Archwizard's Warframe Concept Compilation - (Update 07/19/17) New Dust Ability Stats

[(XBOX)TheLegend 64312]

I need Aether. Good work as usual

[Archwizard]

On 9/19/2016 at 8:07 AM, DragonKnightJin said:

I'd love to see all but Revenant get made into actual frames.
I just can't see myself enjoying Revenant's skills, is all.

That's totally fine. The point of a concept compilation is to give everyone options they can identify with.

Revenant's one whose playstyle I identify most-strongly with, because it's heavily power-focused. Dust is one you identify with. Different markets.

[Elydir]

Now that the growing power auras out, I think that'd be great for Revenant. Does he even need a slot for E Siphon? It also had me thinking that each of the others could use new auras too.

Dust: E Siphon is probably fine, but if shes a duelist it might be better to give her a V to buff weapons.
Aether: Not sure why he has a D polarity. Wouldnt it make more sense for him to get a polarity for E Siphon?
Scathach: Shes set up to use Steel Charge, but if shes supposed to be a tank I could see her using Rejuv instead.

[Archwizard]

On 9/22/2016 at 0:08 PM, Annon5150 said:

Now that the growing power auras out, I think that'd be great for Revenant. Does he even need a slot for E Siphon? It also had me thinking that each of the others could use new auras too.

Dust: E Siphon is probably fine, but if shes a duelist it might be better to give her a V to buff weapons.
Aether: Not sure why he has a D polarity. Wouldnt it make more sense for him to get a polarity for E Siphon?
Scathach: Shes set up to use Steel Charge, but if shes supposed to be a tank I could see her using Rejuv instead.

All are entirely possible, I suppose. It was more a matter of personality being taken into consideration for the latter three (Dust is for those who are precise and calculating, Scathach for the reckless thrill-seeker who prefers up-close combat, Aether for those who prefer to bunker down) while Growing Power wasn't available when I wrote Revenant. Granting, Revenant's kit doesn't really have a lot of innate Status effects - most of these frames don't, really - and Growing Power is kinda rare; with any V slot, people generally gravitate towards Steel Charge because it grants a slightly bigger bonus to mod energy, while Revenant is built above all else to be an archetypal caster and supposedly too squishy for the melee.

If I were to change anything for Revenant though, I might consider giving him no base polarity at all, simply because of the number of options that work for him - Growing Power, Physique for his passive, Energy Siphon or other tactical mods... but it's not really a high priority.

[Archwizard]

Update on progress: 

I completed a first draft of all of the icons for frames. @tnccs215 has offered to help me convert them to more of a "Warframe-y" style. Hoping for a batch delivery.

Might do a poll on aura polarities for the existing frames. Hesitant because I'm worried everyone will just go for the V polarity for Steel Charge, or -- polarity for Corrosive Projection. Perhaps a simple, broad question of "Should it focus on frame personality, or mechanics?"

Haven't had a lot of time to finish the write-up for the 5th frame yet, but I'll get it out soon(TM) - hopefully by the time we finish those icons. For a hint to its theme though... the keyword is "Companions".

Edited October 5, 2016 by Archwizard

[tnccs215]

31 minutes ago, Archwizard said:

Haven't had a lot of time to finish the write-up for the 5th frame yet, but I'll get it out soon(TM)

It better have a 5 month delay, otherwise it isn't fit for warframe.

Talking about delays: University has prevented me from working on the 3rd icon. I'll try to work in it tonight though.

[Archwizard]

On 10/5/2016 at 0:47 PM, tnccs215 said:

It better have a 5 month delay, otherwise it isn't fit for warframe.

Talking about delays: University has prevented me from working on the 3rd icon. I'll try to work in it tonight though.

I doubt it'll be 5-months for the write-up (albeit I can't promise that for art...), since I finally finished writing up his abilities. Now I just need to worry about stats, his profile, and additional commentary. The profile will take the longest.

No rush on the icons; real-life always takes priority!

[Archwizard]

Concept work on the next Warframe is just missing some concept art and ability icons now.

Trying to decide if I should try to make the icons before I post him, since I plan to release him as a batch with all of the ability icons made once we get the final Revenant icon completed...

Edited October 21, 2016 by Archwizard

[Elydir]

On 10/5/2016 at 0:14 PM, Archwizard said:

Might do a poll on aura polarities for the existing frames. Hesitant because I'm worried everyone will just go for the V polarity for Steel Charge, or -- polarity for Corrosive Projection. Perhaps a simple, broad question of "Should it focus on frame personality, or mechanics?"

Based on what weve seen of your work I would think youd be all over mechanics, but its your concept. I'm okay with it being about personality.

On 10/20/2016 at 2:18 PM, Archwizard said:

Concept work on the next Warframe is just missing some concept art and ability icons now.

Trying to decide if I should try to make the icons before I post him, since I plan to release him as a batch with all of the ability icons made once we get the final Revenant icon completed...

Cant wait to see it!

[Archwizard]

Some late night thoughts:

- Dust should have some type of Blink Strike effect. I've always wanted her to have one, I just couldn't figure out how to integrate it. Either I can replace her passive so Rift Strike is always active, or make it an effect/augment for one of her abilities. Of course, replacing her passive means reducing the incentive to use Rapiers, thus diminishing her duelist theme since you could swing a Galatine and do it, plus it diminishes synergy with Continuum. Her abilities on their own do enough (plus there's really no space for it between their themes - Rewind could work, but the combination of enemy debuff and personal teleport makes little sense...), and making it an augment of course means that it and Reversal would both have to be attachments, dealing the same effect two different ways.

- Presently Aether can place his Fracture beacons at his present location and summon Twisted Path's projectile from any location at will. I wonder if it should be reversed? I initially wanted you to be able to place Fractures in the air, but the more I think of it, that seems like it would have little practical use. I was worried that being able to place them anywhere could be overpowered (and make the addition of Power Range pointless if you can just place more), but with Aether's theme being "infinite reach"...

- Came up with a Conclave augment for Scathach's spear. The best defense in Conclave is to jump over your enemies, right? Would be a shame if something were to stab you in the legs...

Edited November 5, 2016 by Archwizard

[Elydir]

10 hours ago, Archwizard said:

I can replace her passive so Rift Strike is always active

Why not have both? Mesa, Obeon and Inaros get two at a time. Just limit it to swords and you keep the theme.

[Rhekemi]

15 hours ago, Archwizard said:

Some late night thoughts:

- Dust should have some type of Blink Strike effect. I've always wanted her to have one, I just couldn't figure out how to integrate it. Either I can replace her passive so Rift Strike is always active, or make it an effect/augment for one of her abilities. Of course, replacing her passive means reducing the incentive to use Rapiers, thus diminishing her duelist theme since you could swing a Galatine and do it, plus it diminishes synergy with Continuum. Her abilities on their own do enough (plus there's really no space for it between their themes - Rewind could work, but the combination of enemy debuff and personal teleport makes little sense...), and making it an augment of course means that it and Reversal would both have to be attachments, dealing the same effect two different ways.

Augment. When you've got enough good ideas in the base line and it feels cool, but like something extra, it's probably time to augment.

15 hours ago, Archwizard said:

- Presently Aether can place his Fracture beacons at his present location and summon Twisted Path's projectile from any location at will. I wonder if it should be reversed? I initially wanted you to be able to place Fractures in the air, but the more I think of it, that seems like it would have little practical use. I was worried that being able to place them anywhere could be overpowered (and make the addition of Power Range pointless if you can just place more), but with Aether's theme being "infinite reach"...

You'd have to consider the benefits (or drawbacks) of placing them on any surface.

15 hours ago, Archwizard said:

- Came up with a Conclave augment for Scathach's spear. The best defense in Conclave is to jump over your enemies, right? Would be a shame if something were to stab you in the legs...

I can't speak to this. Conclave is the devil. I rebuke it.

Re-reading the concepts (which is how I noticed that you had Path first, but I'd forgotten), I think Scathach and Aether would be the most fun. I still like Dust, but there's still something about time-frames that feels like all of Warframe's expectations weigh on their shoulders to get Everything About the Theme Right (when they can't possibly). (Previously I liked Dust and Aether.)

[Archwizard]

27 minutes ago, Rhekemi said:

Augment. When you've got enough good ideas in the base line and it feels cool, but like something extra, it's probably time to augment.

I still like Dust, but there's still something about time-frames that feels like all of Warframe's expectations weigh on their shoulders to get Everything About the Theme Right (when they can't possibly). 

Thing is though, Dust already has one teleport augment... which is used to retreat. Having two augments to perform one task is, frankly, overkill - and while I could maybe make the augment an effect that can be used to both engage and retreat, it ceases to be attached to that particular ability.

For a lot of my concepts, "theme" only determines the opening stages of what the frame should be capable of. When I get to the details, it becomes about the frame's backstory, personality, and primarily the fighting sequences I see in my head of that frame in action.
For Dust, I envision an agile attacker who deftly avoids enemy blows, twisting time to catch them off-guard, moving up and down both of their timelines asynchronously for the best opportunity, then striking a forceful blow to stop them entirely at the precise moment and unleash an onslaught of blades. The components of that vision become the base kit where I can help it, and anything that "feels cool but extra" goes in later. (Generally I only allow those sequences 1 augment at a time.)
The teleportation aspect... feels like part of those asynchronous movements she would already have, moving up her own timeline.

[Archwizard]

10 hours ago, Rhekemi said:

You'd have to consider the benefits (or drawbacks) of placing them on any surface.

Well, the Twisted Path projectile can already be navigated virtually anywhere, so that's no issue either way. I think I just liked the idea of you essentially pulling the floors and walls together in a way, which you can still pull off either way. 

The way I see it, if you have to place Fractures manually, then you're basically setting up a backtracking mechanism that's only useful in Defenses and maps where you can stay in one place for long periods - which is intended to be Aether's forte anyway. Of course, if you decide to place one in the air on a Defense, you have to go back periodically and refresh it, which means running all the way up to the rafters (if the map has any), falling back down and recasting in the air at the perfect time. All so you can affect a few Ospreys and Hellions. 
If you can place them from a distance, you can create a portal behind a target to shoot them in the back (I can think of a couple bosses that would be useful on), or across the room to re-angle a glaive for stealth play, whatever you like.

So... I guess I'll throw that in then!

10 hours ago, Rhekemi said:

I can't speak to this. Conclave is the devil. I rebuke it.

True enough, I don't play it much either, but then I figured some of the powers I wrote could be a little wonky against other players. So I started writing addenda for if it's used on a player, which produced augments. And then I figured I may as well write an equal number of augments for everyone...

10 hours ago, Rhekemi said:

Re-reading the concepts (which is how I noticed that you had Path first, but I'd forgotten), I think Scathach and Aether would be the most fun. (Previously I liked Dust and Aether.)

That's perfectly alright, as long as you like something! That's the point of writing a compilation, so there's something for everyone.

[Archwizard]

Finally finished off the icons with help from @tnccs215, and just for a little extra, I've written prompts for the quests for each frame.

[Krislen]

Quote

Passive – Temps d'Escrime:
-   Dealing a critical strike with a melee weapon will freeze the target in time for up to 2 seconds.
-   Innate Rift Strike with Rapiers.

Simple (probably stupid question) how would the passive interact with Red Crits (assuming the weapon in question could reach red crit levels)?

[arch111]

Good to drop in an see that progress never stops with these concepts.

They make me think of a band of warframes that belong together in a group, not enemies of the Tenno, more like a Guardians of the Galaxy setup.

And just like that images of a comicbook pop up in my head.

Why exactly DON'T we have an official Warframe comic anyway?  It's a perfect medium.

[Archwizard]

15 hours ago, Krislen said:

Simple (probably stupid question) how would the passive interact with Red Crits (assuming the weapon in question could reach red crit levels)?

Same way Berserker does. Red crits are still crits.

[Rhekemi]

Icons look good. Revenant seems to have the coolest ones.

Quests are good. Scathach's seemed the most interesting. For reasons.

[tnccs215]

Just now, Rhekemi said:

Icons look good. Revenant seems to have the coolest ones.

Thanks. Their process was quite turbulent-- more due to my busy schedule and neurotic mind than anything else. 

Archwizard had asked me before to work on them. I... Failed to give them in an acceptable amount of time, so Archwizard took the leashes, did them, and showed me. I attempted to interpret them, and past Arch's explanation, I gave my personal input: in general, the icons were not explanatory enough, so maybe *these* are better? Essentially, it was a team process of adaptation and thought translation.

The central idea to all was the hand movement revenant does when casting. The first icon to be done was Sacrifice's, at the time much rounder and softer than now. It was followed by Obliterate's, at the time radically different from now; a rework born out of my dissatisfaction with it, which grew as other icons were designed. It also looked like a parrot.

Torment followed, and it initiated a shift in design. The two previous icons were rather rounder and softer, while Torment has (after some attempts and ideas that dissatisfied  Archwizard and myself) the sharp, messy but streamlined you see today. This trace pleased both of us, and after making unravel (which was slightly different, having a longer index finger and more coils on the helix) I decided that it was a good idea to redesign the other two icons with this new style-- it both fitted Revenant more, and prevented idiossyncrasies in art style. Archwizard was on board with that, and though Sacrifice's rework was rather quick and easy (just make it more jagged).

Obliterate was much harder, since more than a conversion, I wanted to give it a total rework. Unfortunately, after the quite justifiable turn down of the first draft (it was way too complex, between other problems), I ended up dragging it for longer than I wanted, due to both a creative block and real life things. Archwizard did kept reminding me, a thing I'm rather thankful for. We (he) did managed to get it working once more: after  writing him some ideas I had, he took the liberty of aglutinating segments of other icons into the hand you see. Funny detail: that hand is the only thing that survived from the initial concept, it too originally softer. While usually I did the style conversions, this one Arch took it by his own hands. He sent it to me, and I in turn sent him some dissatisfactory drafts I had. He decided to take several components and concepts of said drafts, and adapted them into his idea, which is the one you can see. I personally loved it, and gave some input on some details. With all this Archwizard deserves, I think, most of the credit for Obliterate's icon.

Overall, it was a really nice experience. Communication was on point, and it was really pleasant to do. He asked me/I voluntaried myself to rework the others a while ago, however no promises, since college comes first. He already sent me the conceptual ideas behind each of other frame's icons, and though I'm yet to analyze them and send them my comments (if I ever do, since we both know no promises are kept), I'm quite eager to do so.

[Rhekemi]

@tnccs215

Yes, the refinement process shows. Good job to both of you, and thanks for the process summary.

[Archwizard]

Tweaked Scathach's Warframe Profile slightly.

On 11/10/2016 at 4:26 AM, tnccs215 said:

Archwizard had asked me before to work on them. I... Failed to give them in an acceptable amount of time

It wasn't so much "asking you to work on it and taking over instead", rather I asked you for feedback on the ideas I'd had after I'd already started work on all of the icons, since I viewed Revenant's aesthetic as a joint collaboration between the two of us and @arch111 (who I also asked for all of the icons). I didn't really get back to you with the actual art after asking for your thoughts on the idea. The process really started when you actually saw the original versions I'd developed.

Spoiler

As tnccs215 already stated, the idea for each one was supposed to be the motions Revenant would be making with his hands during the cast, while also conveying sort of runic imagery. These original iterations used simple shapes and assets from existing icons, like the swirl on Well of Life. However, tnccs215 pointed out that the holistic shapes didn't really fit Revenant's theme of breaking down.

Sacrifice was the one whose idea was translated most directly, since it was supposed to represent Revenant squeezing the energy out of his own life force. I liked the dark imagery of cultists making blood sacrifices when I was making Revenant (which is why I shifted his weapon to an athamé).
Obliterate took the most iterations, but we eventually got back to an improvement on the original idea, of Revenant raining down judgement on foes. 

Torment and Unravel are two I had the most struggles with developing initially, and some of the least inspired of the original. Torment is supposed to represent a curled claw while Unravel was a hand passively falling aside as he broke apart.
Eventually, I was inspired by the successful translation of Sacrifice and had this idea of Revenant causing himself suffering in all of his abilities except for Obliterate, like breaking his own fingers to cast Torment in a sort of "voodoo doll-esque" curse. From that image, tnccs215 developed the "withered" style you see in all of his icons, and upgraded Sacrifice once again to that style.

Even with Obliterate, you did most of the work, since I'd have zero assets without you. I just put the puzzle pieces you laid out together.

Edited November 11, 2016 by Archwizard

[Elydir]

On 11/10/2016 at 3:56 AM, Rhekemi said:

Quests are good. Scathach's seemed the most interesting. For reasons.

Cuz of arenas, isnt it.

[Rhekemi]

12 hours ago, Annon5150 said:

Cuz of arenas, isnt it.

Yep. I love Rathuum. Who doesn't love a battle-scarred gladiator fighting for redemption and survival? (In this case, our fan conept warframe.) That and to have a quest tied to something that's still living and breathing (as opposed to Inaros and the dead and gone past, good quest though), is a bit more exciting.

And the Grineer have always been my favorite enemy faction to boot.

Edited November 14, 2016 by Rhekemi

[Rosellaa]

The first frame is giving me Saryn vibes