u/Spiritual-Neck-2957

The time draws nearer,

a year and a half of waiting for this game,

What are you most excited for about Dawnwalker?

A map smothered with icons -

one of the biggest issues and complaints about ubisoft or "Ubi-slop" games is the map smothered with icons, the sense of mystery is weaker because you know exactly what's on the map and where it is,

going somewhere is not an adventure its a commute, like going to work or doing a chore, your not going to that area of the map because you want to explore, you are going there because you already know what to expect,

when you open the map and see Bandit camp marker or Monster nest marker you already know what to expect in that direction, the sense of mystery again is weakened,

take a game like Elden ring or Skyrim where wonder and exploration are masterfully done, you see something in the distance, a mountain top, a hill a forest whatever, you open your map and there's nothing there, no question mark no marker,

you go there wondering what you'll find, your an explorer, your going there because you don't actually know what you'll find, there's the emotion of wonder and excitement,

if i open the map and i see map markers in the direction im going of Bandit camps and monster nests then im just doing a commute to work,

You are told if an activity is done during day or night -

you want the player to go somewhere and go "ooooo look at that i wonder if i can get there, oh i can't i'll come back at night',

if the player opens the map and sees an acitivity is already marked with day or night then the leg work is already done for the player, the players initiative is weakened.

Shrine Clutter -

the shrines in dawnwalker as far as we know are used to :

Level up skills/perks

store Equipement /loot

pass time

fast travel,

in a developer interview the question was posed if coen has a mount, the developer answered with no because of production reasons, the other reason was,

if the player rode a horse in this game the map is too small and the player will miss things during exploration,

since Shrines are used for Fast travel why are there soo many of them and soo close to each other if the point is to make players explore and not go too fast on the map or rely too much on fast travel as to not miss content?,

if you look at the map some shrines are walking distance from each other, 2-3 shrines right next to each other.

The tower overlook problem -

another mechanic that's seen in ubisoft open worlds and alot of people complain about is going to the top of a tower and scanning the area which then automatically reveals icons on the map,

you see Dots in the enviornment that tell you exactly where you need to go and Coen does some expositioning to tell the player what that area is,

a better idea is to just let the player use environmental cues to see where they want to go for themselves instead of being pointed to that direction and told what lies in that locations,

the player should use their eyes and decide, also the camera being locked directly forward what if the player wants to scan the environment behind and around them while on top of a tower like assassins creed,

"a person here needs your help"

the human with raised arm icon on the map tells the player that person there needs his help, we can see multiple on each side of the map, but how does Coen know that a person in that distant forest needs help?,

a better feature would be Coen goes up to the top of a tower and uses super-vampiric vision or hearing to spot a voice echo similar to the voice echo from witcher 3,

and he locks in on that area and then its marked on the map, in that case its much more immersive.

i want the community to let me know what you think about these things.

P.S bit messy, reddit doesn't let me post an image under each paragraph so all related images are at the top so scroll through them for reference.

im a fan since over a year ago , but this game really needs better marketing material,

show us the Current build of the game not a build from 2+ months ago so we can see the improvements that you are making and justify its AAA price,

IGN should have never posted that video the comments under it are abyssmal,

this game needs to show its real self and stop hiding behind outdated builds and footage that harm its reputation,

i have faith this will All be polished and pleasant by Launch but i just hope we see more of the polish sooner than later.

EDIT : seems like they are Looking for an animation programmer, so there's hope lol

https://www.skillshot.pl/jobs/39131-animation-programmer-at-rebel-wolves

EDIT 2 : Maciej Kwiatkowski, the same person that performed motion capture for Geralt is now the mocap performer for Coen

EDIT 3 : (They removed the hiring notice, so maybe they hired a while ago )

Old Pre-beta animation :

Mouth opens but eyes remain emotionless and dead-pan looking (not focused on target)

New Beta animation :

Eye's Set on target like a predator showing angry expression, when the mouth opens pay attention to Coens eyes they Dilate Like a cat when it enters Hunting mode,

this is a very cool thing that i didn't notice before, how his Pupils Dilate like a predator when he opens his mouth to bite, added the anger expression and how the eyes stay on the target as he restrains him,

good job to the animators !

to clear any misconception from the last post,

when i say "gameplay" i mean the Animations and visual assets that are part of the game and what you'll experience when you play it,

Pure gameplay would be what you'll see when you play the game meaning, the camera will be Locked behind Coen and you'll have UI and a map compass etc,

when i say "cinematic shots of gameplay" it means the scene is set up where the player character Runs on the rooftop with the exact same animations that you'll see in game the only difference is that the camera is unlocked from the player and is scripted to film from a different perspective using effects like 'blur' or 'slowmotion' etc,

for many years (and you can fact check this yourselves) teams have used orbital in-engine camera shots of gameplay footage to give trailers a cinematic look,

the Video above shows multiple different games using the same technique,

those are all "gameplay trailers", every animation you see in the clips above is IN the game and you see it when you play the game, these are not fake animations that are pre-rendered to look cool,

those are actually animation assets, all the games above are already out expect dawnwalker and blackflag resynced so you can check the animations for yourselves in game,

the orbital camera shots (meaning the camera following the player character sideways or beneath as it jumps) are set up in-engine to capture a cinematic shot.

the animations in the Dawnwalker gameplay trailer from SGF are real animation assets in the game that you will see when you play,

im trying to point out the massive improvement in the quality of the animations from Beta to the current build .

so :

Cinematic Trailer : Pure cinematic scenes using CGI (not in engine)

Gameplay Trailer : includes in-game Cutscenes mixed with gameplay cinematics

Gameplay Demo : true gameplay

Sorry for the terrible editing lol, but i wanted to point out the MASSIVE improvement in animation quality from the beta build to the Final build we've seen during SGF.

EDIT : for those arguing with me saying it's a cutscene and its a pre-rendered and not actual gameplay that don't want to read my arguments before even asking AI i looked at the gameplay frame by frame to confirm the animation quirks that confirm its real time gameplay, but here's further confirmation .

Gemini : Yes, absolutely. In fact, this is a major technical trend in modern AAA gaming, often referred to as cinematic presentation, dynamic cameras, or in-engine/real-time cinematography.

Developers have complete control over the virtual camera, meaning they can unhook it from the standard "third-person over-the-shoulder" or "first-person" view and script it to shoot gameplay from any angle imaginable—all while you maintain control of the character.

Preplexity: Yes — AAA games can make real-time gameplay look cinematic by switching the camera, framing, and animation presentation, even while the game is still running. Modern pipelines can record camera work, blend gameplay and cinematic cameras, and use in-engine sequencing tools to create scenes that feel like cutscenes without being pre-rendered video.

it's happening..............

more youtubers fly out to play The blood of Dawnwalker, look how beautiful the hall looks, it's truly something.

Did they finally implement Motion-capture for Coens movements?, i've been yelling about this for months now in every demo they show lol,

in the new Trailer when Coen is running on the rooftop and jumps it appears they are using Motion capture,

The animation look much more realistic here, Natural shoulder rotation, torso DIps with every step, every step creates forward propoltion,

the Jump carries Momentum and arms flayling naturally body reacting to gravity, Coen doesn't look like a Puppet or dummy anymore,

i Really hope this is true and not just Pre-rendered cinematics!

is it just me or is Konrad very good looking?, respectfully ofc.