Siggraph 2006

July 9, 2006 · Print This Article

Getting serious now finishing my Siggraph stuff. I’ll be in Boston all of Tuesday (Aug 1st), doing the user group (and assorted Softimage parties) in the evening. I don’t know yet exactly what material I will show at the user group, but you should expect everything that was shown at this March’s GDC session – and maybe some extra stuff as well. Looking forward to it! It will be a hectic schedule, but fun nonetheless.

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48 Responses to “Siggraph 2006”

  1. bd_dragon on July 22nd, 2006 9:31 pm

    Can’t wait
    I’m sure I cant attend Siggraph.
    Can you post a link of your content at Siggraph after your presentation?

  2. Matthias on July 23rd, 2006 9:31 pm

    I couldn’t really tell you what will become available. I can say for sure that our company won’t release any material from the talk, but of course we have little control over what 3rd parties take away from (and talk about) the user group.

  3. spanish guy on August 2nd, 2006 8:11 pm

    Lair is becoming one of the most desirable games over the net/forums though theres little infomation on the actual game like how its gonna be played or how does it looks in playable motion. Can you tell us at least when this stuff is going to be revealed?? maybe GDC?? Thanks and keep the excellent work. We have faith in you like when Rogue squadron was released for gamecube.

    Pd: i would really like to see anything you are doing from siggraph…im from spain so i couldnt attend to it but the videos look amazing!

  4. spanish guy on August 2nd, 2006 8:30 pm

    I thought to myself: why not ask Matt a second question?
    I dont know if this breaks your NDA but i would really appreciate if you could tell me…
    Will you implement some RPG elements in your game like raising different type of dragons according what food you give them, etc etc??
    Dragons of the game are more comparable to D&D dragons (different types of breath attack) or to mediaval dragons??

    Thanks again!

  5. Matthias on August 4th, 2006 7:34 am

    Sorry, I can’t comment on any speicifc questions. Just the presentation for people who were there :)

  6. spazchicken on August 4th, 2006 9:33 pm

    Is there going to be anything from Siggraph? Us at PS3fourms are very confused…we thought we would see something by now if there was going to be anything being able to show…but if not, that is cool.

    Thanks

  7. mckmas8808 on August 6th, 2006 8:24 am

    Hey Matthias there are thousands of people on the internet forums that now think the game is pushed back to Fall of 2007 because we are not seeing anything.

    Did you actually show new stuff at Siggraph? If so are you going to post it here?

  8. spanish guy on August 6th, 2006 9:11 am

    ive been visiting thousand of pages that were covering siggraph and theres no info on your presentation…please, be merciful with your followers (joke :P ) and say something!

  9. William on August 7th, 2006 1:57 am

    Please say something about the Lair presentation at Siggraph. there are literally thousands of people online just waiting for information about what was presented.

    If you cannot share a darn thing about a public presentation that lots of people who were not under NDA saw then it really shows Sony is becoming tyranical. I mean, did all those folks have to sign an NDA to see the presentation? If not, you should be able to release the same information on here.

    I apologize if I seem rude. I really do appreciate all the hard work you are putting into Lair and I am not upset with you. I am just really upset with Sony’s draconian NDA’s that are preventing developers from speaking about *anything* at all when it’s so so so close to launch.

    It’s so bizzare. We cannot hear anything about Lair, the folks at Ninja Theory working on Heavenly Sword cannot even release one new screenshot, every developer on the planet is avoiding even admitting that the PS3 contains a GPU called the RSX (they avoid it like the plague), and it seems everyone is walking on eggshells due to NDAs.

    What did Sony do? Did someone violate an NDA and Sony gave them a ticket to a frigid penal colony on Pluto’s moon Charon?

  10. mckmas8808 on August 7th, 2006 9:34 am

    Hey William I think Sony really does have real ninjas that kill people late at night that release NDAed information. I mean Heavenly Sword has release certain information when it comes to how “technically” they made the game. But Sony (like you said) is holding them back from showing anything.

    I truly starting to loss faith in Sony. Seriously!!! I mean all they have to do is show a couple of screenshots. It’s like Sony is scared to allow us gamers to see what the game looks like.

    Please show us what you showed everybody else at Siggraph.

    Thanks.

  11. Matthias on August 7th, 2006 10:04 am

    I think more than anything else I’m flattered by the interest that Lair (and, by extension, my talk) are generating. Please understand that I cannot say anything more about Lair – these talks are very much a “if you were there, good for you!” kind of affair. Maybe somebody did/will post about what they saw, but that’s beyond my control.

  12. mckmas8808 on August 7th, 2006 2:33 pm

    Darn it. Well I respect that. Can you at least tell us what most people said to you about your talk that you gave?

    What did they say about the quality of your work that you are currently creating?

  13. spanish guy on August 15th, 2006 9:34 pm

    im depressed…no new info on lair…and a really bad cared blog…why does sony wants this?

  14. spanish guy on August 16th, 2006 2:37 pm

    Back to myself again, is it true that you are attempting to reach 1080p? is it posible? The other day i saw an interview where factor 5 guys said that draw distance would be really amazing, is this true? thanks!

  15. Matthias on August 16th, 2006 3:39 pm

    This might not answer the question, but Sony has publicly stated in the PS3 product specs that 1080p will be standard. See here: http://www.us.playstation.com/Ne…essReleases/ 279

    As for the other question, you’ll have to wait and find out, I still can’t tell you anything about Lair :)

  16. mckmas8808 on August 18th, 2006 9:35 pm

    Matthias now you know that your game will not be rendered at 1080p. Now you will have lots of fanboys across the internet thinking that Lair will be rendered as a 1080p game when more than likely it will be 720p. Which is good because those sexy dragons probably wouldn’t be possible if you guys had to render them in 1080p.

    Also did you see Matt C.’s blog at IGN yet? Has anybody linked you to it? If not here it is…..

    http://blogs.ign.com/Matt-IGN/20…IGN/2006/08/15/

    Now what do you say to that?

  17. Matthias on August 20th, 2006 1:15 am

    I have nothing to say about either :) I’ll just sit back and smile contently.

  18. Arnaud on August 20th, 2006 5:27 am

    Matt,can you just promise us that we’ll be able to discover more from Lair in the coming months,that is to say this year? Waiting becomes unbearable…argh.
    Just one question,very simple : will Lair be shown,in any way,during the Leipzig Game Convention? I’m just asking for a yes or a no…Please…should I put on my knees to ask such an answer from you? lol.

    Thanks in advance

  19. IraD on August 20th, 2006 8:15 am

    I only need know one thing….

    The Lair Trailer from e3 2006 is REAL TIME ????

    Is the most impresive game of the history o_O

  20. spanish guy on August 20th, 2006 8:38 am

    He sure is enjoying all this posts…mmm… Why do u want us to suffer!!?? I hope this game reaches 1080p so that it would shut a lot of Xbots mouths :P . If its 720p i dont mind, but you better put some good use to all those pixels left. When does the NDA finishes for your game??

    Thanks!

  21. Matthias on August 20th, 2006 9:40 am

    The NDA expires when the game ships. I can’t tell you anything about upcoming engagements, you’ll here that from Sony or the company itself.

    I dunno, I don’t actually enjoy not being able to tell anybody anything here, it gets old very quickly. Posts are cool and all, but if you keep coming back to my page hoping for snippets of Lair information, this isn’t the place. Sorry guys, it just can’t work this way. This is where I post rants and stories from my life in the blog, and the occasional crossover story if my professional life happens to play into my personal life. I’d rather have comments on the blog stuff, at least I can have a real discussion there :)

  22. spanish guy on August 20th, 2006 3:44 pm

    Ok, lets have a nice chat…
    Since you love beign a designer and an artist, im sure some ideas for the game came from your mind. If so, did you have to see lots of movies, read comics, read novels, etc, or you just remembered those old D&D parties you had with your friends??

    Thanks !

  23. Arnaud on August 21st, 2006 9:37 pm

    I understand your position Matt.

    So,then,could you tell us,I think that would make a nice discussion,what have been the main inspirations for developing Lair ? I mean,what has decided you to make a dragon-game,after working on a space-shoot based on the Starwars universe ?

  24. Matthias on August 22nd, 2006 12:33 am

    Hehe, telling about the history of Lair would be like telling about Lair and the company’s motivations, wouldn’t it? That, too, is a topic other people will have to get into in more official ways.

    But as far as the post before that goes, the first mini games I made were story-driven (3D Construction Kit and Unlimited Adventures, the D&D game maker), and there’s an element of that in whatever I do. Certainly in the FPS levels I made.
    I think everybody working in this industry is inspired by tons different sources, you just gotta learn how to channel them. A good artist automatically takes everything in and stores it in memory for future use. My old roleplaying experiences certainly play into it (never played D&D except for on the computer, we used Rolemaster rules), any visual FX movie (before and after Jurassic Park, although JP had one of the most profound effects), visiting famous landmarks and architecture…just hiking around the SF Bay Area can be an awesome inspiration.
    I made a book adaptation before (Wheel of Time) and know what it’s like to reference those descriptions, but those mental images first have to be visualized in concept paintings and can’t just be applied to a game. I never got into comics, btw. I read the odd Superman and Batman comic, but that’s about it.

    And of course we do dig for specific reference for whatever we’re working on, be it books, related movies etc. It’s very similar to anything you see in those LotR etc. documentaries, but without there being more real information on Lair I can’t go into more specifics.

  25. Arnaud on August 22nd, 2006 3:50 am

    Ok,thanks,really interesting answer :)

  26. Arnaud on August 22nd, 2006 4:24 am

    Nevertheless,Matt,what I’d like to know is how important are the dragons in Lair ? not in the gameplay,but,I mean,what were your inspirations for the dragons’design ? did you use encyclopedias or did you simply use your imagination with all the fantasy books you’ve read ?

    What I’m asking is not about the game itself,but about the dragons,your choices,your decisions about their design,etc.As you can imagine,yes,I’m a fan of dragons ^^.

  27. spanish guy on August 22nd, 2006 12:23 pm

    Nice answer matt!
    The one thing i found most intriguing is the motivations for those dragon riders to enter combat like life doesnt mean anything. Is it a war? is the fate of the world? Is there a prophecy??
    If i had a children and a wife, i wouldnt be jumping from dragon to dragon, risking my life for an ambicious coward king. Resuming, is the story going to be good? Noble or ambicious motivations?

  28. Matthias on August 24th, 2006 11:05 am

    Arnaud: Different dragons are drawing from different sources. I can’t tell you about specific dragons, but just imagine several artists referencing fantasy movies, art books, animal (reptile) photos etc. pp. and putting it all together.

  29. Arnaud on August 24th, 2006 4:07 pm

    Ok,thanks I’ve no doubt that your work will be,once again,perfectly done by all the talented artists that you are.

  30. Arnaud on August 24th, 2006 5:55 pm

    Well,I’ve just seen on an information from Sony that 27 ps3 games would be playable at TGS,included….Lair…Anything to say about that official information lol ?

  31. Arnaud on September 8th, 2006 7:28 am

    Well,these four pictures have been revealed on the official japanese website of Lair.
    Just tell me that the graphics will be far better…it would be a terrible disappointment if Lair was indeed like that..especially from a team as Factor 5!

  32. Arnaud on September 8th, 2006 7:28 am

    That silence means that Lair will indeed be presented and playable at the TGS.Looking forward the 22 nd of September!

  33. Arnaud on September 8th, 2006 7:29 am

    Oops,here is the link.
    http://www.playfrance.com/news-i…-pour- lair.html

  34. ELS-01X on September 8th, 2006 9:40 am

    Only one of those shots looks bad. Don’t exaggerate please.

  35. Arnaud on September 8th, 2006 11:59 am

    Yeah,but far from what we saw with the march 2006 picture…
    http://www.jeux-france.com/ affic…71227_0_big.jpg

  36. ELS-01X on September 8th, 2006 2:29 pm

    I don’t think so. This shot for examlpe features the same dragon and it looks virtually the same:

    http://jay-t.com/public/gaf/ss02.jpg

  37. ELS-01X on September 8th, 2006 4:21 pm

    No it’s not. You just can’t see the detail because the angle and lighting is different.

  38. Arnaud on September 8th, 2006 4:59 pm

    Well,I think we’ll have to wait for TGS to make ourselves a true idea of the game and its graphics.I trust Factor5.

  39. Arnaud on September 8th, 2006 4:59 pm

    Yes,that’s true,but it’s still less detailed than the other picture….

  40. Spazchicken on September 8th, 2006 9:42 pm

    Go here :

    http://www.ps3forums.com/showthr…ead.php? t=28294

    and I think we all should just leave him alone and let time play it’s course…

  41. Arnaud on September 9th, 2006 7:29 pm

    Yeah,can’t wait for TGS to have a true answer about the game’s graphics.

  42. spanish guy on September 10th, 2006 9:43 pm

    Matt, tell us if the game will be playable in TGS…

    PD: Update your blog please…since siggraph, you havent posted any news

  43. Matthias on September 11th, 2006 9:43 pm

    Sorry, been busy. Sony will talk about their TGS lineup.

  44. Arnaud on September 12th, 2006 9:43 pm

    They already have…Lair was on the line-up that they will present at Tgs.
    If that’s really true,then,it is a great news!

  45. Arnaud on September 13th, 2006 9:43 pm

    http://www.jeuxvideo.com/ screens…69_001_news.htm

    Great picture! ^^

  46. markiepoo on September 14th, 2006 9:44 pm

    Hi matthias, all of your friends in virginia are waiting for your game!! I saw some cool new screenshots on 1up.com. Looks battle-tastic.

  47. Arnaud on September 18th, 2006 9:44 pm

    Only 4 days before the TGS opens its doors.
    Can’t wait to see Lair in-game!

  48. Matthias on September 21st, 2006 9:44 pm

    To answer an earlier question: “Lair is not upscaling or cheating to get to 1080p, we are natively running at the full 1920×1080 progressive resolution.”

    I couldn’t confirm or deny it, but TGS can: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/733/…3/ 733921p5.html

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