Ruin Machine/Design

==Ancient Kingdom Guardians==
Ancient Kingdom Guardians: Behind the Scenes of the Creation of Ruin Monsters
From Ruin Guards that can be seen throughout Teyvat to the majestic and intimidating Aeonblight Drake, these are the war machines left behind by a fallen kingdom. How did the people of Khaenri'ah design mechanical structures from their imagination without ever seeing a life form on the surface? Let's take a look at how the Genshin Impact team brought the Ruin Monsters to life!
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Mephisto, Creative Concept and Writing Team: The Ruin monsters are the first mechanical monsters that players will encounter during their adventures on the continent of Teyvat. As Dain said before in "We Will Be Reunited," the Ruin Machines all hail from the fallen land of Khaenri'ah. And these machines are now known in Teyvat as Ruin Guards. By design, they are tools of war for Khaenri'ah. So, in a nutshell, the Ruin machines are totally different from the other monsters we see in the game. The humans we face in-game, the Hilichurls and the Abyss monsters behave according to certain social dynamics and adapt their behavior according to their ecological environments as natural and elemental organisms would, while the Ruin Machines are automated tools designed and manufactured by the people of Khaenri'ah. Although they are all classified as Ruin monsters due to different design purposes and functional differences within their respective divisions. Ruin monsters actually have different forms. For instance, for the relationship between the Ruin Guard and Ruin Grader, we can think of their design basis as "machines of war built in man's image." By respecting this foundational design idea, a distinction is then created when it comes to their form. If there are major differences in their shape, we can think of them as having different design purposes, respectively. Using military units as an example, the Ruin Guards most resemble "infantry" whose job it is to advance and hold territory, while Ruin Hunters are much closer to skirmishers. When we designed the Ruin monsters, we identified two set points at the Creative Concept and Writing level and the Ruin Machines must satisfy at least one of them. One is functionality—"Form determined by function"—while the other is biomimesis. The combat, art design, and presentation of the Ruin monsters basically revolve around these two set points.
===Oh! So It's a Field Tiller? Function Determines Form: Design and Presentation===
Xzi, Monster Design: For functionality, when creating the Ruin Serpent, there's an embodiment of concentration. In line with the Creative Concept and Writing Team's settings, the Ruin Serpent is from the underground kingdom of Khaenri'ah and is a piece of engineering machinery designed for civil construction and tunnel development. From a mining standpoint, the first thing that comes to mind is all kinds of excavators and drillers. After consulting a lot of reference material, we finally set our direction on the key elements of wheeled excavators, drills, and plows, and sketched out the first draft based on our imagination. Will there be any problems regarding the animation and the 3D production aspect? Will there be any differences when we portray it in animation? During the discussions with the animation team, they anticipated that when such a large creature that is made out of a hard material is in motion. There may be significant deforming and stretching of the model; this is something we'd hope that players would never have to see. So we came up with the second version of segmenting different parts of the body and made an imitation of an earthworm, or at least, one that can drill into the ground. On this basis, we have enriched a lot of details from the perspective of practical functions: for example, the giant gear that's poking out of the chest cavity of the giant snake is actually the source of its energy. The stiff dorsal fins on its back allows it to plow through hard ground as it slithers on the surface, and the Ruin Serpent can use them to control its direction by turning left and right as it burrows underground. The giant drill on its tail can be used to drill holes, and it is also designed as a means of attack.
ello-chan, Monster Design: Similarly, as one of the Ruin monsters, its body has also inherited a biomimetic form assembled from parts. You probably had quite a shock when encountering the Ruin Drake for the first time. Why does it not have any hands? Actually, when we were designing the Ruin Drake, the primary starting point is still from practicality. When we were looking for a reference, we actually looked at various forms and even made some zany concept art like turning hands and feet into motorcycle wheels. But because of the way the wheels and axles move, it's harder to adapt to the terrain of the open world. We finally chose prehistoric giant creatures such as the Tyrannosaurus Rex and Pterosaur as sources of inspiration for the Ruin Drake. This is also more in line with the theme of the Ruin machines being strange and ancient. However, while working on the sketches, we found that the claws of Tyrannosaurus Rex were simply too small and it's hard for them to be functional. So we just cut out that part of the design and placed more emphasis on the wings instead. When the wings are fully spread, the overall shape has the look of a massive claw which gives players a sense of oppression. At the same time when we were designing, we found some farming tools that we could use for reference. Let's take the Ruin Drake's tail for example. One of its big gears is based on a seeder.
Tiffany, 3D Character Design: When creating large Ruin monsters, we faced three major problems: the first is that geometric design for such a large figure could make the model look too feeble and crude. So we used a more chamfered structure with concave and convex layering, and added different degrees of damage and cuts to break up the feeling of repetition and monotony such as metal, rocks, trees, and moss that are highlighted in the texture; or the texture of erosion or decay that highlight the feeling of antiquity, boorishness, and heaviness typical of the Ruin monsters. The second is the logic behind the mechanical structure. The dynamic movements of the Ruin Serpent's gear drill as well as the Ruin Drake's folding, retractable, and rotating form—getting those right during the 3D production process is not just a matter of getting the shape right. The mechanical principles also have to be taken into account. We made constant corrections and adjustments throughout the design process. Otherwise, we would have had to deal with a variety of animation and display errors during post-production. The third is environmental impact, particularly during the construction of the Ruin Serpent. The unique nature of The Chasm's environment causes the underground lighting and environment to have a greater influence on monsters. So making the final adjustments took a long time, such as the brightness and color in the mapping, the intensity of Emission, etc. All of these needed to be further adjusted to match the environmental effects in order to achieve the desired result. Upon seeing the original design of the Ruin Drake, the first impression we felt was novelty. There's a natural fit between its draconic form and the heaviness that characterizes the Ruin monsters. During 3D production, we also wanted to give the player a different experience through more intense styling and dynamics.
===It Looks Like... a Jellyfish! Biomimesis: Design and Presentation===
Mephisto, Creative Concept and Writing Team: Aside from "Form determined by function," another major part of our design philosophy for the Ruin Series is "biomimesis," that is, imitating a living creature in structure and behavior. Khaenri'ah is a nation located underground. In terms of ecological diversity, its nature is lacking compared to the surface. Therefore, among the mechanical engineers of Khaenri'ah, there are some people who are obsessed with the idea of mimesis... In other words, they wanted to create a mechanical ecosystem underground using human intelligence. As for the Ruin Sentinels, the engineers are people who have not seen life on the surface, so they drew inspiration from bionic beings in their own imaginations to create war machines.
ello-chan, Monster Design: The overall design of the Ruin monsters follows "biomimetic" principles. In addition to considering the mechanical structure, we also had to consider the ecological behavior of the animals they were inspired by. By combining the mechanical with the biological, we can get a constant stream of creative solutions: such as the mimetic Ruin Machine. Most of its structure is made up of two triangular pieces by combining different life forms with a simple basic shape in a manner similar to using building blocks. We managed to create four interesting solutions with considerable differences. The Ruin Monsters were an urgent request at the time. It was necessary to go as quickly as we could to create new monsters with as few materials as possible. We had to uphold the quality of the design and the performance of the final product and also give players a feeling of novelty. It was definitely quite a challenge for the whole monster development team. In this case, our production team began with frequent meetings and communication. Finally, we decided on a TED Talk video which featured origami robots as our preliminary reference point. Using simple geometry to assemble many different shapes, we first tried assembling different geometric shapes to see its effect, and we realized that the square shapes resembled the Hypostases. While equilateral triangles are difficult to put into a more regular and movable form. During this period, we also borrowed baby building blocks from the 3D team to use them in an attempt to assemble some shapes. Finally, we decided upon the isosceles triangle as the base shape for variations. And with the help of 3D modeling effects software, we managed to create four models for Mimetic Machines and the Perpetual Mechanical Array. At the same time, we also designed dozens of patterns and eventually chose something that didn't look too flashy but had sufficiently rich details and are in line with the ideal Ruin monster design language.
oldsang, In-Game Animation: Once the Ruin monsters had taken their forms, in the process of making them "move," it is necessary to take into account the unity between the "mechanical" and the "biological." The Ruin Serpent is an iconic example. In that it is a heavy machine in the form of a giant snake, we wanted to find a happy medium between the mechanical and biomimetic textures which took a lot of trial and error. To speed up the testing, the animation team's Technical Artist developed a line segment fitting scheme. Initially, we had to model the skeleton segment by segment. Now all we have to do is draw a single line and the tool will automatically make it conform to the shape of the snake's skeleton, allowing us to change its posture conveniently and quickly. After comparing various drafts, we ended up using a ratio which heavily favored mechanical behavior over biological behavior. The mechanical behavior is reflected in its drill rotation, diving headfirst into the ground, ascending in a spiral, among other movements. For example, one ability is to straighten its body before smashing down like a club and rolling back and forth on the ground before finally moving its head along the ground before returning to its normal stance. Both the process of rolling around and ending of the movement use the gears as support points and are clear representations of mechanical behavior. At the same time, in terms of skills and movement patterns, you can also see some characteristics of biomimesis. The movement of snakes can be generally described as "slithering" and "stretching." So in the context of the whole mechanical texture, signature elements such as "coiling" and "stretching out" were included.
youzi, In-Game Animation: When you look at its behavior, you will recognize that it is a snake-like machine with mild mimicry. In the same way, the Ruin Drake's design has a physique inspired by a combination of machines and dinosaurs. Its biological behavior is inspired by some bipedal creatures in reality. In the overall animation design, we wanted to emphasize a sense of threatening oppression via its heavy armor to strengthen the idea of its body being a "tool of war." So you can see for its abilities; its head, tail, chest, wings, and other parts of its body have a wide range of attacks. The mechanical aspect is a reference to fighter jets, like a booster on its wings to vertically take off and land as well as to boost forward. The wings themselves can also be ejected. As for long-range strikes from the air, such as chest missiles and wing strafes, it is used to reflect suppressive fire from heavy weaponry, etc. Based on this, when compared with the rest of the Ruin monsters, we made the Ruin Drake and Ruin Serpent to be more advanced than the other machines of Khaenri'ah while still remaining very much a part of that same civilization.
Delphinium, 3D Effects: Unlike the various monsters in the world of Genshin Impact who can call upon the Seven Great Elements, the Ruin monsters usually don't have Elemental Attributes and they fight with all sorts of ancient technological weapons. From an artistic standpoint, we wanted these special effects to be different from the kinds of weapons we have in the real world while still conforming to the laws of physics and maintaining the stylized textures of our fantasy world. It is a dream for many boys to operate a large, lumbering machine. In the process of special effects design, we drew inspiration from a lot of giant robots from various works. For the Ruin machines such as the Ruin Grader, we designed a beam ability that can be fired from its eye or core. They're also capable of using a variety of missiles and artillery, along with extendable arms always ready to "punch" Khaenri'ah's enemies. To create a Macross-style Itano Circus barrage of homing missiles We worked with our client platform colleagues to develop a new ballistic control system which allows the combat designer to control the trajectory of the missile in real time throughout the entire process so that it can hit the target after a sharp turn. In terms of optimizing performance, we've once again made significant modifications to the system that was used for Azhdaha by reducing the power consumption of this missile system to one percent of ordinary missiles to ensure that different barrage abilities can run smoothly in the face of these new technologically advanced fighting machines. You should exercise caution.
===Here, Found Its Weak Point! Attacking of Weak Points and Combat Behavior: Design and Presentation===
ju, Combat Design: When we began creating the Ruin monsters, we had the goal of making precise attacks more rewarding. In other words, a character with a bow would fare best against them. But due to the fact that aiming with a bow is less convenient on a mobile device and with a controller, we took into account the overall combat experience for players across all platforms and decided to de-emphasize precision attacks for subsequent monster designs. Instead, there is more emphasis on well-timed attacks on weaknesses as well as creating means to activate those weaknesses. In the beginning, we designed the Ruin Guard which had a weak point that was always active that players could attack at any time. To balance difficulty and encourage skill improvement, we created weak points that, after being hit, the monster would enter a protected state. And after attacking the weak point with rapid hits, the target can be completely paralyzed. The Ruin Hunter's design emphasizes the choice of confrontation strategy. You can choose to fight in melee mode without aiming for weaknesses or attack from a distance and trigger it to take on a different form, making its attacks even more powerful. But it can also be shot down from the air. Players can configure their own team and make decisions based on their combat habits. For the Ruin Grader and Ruin Sentinels such as Ruin Scouts, we've come up with a more advanced design regarding the timing of attacking their weak points. A specific weak point is only activated during a specific time frame, raising the stakes for how you should act. When attacking, the Ruin Grader will activate a weak point in its corresponding area because it's also charging its corresponding parts. So only at the timing before and after activating the skill can the corresponding weak points be attacked. The cores of the Ruin Sentinels are better protected. But those cores will be exposed when its energy is released as a means of attack. To highlight the Perpetual Mechanical Array characteristic of splitting into Ruin Sentinels, we combined the "weak points" with the flow of combat. During the splitting phase, a "chosen" Ruin Sentinel acts as the "weak point" of the Perpetual Mechanical Array. When it is defeated, the protection of the Perpetual Mechanical Array's core will become untenable and it will enter a state of paralysis. On the Ruin Serpent's body, we wanted to try something new: combining the mechanical theme of The Chasm With "attacking the weak point" in order to create a more novel experience. The result is that when the Ruin Serpent is about to unleash its special skill players would have to use the Lumenstone Adjuvant's Blooming Light to destroy the Oozing Concretions. Integrating elements was also something we wanted to experiment with the Ruin monsters. As the Ruin Drake was our first attempt at this, we decided to treat the issue as a "choose your own path" kind of situation. Players can counter its Elemental RES mechanism by configuring their team to have more elements before battle, or they can go for the more old-fashioned "attack the weak point" route. We hope that, in terms of visuals and mechanics, the player has a coherent understanding of the Ruin monsters and that the challenge of learning how to fight them as well as the combat difficulty is a relatively gradual process. When you meet a new Ruin monster for the first time, you will have a basic understanding of how to fight it, both in terms of its shape and behavior. Even without a tutorial teaching you the new mechanics, you will not be completely helpless. In this regard, art design and animation are also necessary.
ello-chan, Monster Design: Due to the unique weakness mechanics of the Ruin monsters, we have to take into account the aesthetics of the appearance. And we also need to visually guide the player to identify the weak spots in combat. This requires us to make the weaknesses visible enough to incorporate into the design. When designing the Ruin Serpent, we set the core in its torso as its weak point to make it easier for players to counter-attack. And from a functional point of view, we added cascading gears around the core to form the Ruin Serpent's energy core. It's like fighting against Mr. Cyclops. Travelers can paralyze the Ruin Serpent by attacking its weak spot. Meanwhile, the Ruin Drake has two modes: ground and air. We also needed to think about each of these two forms in their own respective right in terms of the player's perception of vulnerability. For this reason, we used the structure of the black cross on the head of Mr. Cyclops and a very bright core to emphasize weaknesses in its head and wings. This allows the player to easily identify the part that needs to be attacked. For example, in the Ruin Drake's flight mode, the player can clearly identify weaknesses on the front of the wings to shoot it down. The difficulty lies in how its texture interacts with the ground and its constant interaction with the gravel on the ground. This sense of weight of heavy armory is very difficult to render.
oldsang, In-Game Animation: When designing the abilities, the fluidity of movement is very crucial. Unlike biological creatures, machines can move articulately without muscular movement. Therefore, the preparatory movements are not necessary and is much more difficult to express a feeling of power. Additionally, the feeling of resistance when drilling the ground; the inertia of gargantuan objects; the dampening of force; the short-circuit paralysis caused by an energy impact; when the machinery ceases to function; falling on the ground due to gravity, etc. These are situations that need to be carefully handled by the animator in order to create a sense of realism and ensure believability to keep players immersed. As you can see, with such a large model, every tiny piece of structure on the Ruin monster moves individually. The squeezing, colliding, pushing and pulling of its respective movements all need careful polishing. If we present these movements individually, players may not notice them. But if we don't approach this meticulously, the difference is quite obvious even towards someone who is not an animator and can be seen with the naked eye. To put it bluntly, it's thanks to the efforts of the monster development team that players can have a great combat experience. In the future, we will continue to rely on your feedback to create more exciting content. We hope that you can experience these new forms of combat and appreciate the amazing design of the monsters. And hopefully, at the end, get a lot of materials after defeating them. I believe this all underscores the design and impact of the monsters' design.
Category:Developer Insight