Spiral Knights - Clockworks Confidential: Our First Victim is Boswick [Answers posted 6/18!]

Clockworks Confidential: Our First Victim is Boswick [Answers posted 6/18!]

96 replies [Last post]

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 11:23

Eurydice

Community Manager

Greetings, Knights!

Introducing Clockworks Confidential, a series of mini-interviews with members of the Spiral Knights team!

Our brave inaugural victim is Cory Sponseller, whom you may already know as Boswick on the SK forums. Cory is an artist on the Spiral Knights team, focusing on environment art--”tilesets, props, level atmospherics and stuff,” in his words.

What questions do you have for Cory?

Clockworks Confidential info:

If there’s a large volume of questions, we’ll pick 5-8 for the interviewee to answer.
You may submit multiple questions, but please note that we’re looking for quality over quantity here.
You may ask questions unrelated to Spiral Knights. “What’s your favorite pizza topping” or “What other games have you been playing lately?” sorts of questions are fine.
Inappropriate questions (overly personal, rude, etc.) will be disregarded and/or deleted.

The deadline for submitting questions for this round of Clockworks Confidential is Thursday, June 7th at 11:59 p.m. game time (Pacific timezone).

Clockworks Confidential translations for French, German, and Spanish will be forthcoming.

NOTE: Answers now posted! Thanks, Cory/Boswick!

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 12:01

Trydeth

YEEEEEE ART QUESTIONS! :DDD

First, I want to say, I love the look and feel of the levels and everything you have done. Visually, the game's artistic aesthetics are wonderful and go wonderfully with the art by Ian for characters and creatures! You two make a wonderful art team. Now for the actual questions:
1) What inspirations helped create the designs of the many depths?
2) How much influence did you have with the creatures that would be inhabiting these levels, if any at all?
3) Did you pick out the layout of these levels or do you have another behind it?
4) Do you plan to do more levels using some of the more ignored status ailments?
5) What kinda hint can you give us towards the new levels to be coming in (later or recent) future.

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 12:10

Iyashi

I love the idea of this, I do

I love the idea of this, I do have a few questions

1) What would you say your hardest challenge was as an artist?
2) Was there anything you created that you would consider the most fun to create?

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 12:12

Gkku

Art questions? Yesh

Are there any levels inspired by other stuff (like another game)?
If you even had anything to do with it, what are the statues supposed to be (you know, the button statues)?
How long is the process of making a unique atmosphere for say, a new level?

Will probably edit with more.

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 12:19

Xplor

1. When designing the

1. When designing the environments what requirements or restrictions were imposed on you by O3?
2. Where are you most inspirational places to think? (ie. mine is the shower, taking one gives me the best ideas)
3. What techniques do you use to generate your rough sketches? (doodles, thick markers so you focus on shapes/outlines and not details, etc)
4. What is your go to medium for sketches? (pen? pencil? chalk? charcoal? on scrap paper? draft paper, sketch roll or sketch paper? etc)

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 13:04

Lesliechow

Would it be difficult to

Would it be difficult to implement a setting to further lower graphics and effects, or is it not possible because of the way the graphics are done? FSC fire tends to really lag me and a lot of people I know.

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 13:37

Tantarian

Yesssssssss

1. Why did you chamfer the blocks? I liked them pointy.
2. How come it took a while to go from some "boxes die floating away" to "boxes die getting split in 8"?
3. How do you feel about people blaming you for stuff you have nothing to do with?
4. Do you happen to have an image to share of the original Haven made by Ian that looked grim?
5. Why don't you come out to chat anymore? ;_;

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 14:03

Tsubasa-No-Me

OMG YES

What kind of things inspire your designs and color schemes for random levels, and stable levels? eg: Wolver Den and Emberlight respectively.

Hrmm... I'll Think of some more in a bit...

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 14:08

Bigfootm

What Dark Ritual?

1) Boswick, why are you so Boswick-y?
2) When is Boswick day?
3) Can I poke you?
4) Did you lose your bush, or do you still have it?
5) Make me a Chromalisk that's rainbow colored.

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 14:19

Tersakaff

1) Inspirations?
2) How, when and why did you take up art?
3) How did you end up working for Spiral Knights?
4) What do you enjoy working on most? And least?
5) What does your name mean and how did you get it?
6) Why don't you come online much anymore? Or post on the forums.
7) What do you do in your free time?
8) What is the relation between you and Ian, given you're both artists for Spiral Knights?

Also, @ Eurydice
I suggest picking more than 5-8 questions, there will be many great questions to pick from. Maybe a limit of 20. We wanna know more!

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 14:22

#10

Eurydice

Community Manager

> I suggest picking more than

> I suggest picking more than 5-8 questions, there will be many great questions to pick from. Maybe a limit of 20. We wanna know more!

If I could, I'd make him answer them ALLLLLLL! But he is a busy guy and we may have to whittle it down. We'll see how it goes. We could also have him back for another round of questions sometime, if he's not too traumatized from this one. :)

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 15:13

#11

Bert-Banana

1 - May you send me a Spiral Knights pen?
2 - If not, may you send me a Spiral Knights pencil?
3 - May I add you?
4 - May you FSC with me?

Hi Eury, Snark wants a shoutout.

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 15:21

#12

Schattentag

Look deep into your soul...

Regular questions:
1) What is an average day at work like for you?
2) What is your favorite piece of work specific to Spiral Knights?
3) What is your favorite piece of work specifically not related to Spiral Knights?

Offbeat question:
What is the first thing you think of or say when you see roadkill? Why?

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 16:23

#13

Shoebox

1) What's going on in this

1) What's going on in this picture?
2) What did you do with Rose and all of the Derp Knights?
3) Some other questions.

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 16:40

#14

Iyashi

Another question popped into

Another question popped into my head

Why do you think everyone 'blames Boswick'? How does this odd humor effect you?

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 16:47

#15

Slayzz

Interesting...it seems the

Interesting...it seems the GMs are getting more involved with the players. +1 to this...

1) What was your favorite work of art you programmed?
2) What do you base your artistic ideas off of?
3) Do any other GMs contribute to the art and design of the game?
4) What animation is your favorite?
and most importantly...
5) Tortodronez??!?!!!!!

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 18:48

#16

Serell

oooo

1. Do you like waffles? I love waffles....waffles... they.. they are my precious.. precious.... STAY AWAY FROM MY PRECIOUS >:O
2. Was becoming an artist difficult?
3. Whats your favorite piece of artwork you have created?
4. whats your favorite piece of artwork someone else did? :o
5. Waffles.

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 18:40

#17

Gfjmember

Yataa!

1) May I first of all say how much I like the new lighting and environmental changes based on depth. May I ask how the idea for that came about?
2) Of all the things which are currently in the game which you made, which is your least favourite?

Eury, who is deciding which questions he is subjected to?

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 19:29

#18

Mindspark

Are there any plans on

Are there any plans on releasing a Spiral Knights Art book with concept art? I would certainly pay for it.

EDIT: Am I the only one that can't find this thread in the General Discussion?

reEDIT: *facepalm* I just realized it was pinned...

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 19:28

#19

Enclavean

+1 Cant wait to see the

+1
Cant wait to see the interview!

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 19:32

#20

Kanoka

Intriguing questions (although maybe too specific...)

This is something I've always wanted to see...I look forward to seeing what questions you decide to have our dear artist answer, Eury! :)

Hopefully one of these questions will be any of the ones that I have written below:

1. Based on the fact that you work with environmental art, does that include some of the aesthetics for the various Scenario Rooms? If so, what aspects of these rooms did you enjoy working with most?

2. Where did you (or the art team) recieve the idea for the differing conditions between each depth of the Clockworks? (light alterations, weather conditions, etc.) What was it like to develop the art for those systems?

3. To be more specific, what types of aesthetics did you work with in Spiral Knights - meaning, what types of art do you usually develop for OOO for them to use?

4. Have you gotten any inspiration from any art found on the Spiral Knights forums for your work? Or even from other games you've played?

5. Why do you believe that your art made for Spiral Knights has an impact on the way players are engaged in the game?

That's all I have for now - a lot of these questions that my fellow players have asked are very good (I personally like some of Tersakaff and Trydeth's questions), so I want to make sure I don't sound repetitive. But, overall, nice work with the art...I look forward to further developments! ^_^ I hope that Eurydice makes some good decisions over these questions! We place our fate into your hands...

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 20:00

#21

Canozo

Why is the cradle moon a little bit destroyed?
Will there be more shadow accesories? (Halos, tails, etc)
EDIT: Also, What would happen if an unstoppable force hit an immovable object?

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 20:14

#22

Blitzman

If SHADOW fire is slightly

If SHADOW fire is slightly darker than normal fire (normal fire= the fire in operation crimson hammer) Then how did shadow fire get in the furnace in lockdown, and why make new fire color for OCH?

Why do some items have upgrades that look exactly or almost exactly the same? (ex: tempered calibur and ascended calibur, spiral plate helm and heavy plate helm)

Who started the boswicks bush thing? You?

Why was ferons appearance changed? Also, why was the trojan head guy originally barrus, then the other guy was?

How come on medium graphics the level is darker than on high?

How much bigger are slag guards (under the armor) than slag walkers if slag guards are just slag walkers in armor. And how do they move so much faster?

In an old promo video that included tortodrone, the red markings that appear on its arm when it gets mad are similar (albeit in a different color) to the blue markings on the artifact razwog takes. Is that a coincidence?

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 20:27

#23

Zaderules

-------------------

What's your favorite 5 star wolver armor? and Why?

What's your favorite Spiral Knights boss (including shadow lairs)?

What's your favorite clockwork monster?

Would you rather play Lockdown or Blast network?

Finally, would you rather save a chipmunk from danger and risk getting bitten? or leave it alone? or tell someone else to do it?

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 20:27

#24

Egpnd

3 questions,

Will the tortodrone come back? When?

When will you add more storyline to the game?

Finally, When will OCH be tradable?

Fri, 06/01/2012 - 00:10

#25

Windsickle

Questions For Boswick

What did you do before you started working with Three Rings and Spiral Knights?
Which is your favorite tile?
Do you enjoy your job?

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 22:00

#26

Traevelliath

...

1) How hard would it be to take your job... I mean get a job as a professional game artist?
2) What do you think is the best looking model in all of Spiral Knights?
3) What question(s) do you want someone to ask you?
4) What question(s) makes you want to strangle the person who asked it?

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 22:01

#27

Softhead

What happened to your eyes after that swarm of players in preview?

Why have you kinda gone obscure from the forums(I only see a few devs now -_-)?

What kinda art do Ian and you do?

Thu, 06/07/2012 - 06:52

#28

Sirenblue

Do you make tilesets with a big picture in mind/hand or with a small theme?
What do you keep in mind when making tileable models? (I like the looks of some machines, which are just walls and a floor fan, especially the ones in the old Rescue Camp)
Is this your first game? o_o
Have you ever worked on environments on/in/around/about the Skylark? How different would it be from Cradle?
If Spiral Knights was a 2.5D game, would the level designs be any different/difficult? (Which do you prefer? 2.5D or 3D)
Any influences? Or any games/artists you like/respect/look up to?
What do you think of Starcraft 2? (visually)

Fri, 06/01/2012 - 03:50

#29

Damienfoxy

1 What are your artistic

1 What are your artistic influences?
2 Why don't people blame eury?
3 What music keeps you focused on work?
4 if you could, what would you change about ONE of your pieces?
5 what would you change about your co-workers?
6 why in gods name is the divine avenger, and grand faust so out of place with that ugly glowing?
7 can you make the aura smaller on these two so it looks like its coming from the blade, and not the middle of nowhere?

8 can i send you a bribe to fix these two swords?

Fri, 06/01/2012 - 05:01

#30

Guyinshinyarmour

What tileset do you most wish you could go back to and tweak? (Has anything not turn out how you wanted)

What comes first; level design or the monsters? (Is it you or Ian who sets the tone for the level)

Fri, 06/01/2012 - 10:41

#31

Zxze

How... HOW

1) and only 1... HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THIS???????

Fri, 06/01/2012 - 13:55

#32

Pieda

Only one question: Is it

Only one question: Is it possible to be invincible with all defenses maxed up?

Fri, 06/01/2012 - 14:06

#33

Paweu

1. Does it annoy you to

1. Does it annoy you to answer unrelated to what you do questions?

Sat, 06/02/2012 - 01:51

#34

Venomousbiohazard

questions

Do you work in a Submarine like the devs? Or do the devs even work in a submarine? O_O imma now confused. http://www.wired.com/culture/design/multimedia/2007/06/gallery_nemo_office

Is the spiral knights snarbolax wallpaper (my wallpaper) your work or Ians work?

Sat, 06/02/2012 - 05:33

#35

Trabias

Moar questions

1. why did you make the legs of the spiral knights so small ?
2. Do you actually pop onto spiral knights (invisible or not) once in a while?
3. And what is your inspiration for the swarm?

Sat, 06/02/2012 - 15:29

#36

Obsidious

Let's see what I can come up with...

1. What's the general creation process like for you? How do you coordinate your works with the rest of the dev team?
2. How do you normally start out you work day?
3. What do you enjoy about creating your particular kind of artwork? Why did you choose to work on environment art?
4. How did you become a part of SK? What did you do before and why did you take interest in your career path?
5. What's are you hobbies?

That's all I can think of for now.

Sat, 06/02/2012 - 17:45

#37

Cobalt

Hm...

Let's give this a shot, I don't want to give any questions along the lines of "omg y do the gm's ban me lolol"

1) Since you work on environmental artwork, what area is your favorite, and what area is not?

2) Along with Ian, do you also have a custom armor set as he does? Or is it just a Chaos set
(I got the Chaos set idea from the Winterfest picture posted on Facebook.)

3) Do you feel that the music in the Clockworks matches your work?

4) What is it like working with the Spiral Knights team?

5) Based on the current state of the game, would you play it, and keep playing it?

6) Do you do anything else other than environments?

Those are my questions. c:

Sat, 06/02/2012 - 18:34

#38

Shue-Donnym

Alpha Dog, now, oh-oh, omegalomaniac

Do you shoot your coworkers in the butt with a paintball gun?

Sun, 06/03/2012 - 01:45

#39

Hawaiianblood

shadow lair

When will there be shadow lair gunner/bomber set.

will u ever make unknown passage have a second or third depth.

when shall all all the devs GMs etc show themself again will there be shadow accesories halos etc

Finally when will operation crimson hammer become free and full eefund for people that bought ut unlike me who cnt spend rall money on this game

Sun, 06/03/2012 - 02:17

#40

Damienfoxy

I can answe one of

I can answe one of those.

Operation crimson hammer will never be free. I don't want a refund, and i'm pretty sure alot of people with a hammer agree, since it's so bad-butt. (see eury, this is what it's like without swear words!)... Anyway, it has been reported that it will become giftable, but never free.

(keep up the good work devs, i plan on buying a boatload of OCH packs from the standalone client for my friends!)

Sun, 06/03/2012 - 03:21

#41

Sirenblue

Environment artist, people.

Now Nick and the mechanics guys are going to dread their turn.

Sun, 06/03/2012 - 12:20

#42

Shycoboy

QUESTIONS!!!!

1) Can you tell me how to walk?

2) Do you like tacos? If so, do you go to Taco Bell?

3) Do you LOVE being a artist?

4) How long have you been working for SK?

5) Whats ya' faviroute food, and what do you like the most about it?

6) Are you a women or a men? (Im to lazy to check)

7) If you ever stop working for SK, what company might you work for?

8) What did you like to draw the most?

Sun, 06/03/2012 - 17:23

#43

Generic-Bush

....

1) what am the sky?

2) how does eat food?

3) how do you hide your subject line :-:

4) did you really beat Njthug with a rock when he tried to capture you?

Sun, 06/03/2012 - 20:12

#44

Battlee

Questions :D

Questions:
1. When the Crimsom Hammer mission is available to everyone,will it be like a shadow lair-it would require a shadow key?
2. Will you introduce a new kind of weapon later in this game?ex:spears,battle axes,cross bows
3. Will you add a new kind of monster class?
4. Do you like apples? :DDDD

Sun, 06/03/2012 - 21:31

#45

Agazide

Pansquared

I have a question for Boswick! Could you describe your process for pre-production art for your environments? Do your concept artists just do sort of "mood" pieces, or do you have them actually draw individual, modular pieces for your environmental artists? Thanks!

Mon, 06/04/2012 - 09:55

#46

Ycra

What are your plans for new gates? (Style, bosses, etc.)

Do you plan on doing anything with the core within an abbreviated time period?

Tue, 06/05/2012 - 08:20

#47

Shoebox

All that time playing APB finally paying off?

How do you feel about Cherub being the main character of Ubisoft's Watch Dogs?

Tue, 06/05/2012 - 14:29

#48

Megamanz

QUESTIONS

What new stuff is coming out in spiral knights

Any new ideas you have for the game: monsters, bosses, storlyine?

Any hints as to things to expect in the game for the future?

Would you rather be able to fly, shoot fire from your hands, or read minds

Tue, 06/05/2012 - 23:11

#49

Arquebus

Just one

As a designer and artist in casual game stuff myself, there's just one thing I'd love to know:

Spiral Knights models are relatively low poly, but still look delightfully soft and round, moreso even than many more graphically-intensive games. What are some good tricks to help other artists working with similar graphical restraints?

Wed, 06/06/2012 - 13:08

#50

Ecmanl

Good

1.) Can Shadow Lair keys have a lower price?
2.) How do you open the core?
3.) Why are beggars so dumb?

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Clockworks Confidential: Our First Victim is Boswick [Answers posted 6/18!]