By adding a point light together with the visual effects, the light could create shadows of the characters on the environment. “We weren't satisfied with what we saw so we decided to add a point light simultaneously with the visual effects. “In the beginning, we just added normal visual effects for the combat sequences but it didn’t look good enough,” confessed Iizuka.
So we came up with the concept of fusing 2D pixels together with a 3D environment in HD-2D.”Īs those who’ve played the game know, Octopath Traveler’s combat is one area where the unique visual approach truly shines, but it took the team time to get there. “And we concluded that the game will look new and fresh if we combine this 3D art with 2D pixels. “We knew that UE4 is very good at both 3D environments and 3D graphics,” stated Takahashi. “In those days, it was more common to use 2D characters on top of a 3D rendered background, or pre-rendered single image.”Īlthough it might sound simplistic, modernizing this look wouldn’t be easy and when choosing an engine for the project, Acquire’s main goals were to facilitate the fusion art style the studio had in mind while maintaining the ability for a small team to quickly iterate throughout development. “We looked at a lot of classic games from the PlayStation one era as a reference,” said Mika Iizuka, Lead Artist, Acquire. When it came to inspiration, the team decided to look backwards before it looked forward. “So we needed to consider how we could revive the classic pixel-style game but still make it look interesting for modern players.” “Although we wanted to create a 2D pixel game, which some people might consider a classic style, we were concerned that others might see it as just plain old and outdated,” said Masashi Takahashi, Producer, Square Enix.
When we visited with Acquire in Japan to learn more about their initial goals for the project, it was clear that there was a thin line between old and new. Of course, the team behind the game had many challenges during development as they sought to simultaneously deliver an homage to the games of their youth while ensuring innovative mechanics for modern players.
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