38 Studios Vet Responds to Leaked Copernicus Trailer

Former 38 Studios creative director, Steve Danuser, has posted a short article discussing the ill-fated Project Copernicus trailer leaked just yesterday. Copernicus, the long-in-development MMORPG by the now-defunct 38 Studios, looked quite promising. The article gives some insight into the trailer itself, suggesting that it wasn’t a final version, and that the hand-drawn art style, also found in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, was to be a recurring visual theme throughout the game.

As usual, here’s an excerpt:

• This teaser video was a work in progress, from the illustrations to the game footage to the audio. It was a rough cut to get the pacing right; pretty much every asset would have been reworked or replaced by the time it went final. In fact, there were some tweaks to the script that had been made, but we never got around to recording the updated read-through.
• The finished teaser was intended to be released at the time of the MMO’s announcement. It likely would have been accompanied by a video of gameplay footage, or possibly with a live hands-on demo depending on when and where it was first revealed.
• The logo at the end was based upon the ouroboros, an ancient symbol of the cyclical nature of the universe. This symbol has great significance to the story of Amalur, a world trapped in an unending cycle of creation and destruction. And yes, we had this symbol before the Elder Scrolls Online announced using a similar logo (that’s what you get for basing your IP on classic themes).
• The illustrated style showcased in the teaser was something you would have seen throughout the game. Our cinematics team was packed with amazing illustrators, and we were using animation like this to introduce our races and tell little bits of history you’d encounter as you traveled through Amalur.

While it can’t be said enough, here’s hoping that those affected by the 38 Studios layoffs have been getting back on their feet, including the artists responsible for the leaked trailer.