Last week, playstation and Square-Enix have launched a series of videos to present in detail Forspokenstarting with his gameplay during exploration phases in the open world. the parkour magic now gives way to clashes, which are just as spectacularagain completing what we had already been able to see this summer.
As before, a detailed article has also been posted on the PlayStation-Blog and this time it’s the head of visual effects at Luminous ProductionsRyota Nozoe, who explains the intentions of the team.
This vast new RPG puts you in control of Frey Holland, a young woman who has been transported to the mysterious world of Athia. This land may be beautiful, but it is also dangerous. A phenomenon called the Mist has corrupted people and creatures, turning them into horrifying monsters.
Luckily, Frey is able to call on many magical spells to defend herself, her powers allowing her to control the elements as well as manipulate nature itself.
As you can see, the magic is varied and very spectacular visually! Read on to find out how we did it.
Defining the look of magic in Forspoken
We spent a lot of time designing the spell visualization in Forspoken.
First of all, we wanted to avoid seeing fire or rocks appearing out of nowhere. It wouldn’t have actually caused any problems, but it would have felt boring and too mundane, especially in a game so focused on magic.
We decided that each spell should share a common rule: it starts with magical energy and becomes a natural phenomenon like the fire or the rocks mentioned above. Then, when the spell is cast, it reverts to magical energy before fading away.
We also wanted to avoid using auras or summoning circles when Frey uses spells. It lacks originality. Early in development, we decided that the magical energy of Forspoken would be represented in geometric patterns.
This fed into the visual design of all the magic in the game and allowed us to keep a consistent visual style throughout the game.
Every spell in the game is the result of a team of visual artists, game designers, and programmers working closely together. To give you an example, here are three spells you can use in the game, and what fueled them to bring them to life!
Explosive Salvo
Volleys fire explosive chunks of rock that deal area damage.
Since this earth-based explosion spell deals area damage, we thought it would be appropriate to summon a large boulder that quickly expands in four directions.
This is the first spell Frey gets (and the first we’ve worked on), so we made it really straightforward.
As Explosive Blast is the first spell we’ve completed, it has become something of a guide to all Forspoken magic. In creating it, we perfected the general rule of geometric patterns that turn into rocks and back to geometric patterns before disappearing.
So it might not be the most visually impressive spell, but it’s special because it’s the starting point for all the others!
Waterspout
Waterspout spins a whirlwind of water that sucks enemies in and deals damage. If you hold the button, you can send water pillars attacking enemies. If you hold it even longer, you can launch more ice water pillars to petrify your opponents in frost.
During development, we came up with the idea of converging torrents of water to cause a large icy explosion. We challenged ourselves to visually express how water turns to ice. We thought the spell would only work if we succeeded.
Of course, that was easier said than done! For example, this spell has several levels. At level two, it’s just a water blast. At level three, the explosion turns to ice. Getting that water blast and freezing it proved to be very difficult. We had to essentially develop two different spells, which doubled the effort required!
But it was worth it, because we were able to express this concept of turning water into ice. We also took great care in developing the shaders used for these substances. I think Waterspout is a beautiful spell, even if you just glance at it.
Emergence
Emerge summons thorny branches and propels them forward to skewer opponents in a large area. If you hold the button, the spell is more brutal and affects a wider area. If you hold it longer, the spell also poisons enemies.
This spell actually came from something we were experimenting with during the early stages of development. Early on, we decided that Frey would be able to manipulate nature, and I thought it would be perfect if she could make a big tree pop out of the ground.
In the original design, the tree grew and attacked enemies, but as development progressed, we revisited this idea to better align it with in-game systems.
We were testing this spell while we were still in pre-production. It’s a rather extravagant concept: a tree that rises from the ground, whose flowers bud and which ends up impaling everything in its reach!
It took a lot of trial and error to show plant creations on such a scale. Showing trees rising from the ground proved to be a particular challenge. We tried many different methods, and had to start over several times.
Then when we hit that milestone, it became a multi-tiered spell. So we had to think about how to differentiate between levels 1, 2 and 3, which was not easy!
But I am delighted with the result. I believe we have achieved something wonderful!
As you can see, we’ve worked very hard to make Forspoken’s fights look good, while being fun to play. We can’t wait for you to see all the amazing spells we’ve created! But for that, you will have to wait for the release of the game…
As a reminder, the release date of Forspoken is set for January 24, 2023 on PS5 and PC. It can be pre-ordered on Amazon at a price of €74.99.