tissue for the plot and will very likely be the final thing to be completed, since they'll required outside work. More or that in a moment.

I'm intentionally not including the cinematics in the total duration as I'm not sure how long they'll be. Beyond the second one which includes a section of a song that's 1 minute and 50 seconds. So the final finished video will probably be around 22 minutes ish? Bear with me on that front.

Also, I rather enjoyed this meme that NervousHawk drew, insofar as what Quebec, Messy, Digby and myself probably look like, running around the opening chapter of the game.

So, the other thing I need to consider this week is prepping the artists I'm commissioning.

I already have a couple of brief cut-away gags when we encounter something funny. Such as when the party encounter an NPC melted into a pile of goo. And then rather than be respectful, we immediately start "rummaging through the intestines" for gold.

Here would be a good example of how commissioned art slots into the bullshitteries.

I initially give the pitch to an artist, listing what I need, and providing an extremely crude mock-up for their reference.

They come back with non-coloured line art. And I provide feedback to make any necessary corrections whilst they're easy. And they also offer creative input from their own unique perspective.

And then once everything is finalised, they proceed to full colour (this gif is still a work in progress though. Should make it look nice).

A very similar process is about to start for the cinematics, in order to queue up work early. There are two:

•  The opening of the video and the introduction to the world.
•  The explanation of how the tutorial ship was sunk and how we arrived at Fort Joy.

This week I need to get some mockups made and put out the feelers to artists I've worked with before.

For example, in the opening introduction, rather than the confusing Wendigo sub-plot the game uses, I was going to show a healer using Source over a wounded knight (in this case mocked up using Neverwinter Night's Aribeth). And then as the candle-light flickers, it shows that she's attracted the Voidwoken.

Following mock ups will involve a farmhand screaming in a wheatfield. Clawing at their head as source magic erupts uncontrollably. And then Sourcerers being herded onto ships to be isolation from the population. At which point the camera can pan into the bow of the ship, where our party start the game.

The other cinematic will likely involve shots of the ship coming apart, as it's attacked in a storm by a large voidwoken. Then debris and bodies sinking into the gloom. Before four of them as pulled to the surface by seven mysterious lights. To be paid off later in the plot.

So yes. For now, keyframe what I can. But I need to provide commissioned artists with mock ups to help them make a start :)