That makes it even worse lol, if they’ve had over a year to make a new pose…
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planned doesnt equal started…
It’s not a personal attack on you, or directed at anyone individually. It’s more a commentary on the nature of the complaints. When people move from “I don’t like x and I wish it was y” (which is fine) to “how come they didn’t make y?! They could do it, it would be easy and at would be way better!!!” Then we have crossed a chasm from opinion into fiction - and a pretty insulting fiction.
Again, not to let reality intrude on the one complaint you have had in three years… knowing that something was scheduled for the future is NOT the same as having time to work in it. When you say stuff like that it assumes that the devs are sitting around with spare time that they could just use to whip up a new pose. Maybe your job lets you hang around doing nothing for a big part of the day, but mine sure doesn’t - and I don’t have time to work on stuff that I know is going to happen next year. I’m busy working on the stuff that needs to be done right now.
If you can’t relate to that, think about filing your taxes. Every single year tax returns are due to the IRS on April 15. Yet every year MILLIONS of people file for an extension. They’ve had a whole year, and they knew it was coming, but they still couldn’t get it done. They get delayed by paperwork from their employer, the bank, their mortgage company or medical bills. There’s a whole series of things you need before you can even get started. No one can do their taxes by Dec. 31 of the tax year - even though the year is technically over and they know it’s coming.
I’d decided to step out of these discussions, but what the heck, I’ll bite.
First things first - Keits is a combat designer. He doesn’t have anything to do with the look or art style of individual characters. He’s stated a few times that he doesn’t work on the art side of the house.
More importantly, it’s always interesting to me how unfamiliar people seem to be with the idea of designing across multiple constraints. Generally speaking, a project (any project) is built against competing interests of cost, quality, and time. If you want something done quickly and cheaply, quality suffers. If you want something high-quality and quick, cost goes up. If you don’t mind it expensive and aren’t up against the wall on your deadline, then quality is likely to see an improvement. Etc, etc.
Depending on what your business context is, you’re almost always going to sacrifice something for something else in the development cycle. Maybe it’s time, maybe it’s cost, and sometimes maybe it’s performance. The whole point of a remix character is that they reuse assets to shorten the necessary time window and lower costs, while still letting the quality of the actual character remain consistent. That’s a viable tradeoff in my mind, and all the forum protestations to the contrary don’t change the fact that IG promised a remix, and by all appearances looks to be delivering a remix. Without familiarity with the animation rigging process in general and the Hex engine in particular, none of you have any idea about the design space in which the team operates, whether on the time it takes to do X or the effort required for Y. To say nothing of the fact that IG doesn’t just make KI, and that maaaaybe, just maybe, their employees have other tasks they have to work on too.
I was probably one of the first people on Twitter to say “huh. Not a fan of that pose; it looks awkward as hell.” But I’m not going to then make the leap that IG is lazy, cheap, or any of the other judgments tossed about around this topic. They made a design decision within their time/cost/quality environment, and it is what it is. I’ll wait to pass judgment until I see how the quality (gameplay) side benefitted from their chosen route.
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Why I can’t like this two times
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Well said man! Believe me when I say I know a thing or two about time/resource/quality management… The last 10 years of my life has been project after project across multiple mediums, genres, and forms of entertainment. I get all that, and I don’t actually think they are sitting around doing nothing.
Maybe the bottom line is we just need a simple question answered with a straight answer. Why/how did they choose/decide to make Shin Hisako and not a new character?
Not a hateful or complaint driven question, more like a behind the scenes interviewee question…
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That’s an easy question that has been answered in streams throughout the years. We do what we can with what we can. That’s pretty much it. Whether the investment be time…money…manpower…or whatever you want to focus on, we do what we can with what we have. I feel like that’s not tough to understand at all.
Now why did we choose to remix Hisako instead of Aganos (or any other character)? That’s an answer that Mr. Isgreen will give in the panel on Saturday.
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Because Hisako is self-evidently more awesome than every other character in the game. Next question 
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Blasphemy! Nay it’s heresy!
(Halo reference)
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Good question. Why did you choose to remix a lame character like Hisako instead of an awesome character like Fulgore…
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This guy gets it, these are the questions we need answered.
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Real LOL… I just spit my coffee out my nose! thanks Andy!
I would so watch that show!
Her one set of armor better be her dads samurai suit
That stance is terrible.
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Ah. Ok. Easy enough to understand.
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And I’ll be there front row Joe!
Hisako might not be my main but I think she is one of the standout characters in Killer Instinct. Orchid has always been one of my favourite characters from the original Killer Instinct but if I had to choose between a remixed hisako or orchid I would choose orchid but deep down I know that a remixed hisako would be so much better. I wasn’t too keen on all the remixed characters but seeing your response turns that initial disappointment to gratification for all your hard work and continued support of the game. I would love for this game to get 1 more full season…but I just want to say thank you!
This, and the posts that followed, are amazing.
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