Forrest Stephan · CG Supervisor

I think we can both speak for that one. In fact, I'd like to extend that question, because this has changed. I can tell you how long it used to take, and then you tell me how long it takes now. Originally the character would go through a great deal of revisions in the past, because it was very difficult getting to the quality bar that we needed with the approach that was being taken in regards to the requirements needed. I think the old approach works great for certain situations, but some of the limitations that the MMO portion puts on that and stresses on that really didn't let the characters get to their full potential. So you would have a character artist or a group of them working on an asset for a couple months and then it wouldn't pass a final approval process because it just wasn't quite right. And as we saw in the before and after in yesterday's video, it was very clear that what we see now, what you see in the after, is how we envisioned it to look. And before, we would see it and we'd be like, this is just not there yet. We know that potential is not tapped yet. And Chris is very persistent in making sure we've tapped the potential of what we're capable of doing. And so you would move on to an additional month, now you're at four months, and then you would go through one more revision, and now you're at five months, and the character's still not final. But now, how long are we?

Corey Johnson · Lead Character Artist

I think three artists touched it, worked on it at different points. And from the time they got the go-ahead, it was probably three weeks at most, I think, for the entire run-through.

Forrest Stephan · CG Supervisor

Three weeks. We're talking five months for something that was not as good as it could be.

Corey Johnson · Lead Character Artist

And that's with R&D-ing new materials for it, because it's all new materials in the Sand Nomad that Forrest and James worked on.

Forrest Stephan · CG Supervisor

That we had never done before. I mean, the character team now is just killing it. You can see it. They're just amazing.

Eric Kieron Davis · Host

And a big part of it is the talent's there, but now we've got the tech to support the talent.

Forrest Stephan · CG Supervisor

I can make pretty things all I want, but there's a foundation in place. The tech still isn't perfect yet, but now we have a foundation. We're creating things. We're getting things approved and out the door, which is the most important thing now. And now we can only improve the process.