RPI - Naomi Biro

[grand hinge]

Hey everyone! Welcome back to another RPI! We're super excited to welcome Naomi with us! So, as before, please keep questions to 1 only and vote on any question you'd like answered 🙂 We'll wrap up around 5pm GMT. Remember, you only get 1 question, so use it wisely, please.

[abstract furnace]

Chorfs when? Jokes aside,

Will Karl Franz (and many others)get a reworked animations like archaon?

By the way, we can't vote

[jaunty path]

Any sign of Nagash this year or next?

[merry panther]

What's your opinion on the "theory" surrounding the longmas you are so proud of?

[grave pumice]

What was one of your favorite units that you have made?

[modest bone]

Hello yuey and Naomi!
Glad to see this rally point being back, my question is, and I hope you are the right person to answer this, will we get the chance to see cloth simulation on all capes? Or atleast all lords even older ones.
The problem with capes currently is how stiff they are, apart from the Game 3 Lords and Heroes that support cloth simulation

[jovial cedar]

Is Monkey King a possibility in the NEAR future?

[flint elk]

Do you have a real tabletop model next to you when you create the model in game?

[rustic wharf]

not sure if you've worked on the nurglings, but can we expect similar working units in the future?

[quaint tulip]

Hi! is there an flc ll/lh/unit/race/faction alongside the chaos dwarfs dlc release?

[safe egret]

Are there any plans of revisiting the Empire anytime soon? Specifically making more distinctive mechanics between Karl Franz and Balthazar Gelt.

[uncut sky]

Is Nagash going to be coming anytime soon?

[tight lark]

What was the most challenging LL to make?

[young patio]

Any chance we'll be getting more Elector Counts DLC along the way, flesh out the roster with more flair? Or any notable Empire characters for that matter? Thanks!

[woeful wing]

when you release your big and much hyped 100th Legendary Lord will they be by themselves or part of a pack?

if they're part of a pack I feel like it'd be hard to determine which one is actually the 100th

[hollow escarp]

What was your favorite unit design/animation that didn't get included in the game?

[foggy idol]

Hi, I'd like to know what sorts of creatures you used as the inspiration for the Longmas, they're awesome!

[glacial patio]

Are there some older characters you wish to revisit in the future?

[pulsar thicket]

Why hasn't Mannfred been removed yet?

[pulsar grail]

Hi. did you work on Total War: Three kingdoms? if so, did you take any inspiration from that game when working on units from Cathay

[proven kindle]

Hi!
Can we get Nagash and his Dark servants? Like Krell, Neferata, The Doomlord, Neferata and Walach Harkon, and ideally with Neferata and her little black kitten 😸

[grand hinge]

Okay reacts are working now 🙂

[stone sluice]

Not fishing for leaks here, but how difficult/fun is it to work on fire/lava effects on a monster? 😇

[merry gate]

Hello Naomi how did the games patches and bug fixes affect your work as a character designer? I mostly would think that a designer is occupied with working on future content rather then the bugfixes.

[serene axle]

I was wondering what the hardest unit to design was.

[mental loom]

Hello there, Naomi

Let's dilute the overly complicated questions a little and ask some fun, right?

If you play Warhammer games, which faction is your favorite and why?

[long summit]

Would someone be able to take a look at the tree man? His textures have been bugged for a longtime - his LoD looks aweful only a short distance away. Otherwise appreciate all your great work.

[fluid trench]

Hey Naomi, I know you can't spoil future plans, but any chance the Norscan marauders can get a touch up when Norsca gets reworked? Having almost half the roster using the same model as the WoC marauders is a little disappointing. Cheers!

[quick prawn]

Can you speak about possible reworks of older races ? what would you personally like to see reworked ?

[rugged girder]

On a scale of 1-10 how extravagant did you make the hats for the upcoming DLC?

[high brook]

Hello there 🙂

IF Fishmen and other not-in-the-game-creatures in this world will ever be on the list of GW & CA what of all creatures would you be most interested in to create and seeing in game which still are not in the game right now?

[quaint dew]

Ogres or Trolls?(this is a very important debate I've been having with friends)

[dim cloud]

When will you ever go back and update/fix the skills, technology trees and faction mechanics of other factions than pay to win content? Such as the Empire, Skaven, Norsca and many others.

Its much overdue you had the team work on current broken things than to add more problems to the game through yet more content.

[full nest]

Hello there Naomi, what has been the most challenging and perhaps consequentially most rewarding character that you have worked on?

[grand hinge]

Naomi: The Nurglings. I love watching them every time they move in the game. Our animator, Morten, really did a fabulous job with them. The Frost Maidens and the Longmas are a close second.

[grand hinge]

Naomi: Yes we sometimes do. Especially for the more complex units. For example, the Soul Grinders and Kairos were such cases.

[stoic quiver]

Will the Empire units get a restyle to make them more detailed like Kislev and Cathay human troops?

[grand hinge]

Naomi: We aim to improve all of our models from Warhammer 1 and 2, but I cannot speak about animations, for I am not the right person for that.  😉

[trail cliff]

Will you be involved in more cathay contents in the future? Good work on the longma btw

[twin yew]

Can you tell us a bit about some discarded concept models during development?

[near lantern]

How difficult is it to create units for those with either lacking models or ones perhaps not up to par with the rest of the franchise?

[left parrot]

Do you guys have separate QA team that specifically looks for model/texture glitches? Or is it all handled by the character art team?

[weary root]

Hi. Will Krell, the Green Knight, as well as Gotrek and Felix get reworked into proper legendary characters? AKA: with their own gears, traits, skills and ability to level up and gain new traits? Because they feel lacking in potential or don't have other uses apart from only on the battlefield.

Felix especially is in dire need of functioning like any normal character in the game because he can't defend himself against agents. Apart of ancillaries that increase agent defence he can't protect himself and this is no protection against high-level agents that wound him with ease.

[amber leaf]

Why do we not have hanging guts on any of the Nurgle units ? It's always been one very iconic aesthetic of Nurgle so it's a bit sad to not see it anywhere.

[low current]

Are you exited about Warhammer Old World? Is it going to bring some opportunity to Total War?

[faint geyser]

Are you planning on fixing the missing/broken sync kills? Mournfang Cavalry for example are missing completely from Warhammer 3 when it was working in WH2. None of the WH3 unit sync kills have these problems, they work on all units perfectly.

[rocky blade]

Could you edit this message to make your question clearer and concise for Naomi please? One question only. Thanks. 🙂

[slim grail]

What's the unit or character you would love to be working on ?

[terse wind]

Were there any wacky alternative designs that were considered for any of the CoC? Vilitch with fancier plumage, Azazel but prettier, Valkia but funny pointy cone all the way?

[urban cypress]

Do you plan on increasing the animation limits for units? example being the sync mod currently cannot add new animations due to a 100 limit cap placed on all units, I feel like this really needs to be increased especially with future content coming which is going to add even more animations.

[merry igloo]

Will you someday remember the forgotten, but very dear to me, Halfling? thank you

[brittle sapphire]

Snakemen of Khuresh when?

[rocky blade]

Please keep questions relevant to the interview please! For any bugs or issue reports please head to our forums: https://forums.totalwar.com/categories/support-area

[vapid gorge]

Will we eventually get more variants for generic lords and heroes?

[tiny oriole]

How much inspiration, if any do fan made models/reskins etc. give you? (/what are your thoughts on them from your POV?)

[civic nova]

Hello! Wanted to ask, because I was honestly curious about this, is part of your onboarding process for new artists new unit variations?

[glacial locust]

What was most challenging when working on upcoming DLC?🙂

[crystal barn]

Did the new DLC present a challenge for you as a character artist?

[supple compass]

Will the lizardmen Geomantic web get a rework in the future?

[grand hinge]

Naomi: The Longma was an interesting combination of elements. I mostly looked at horses for body anatomy, but for colors, dragonflies were the inspiration. For the wings, butterflies, and for the head, birds. They were a lot of fun to make, but the most challenging aspect was arranging the scales in a way that guided the viewer's eye through the major muscle structures on the body.

[rigid echo]

While doing models for this next dlc you were talking about, is there something you particularly want to see players reaction to ? Is there like a model that you think turned out better then you originally thought ?

[rocky blade]

Naomi: Yes, we are very much intent on revisiting older characters and upgrading them as time goes on. 🙂

[velvet kite]

What is the most difficult model you have worked on?

[north obsidian]

Are there any plans to introduce more customizable Legendray Lords or perhaps Heroes similar to Daniel?

[bold kite]

Will the legendary lords from warhammer 3 get their own high quality portraits like the legendary lords from the second game have?

[versed wolf]

What Chaos God do you find the most visually interesting?

[lucid vale]

Good morning! My question is regarding the Coatl from the lizardmen DLC. Most artwork depicts it as a serpent with a more snake like face, what was the decision behind that and is there any plans revise things that the community feels missed its mark? (Not complaining your work is fantastic, thank you so much!)

[grand hinge]

Naomi: We worked in close collaboration with Games Workshop when designing the Cathay units. We consulted with experts on Asian and Chinese history as well, but we did not take inspiration from Total War: Three Kingdoms, and sadly no, I did not have the pleasure of working on that project. I was on the Total War: WARHAMMER III team at the time.

[gloomy leaf]

Hi, Naomi, thank you for your time. May I ask how does it work when working on the models, do you have to bear in mind the different system possibilities, how do you both prepare the best models, and also adjust them to different graphical settings? Or is this done automatically somehow? 😉

[serene tree]

Do you have database of higher quality models of everything than quality of what is used in game ? For hypothetical high resolution dlc.

[rocky blade]

Naomi: Hi Nanox. 🙂 Bug fixing is a vital part of games development, and I personally really enjoy it. My team and I all want the characters to look their very best in game, and for that bug fixing is necessary. We always try to improve our tech as well, which sometimes doesn't play nicely with older models, and since the Total War: WARHAMMER series is so massive, we need to make sure that all characters, old and new, work well and look great.

[unique estuary]

Hey Naomi. You rock. Keep being rad. No question.

[inland sand]

Hey Naomi, who is your favorite faction/fantasy race?

[grand hinge]

Naomi: Hi Slaanesh Daemonette. :D Hahaha. I love this question. Hands down Tzeentch. Being an artist, I am more visually motivated rather than by the game mechanic. Tzeentch to me are the best-looking, prettiest faction whilst also being insanely vicious little beasts. I may also be partial to birds. I love the bird theme of Tzeentch and the color scheme. The second place for me is the Slaanesh. ^^

[sage crystal]

On the topic of updating older models, is there the possibility of new assets being made to update old units as well as the updated textures? For example in an Empire update, new heads/faces being added to state troopers and generals to add more variety. Or handgunners getting a powder monkey like they had on tabletop?

[rocky blade]

Naomi: I can't reveal too much, but I will say we are looking into reworking or at least upgrading our older models. Regarding your question, for me it's without a doubt Empire. It's one of the biggest and most awesome factions we have, but it's also one of the oldest. They need a bit of love. 🙂

[lone heath]

What was the decision to change Grimgor into looking like the main character from Mask "the movie". You guys do amazing works on the models, but Grimgor Ironhide is the one character that looked visually a lot better and "realistic" if can use that word in fantasy setting in Warhammer 1 i gotta say. Amazing models otherwise! Keep up the great work👍

[ivory totem]

Hellu Naomi, how does the texture/modeling process look like, step by step?

[grand hinge]

Naomi: Hahahahahha.... hahahahaha. 😉

[rocky blade]

Naomi: Ogres. 😆

[blazing mulch]

Were there any models during the production for warhammer 3 that reached a near complete state, but then had to be totally redone into what we have in game now?

[grand hinge]

Naomi: The Tzeentch Daemon Prince. It was one of the most rewarding characters I worked on, but it was also one of the most challenging. Because the Daemon Prince has so many interchangeable parts we couldn't have one artist work on every variant. So we had to match up styles, colors, and textures perfectly between 8-10 artists' works. As a character art team, we all need to work in a similar style, but with the Daemon Prince, we had to replicate the style of every artist perfectly to match the parts up.

[orchid ibex]

Hello Naomi. The models in the game are gorgeous and I'm loving the game since wh1. There's many things I could ask, so I'll start with something simple, what skill did you learn during the development of the trilogy which you find valuable? And now the hard part, regarding the next dlc, did you have more enjoyment with the settlement, or the unit designing?

[rocky blade]

Naomi: In cases where there are no Games Workshop minis, we work in close collaboration with Games Workshop to design the characters faithful to the lore and style of their faction.

[glacial patio]

Would you rather own a pet squig or a pet blue/pink horror?

[rocky blade]

Naomi: Our awesome QA team finds all issues with our models. They check our characters from every possible angle, up close, from a great distance, and try and spot any visual issues with the model or the textures. These bugs are then sent to the character team, and we try to fix them all in the shortest amount of time. 🙂

[crimson salmon]

Which Legendary Lord from WH3 do you think your team did the best job brining to life

[rigid heart]

A lot of fans have their own opinions on the overall theme of warhammer. Some like the over the top, silly looks while others like the grim-dark tone. For the sake of argument lets take the chorf designs from pre- and post throne of tamurkhan.

What's your process in choosing a one of these themes?

[rocky blade]

Naomi: There are several complex reasons for this, one of which is age rating. But mainly because of animation. Hanging guts on characters might distort terribly when they move.

[spark quest]

Is there the possibility to rework the look of sone Kislivitian units like Tzar guard and Kossars? Mainly because I think many people would like to see the Kossars having their sleeves (like in the first Wh III trailer)and a more distinguished Tzar Guard variant from the regular armoured Kossars.

[rocky blade]

Naomi: The character I would have loved to work on would be the Fiend of Slaanesh. The Fiend was made by one of my exceptionally talented colleagues. It has such insane anatomy! It's a dream (or nightmare) for an artist to work on something so weird. 😆

[merry panther]

The person who had to animate the nurglings would probably like to disagree....

[grand hinge]

Naomi: We love fan-made models, but we never use any of them for inspiration. We always only use official Games Workshop-approved artwork to ensure that we respect the lore to the fullest and that we do not introduce elements that are not in the official lore.

[sharp glacier]

Something that I've always noticed is that some models that you use in trailers (like Karl Franz or Eltharion) or that can be seen on Artstation seem to be higher quality/have more polygons than the models used ingame
Would it be possible that you can use those high-quality models at one point if the game performance allows it?

[rocky blade]

Naomi: The onboarding process for new artists varies on the level of ability. For example the process won't be the same for a Senior character artist as that of a Graduate character artist. Senior character artists usually start from the deep end immediately. They are assigned a character to work on. A Graduate character artist could potentially be assigned unit variations or Regiments of Renown type of work, but this too depends on skill level. Whichever the case, we always make sure that the new member of our team feels welcome and that they find the work enjoyable, rather than overwhelming. 🙂

[grand hinge]

Naomi: There were a few challenges, one of which was a relatively major one, but beyond that, my lips are sealed. What I will say is that it's gonna be EPIC.

[orchid sedge]

As you know I have been hoping for a cross promotion between Total War Warhammer and Team Fortress 2 such as CA has done previously for Rome 2 and Shogun 2.

If such a thing were to be approved by all parties involved, what would you like to submit as a TF2 cosmetic/item or work on in terms of such a cross promotion?

[merry panther]

Epic? Troy DLC confirmed!

[plain bluff]

What is your favorite source of inspiration for these units? Do you like looking at the GW models or do you prefer the army books and artwork?

[wicked schooner]

Hello Naomi! 😀 How many artists work with you on a DLC like the Chorfs? Is there a specific model made by someone in your team that you'd like to highlight for us?

[gentle oriole]

Be honest, do the character designers at CA love or hate the old derpy figurine for Nagash?
I'm not asking if he'll ever be added to the game, let alone that goofy model, just what your thoughts on it are.

[reef lotus]

Will you ever revisit the character model for the exalted lord of change. He seems to be lacking some stuff and adding the sword from the tabletop model would be so cool!

[grand hinge]

Naomi: Yes, a lot of very positive and fun challenges. Won't spoil anything though. 😉

[grand hinge]

Naomi: This is a tough one because I love all of them, but I'll go with Nurgle because they are so icky. There's almost something creepy going on with their body. Mouths everywhere, tentacles and worms, and all sorts of strange corruptions. They are visually very interesting.

[cunning pike]

Hey Naomi!

One of my favourite things in total war games are the variations between units, different helmets and such (gnoblar saucepan helmets ftw), do you work on the variations, and if so, what were the most fun ones?

[rocky blade]

Naomi: Hahaha. There's a lot of amazing stuff in the new DLC I cannot wait to see how the community will react to. 😄 Being an artist, we always try to outdo the quality of our previous work. So yes, there are a lot of cool and amazing stuff coming, and all of it turned out much better than we expected.

[autumn salmon]

Which race would you like to bring to life? And how far up do the Halflings rank on that list?

[rocky blade]

Naomi: Hi SusaVile. 🙂 When we create our models, we try and think of all graphical settings, so we optimize the tri-count of the model as much as possible whilst keeping it looking great. We also use different texture sizes and try to optimize those as well, so in case someone with a lower end machine wishes to play the game, they can do so, seamlessly, whilst keeping the quality of the characters high enough so players with powerful machines can take full advantage of that.

[grand hinge]

Naomi: Tzeentch and Slaanesh. 😄

[rocky blade]

Naomi: Hi 3MoreChrone. In short, it's Proxy, Rigging, High Poly modelling, Low Poly modelling, Texturing, Skinning and Animating. ^^

[ivory rover]

Is there any hope that Bretonnia could get additional units? If you had to make one, what would it look like?

[unique tinsel]

Hi Naomi! Can we expect any updates to older models in the next patch?

[paper badge]

Can you make me less short in game? NOT THAT I AM SHORT NOW. I am the high king after all.

[sudden forge]

What's the strangest piece of reference you've used for a unit

[grand hinge]

Naomi: Hi Smol Sol. :) Thank you so much for the wonderful compliment. We are always so happy to hear that you love the game. I'll answer your second question first. Settlement design is not my area. That would be Environment Art. Because I am a Character Artist, definitely Unit design is my favourite 😄 Regarding your first question; project planning. It's a boring answer, but it's the most valuable skill that carries over from Total War: WARHAMMER I to Total War: WARHAMMER III.

[torpid stump]

Curious if there's a particular model that gave the art team headache during development?

[rocky blade]

Naomi: Pet Blue Horror. Have you seen how cute they are slamming the ground when they are anxious to attack? Perfect guard dog. 😉

[grand hinge]

Naomi: All of them, but my personal favourite is Skarbrand. 

[rocky blade]

Naomi: The characters shown in trailers are rendered, which means we can afford a lot of polygons and much higher texture resolutions on them. Sadly, our in game models cannot be that high, just because in Real Time, the game needs to sometimes handle 10k characters on screen. With this many characters, we can't have as high a tri-count as the rendered characters from the trailers. However, hypothetically, if the technology would be there, we would love to have all our characters to look like in the trailers.

[rocky blade]

Naomi: We use both actually. :) If official Games Workshop models exist, we use those for inspiration, otherwise, we rely on the army books and official illustrations, and of course, a close collaboration with Games Workshop. They are always very happy to help us out and guide the concepts for our characters. Through this collaboration we can insure that the characters will be as faithful to the lore as possible.

[wise nimbus]

Hello. As a designer what does the workflow look like when coming up with character and creature concepts? How much freedom do you have to come up with cool new ideas versus how much back and forth you have to do with GW?

[worldly bane]

Hi Naomi (And Yuey and Steve 😄)! In earlier answers you've mentioned how you work closely with Games Workshop to ensure that the art in Total War: Warhammer remains faithful to the Warhammer Fantasy aesthetic as envisioned by GW. Especially when designing units with no tabletop model equivalent.

I imagine you can't get into every little detail, but if possible I'd appreciate a little bit of insight into this collaborative process. What form does their guidance take, and how much freedom do you have to interpret?

Thanks

[grand hinge]

Naomi: Hi Aslo. Currently, we have 11 artists on the team, and every one of them is a dedicated and talented person. It would be very hard to pick only one person to highlight. I would suggest instead looking for Total War: WARHAMMER III official artwork on Artstation.

[grand hinge]

Naomi: Hi Flicker. :) I agree with you on the variations. They are a lot of fun to make. Regarding your question, units with variations are considered 1 character asset. So 1 artist works on the whole set of variations.

[grand hinge]

Naomi: I'm afraid it would have to be Tzeentch! 😄

[grand hinge]

Naomi: I can't answer the first part, but the answer to your second question is Louen Leoncoeur. He exists already as a character, but if I could do any Bretonnian Lord, it would be him

[merry panther]

You just killed a penguin's dream

[grand hinge]

Naomi: Sorry Thorgrim! We are all out of growth potions but don't worry, we all love you, just the way you are ❤️

[grand hinge]

Naomi: I can't say exactly, but I will say it's for Nurgles. Whilst we were working on Nurgle units, I always wondered, what it would say about us if someone looked at our browser history on image searches. 😅 😂

[grand hinge]

Naomi: The Daemon Prince. It gave everyone a headache. Hahahaha. But I think it's also the character we are very proud of as a whole.

[glad cobalt]

Have you started work on the next dlc or still finishing current dlc

[stable ruin]

I'm not sure how much you know about the lore, but what Warhammer character would you like to work on that is not yet in-game purely out of a design perspective (if this is possible to answer, not looking for future content stuff)? Alternatively, if you could redesign/improve on one of the characters in-game, who would you choose?

[grand hinge]

Naomi: I cannot truly answer this question from a Designer point of view since I am a Character Artist, but I would say that it's a fine balance for WARHAMMER. Games Workshop is very supportive and a pleasure to work with, but at the same time, we are all committed to keeping as faithful to the lore as we can, whilst creating some fun characters, visual effects, and game mechanics.

[grand hinge]

Naomi: Hi Matt (Daemon <-- great name 😂 )
As you guessed, I cannot go into too much detail. I will say though that Games Workshop is very supportive of us exploring new ideas, new designs, and new mechanics. They will give us feedback on concepts and if we stray too far from WARHAMMER lore they will kindly offer alternatives and pointers on how to find a good middle ground between innovation and faithfulness to the aesthetics of WARHAMMER. It is a highly collaborative process, something I enjoy very much.

[dire mortar]

Are you planning on working on a bretonnian dlc? Or a Ind dlc?

[rocky blade]

Naomi: The Exalted Lord of Change. I would really love to redo that character fully. Make him more epic.

[brisk surge]

is there any chance to design Triton , the Lord of the Sea , in game as a character with his Trident roaming the oceans and attacking armies at sea and creating whirlpools ?

[brittle sapphire]

I still wish that Nippon (in honour of Shogun Total War's 23rd anniversary), Kingdoms of Ind, Khuresh, Tilea, Estalia, Albion, Araby and Amazons to be added for Immortal Empires or even as new DLCs. Is there any Chance?

[hard lily]

Was there a character/unit that looked good on paper but you couldn't get it to work in game

[green vortex]

Hey there, if that ever happens, how does your team feel when the community asks for a redesign of a unit you were proud of ?

[rocky blade]

That's all, folks! Huge thanks to everyone for their questions to Naomi! We hope you enjoyed today's Rally Point Interview. 🙂