Unit Personality & Authenticity

We know our players love hearing from the Art team, so today's post is coming to you from Principal Artist Kristian! Catch him on this month's Dev livestream later this month. Please don't forget that all the images below are still work in progress! - JohnT_RE

Hello everyone, my name is Kristian and I’m the Character and Vehicle Lead on CoH 3. I’m super excited to share a little information about the very complex yet robust way we’re delivering our Unit content for CoH 3.

We strived (and continue to strive) to create our art at a level of fidelity and detail above and beyond what we’ve done before. From the shoulder patches on an American M41 Jacket and helmet flashes, to the attention to detail and research involved in creating an authentic looking Sherman tank or halftrack.

Early Alpha model.

The Units (both Characters and Vehicles) are constructed in a fresh new way in what we endearingly like to call here at Relic our “PaperDoll” system. What this really means is all pieces of art that would normally make up an American Rifleman, German Grenadier or British Tommy are actually modular. For instance, we can easily swap out an M1 Helmet for a Jeep cap or bandana on any Unit we wish. Or, if we want to replace say a long-sleeved coat on a British soldier for a rolled up sleeved shirt we can do that as well. Or perhaps pants for short. This allows us to construct our units in not only a shareable/swappable and cohesive way, but also allows us to respond to community feedback quicker and easier.

Also new to CoH 3 is our tinting and decal system which allows us to change the color of all our assets on the fly. If there’s a certain Olive Drab color on a Unit we want to darken, or say just change the hue or saturation it’s easy for us to do that too. The vehicles are set up this way as well. We can mix and match a Panzer chassis with all sorts of different turrets. The Decal system allows us to apply British or German markings on a vehicle or character that are very specific to that Faction. Or even that Division. We can swap those decals out for other sets that will make the armies feel a lot more personalized, appropriate for the theater and authentic.

Early Alpha model.

The American Army Character Units can be seen with historically accurate uniform patches and helmet markings that represent the Units that were fighting in Italy at that time. For us that’s the 34th Infantry “Red Bulls” and First Armored Division.

Additionally, a lot of work goes into being as authentic as possible with all our Characters and Vehicles. We spent a lot of time researching the types of uniforms, garments and embellishments worn and seen by soldiers and NPCs for that particular time period and theater. Not just in the details though, but in types of hues chosen, the differences in saturation and types of materials applied. We made sure to use all the tools in our toolbox to really help differentiate each and every squad. This helps not only for Unit readability but adds some uniqueness and variety within the Faction as well.

Early Alpha model.

American Olive Drab hues seen on jackets or pants were all over the place back then; dependent on the factory it was made, the year, the fabric, wear and tear and so on. We really tried to make sure for example The M41 American Jacket on an HMG squad will look different then the jacket on the Rifleman or Ranger. There were lighter fabrics worn in Italy too like the M37 shirt because it was so hot. We included that variety as well, even some with rolled up sleeves. Or with the Germans, a Pioneer and his gear is pretty easy to differentiate from say a Fallschirmjager because we put a lot of focus and emphasis on the different accessories they would have worn.

Early Alpha models.

We also wanted to put a lot of personality and individuality in our Character Unit heads. Instead of say generic shared heads that might have been seen previously, we spent a ton of time working from real life head scans to capture ethnicity and realistic features. The German units will tend to have lighter skin hues, blonde hair and blue eyes which you would expect to see in that Faction. In contrast, the Americans have a wide range of heads from a lighter skinned Kentucky farm boy to an Italian American from the Bronx and more.

Early Alpha model.

In CoH 3 we strive to leave no stone unturned when constructing our vehicles and they really take on a life of their own. Most of them were created from archived historical blue prints to make sure they were built to specification and the proportions are as accurate as possible. Additionally, we added as much detail as we could from shovels and bucket accessories to rivets, gas cans, dirt build up and faded paint. Oh and I should mention, some of these accessories were built to be shot off!

One more thing I would like to mention (because I can really talk about this kind of stuff all day) is we put a lot of thought into the types of markings you would see on any given Vehicle. From the well-known Air Recognition American Star on an American M4a1 to the Panzer Division decal on the Tiger tank, to the Squadron markings on a British turret. We really hope that our passion will come through in all of our Art on CoH 3, along with our commitment to being authentic and showcasing tons of variety as well.  :) 

Early Alpha model.

Early Alpha model.

From the head to toe, turret to tread, we really wanted to express our commitment to bringing players as authentic of an experience as possible by telling the story through the details of the Art.

Thank you all for your feedback and help and it’s a pleasure sharing this with you!  :) 

Cheers!

Kristian

Hola, una observación, los tanques parecen pequeños pero creo que es por alejar el zoom de la cámara, el zoom por defecto de COH2 me parece bien, haz el alejamiento opcional, gracias

No deberían escalar al 100% la realidad, es un juego

PARTISAN LADIES ARE BACK, WOO!

Great post. You can really read the love for the game.

Hopefully the game system will have a dynamic system so the clothes / patches can be different in a group itself so every character in the group can be different and also is different per group. So that not one unit group looks the same.

Also hope if it's easy to change clothes the clothes / patches that they are based on the "commander" selected (inf from a tank command will have different patches/clothes then a airborne command when playing a mission / skrimish).

Maybe the inf units can also get dust on them like thanks when they live long just like the tanks and maybe get some torn out clothing and after x time have patches on those spots.

All this can be applied to vehicles that every one can have other stuff on it. Some have boxes others shovels so that when you have 2 tanks next to each other they have the same base but look different.
And after a fight it has holes and after sometime out of combat / repaired it has metal plates on it so you can see it's fixed and this is not the same every time. So 2 tanks can have bullets / metal plates on different places

You are doing excellent work with the armour but infantry unit design needs some more work.

I don't think FJs wearing their parachute harness after landing can be considered authentic, especially when US airborne are shown without it.

@JohnT_RE and @Kristian_RE, @MrSleaze , @Banditks ,

Thank you for this insight to the art and of course the level of detail put into every aspect of the game, especially with the detailed artwork you've shared with the photos above.

Now if you've read any of my prior threads/comments you know my goal is to provide constructive feedback, I want this game to succeed on all fronts, even areas where I may know very little in terms of my own expertise such as game development and artistic background. The video artwork looks good in the top down camera angle so MAYBE this is just critiquing close up artwork in still screenshots rather than what it looks like in the actual game. The paper doll design seems great and the dirt on the vehicles from in map is all top level stuff. So enough of my disclaimer (similar to when someone says "no offense but ....." whatever they say next is offensive) but I say this in hopes some tweaks/changes can still be made before release. This was feedback shared by several others and to be honest, it remains relatively unchanged. Before you read my comments below read MrSleazes comments here Art Discussion

JohnT_RE wrote:
Additionally, a lot of work goes into being as authentic as possible with all our Characters and Vehicles. We spent a lot of time researching the types of uniforms, garments and embellishments worn and seen by soldiers and NPCs for that particular time period and theater. Not just in the details though, but in types of hues chosen, the differences in saturation and types of materials applied. We made sure to use all the tools in our toolbox to really help differentiate each and every squad. This helps not only for Unit readability but adds some uniqueness and variety within the Faction as well.

I keep reading authentic and realistic adjectives being used in regards to the artwork and brutal honesty here, I am not seeing it. I see great looking model figures that would be like on the toy shelf with a clear plastic box around an action figure at the toy story that I'd buy as a kid. It really comes off very board game or 3D model (i know it is to show art design) but the artwork in the game I hope is less cartoony than in it's frozen screen shot image that has been shared. Once they're moving in 3D I believe this will remove many of my critiques but full transparency EVERY single photo above looks like a plastic toy I played with in the 80's. Yes I'm that old guy that played with green army men from the Pixar Toy Story movies. It was green vs. tan plastic army men or it was cowboys and indians which is obviously no longer PC but that was the era. Check it out and see if you agree -----

I think part of it is that shiny gloss shine that light reflects on the models from your photos shines like the plastic did from the toys in the photo above that makes the amor look like shiny chrome even when dirty but I think it's even beyond that, something very toy-like in the look and wheels/struts look very surface level not like actual tank treads or with realistic depth. That's the armor, but then we get to your troop photos, they look like a live plastic mold cut out. The pants and jackets are all blocky with forced perfectly trimmed wrinkles, everything looks too perfect and neat not like pants really are but more like how plastic pants would be on a toy. Those limitations shouldn't exist in 3D graphical models with the technology we have today. I understand they are early alpha models but they look more like real life clay creations (with real life clay limitations for realism) that someone molded than a computer graphicly generated look to be realistic or authentic. Yes, their uniform colors and outfit may be historically accurate but they don't seem real in the images, they still seem like toys, good looking ones at that, but toys nonetheless. And my final point is this, if the gameplay remains similar to Coh 1 then it won't matter if they appear toy-like or not, the game will be awesome, gameplay trumps all other factors so if this is the only cosmetic direction the art will deliver on final release I'd overlook it as not ideal but passable if the gameplay is top notch.

Let the fans take my feedback and either rip it to shreds or agree with parts of it, either way that is my opinion, agree to disagree or agree I think I have some valid points and I feel MrSleaze touched on it perfectly in prior thread. I hope my critique is not taken as just bashing the artwork for no reason, it's in hopes COH3 is great.

- Art of War

Really nice. I find the unit art and voices to be integral to the CoH experience! It looks really promising for CoH3.

The unit previews soon certainly looks interesting. It looks like the Pioneer is wearing a Luftwaffe uniform underneath his jacket which is odd though.

I've noticed that German infantrymen and armour crew looks quite strange in the previous CoH games; especially since they're wearing all-camo or wrong uniforms.

I hope that for the German infantry (grenadiers especially), their field gray uniforms should ideally resemble that of the CoH2 Pioneers. instead of the full camo monstrosity of CoH2.Grenadiers. Period photos showed that the German Army Grenadiers/Infantrymen did not wear full camo, it was a rarity.

Also for the German armoured crew, there should be two different uniforms for the Panzer (III, IV, Tiger/Panther) and Assault gun (StuG) crews -- both wore wool wrapover jackets and a wool cap; but the colour of the StuG jackets are grey instead of black.

The book, "German Soldiers of World War Two" by Jean de Lagarde would be a useful book for your research if not already seen!

Is it just me or the American and German helmets look off? Like the avatar for the German soldiers helmet and in game look way out of proportion which sadly has been an issue since COH1 (in my opinion they look worse in COH3 than COH1 no offence). The American helmet looks like the brim is too flat compared to the real life one (even COH1). The character models also look way to fresh and shiny, would like to see some wear and tear to their uniforms, I would not like to see another Dawn of War 3. Hopefully they are just placeholder models or at least give proper modding tools so the community can fix it.

awesome dev content, awesome community content

looked at yt vids from ca. 9 months ago about coh3 in depth unit review, hope much will be done about good sound for engine (tiger etc.) and weaponry.

plenty of units and its mechanics look nicer as expected way how they run with equipment etc. really cool stuff coming.

as said before might look in slighly adding some more range to certain engagements.

think the movie saving private ryan has good sound dont know full capabilities of miles sound 'engine' but until now coh 2 game sound is good and atmospheric, eg. the current 30mm flak should start with 20mm and take the privater sound i would love hearing it on the map 'working'.

Also plenty of infantry weaponry eg. fg42 rifle needs nice sound. In terms of units variety again hope the factions are not sliced up and that with an expansion (plenty are willing to pay for), in the end full

unit roster comes available no matter which theatre

(if dev reads this there is a larger post of me with some suggestions for macro game mechanics think in reply on dev diary somewhere..)