Blade & Soul Neo Classic Gives A Peek into Revitalizing the Many Environments of Moonwater Plains

mmorpg.com:

Blade & Soul Neo Classic gets another preview, this time taking us to Moonwater Plains. The latest SoulLog devblog features Art Director Hyungwook Park discussing how the team is using the classic environments to make something that feels both familiar and refreshed.

This process means that they’re working with the existing environments and what was there with Unreal Engine 3-4 and adding new depth to the LOD (Level of Detail”. As Moonwater Plains features several distinct zones and environments, including the Sapphire Basin waterfalls, the green Lycandi Foothills, and the gloomy Highland Necropolis, there are different considerations on how to improve each of them. Adding more detail is intended to liven up these environments with a richer presentation. Not only are they improving the way the land looks, but also the skies. 

In deciding to invigorate the original with better graphics more detail, their goal is to make these locations feel more alive. A new video accompanying the blog takes us through some of the examples of how this looks in what they’re building. Even smaller details, like making trees sway in the wind and shake off some pollen, waters flowing, grass being more filled in, smoke rising from chimneys, all are part of this process. This is just the beginning, and as Park says, not all of these details are shown off in the video. More is coming too.

“We are also adding foliage interactions with grasses and flowers that respond to players' movements so that the world can feel like a dynamic space that interacts with your character rather than just existing as a background.”

In creating the new–but classic–offering for the Blade & Soul community, they’re hoping that  when it’s out, it will both deliver on