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The day is sort of right here! The free “Anniversary Update” for Kena: Bridge of Spirits will probably be stay on PS4 and PS5 on Tuesday, September 27. We have been very excited to see followers’ optimistic response to the announcement final month, and now we will’t wait for everybody to expertise the brand new content material!
To rejoice the discharge, we wished to share an inside have a look at the artistic and technical course of behind the creation of Kena’s new outfits for the “Anniversary Update.” If you missed our announcement detailing all the opposite new content material, you’ll want to test it out!
Our method in creating cosmetics for Kena actually boiled down to 3 fundamental targets. First, it at all times feels good when an outfit takes some actual experience to acquire. We wished sporting them to really feel like badges of honor. Next, we felt that every one ought to remind us of the story and characters encountered alongside the best way – fixed reminders of who we’ve met and the place we’ve been. Lastly, we love having a very good number of choices that allow self expression and the flexibility to modify issues up as we go. With these concepts in thoughts, we set to work!
To make sure that the entire outfits represented an actual sense of success, we determined to tie them to the Spirit Guide Trials, (one other main new addition included within the “Anniversary Update”). As gamers progress by way of the primary story, new Trials grow to be accessible on the central Mask Shrine. Only by succeeding at these challenges can gamers unlock the brand new outfits. Players who’ve mastered every of the Trials will finally achieve entry to the complete array of outfits, signifying their notable abilities.
We subsequent turned to the visible designs. During preliminary growth, we devoted a whole lot of consideration to the design of our forged of characters. We determined these characters offered excellent inspiration for Kena’s outfits. Each new outfit gamers unlock takes inspiration from a special spirit that Kena helps throughout her journey, however reworked and uniquely catered to her. This approach, even after gamers have moved on from a specific story, they nonetheless get to maintain a memento they’ll put on.
For instance, one of many earliest new outfits gamers can unlock takes inspiration from the village apparel worn by the twins Beni & Saiya and their older brother Taro. Later on, different cosmetics grow to be accessible, just like the Archer and Bombmaker outfits impressed by Rusu and Hana. Each one takes particulars from their inspiration character like Hana’s distinctive satchel or Rusu’s owl-crested cape. (We gained’t spoil all of them.)
These new outfits offered a superb alternative for our artwork group and character artist to shine. Incorporating such a wide range of new textures, materials, and accouterments whereas nonetheless balancing the designs with Kena’s design actually introduced out our group’s consideration to element. We’re very proud of the outcomes!
But it’s not nearly visible design. Hunter Schmidt, our Animation Director, shares extra particulars in regards to the growth of Kena’s cosmetics:
“Of course another big aspect of the new outfits is how they move… and it was an opportunity for our team to get more practice with cloth and physics. We found the most success with bone drivers and Unreal Engine’s Anim Dynamics.
But Kena’s original animations presented some challenges when combined with the layered clothing like we see in these designs. Sometimes, for an exaggerated, stylized effect, the animations push her posture beyond what’s normally possible, with some leaping or twirling at unnatural speeds. Even sitting cross-legged while meditating, resting, or some of the new poses we added in the enhanced Photo Mode were particularly tough.
So while Anim Dynamics and bone drivers offered a good blanket solution for most cases, we wanted to ensure Kena and the new outfits looked good at all times. In these scenarios we selectively animated these details by hand, blending between physics and hand-animation where needed. Old habits die hard.”
Finally, as soon as we’d landed on our outfit designs and labored out the animations, we nonetheless wished to verify we have been offering a very good quantity of selection. We determined one of the simplest ways to maintain the standard of all of the cosmetics excessive whereas additionally getting extra versatility was to create particular shade variants for every base-game outfit.
At first we weren’t certain if this is able to yield the variability we hoped for, however by actually curating the colour variations, we ended up with an thrilling array of various outfits that permit for an important feeling of range and expression. The shade variants may be unlocked by finishing Bonus Objectives inside the Spirit Guide Trials.
We even created a whole outfit completely for Deluxe Edition house owners! (featured on the prime of this weblog).
We hope our present and new gamers take pleasure in all the brand new content material included in our “Anniversary Update,” together with Kena’s new cosmetics. It has really been a incredible first yr sharing Kena: Bridge of Spirits with the world.
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