Project Eternity first screenshot is pretty

Obsidian Entertainment has shared the gorgeous first environment screenshot of its crowd-funded retro RPG Project Eternity, showing a WIP version of the old-school art style it is aiming for. If you dug the look of vintage RPGs like Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate, you'll be thrilled. Go on, have a closer look.

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Obsidian Entertainment has shared the gorgeous first environment screenshot of its crowd-funded retro RPG Project Eternity, showing a WIP version of the old-school art style it's aiming for. If you dug the look of vintage RPGs like Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate, you'll be thrilled. Go on, have a closer look.

"Early on in the Kickstarter campaign, we told you that we wanted to make maps the Infinity Engine way. That is, we wanted to build 3D levels, render them out as 2D images, and then have our artists paint in beautiful details, highlights, and color-tweaks before they went into the game," Obsidian explained in an update post. "Looking back at the levels some of us worked on for Icewind Dale, we were still thrilled with the quality that we could achieve with this approach. For Project Eternity, we're using 10 years of improvements in rendering technology and hardware to get the job done, but we still love what we can do the 'old-fashioned' way."

Obsidian also shared some snippets of "lore" confirming that yes, this is a fantasy game, as well as new stretch goals. At $3 million, Obsidian will add sizeable strongholds you can take over and manage, while at $3.5m they'll add a whole second big city with tons of new things to do.

You have until Tuesday evening to back the Kickstarter campaign, which is currently sitting pretty at over $2.7 million, having smashed the initial goal of $1.1 million. Pledging at least $25 will get you a downloadable copy of the finished game.

From The Chatty
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    October 12, 2012 6:00 AM

    Alice O'Connor posted a new article, Project Eternity first screenshot is pretty.

    Obsidian Entertainment has shared the gorgeous first environment screenshot of its crowd-funded retro RPG Project Eternity, showing a WIP version of the old-school art style it is aiming for. If you dug the look of vintage RPGs like Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate, you'll be thrilled. Go on, have a closer look.

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      October 12, 2012 6:44 AM

      I guess "FUCKING GORGEOUS" is 'inappropriate' for a major game news outlet? Because that's the phrase which comes to my mind.

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        October 12, 2012 6:50 AM

        Notice who wrote that. Alice is one of the more entertaining and gifted of the shack writers.

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          October 12, 2012 7:11 AM

          Oh, I know. Alice is the best, I love her articles. I was just being a crude American.

          (The screenshot is gorgeous though).

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      October 12, 2012 7:00 AM

      Pretty is always a double-edged sword for me. I'm increasingly excited about this project as I read the updates they send out nearly every day (I backed the project). I'm just a *little* afraid of what the hardware requirements will be.

      My laptop is days away from its 3rd birthday. :/

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        October 12, 2012 7:07 AM

        I don't think that 2d backdrop is going to hurt your laptop too much. Did loading the image full size crash you? They're obviously talking about doing it the old way. So it will probably be 3d small characters running on top of images like in baldur's gate.

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        October 12, 2012 7:11 AM

        Eh, it's the infinity engine, I'm sure you'll be fine.

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          October 12, 2012 7:15 AM

          Not sure if serious? This is using the Unity engine.

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            October 12, 2012 9:24 AM

            Unity typically does a pretty good job scaling down to older hardware, so he should be ok

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            October 12, 2012 11:44 AM

            Sorry, I meant based off of. Which typically wasn't terribly resource intensive back in the day (at least not to my memory). Recreating the whole thing in Unity's gotta be quite time consuming though.

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        October 12, 2012 7:12 AM

        Yeah, I don't think this will be an issue. The background is basically a 2d image with some animated parts drawn over it. The game will be gorgeous but it would probably run on a 3 year old laptop without issue.

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      October 12, 2012 10:03 AM

      Annnnnd pledged. Glad I saw this before the time ran out.

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      October 12, 2012 10:50 AM

      What game should I start with if Ive never played the old school RPGs that are mentioned here?.

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        October 12, 2012 11:17 AM

        Depends on what you're looking for. Planescape: Torment or Baldur's Gate/Baldur's Gate 2 for amazing story, Icewind Dale/IWD2 for great D&D combat but story-light.

        I would say just wait for a good sale from gog.com and pick em all up in one swoop. I got all of them for like $30 once, but then I've seen the entire package for less than $10.

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          October 12, 2012 11:21 AM

          Baldur's Gate 2. These RPGs are really rough around the edges if you havent played their kind before and BG2 is the most accessible

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          October 12, 2012 11:46 AM

          I also liked NWN, but that was the Aurora engine (modified Infinity) and the 3.5 ruleset instead of whatever BG and ID were. (2? 3? I don't remember).

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            October 12, 2012 11:59 AM

            And I disliked the single player campaign in that

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              October 12, 2012 1:45 PM

              Not nearly as good as BG2 or Torment, but story wise was better than Icewindale I thought.

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            October 12, 2012 12:24 PM

            BG1/2, Torment and IWD1 were all AD&D 2nd edition. IWD2 was the same engine but with D&D 3.0...kinda. It didn't really make a huge difference except there were less 1-hit mage kills at level 1.

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        October 12, 2012 12:51 PM

        I think your best bet would probably be to wait until November when they re-release Baldur's Gate because that was and excellent game and a very good place to start.

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        October 12, 2012 2:31 PM

        [deleted]

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      October 12, 2012 11:37 AM

      Yeah, looks like a painting...which is exactly what made the old infinity games look so awesome.

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        October 12, 2012 2:41 PM

        I'm not a fan when buildings/objects block your character. I'm playing TOEE and man i wish i could rotate the map.

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      October 12, 2012 2:58 PM

      Disappointed in their pricing tiers. $140 for basically a cloth map, $250 if I want the cloth map and the snazzy making of book etc. Most overpriced CE ever?

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        October 12, 2012 3:05 PM

        You gotta keep in mind that this is not pricing for a finished product. You're funding development and getting some perks for doing so based on contribution.

        I would be surprised if they ever sell a CE with a cloth map when it's all said and done unless they think they can sell enough to make the cost of production worth it.

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      October 12, 2012 4:40 PM

      Did anyone check out my live stream from the Obsidian office today?

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      October 12, 2012 5:04 PM

      Something about the perspective on the bridge/door looks messed up for me

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        October 12, 2012 6:53 PM

        The top bridge is further back and larger, also, some people think the water looks weird but it's actually coming from both the water fall under the first bride and off screen for the top bridge, it makes it look weird because people are thinking the water is flowing both ways from the one visible waterfall.

        Yes, I spent time of this.

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        October 13, 2012 4:41 AM

        The texturing on the bridge might make it look weird, because it forms a visible center line which them curves away from the actual center of the bridge, which itself isn't symmetrical.

        I'm not sure if that "door" is a door or just part of the structure or what. It's partially blocking the opening but it's a weird rounded shape unlike you'd expect from a flat door. Lots of reasons it might look like you don't expect.

        If they actually started with 3D models for these things I gotta think the perspective on the geometry and basic textures is right. I guess it also depends on how many of the textures get created all by hand after the fact.

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      October 12, 2012 5:07 PM

      That is a nice piece of art. These really don't have the time to play these kinds of games but my eyes really want a piece of that.

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      October 13, 2012 3:42 PM

      I'm such a sucker for a mossy bridge. TAKE ALL MY MONEY

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