Astral Clock Tower Studios

JANUARY 14, 2021

Today we're serving up some seriously exciting updates, including a look at our new, custom game cursor; updates on our new player character's rigging and animation; and a sneak peek at our newest WIP level area. Plus, you'll get a first look at some of the incredible environmental and character concepts we've got in the works too.

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Filmustage

OCTOBER 6, 2023

This article explores the multifaceted role of VFX in modern filmmaking and its profound impact on the art of storytelling. In his groundbreaking film "A Trip to the Moon" (1902) , Méliès used stop-motion animation, miniatures, and practical effects to create fantastical scenes. The Bullet Time rig from "The Matrix".

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

MARCH 20, 2021

In today's issue, we're servin' up some serious updates on a few large-scale, ongoing 3D models and concept pieces. Using a few detailed concepts from our art department, our 3D Character Designer, Bianca, has been working the past few sprints on modeling out each of our three Kota soldier variants and their accompanying armor sets.

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CG Spectrum

JANUARY 13, 2023

The Last Voyage concept came from a wish to bring my stylized art into a realistic world. Having control over all technical aspects of the shaders allowed me to art direct the scene as a whole. I used the fog and lights to create the mood and added particle effects, wind, and animated mesh and materials to finish up the piece.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

JULY 6, 2020

[link] Next, Will worked on modifying the death systems for our main character (and some of the game's enemies) to allow them to utilize the new death animations Producer Allie recently created (make sure you check out the Game Production section to see them in action). Concept Art. Animation / Rigging / Production.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Once completed, Karena will work on a rig for the hatches that will allow them to open and close during gameplay. We've been classifying Kristala as a 3D dark fantasy since its conception, and these models are some that really help showcase the gorier side of Kristala's many storylines. link] Concept Art. TANDARA CLAN.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

OCTOBER 8, 2020

In addition to her impressive modeling skills, Karena is also well-versed in animation and now lends her double-threat talents to the ACS Games dev family. While you'll get an introduction to Karena's animation work later in this issue, let's first take a look at our newest team member's modeling skills. link] Concept Art.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

JULY 31, 2021

Concept Art. While most of our dev team focuses on preparing an exclusive build of Kristala for Play NYC, our talented concept art team has been pumping out fresh designs for current weapons and items that still need revamped before our official vertical slice is complete.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

FEBRUARY 24, 2021

In today's issue, you'll get an update on all the custom 3D assets we've been working on for the capital city of Nisar, plus a peek into our process for creating a fully functional facial rig for our female main character. Concept Art. These are still works in progress, but we're really enjoying watching these concepts evolve.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

DECEMBER 19, 2021

Concept Art. When it comes to creating unique environments, characters, weapons, and other items—especially ones for an alien, fantasy world we dreamed up from scratch—we wouldn't get very far without our concept art team. Take a look at some of the recent armor concepts our talented artist James created this month.

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Game Designing

NOVEMBER 1, 2022

A 3D animation rigger is a member of a visual effects team who helps to prepare 3D assets for animation. If you are looking to start a career in the field of digital media or 3D animation, becoming a 3D animation rigger may be a good choice for you. What is a 3D Animation Rigger?

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

SEPTEMBER 29, 2021

Concept Art. Now that our concept art team has nearly completed the designs for all existing assets and items in the Kristala build that needed to be replaced with fresh assets, they're now able to move on to creating brand new items that don't yet have 3D counterparts. 3D Modeling.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

AUGUST 31, 2021

link] Concept Art. In order to initiate these changes, however, it was vital that we had proper environmental and character concepts to work from so that our 3D modeling team was fully capable of bringing the Kristala that exists in our minds to life in Unreal Engine. We can't wait to go back again next year!

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

JUNE 29, 2021

Concept Art. After Concept Artist Harold reimagined each level area in the demo, we then had him concept out the individual props that will be needed to carefully detail each environment. Wanna know more about this baddies and get a glimpse behind our art process?

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

DECEMBER 11, 2020

Over the past few sprints, our resident 3D Character Designer, Bianca, has been hard at work capturing the look of our Kota soldier concepts in 3D form. Make sure you stop by our Concept Art section in this issue of the blog to get a sneak peek at what the armor sets will look like. link] Concept Art.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

MAY 14, 2020

Studio owners Allie and Tiff share their tips and tricks on rigging/animation and level design, respectively, and lead programmer Will walks us through the inner workings of Unreal Engine 4. Animation / Rigging / Production. Here's a peek at some of our favorite moments from the past week's streams. Lucky you!).

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

SYKOMANA CRYSTAL: The Sykomanans are masters in matters of the mind - gifted in the mental arts of both telepathy and telekinesis. Part of this initiative includes refining the player character's model so that it closely matches the incredible concept art l_aciel has created for our Anagativan beings. Concept Art.

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Mnenad

APRIL 9, 2018

One is sketching a scene or character concept very rough and with a lot of gesture on a piece of paper (or digitally) but in the following steps, when it comes to outlining the shapes, the sketch becomes sort of stiff and loses its dynamic. I bet those of you who are into drawing experienced this also once or twice while working on a piece.

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Mnenad

JULY 8, 2018

walking animation (mixamo). To rig and animate the character I could have used of course my preferred 3D-modelling software, but I found an amazing (it really is!) Mixamo allows you to upload a humanoid 3D character and it will rig it automatically after just a few simple steps like positioning the knees, shoulders, etc. 

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

MAY 27, 2021

In a few months, we'll be kicking off our very own Patreon where you'll be able to get even more detailed and comprehensive dev blogs that include first looks at new models, inside access to previously unrevealed characters and NPCs, and a glimpse into how our programmers, artists, modelers, and animators do their thang. Concept Art.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

NOVEMBER 9, 2021

Here's how it works: each month, we share all the progress every branch of development has made as they collectively work towards completing Kristala's vertical slice—from stunning concept art and 3D models to custom animations, level design, and everything in between. Concept Art.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

APRIL 21, 2021

Concept Art. As part of our demo overhaul, we recently welcomed a few new team members into our motley crew in order to help us better establish the dark-fantasy vibe we're going for—including the newest member to our Concept Art team, Harold. Curious about Harold's process for building out each concept's composition?

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

AUGUST 5, 2020

Although we've tasked our newest concept artist and character modeler, Pete, with trying his hand at the textures for our main Anagativan characters (which you can see later on in this issue), Shelly spent the first half of this sprint finishing up her own textures. o [link] Concept Art. Check it out! Programming.

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Astral Clock Tower Studios

MARCH 23, 2022

link] Not only does this new trailer feature a ton of sweet cinematics created right in Unreal Engine using our own models and animations, but it also showcases two new characters you’ll meet in gameplay during Kristala too. Concept Art. First, James worked on the concept for our Warp VFX sequence. Staff Parry Icon.

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CG Spectrum

JANUARY 26, 2023

Scene from the 3D animation Finding Nemo before and after its been lit and rendered by a 3D lighting artist (Image: Pixar). The skills of a 3D lighting artist can be applied in video games, visualization , film and television, animations, and virtual production. Creating or applying light rigs based on concept art or on set reference.

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Filmustage

OCTOBER 27, 2023

We will explore the strategies to optimize costs, dive into the pre-visualization process, and unveil the critical role of a VFX Supervisor, all to arm filmmakers with the knowledge to master the art and science of VFX in film production. Materials and Artisans: Investment is needed in materials and the artisans who craft these effects.

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