#codename entertainment

[[ Idle Champions recently released a new pack for Artemis. This pack brings Artemis’ appearance options (skins) to a total of 3, which is among the least across most champions, especially for ones that have been around for as long as he has. The Champion of Tovag skin is the flashiest of the three, which isn’t saying a whole lot given the color schemes of Artemis’ base skin and the Shade Artemis skin. 

Aesthetically, I like the Champion of Tovag skin overall. The dark red is a nice pop of color without being outrageous and out of character for Artemis. The weapons seem to be inspired by the Sword of Kas art from the 5e DMG:

I’m not sure where the inspiration for the armor comes from, I’d guess that the spikey motif is there for the sake of, “hey, here’s something evil and otherworldly”, with the muted colors to the same effect.

Lore-wise, there isn’t much justification for why Artemis would be joining Kas’ war against Vecna, much less becoming a Champion of Tovag. I suppose he could be in disguise and “borrowing” the outfit from a Champion of Tovag that he’s seen to the “retirement” of, however the possibility of him enlisting in any army, especially a cross-planar one, is low to none. Perhaps for this scenario, he was drafted against his will, and he’d certainly stand out in terms of martial prowess in any crowd. 

All that being said, Codename Entertainment has never needed much lore justification for the skins they release for Idle Champions, I mean there’s a whole set of kobold versions of champions including Jarlaxle after all. XD They do seem to try to stay at least somewhat coherent though, for instance we’re not likely to see lawful champions cast in chaotic roles or evil champions cast in good roles, but aside from that, anything goes. Perhaps one day that rule of thumb will also go away, but it’s ok, Idle Champions is a free to play game after all and Codename does need to make revenue somehow. 

In conclusion, I’m sharing a picture of the new feat because I appreciate the flavor text. :D

[[ Artemis is finally coming to Idle Champions! 😄🥰😍 I am super pleased with his imminent arrival, although this wasn’t always the case. However, Codename Entertainment has not only satisfied my expectations, they’ve blown them out of the water.  

I’d been anticipating Artemis’ addition to the game with both excitement and dread. Excitement for the obvious reasons, and dread because I’m extremely particular about how he’s presented. Too many people erroneously depict Artemis too pale, to the point of making him a white dude, when in reality, as a native Calishite, Artemis’ skin tone would be dusky brown, similar to how people from our world’s Middle East look. Furthermore, an oft-overlooked fact is that even in canon, Artemis is stated to have brown skin. Post-Shade absorption his skin is tinted gray, but gray mixed with brown is brown-gray, not grayish-white like many people think it is for some reason. 

The second mistake that many make is depicting him too young. While Artemis’ exact age isn’t known due to his birthdate not being known, during The Sellswords he estimates himself to be in his 40s. Calculating based on this, he first meets Drizzt in his early 30s, and first set off after Regis in his late 20s. While he’s not old, he’s not exactly young either. It is explicitly stated in the books that his aging was frozen to his middle-ages. Many people depict Artemis with the face of a 20-year-old, and while it is also stated in the books that he has the lean athleticism of someone half his age, this refers more to the exceptional state of his physique rather than his facial features. 

I’m so happy about how Idle Champions has exactly nailed down Artemis’ physical appearance. His skin color is appropriately dark, comprising of an awesome mix of brown and gray. His portrait shows the wrinkles of an older man (who also happens to be done with your shit. XD) 

His in game sprite is such a delight too! When I first saw it, I couldn’t help but wonder if CNE’s artists might’ve considered my own artwork in making his design. Pretty much everything I’d studied from Lockwood’s paintings is there: the concave shape at the bottom of his leather breastplate, the distinct triangular cloak clasp under which extends the two belts, shoulderpads over sleeves composed of strips ending in rivets, a double-belt with unique angular-shaped buckles, belt over one leg, vambraces arcing over and around his elbows, kneepads over his tall boots, dual belts over his boots and the double earrings. Heck, even the sword and dagger shape are the same as how I’d interpreted them.

Honestly, if I’d been designing his sprite, there is very little that I’d have done differently. For comparison, here’s the line art of a chibi-style painting I did back in 2015:

I can’t express how giddy I am that CNE’s artists apparently studied Lockwood’s paintings as much as I had. It’s something that pretty much no other artist I know has bothered to do. They picked up even the smallest details, for instance the shape of the base of Artemis’ sword, which is really such a minor feature in this painting:

There are some aspects in CNE’s depiction that don’t come from Lockwood’s paintings that I can’t help but wonder about. First, Artemis’ garment underneath his armor, it wasn’t until very recently that I noticed Lockwood having depicted it as a complex series of even more layers and rivets:

I’ll be changing my own depiction of his outfit from now on, but up until now I’d interpreted what was underneath as a gambeson, which can be seen in my lineart above. In CNE’s depiction, he’s also wearing a gambeson underneath his breastplate.

While both CNE and I apparently drew our inspiration for the vampiric dagger’s design from Lockwood’s paintings, Lockwood’s depiction of the dagger does not contain any gems, despite the weapon’s jeweled nature. As seen in the sprite above, Artemis’ dagger has an emerald in the crosspiece. Is it just yet another coincidence with this painting I did in 2017?

And of course, those double earrings -- a feature that most artists change, yet it is one that’s both prominent and consistent in all of my work. 

Ultimately though, despite these similarities, as much as I’d like to think that my own art contributed to CNE’s depiction of Artemis in what’s an official WotC/D&D product, I fundamentally believe that it’s all just a happy coincidence. In Idle Champions, Artemis’ earrings are silver, his leg belt’s on his right leg rather than left, the pommel of his sword is different and his facial hair is different. However, I do know that I was able to affect his final appearance, for originally, his portrait had brown eyes, and his sprite’s dagger had a red gem rather than a green gem. CNE addressed both of these things after I’d brought them up.

Game mechanics-wise, without having seen him in action yet, I really like how CNE designed him. Artemis’ superb improvisational abilities are a big part of what makes him such a capable fighter, so his kit in Idle Champions being built around him mirroring other DPS champions’ buffs makes a lot of sense. His jeweled dagger, as his signature weapon consistently throughout the ages, is similarly adequately tied in to his damage-dealing capacities. 

I absolutely love that Artemis will be in seat 3, next to a certain drow mercenary. (灬♥ω♥灬)

The one thing that is a little strange is the nature of his epic items. 

Idle Champions’ snapshot of Artemis, based on his game description, is from the pre-Sellswords era. During this time period, Artemis had the bat-winged cloak and his dagger, but it wasn’t until after he thought he’d killed Drizzt did he acquire the nightmare figurine, the bolero, Idalia’s Flute, and Charon’s Claw. By that point, he’d lost his bat-winged cloak. The bolero was disassembled and presumably discarded after its final usage in Road of the Patriarch. In the current timeline, Artemis only has his dagger, Claw, and the nightmare figurine. Furthermore, he’d be quite displeased if presented with Idalia’s Flute again, and most likely would reject having it in his possession. All in all though, I can understand why CNE chose these items, and I really love how the flavor text isn’t Artemis discussing them as they are for other champions. It is definitely more fitting to cite them as rumors whispered among third parties.  

Overall, it feels like the “real” Artemis has come to Idle Champions, and I’m very glad about that. I’ve been saving up forever for Artemis’ arrival.

He might very well fall flat like new DPS champions have in the past and/or not be up to par to the current meta best DPS champion, but the recent trend with new champion releases is that each has been better than the previous, so I’m hoping that it’ll mean Artemis will be the new meta DPS. However, even if he isn’t, I still plan on blowing all of this on him, because sometimes, personal preference trumps the need to min/max. 

[[ The folks at Codename Entertainment are truly awesome. It’ll never cease to amaze me how they listen and respond to individual player feedback, and even implement the smallest things. :D  

Looking at it now, Jarlaxle’s eyes in the “after” picture are still sort of purple, but compared to what they were before I’d say that the Idle Champions artist definitely tried to redo them as red. I didn’t expect to see the “fix” so soon, but it was pushed through in a small patch released this morning, less than a day after I’d sent in the feedback. :O

The D20 Beat: Bringing the cool combat wheelchair to Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms

The combat wheelchair is now in Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms, showing that chair users have a place in tabletop and digital RPGs.Read More

#CodenameEntertainment, announces hiring of Wizards of the Coast and #DnD designer/producer, Chris Dupis!

British Columbia based game developer, Codename Entertainment, announced the hiring of Wizards of the Coast and Dungeons and Dragons designer/producer, Chris Dupuis. The company hired Dupuis to help oversee production and development of its two officially licensed D&D games, Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms and Crusaders of the Lost Idols.

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When considering I have been a playing a lot of Codename Entertainment‘s Crusaders of the Lost Idols lately, the thought of how this fantasy themed side-scroller can become more challenging crossed my mind. The game play is simple: kill monsters for experience points to level up the characters and buy better equipment so they can walk through a dungeon unscathed. The harder part is in how to arrange the party of warriors so the team can dole out the most damage.

I am definitely curious in looking at this Victoria, BC based company’s next game, Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms. Will it be the same game, or be better?  Crusaders on Steam is in Beta for a long time, and I suspect that’s because the producers have been testing this version out for some time, before deciding to finally wrap it around a franchise property for wider appeal. This fantasy realm developed by Ed Greenwood is beloved amongst role playing gamers for its rich world, and to see it brought to life (again) in a video game is exciting.

Certain elements will have to be emphasised to make it feel like it belongs in the Forgotten Realms, like forays in the narrative into religion and perhaps include a way to fireball (i.e. use magic) out of a problem encounter. Like Crusaders, the quests will state what the player has to do, and the item to be acquired will randomly drop for the player to pick up by the click of a button. Any other complex actions like “summon avian help” or “duplicate” will mean the game engine will have to be modified to allow for changes in the marching order of the soldiers. In D&D, the scenarios often see the player’s characters walk into a dungeon, kill the beast, and walk out with the treasure. While more can be done to immerse players into the world like Live Action Role Playing, but video games do not often allow this level of interactivity unless you are Lord British (Richard Garriott) leading a team to write an update to the Ultima 4 game.

I have been keeping tabs on the reveals of what new characters will appear in this fantasy world. The diverse cast looks great. There are dwarfs, humans, elves and hawk-headed warriors. Codename has been releasing sneak peeks of their art work for the past few weeks, and only now am I catching up to see if there is a sphinx.

The trailer offers a few cute sound bites and the press release states the region will set players upon the fabled Sword Coast. I’m not familiar with this world. For me, Baldurs Gate and Icewind Dale are the most well-known realms. If demand is great, perhaps Codename can expand the regions to include other areas to explore.

From the press release:

Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms will take the player on an epic quest throughout the fabled Sword Coast. Newcomers to the world of Dungeons & Dragons will learn about their new home through the game. Seasoned fans will have the opportunity to revisit popular storylines and even learn new knowledge as they play.

Force Grey fans will also discover familiar characters in the game at launch. Two of the starting ten Champions are taken from the popular series.

From launch, the game will feature scheduled updates every month, with new campaigns and regular events, including the recently announced Tomb of Annihilation adventure.

Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms will be available on the PC in Q3 2017.