Larian Cinematics: A Top-Down Look at Our Bottom-Up Approach in 'Baldur's Gate 3'

[@merlordmodding]

Having an appropriate Lae'zel quote for every slide made this talk 100x better.

[@dropkickpherby6994]

Having one of the most talented, unique dev teams share and spread their knowledge like this is so helpful for us newbies!

[@einholzstuhl252]

I recommend to also look at the GDC Fallout New Vegas Presentation. A ton of usefull Insights on Roleplaying, Dialogue and choices that are fun. Timothy Cain Fallout 1/2 Developer also has an amazing KZbin Channel on Game Design.

[@JayTohab]

GDC > E3, it's why it's lasted longer. Thanks for this!

[@namfow]

It neither surprises me that Larian are excelling using lean-agile principles, nor that this is coming as some kind of mind-blowing concept to the wider GD community

[@ConditionsCloudy]

This was a fascinating exploration of some of the development and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

[@LordShrub]

Amazing how fast you got those scenes to look great between July 2019 and Feb 2020!

[@vita_pulchra_est]

You really see the difference made by their design solutions when you compare it with the way Starfield approached cinematics and dialogs

[@Garrettdenardo]

Really great to see this in depth behind the scenes look, thanks for the upload!

[@ArneBab]

“I don’t know what makes them so awesome, but thank you for being awesome” ← maybe this makes them so awesome?

[@elfhririn]

You're right. Vocalised genuine appreciation brings out the best in just about anyone.

[@ferinzz]

9:45 I understand why poe has so few cinematics lol same issue. hyper specific camera setup for top-down amazing studio. It all comes down to great leadership and allowing the individuals ownership over their work and their part in the process.

[@ArneBab]

Scene templates sound similar to JRPG battle scenes - but for social interaction. And it feels really good in-game. Thank you for the interesting talk!

[@blueberryshake333]

Stellar presentation.

[@DaoistYeashikAli]

I am just curious. What are the differences between this and Witcher 3's cinematic dialogues system I am not a developer, just love watching these videos

[@vita_pulchra_est]

the way I understood it is that BG3 uses both template scenes (they switch the camera at the scene in real time) and dummy scenes (sorta prerecorded stuff) In my observations witcher uses only dummy scenes

[@doloresabernathy9809]

Im surprised i think he said that they did not use facial mo cap? Or did they limit that? some of the facial animations are so real i was sure that the faces in some important conversations were mocapped. also the actors often look like the characters and i figured that’s why.

[@RestinPowerHind]

The animators had footage of the actors to base their work on, but all the facial expressions are animated, yes

[@Infernal_toast]

nice. ahh so this explains the huge lag spikes on HDD when conversation starts xD great work overall

[@theinsfrijonds]

You mean loading? Lag has to do with the Internet connection and servers and other computers. Also, slow down is not lag. Yes, of course the conversations are complex and have a lot of information and are slower to load on hard disk drive…

[@TheJackTrades]

@@theinsfrijonds You might want to check the dictionary.

[@jigglypuff3311]

​@@theinsfrijonds🤓🤓

[@codyvandal2860]

@@theinsfrijonds it's colloquial term as well, in case you didn't know - not just a specific narrow technical term. "Lag" in this context *absolutely* refers to any kind of slow down and is very, very, widely used by the general public.

[@nickrubin7312]

"HDD" ok

[@TykoBrian7]

FINALLY!!!!

[@EcchiRevenge]

nice

[@MrJballn]

That was definitely Black Hogage right?

[@soul-candy-music]

Fractal game development

[@ginogarcia8730]

this is both mind numbing and interesting at the same time - i again petition LARIAN TO MAKE A CYBERPUNK OR SCI FI GAMEE AHHH

[@Kurn]

I spot a Magpie

[@jesustyronechrist2330]

Honestly, I think that introduction to Astarion inside the pod would've been muuuuuuuuuuch better than him just kinda standing around at the cliff. I think the whole point there is to test if the player can connect and empathise with someone they cannot see. And imagine the reveal of this super handsome Astarion emerging from the dramatic smoke of the pod... Okay, maybe that would've made him feel too important lmao

[@TykoBrian7]

This is why you shouldn’t reveal what plans got scrapped. People find ways to make it feel better than the one implemented.

[@Deminese2]

Personally I don't like Astarion so either introduction matters because hes benched in the camp.

[@BuzzKirill3D]

It's funny that he begins by talking about his lay off, then at 28:30 drops a mega corporate/HR performance evaluation chart. Wonder how many people at Larian cinematic team got PIP'd/fired over not meeting the "pillars".

[@FardtilUshid]

Haha broney simulator and people emotionally invested

[@mp3butcher]

Is he mandated by HR to talk about his jobless period? Who on Earth keep track of each job refusal? This is totally out of scope and the most demagogic intro I've ever seen.

[@Robbie1179]

what purpose are you implying Larian would have for including this portion?

[@Aleksei_yanovski]

all the time cut-scenes was a shame, but in 2024 situation with games became so bad, that new gamers eat that s***.

[@Leee275]

Nice bait