Building Warframe: Ivara

[DE_Adam]

Every Warframe starts with a vision, and finding a way to translate that vision into something uniquely Tenno takes unconventional creativity.  The Archer, Ivara, was always meant to be a huntress without peer but with so many different iterations of what an Archer can look like planning her design was a unique challenge.

 

Read more about Ivara's design on our latest edition of Building Warframe, and let us know what you think!

 

-DE_Adam

[AM-Bunny]

Always fun to read these! Thanks Adam.

[Takai]

As someone who lives for 3D art assets:

 

This is so far my favorite WF design by far.

 

I am going to say one ignorant caveman thing to get it out of the way:

 

When the player is well... playing, in the third person staring at the back of their avatar, the shape of the booty matters. A plesant distraction is far more interesting and enduring to the eye. So with that out of the way, great job, I can look at this warframe in the 3rd person all day, all the shapes are very pleasant.

 

Casting aside caveman intellect, The combination of fantasy and tech is working working working. Her head... oh the shapes! Its like menacing robot but the hood makes her mysterious and shrouded. 

 

I like this WF's physical design and direction ALOT. Big fan of shape pushing (probally the reason I was drawn to the game's artwork in the first place). Another good example of the game's art team nailing shapes was Equinox and yes, Trinitiy's rear piece. Nailing it!

[mrecentric]

"Its easy look past at first"

 

That should be "It's easy TO look past at first"

[Th3_3mpTy]

Yeah, we all can say that design of the warframe means so much for us.
When I first saw Ivara's concept art, I just said without a blink that she's my new favorite.
And she's got not just cool apperance, but all of her 4 skills are great.
Thank you so much for her, DE, as usual, you've done a great job!

[Terrornaut]

^ Agreed and well said, same thoughts.

 

 

As someone who lives for 3D art assets:

 

[ . . . ]

 

I am going to say one ignorant caveman thing to get it out of the way:

 

When the player is well... playing, in the third person staring at the back of their avatar, the shape of the booty matters.

 

[ . . . ]

 

Casting aside caveman intellect, The combination of fantasy and tech is working working working. Her head... oh the shapes! Its like menacing robot but the hood makes her mysterious and shrouded. 

 

I like this WF's physical design and direction ALOT. Big fan of shape pushing (probally the reason I was drawn to the game's artwork in the first place).  [ . . . ]

 

Agreed, many agreeds!  And her animation, so much freaky personality. Love it.  Even if mechanically her 4 is a let down style/funwise :(

[MokutoBunshi]

Just......;~; ... just why?

 

 

]\'[okuto Bunshi

 

Peace out.

[MokutoBunshi]

Its like the warframe universe mocks me.... I repeatedly express my love of being an archer in warframe....follow allnthenupdates collect every last bow....and the warframe I dreamed off comes around when they need more females to balance out the number of stealth frames.......

 

 

I dont know how long it will take them to get around to making another bow user or even long range fighter...

Just why...

 

 

]\'[

[VoidTendrils]

I repeatedly express my love of being an archer in warframe and the warframe I dreamed off comes around when they need more females to balance out the number of stealth frames.......

 

 

 

Sometimes you have to take what you can get. If the frame plays the way you like with the exact theme you're after should it really matter if the frame is female? 

I wish my 'dream frame' was something as simple as an archer.

As someone who's obsessed with Druidic and clairvoyance themes it's very rare to see either implemented into a game. Especially a game like this which tends to keep to more traditional ideas. Equinox being the exception. I doubt i'll see either any time soon, but i can assure you if even one of them came out i wouldn't be looking for trivial faults like "the wrong sex" 

Good work on Ivara, she looks phenomenal! It's nice to see some alternative playstyles to "Run in and ult the room" as well. 

 

[MokutoBunshi]

Sometimes you have to take what you can get. If the frame plays the way you like with the exact theme you're after should it really matter if the frame is female?

I wish my 'dream frame' was something as simple as an archer.

As someone who's obsessed with Druidic and clairvoyance themes it's very rare to see either implemented into a game. Especially a game like this which tends to keep to more traditional ideas. Equinox being the exception. I doubt i'll see either any time soon, but i can assure you if even one of them came out i wouldn't be looking for trivial faults like "the wrong sex"

Good work on Ivara, she looks phenomenal! It's nice to see some alternative playstyles to "Run in and ult the room" as well.

You are right and further more. The second dream has made me understand what it is to be tenno. I retract my previous statements and will go for this frame asap. All I can say is...excellent job DE.

]\'[okuto Bunshi

Peace out.

Edited December 6, 2015 by MokutoBunshi

[HookahLover]

When I first saw Ivara in my Liset the first thing that came in mind was camouflage. So I came up with some ideas of traditional camos used in the military work (woodland, desert, snow, navy etc.). So I experimented using the palletes I owned and, well, it was much harder to get the colors to blend in and create this pattern that resembles camouflage. I might upload some pics of desert, woodland and snow camo I created of Ivara based of some google pics and see what kind of feedback I get.

[ToaSirian]

Has anyone got any idea how inconvenient the upper arm mounted reversed quiver actually is?

[LogaMC1995]

Has anyone got any idea how inconvenient the upper arm mounted reversed quiver actually is?

I think it's convenient. After each ulti arrow shot, you actually pull those arrows from the left upper arm using your right hand. Pretty well made animation as well.

Edited December 6, 2015 by LogaMC1995

[Nagasadri]

Has anyone got any idea how inconvenient the upper arm mounted reversed quiver actually is?

With a bow that short, it wouldn't even be inconvenient IRL.

How to shoot 7 arrows at once with enough force with a short bow like this is another question :p

[Xennocide420]

E_Adam, on 26 Mar 2015 - 6:31 PM, said:

 

•  
• Fixed Clients not seeing properly colored weapon trails from their weapons.

 

 

 

 

 - Here is video from 17.12 showing that my Melee energy color was default in game. This happens very often.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bug since 29 Jun 2014

 

 

Please support my unfixed bug thread: https://forums.warframe.com/index.php?/topic/568178-weapon-energy-color-bug/#entry6445894

 

 

[SpicyDinosaur]

As someone who lives for 3D art assets:

 

This is so far my favorite WF design by far.

 

I am going to say one ignorant caveman thing to get it out of the way:

 

When the player is well... playing, in the third person staring at the back of their avatar, the shape of the booty matters. A plesant distraction is far more interesting and enduring to the eye. So with that out of the way, great job, I can look at this warframe in the 3rd person all day, all the shapes are very pleasant.

 

Casting aside caveman intellect, The combination of fantasy and tech is working working working. Her head... oh the shapes! Its like menacing robot but the hood makes her mysterious and shrouded. 

 

I like this WF's physical design and direction ALOT. Big fan of shape pushing (probally the reason I was drawn to the game's artwork in the first place). Another good example of the game's art team nailing shapes was Equinox and yes, Trinitiy's rear piece. Nailing it!

 

As a woman interested in both genders, though my preference is other women, my personal opinion on this is that woman are, all in all, more pleasant to watch run because of the more curved features. Watching a male character run just isn't the same. Not to get too meta but male characters are based off a power fantasy not a sexual fantasy (general male hetero sexual fantasy,) the only variance I've seen from this has been some final fantasy stuff and the playerbase kicked up a big fuss and made them tone down the sex appeal of the male characters.

 

I'm not trying to turn this political, my point is, in a roundabout manner, when you watch a female character move, it is fluid and more likely to be visually appealing whereas watching a guy warframe run is like watching a refrigerator move.

 

As per the final fantasy mention it is 100% possible to make the male warframes just as pleasing on the eyes, but it makes some members of the playerbase uncomfortable and you end up with a lot of complaints, as well as it is dependent on what the artists are interested in doing with the frames.

 

I'm not big on final fantasy but I really liked the pre-modified male characters personally. They had about the same ratio of sex appeal as the women. Something to note, this does not mean they had a huge package because that is, again, the power fantasy at work. They were more lean, with more skin showing, strategic clothing that seemed as impractical as some of the stuff you see on video game women. Other than secondary sex characteristics there isn't a whole lot of difference between what looks sexy on a female character and on a male oddly enough. It's just getting 58% of the playerbase comfortable with that.

 

Personally, I think you could make the ugliest warframe imaginable and if it was top end material, people would still play it. Although how many people play vauban (that's a shot in the dark, no idea if he is top end.)

[Takai]

As a woman interested in both genders, though my preference is other women, my personal opinion on this is that woman are, all in all, more pleasant to watch run because of the more curved features. Watching a male character run just isn't the same. Not to get too meta but male characters are based off a power fantasy not a sexual fantasy (general male hetero sexual fantasy,) the only variance I've seen from this has been some final fantasy stuff and the playerbase kicked up a big fuss and made them tone down the sex appeal of the male characters.

 

I'm not trying to turn this political, my point is, in a roundabout manner, when you watch a female character move, it is fluid and more likely to be visually appealing whereas watching a guy warframe run is like watching a refrigerator move.

 

As per the final fantasy mention it is 100% possible to make the male warframes just as pleasing on the eyes, but it makes some members of the playerbase uncomfortable and you end up with a lot of complaints, as well as it is dependent on what the artists are interested in doing with the frames.

 

I'm not big on final fantasy but I really liked the pre-modified male characters personally. They had about the same ratio of sex appeal as the women. Something to note, this does not mean they had a huge package because that is, again, the power fantasy at work. They were more lean, with more skin showing, strategic clothing that seemed as impractical as some of the stuff you see on video game women. Other than secondary sex characteristics there isn't a whole lot of difference between what looks sexy on a female character and on a male oddly enough. It's just getting 58% of the playerbase comfortable with that.

 

Personally, I think you could make the ugliest warframe imaginable and if it was top end material, people would still play it. Although how many people play vauban (that's a shot in the dark, no idea if he is top end.)

 

Well said! I am in a similar paradigm with games (if they let you choose). I remember it was (I want to say but dont hold me on trial here), Rick Baker saying at the Zbrush Summit this year that, "Female energy is creative energy"... and yeah, I have been on the page for years now.

 

With that said, sometimes I have to stop myself from gettting frustrated at the popularity of Overtly sexualized female heroines in games and Non-existant sexualization of male heros. There are clear patterns and its as old as classical sculpture itself.

 

For example, you can break down ALL popular super powered characters onto this base platform:

Zeus? or Venus?

 

I choose Venus as my hero(ine) but I can understand why MANY choose Zeus. I think alot of people would benifite from recognizing why they choose super masculine Zeus or a hyper sexualized Venus (just understandind why they would feel that way about a character, or why they would idealize them), but the roots of these fascinations run deep to humanities core. I can even understand why people would subconsciouly dismiss it all together.

 

What I get a kick out of the most is characters like the modern Lara Croft (she is mentally and physcially strong! and yes the origianal one too, she was rad but they had to bait the player demographics), character's like Faith (Mirror's Edge: yes, cunning, agility, and bravery ftw, like 15% focus on sexualization; she has a flawless face), and many of DE's characters, such as the Lotus (the mastermind of the Solarsystem, with some powers we dont even know about).

 

For me, its the path with a bit more gamble that worth treking... like for example; hyper masculine Venus (Ct Phasma anyone?) or a pure functional hero that is not what is typically displayed on TV dramas (again... tough and athethic Rei treking the desert with her staff lightsaber relic, very Faith-like). Im am super down for the hyper sexualized male hero just cause it super rare. Im not talking about Leasure Suit Larry, but more on the lines of Cloud. Bishonin is a very real thing and should be represented when creating heros, Anime abuses the heck out of it because it works. On that same note, Kenshiro (Fist of the North Star) super-hyper masciline attributes and tales of Zeus sell the tickets... people tend to react strangly to things they have little familarity with. 

 

If it is about just money...  Space Marine from the USA will always sell a ticket. The world worships Zeus, no doubte about it (and as silly as that can be). Critics can even call out the grasp of the low hanging fruit and it still works and gerenates sales.

 

Or one could be smart about it like Riot and DE and others, and offer choice, variety, and a roster of heros that suit your daily idealizations.

Edited December 7, 2015 by Takai

[SpicyDinosaur]

Oh on that note, the everyman model you are speaking of would be the protagonist of the Hero's Journey. A rather plain, caucasian male is what our society, or creative forces in the entertainment industry that have a voice, perceive as average and most relateable to the "average" person. In otherwords their perceived target audience. I've always found this model boring, and feel that excalibur kind of fits into it somehow in my mind. It's too... safe. Let's push the envelope! Let's bring in more people, shake things up!

 

A muscled out venus could either be a sex fantasy or a power fantasy really, it depends on the targeted demographic and portrayal.

 

I know a lot of people will probably think Nezha will fit into this sexualized male fantasy demo but nezha is actually based off a taoist diety that is a little boy. (those feelings you have been having are so, so wrong.) So Nezha is more childlike than anything else. If you watch footage of him, this becomes clear once you are aware of it. My original impression of him was that he looked a bit like a little girl, similar to how I perceive Nova, but that was the hair ribbons, they really threw me off, and they shouldn't have. It's so easy for little details that are actually quite meaningless to shape our perception of something.

 

I definitely agree that there is room for the male sex fantasy character. And yea, Japan uses it all the time. Final Fantasy uses it like it is going out of style. They are shameless about sexualizing both genders. If you are going to do this to female frames, see Saryn and Trinity (I heard that tattoo above her... is representative of purity, btw, is that true?) then throw me some males with a similar concept.

 

DE has been good about not sexualizing every single female frame, and they've been kind of... weird about their hyper male power fantasy characters (Is Volt Rhino's geekier but no less well endowed little brother?) Some of the obviously intentional design concepts were pretty brazen. I hope they consider the idea. Nezha is a poor substitute. It's pleasing to watch a female frame run, moreso than the bulky male frames, but I'm not going to be particularly interested one way or the other in a child frame's gait.

 

I think Cloud is a pretty good example, and Sephiroth while you are at it. Those ones are tamer, FF has done stuff that is more risque than that, but they are definitely clear examples.

[NunaStefan]

Hi ... Can someone tell me how to contac warframe administrators .... i had ember prime and rino prime blueprints in my inventory about half year and i update warframe todey and now  all prime blueprints are wanish from my inventory..... Whay ????? Sorry for my bad eanglish XD

[Gelkor]

I think it's convenient. After each ulti arrow shot, you actually pull those arrows from the left upper arm using your right hand. Pretty well made animation as well.

 

Wait, really? I have to go test this out now.

 

Ok, yeah, thats awesome.

Edited December 11, 2015 by Gelkor

[zombaio]

Very interesting and fun to read.

 

Also great warframe! The looks, the animations, the abilities, the diversity of playstyles she offers... It's all like a dream. Bought her instantly at the day of the relese of U18 and I'm more than happy with my decision.

 

Ivara is a masterpiece :)

[Tali]

now if i could get my hands on Ivara, that would be great but system&chassis is elusive as bob the spider. I cant wait to try her, though at least i have the nitain.

[HappyDeYapy]

lel

[ashrah]

farm looks like easy but its not  i am got bp chassis and helmet in  10 runs but system i farmed 4 day

[Knightmare047]

I really love Ivara. She's definitely one of the well designed frames released. Extremely fun and tactical to use with her abilities, and she looks pretty good for a female frame. We need more 'skirts' like hers on other female frames.

Edited December 14, 2015 by Knightmare047