[img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41677266/e8c7115d12ce90e5e354dd2090552b15bc55e2fd.png[/img] Gladiators, Roll up folks, because it’s time to unveil the latest weapon for you to use in your pursuit of the World Boss crown! Named after the lord of lazars himself, the LAZARBEAM is set to send shockwaves through the Arena with its incredible destructive power. [b]TOOLS OF THE TRADE[/b] [i]‘Our players have been asking us for the ability to “romance the LazarBeam” for months. Our design goal was to have a LAZARBEAM players could have and hold, forever and ever. Amen.’[/i] - Game Designer Ben C. With 50 Damage per shot, double the fire rate of the SMG, a whopping 75 rounds per battery pack, near-perfect accuracy and a very long range, the LAZARBEAM is a deadly precision instrument in the right hands. ‘What’s the catch?’ You ask. The LAZARBEAM rewards those who are a cut above with their aiming and can keep the beam trained on their enemies for those big damage ticks. The LAZARBEAM is a great tool to use while you close distance on your opponents, and then finish off them with melee or a Shotgun. Perkswise, this weapon works almost too well when partnered with some of the Epic perks, such as Super Charge and Explosive Shots, giving you even more opportunities to shred your opponents. If you’ve got the skills, then the LAZARBEAM is the tool for you – but watch out for players who’ve invested in movement perks, as they’re going to keep moving and keep their distance, where the LAZARBEAM’s considerable damage drop off takes effect… [b]ART ATTACK[/b] The art creation for any new feature is always a two-pronged fork – is two prongs enough? Absolutely! The first stage of art is concepting, which is where the fantastic Nick Y. comes in, and this is where the magic begins. The weapon needed to feel futuristic – I mean, it fires a friggin’ laser beam! This is why you’ll notice that there is a lack of mechanical parts compared to our other base weapons. Many ideas were painstakingly created, however, some drifted a little too far away from the initial concept. Banana laser gun? Sadly it was a no from the judges on this one. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41677266/80cb49499a4d89b7eea6240790e14e5e8796a5e5.png[/img] Real world inspirations were blended together, along with pop culture references of laser guns to create the perfect blend of believable fiction. Fun fact, that’s called verisimilitude. Who said learning can’t be fun?! From the concepting phase, it’s then time for the weapon to be brought to life by our awesome 3D artist, Kaye! Going from 2D to 3D is always a fun and iterative process. Changes are made to the 2D model to get to the final version, but still keeping the essence and appeal established in the initial concept. In this case, Kaye modelled the gun and found that the ammo counter was difficult to read with the dedicated display, and the white colour palette from the concept was making UI unclear. Huddle up, because our devs are team players! Sometimes, the only way to win is to team up… [i]are we hinting up something here? Who knows…[/i] anyway! To help reduce the workload in other departments such as technical art and animation, the team were able to utilise and rework rigs and animations that already existed. The LAZARBEAM was designed and modelled around the DMR. This meant keeping the key features in the same place such as the trigger and grip positions. Smart, right?! You know how they say if you see a bright coloured animal, don’t touch it because it’ll probably kill you? Well, the LAZARBEAM started off the same way. As the colours were much lighter than other weapons in the game, it stood out quite a bit when comparing it to the existing weapon lineup. The bright tones conflicted with important UI, so muting the colours into darker tones was a way to bring it back in line with the other weapons which helped it feel visually balanced on screen. Initially, the colour of the beam was blue, not that you needed any more hints at the fact we love that colour, but with the new visual changes to perks, the colour pivoted to a warmer yellow/orange. [img]{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/41677266/9310802002582c376258b8e94d9dc58a9e833e34.jpg[/img] Although the model may look perfect already, regularly testing the 3D model in game is essential, so the weapon can be visually readable in both first and third person – making sure the ammo counter, for example, was super clear. Essentially, we want to make sure you can see your impending doom, or on the other side, weapon of mass destruction, very clearly. So, stick a fork in me, I’m done! [b]PEW! PEW! PEW![/b] We like making dreams come true here at PlaySide, setting to work on the sound for a laser gun is every Sound Designer's dream! Audio wizard, Zach, was excited to work on the LAZARBEAM, as it gave him a lot of opportunity for creativity and exploration. The audio needed to be as loud and as special as the LAZARBEAM’s visual design, so this was supported audibly by using a mixture of electronic hums, spot welding arcs and earthquake sounds as a starting point. Otherworldly audio modulations were then mated to these sounds which quickly changed the pitch of the otherwise consistent bed of original assets. No boring audio allowed! Despite the LAZABEAM being futuristic, at the heart of it, it’s still a gun. Player feedback when pulling the trigger is still important, so transient heavy "pull the trigger" sounds were added. How did Zach achieve this masterpiece? This consisted of many sound layers such as real gun shots, kick drums and 8-bit arcade beeps running through some heavy overdrive effects. Having all of these elements pitch down really quickly when the sound starts gives it that classic Hollywood Laser Gun sound that everyone knows and loves! Once the building blocks had been cemented together, the audio was then put into the audio implementation engine middleware Wwise. This allows our Sound Designers to tweak things like pitch, volume, overdrives and delays. Great audio can level up any gaming experience and the LAZARBEAM sound effects have hit the nail on the head. [previewyoutube=py84i0SM3rM;full][/previewyoutube] Get ready to disintegrate anyone that stands in your way with this new weapon… See you in the arena, Gladiators! Where possible please ensure all drivers are updated to ensure the best and smoothest performance. Have a bug you want to report? Head on over to our [url=https://discord.gg/worldboss] Discord server[/url]. For Player Support issues, please contact us [url=https://world-boss.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/requests/new]via Zendesk[/url]. 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