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Thread: AO Universe Developer Interviews #3: Flaptoot

  1. #1

    Funcom employee AO Universe Developer Interviews #3: Flaptoot

    In the third of their series of developer interviews, AO Universe has sat down with the awesome Flaptoot to discuss his background, his interests, and what he's been up to in the two years since joining the Anarchy Online development team.

    To read more, visit the following link: http://www.ao-universe.com/viewtopic.php?t=4207
    Brad L. McAtee / Kintaii
    Former Senior AO Designer & Jack of All Trades
    (2007 - 2012)
    ~~ Twitter :: Facebook :: Norse Noir ~~

  2. #2
    interesting stuff!
    didnt know there was any dev on the AO team that hadnt played (or heared of O.o ) AO before being hired.

    keep em coming!
    Greetings,



    Ellarisa
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    Quote Originally Posted by Solidstriker View Post
    And Ella said, "Let there be robots," and there were robots. Ella saw that the robots were good, and he separated the light from the dark. Ella called the light "Slayerdroids," and the dark he called "Gladiatorbots." And there was Automations, and there was Warmachines- the second day.

  3. #3
    nice read, curious about those updated bodies and how they look bugged
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  4. #4
    yea, nice interview, it surprises me that FC would hire someone who's never played the game before.. xD I guess it worked out good in the end anyway

    yea, i'd like to see some kind of video when the new bodies are attached to the heads in action.
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  5. #5

    Funcom employee

    I should note that, as an artist, Flaptoot's unfamiliarity with the game is actually an asset to his position. MstrBstrd is a former player and very intimate with AO's setting, but when dealing with conceptual artistic direction (which is something that Flaptoot tends to focus on) having a pair of eyes that *isn't* 'locked in' to the previous look/style/feel of AO is quite important - Having a fresh perspective is something that helps keep the game's visual style growing, and Flaptoot's work has been fantastic thus far. =)
    Brad L. McAtee / Kintaii
    Former Senior AO Designer & Jack of All Trades
    (2007 - 2012)
    ~~ Twitter :: Facebook :: Norse Noir ~~

  6. #6
    like i said on IRC: i didnt say it's not possible or even a good thing, i'm just saying that i'm surprised

    also about the bodies: will a skinny opi female buff look like a butt now or will it still look lik a box?

    Greetings,



    Ellarisa
    Darkellarisa 220/30/70 Engineer equipment pvp // Alien Deaths: 353
    Crazyella 220/30/70 MP equipment // Alien Deaths: 90
    Stabbingella 220/28/67 Shade equipment // Alien Deaths: 45
    Farming alien deaths since 2006!

    Quote Originally Posted by Solidstriker View Post
    And Ella said, "Let there be robots," and there were robots. Ella saw that the robots were good, and he separated the light from the dark. Ella called the light "Slayerdroids," and the dark he called "Gladiatorbots." And there was Automations, and there was Warmachines- the second day.

  7. #7
    Very nice read, gotte love the interviews Sounds like a dreamteam to work in :P Keep 'n commin!
    The key to happiness is self-delusion. Don't think of yourself as an organic pain collector racing toward oblivion. - Scott Adams

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  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by darkwalkx View Post
    Sounds like a dreamteam to work in
    I think so too which is why I want to work with them, even just answering phones and making coffee. However, I don't want to move there, I want them to move here. I have brought this up several times. So far my pleas have been met with silence.
    Cathryn "Vallikat" Thompon

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  9. #9
    keep trying, I'm sure you one day walk out of your home, facing a new funcom HQ at the end of the street!
    The key to happiness is self-delusion. Don't think of yourself as an organic pain collector racing toward oblivion. - Scott Adams

    Programmer n. - An ingenious device that turns caffeine into code

    Jesus paid for our sins - now let's get our money's worth

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by darkwalkx View Post
    keep trying, I'm sure you one day walk out of your home, facing a new funcom HQ at the end of the street!
    This is what happens in my dream of Funcom World Domination!!!
    Cathryn "Vallikat" Thompon

    Your queen of muffiny goodness!
    Director - Gridstream Productions --->Tune In Here

    Member, GSP Dancers

    Gunney: Lissunin ta GSP mayukz me wanna play... wut bettah reezun duz enee wun need?

  11. #11
    nice iview even if we'd lub to see some pix !
    Bitnykk/Bittorrent - young RL of AP & old emissary of CODE

  12. #12
    We love us them pix!
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  13. #13
    "During my interview Means asked me if I'd played it (we were standing in the AO office then, I was given a tour) to which I promptly answered "No." and quite enjoyed the silence afterwards."

    I can imagine
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  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Kintaii View Post
    I should note that, as an artist, Flaptoot's unfamiliarity with the game is actually an asset to his position. MstrBstrd is a former player and very intimate with AO's setting, but when dealing with conceptual artistic direction (which is something that Flaptoot tends to focus on) having a pair of eyes that *isn't* 'locked in' to the previous look/style/feel of AO is quite important - Having a fresh perspective is something that helps keep the game's visual style growing, and Flaptoot's work has been fantastic thus far. =)
    On the other hand, i hope you have guidelines regarding design style so as to maintain some continuity with the original designs...there is a lot of the early AO design stuff that has a unique 'signature' flavor to it.
    .
    Dagget
    President,
    Venice Academy

  15. #15
    Another comment from that interview that has me concerned:

    " The new bodies look stunning when they are all just relaxing in 3DS Max, so I could show you that - but it would be a lie since they don't behave the way I want them to in the client yet. My mom told me not to lie, so sadly you'll have to wait until a majority of the animations don't make the meshes cry."

    That sounds like the need to possibly redo character animations, which would be several orders of magnitude more involved than the head rework currently under way.
    .
    Dagget
    President,
    Venice Academy

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Dagget View Post
    Another comment from that interview that has me concerned:

    " The new bodies look stunning when they are all just relaxing in 3DS Max, so I could show you that - but it would be a lie since they don't behave the way I want them to in the client yet. My mom told me not to lie, so sadly you'll have to wait until a majority of the animations don't make the meshes cry."

    That sounds like the need to possibly redo character animations, which would be several orders of magnitude more involved than the head rework currently under way.
    It would be a lot easier to spend more time making the bodies work with the animations rather than spending even more time trying to make the animations work with the bodies.

    It may be that a few animations are changed slightly because a few of them just refused to work with the new body-types but in any case, I doubt that they would redo all or even most of the animations, if any.

    I personally don't worry about that. I think Flaptoot is just voicing his frustration with something that he and most other people expected to be an issue. I'm sure he will get it done soon enough. It's just fiddly work >.<

    (disclaimer: I'm no expert on these things. I'm just thinking out loud here )
    Veteran of Equilibrium

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Wrangeline View Post
    It would be a lot easier to spend more time making the bodies work with the animations rather than spending even more time trying to make the animations work with the bodies.

    It may be that a few animations are changed slightly because a few of them just refused to work with the new body-types but in any case, I doubt that they would redo all or even most of the animations, if any.

    I personally don't worry about that. I think Flaptoot is just voicing his frustration with something that he and most other people expected to be an issue. I'm sure he will get it done soon enough. It's just fiddly work >.<

    (disclaimer: I'm no expert on these things. I'm just thinking out loud here )
    My reaction was that Flaptoot was just "Scotty-ing" us. In short he's making things sound worse than they really are (I'm giving her all she's got, Captain) so that when it's all complete we can sing his praises.
    Cathryn "Vallikat" Thompon

    Your queen of muffiny goodness!
    Director - Gridstream Productions --->Tune In Here

    Member, GSP Dancers

    Gunney: Lissunin ta GSP mayukz me wanna play... wut bettah reezun duz enee wun need?

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by vallikat View Post
    My reaction was that Flaptoot was just "Scotty-ing" us. In short he's making things sound worse than they really are (I'm giving her all she's got, Captain) so that when it's all complete we can sing his praises.
    Haha, yeah

    Also reminds me of Rodney McKay from Stargate Atlantis
    Veteran of Equilibrium

  19. #19
    So all we need to do is to somehow make Flaptoot fear for his life, and the solutions come out of nowhere? Cool!! *waits for Flaptoot to log ingame*
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  20. #20
    *threatens Flaptoot with an orange*

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