Because Rook’s worth it.
Whether you’re happy sticking with Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s presets for your version of Rook, or you agonise over every slider in the character creator, this is a judgement free zone. Regardless of where on that spectrum you fall, chances are you’ve noticed that almost everyone across Thedas is sporting gorgeous locks that look straight out of a glossy hair care advert.
In a recent blog post, publisher EA offers a peek behind the curtain (of hair) to examine all the tech that goes into those tremendous tresses. Developer Bioware built Dragon Age: The Veilguard using EA’s proprietary Frostbite engine, with a number of teams from both companies working together to “elevate [EA’s] Strand Hair technology.”
While a number of Frostbite-fuelled sports titles have already had fun with lots of locks, The Veilguard’s fantasy setting presented some “unique challenges.” Besides building waist-length hairstyles that can withstand the most animated of action, Bioware also had to create ‘dos that would play well with setting-specific aspects such as the Qunari’s horns—not to mention all the magical particle effects being pelted around in combat.
When it came to this hair tech, the developers focussed on three main goals: lifelike realism even at 60 frames per second, physics-driven ‘dos that adapt to environmental effects as well as character movement and, perhaps most impressively, “50,000 individual strands per character for over 100 hairstyles.”
So, how did the high tech hairstylists do? Rooks all around are losing hours—and in at least one instance, an entire day—to The Veilguard’s character creator.
