Octoling Hype Thread (prev. Assets in SplatNet)

[BlackZero]

Nothing was either confirmed nor denied. It's just being blown out of proportion, yet again.

Darn. I hate wasting a perfectly good "I told you so." Maybe there's someone else I can use it on.

Although, if it all comes down to this, and we won't get Octolings after all, then I really would like to do something, that allows us to get to play as them elsewhere, if we cannot have them in Splatoon.

You do realize that there are not only Octoling and Inkling player models for Gmod, but also Callie and Marie models. There is also someone working on an actual Splatoon Gmod gamemode.

 

[Flareth]

Well, it's less that I think they're completely out of the question now, I'm just keeping my expectations down so I don't set myself up for disappointment if they don't become a thing after all. I've seen what it does to people, and I know I'd react the same way.

 

[G1ng3rGar1]

Well, it's less that I think they're completely out of the question now, I'm just keeping my expectations down so I don't set myself up for disappointment if they don't become a thing after all. I've seen what it does to people, and I know I'd react the same way.

Smart, but let's not bring the mood of the whole thread down.

 

[Flareth]

Oh, no no no, of course not. I don't intend to. I mean, the news is concerning, but it's not the total deconfirmation I might've made it out to be. I see no reason why anyone else should give up hope, nor do I wish they would.

...I don't think I'm helping my case. I'l show myself out.

 

[warghoul]

Thanks. I was wondering what happened with the hype train,

I got the hype train on stand by at the station. Do worry it`ll be ready to roll down the tracks at a moments notice.

 

[Paragon-Yoshi]

You do realize that there are not only Octoling and Inkling player models for Gmod, but also Callie and Marie models. There is also someone working on an actual Splatoon Gmod gamemode.

I see.
Though I have to admit that GMod is not my venue.

MGS5 however is one of the games I play. Bad story aside, this game is really fun.
And since the PC-version is already subject to mods, including model edits, I can see model importing being a thing some time in the future.
And I wouldn't hesitate to use Octolings in my Metal Gear missions.
Plus, I think the whole professional sneaking, weapon use and CQC would suit them.
Would be awesome to do all that with Octolings.

I just hope that Drillrobot's Enhanced Models can be used outside SFM eventually.
But I digress... ^^;



As I mentioned before, I am very interested in seeing the Octarian's story and more importantly, debunk all the lies and misinformations the Inklings made up about them.
Seriously, some of the stuff written in the Sunken Scrolls, namely the ones where Inklings talk about the Great War and Octarians, really reek of bulldung.
Which is a reason why I started the "Octarian Reports" Project.

But I'd think a fan-game could be even better at this, albeit much more complex and time-consuming to make, if it features both Inklings and Octolings as playable characters.
It could cover their side of the story properly, while being playable at the same time.
It would be killing two birds with one stone.

Although finding the proper people willing to help out, is always the one impossible first hurdle...

 

[G1ng3rGar1]

Oh, no no no, of course not. I don't intend to. I mean, the news is concerning, but it's not the total deconfirmation I might've made it out to be. I see no reason why anyone else should give up hope, nor do I wish they would.

...I don't think I'm helping my case. I'l show myself out.

You can stay, I won't mind :)

But I'd think a fan-game could be even better at this, albeit much more complex and time-consuming to make, if it features both Inklings and Octolings as playable characters.
It could cover their side of the story properly, while being playable at the same time.
It would be killing two birds with one stone.

Although finding the proper people willing to help out, is always the one impossible first hurdle...

I'd love to see a fan's take on this.

 

[Sunstone]

Octoling fan fiction. Hm hm?

I'm starting to wonder if this is going to be cutting room floor kinda content. I mean, having extra assets left in games in not unheard of by any stretch. With the theory now that many of Nintendo's Treehouse now moving to go full throttle on the NX (becuase holy **** does it need a STRONG launch line-up!), it doesn't seem like a huge stretch to think Octolings are now being saved for Splatoon NX/2.

 

[Paragon-Yoshi]

Again, the Multiplayer Octoling-Models were UPDATED time and again.
With the last update they received being the one before the current one, as far as I know.
Although I don't think dataminers uncovered what changes were made to the Octoling-Model in the current update.
So if they find any changes in the current update as well, your argument really doesn't hold any water.

Updating a model that is supposed to be used in a completely different game, is completely illogical.

 

[aceofscarabs]

Working on assets that get used in the sequel(s) is a big thing, mind. In the Zelda franchise, several dungeons that got left out of earlier titles were recycled for later ones. In Sonic Chaos, an unused BGM got turned into Sunset Park 3 in Triple Trouble, the next game. Gastrodon's artwork and pokemon theming existed as early as Gen 1 (and Gastrodon artwork appeared as early as RuSaEm), as did Marill, Miltank, Girafarig, Blaziken, and the Lati@s, and an unused RGBY track was brought back as the Kalos Victory Road theme in X&Y (admittedly RBYG was originally meant to have 190 instead of 151, but memory constraints forced them to cut stuff and save it for GSC).

 

[BlackZero]

But I'd think a fan-game could be even better at this, albeit much more complex and time-consuming to make, if it features both Inklings and Octolings as playable characters.
It could cover their side of the story properly, while being playable at the same time.
It would be killing two birds with one stone.

Although finding the proper people willing to help out, is always the one impossible first hurdle...

Nintendo is notoriously overprotective of how their IP is used. I'm not sure how feasible a fan-made game would be. The closest thing would be Gmod, or someone could make SFM movies. Beyond that, I think we'll have to wait for fan-comics and fiction which would be purely head-canon and not actually reflect the dev's ideas.

I'm starting to wonder if this is going to be cutting room floor kinda content. I mean, having extra assets left in games in not unheard of by any stretch

I've already explained this, but video game developers cut corners where they can to meet their deadlines and to avoid doing extra work they really don't need to do. It's more likely they used Inklings as a base model for Octolings, and just copied everything over. They would change what they wanted for the Octolings, and leave the rest of the assets they didn't need as is. This would include the Inkling's palette table (colors), which may not be labeled as exclusively Inkling assets. They would simply set these colors to not display (or only display magenta) without having to select and delete all the other colors. I don't think this is cutting room floor stuff. I think the devs took necessary shortcuts because they didn't expect people to go digging in the game files, thus thought these assets would never see the light of day among the consumer base.

This again raises the issue of no male models if this was cut content versus simple asset copypasta. Most cut content has game data, it's simply not configured to function in game. For example, Fallout 3/NV had a lot of cut weapons. They weren't accessible in normal game, but you could get them through console codes. Most of them had complete models, textures, sounds, and animations; they just weren't placed in the game. If playable Octolings were ever a thing, the male models would have been already added to the data table. With that said, it's very likely Octolings will play a greater role in the sequel now that the interest is there.

Again, the Multiplayer Octoling-Models were UPDATED time and again.
With the last update they received being the one before the current one, as far as I know.
Although I don't think dataminers uncovered what changes were made to the Octoling-Model in the current update.
So if they find any changes in the current update as well, your argument really doesn't hold any water.

Updating a model that is supposed to be used in a completely different game, is completely illogical.

There are two plausible reasons for this.

Depending on how the assets are stored in the game's registry, these Octoling updates may have simply been updates to the assets that Octolings use. In many games, several character and item models that are similar enough share the same assets. If the devs updated the asset itself, it would reflect in the game's data table as an update to everything that used that asset. Considering that Octolings and Inklings likely use the same base model and many of the same textures, updating one asset that both use would make it seem like the devs were updating Octolings when they were updating certain assets that Octolings use. I think this may have been what was going on all along: the devs weren't updating Octolings per se, rather updating assets the Octoling data table referenced and people took that to mean they were working on playable Octolings.

Also, depending on how much of a graphical leap the NX makes from the Wii U, it's very likely the dev team will use Splatoon's assets and data table as a base for the sequel. There's really no reason to start from scratch unless they're planning to completely overhaul the game. So, these updates for Octolings in Splatoon could be the devs preparing Splatoon's files and data table for the sequel. This is very common with games that have follow-up titles and investing the time and effort into assets just for one game is a waste if the devs go straight into working on a sequel. They may increase the poly count on the models and add some animation bones, but I'd be very surprised if they didn't recycle as much from Splatoon as they could.

 

[Silentium]

Huh, neat info. It seems obvious at first, but most people would've never thought about it.

In any case, there's really no reason to hold your breath for the Octolings. From all of the recent info about DLC's, it looks like Splatoon is being wound, so there's more to worry about outside the Octolings.

 

[Paragon-Yoshi]

I though we went over this already...

All this "keeping Octolings for sequel" things would make sense,,, if it weren`t for 3 contradictions:
.1, The seperate Octoling-Models were UPDATED, even in the more recent updates.
They weren't just content that was scrapped and abandoned.
2. The Octoling-Models are in fact, NOT just copypastas,
Nintendo had to do some things differently for Octolings, to get them to work. Again referring to the updates made for them.
3. Why are we considering work on a sequel to begin with?
The game was released just half a year ago. So give it a few years at least before talking about a sequel.
Creating content for a sequel that far in advance, when the first game just came out (one that Nintendo didn't even expect to be that successful, mind you), doesn't make much sense.

 

[G1ng3rGar1]

I though we went over this already...

All this "keeping Octolings for sequel" things would make sense,,, if it weren`t for 3 contradictions:
.1, The seperate Octoling-Models were UPDATED, even in the more recent updates.
They weren't just content that was scrapped and abandoned.
2. The Octoling-Models are in fact, NOT just copypastas,
Nintendo had to do some things differently for Octolings, to get them to work. Again referring to the updates made for them.
3. Why are we considering work on a sequel to begin with?
The game was released just half a year ago. So give it a few years at least before talking about a sequel.
Creating content for a sequel that far in advance, when the first game just came out (one that Nintendo didn't even expect to be that successful, mind you), doesn't make much sense.

See, this is what keeps the Octoling Hype Train alive.

 

[BlackZero]

I though we went over this already...

Yes and no. I acknowledge that, based on the blog entry you linked, there was a possibility Nintendo planned to do something with Octolings, partially because I was busy with finals and didn't have time to spend debating it, partially because everyone had already made up their minds and assumed playable Octolings were a given, and partially because Nintendo had modified files the Octolings used.

The seperate Octoling-Models were UPDATED, even in the more recent updates.
They weren't just content that was scrapped and abandoned.

Aside from the Hacker's Tumbler posts showing a new mouth, what actual game data and patch notes from Nintendo have you seen that shows only the Octolings were changed and NIntendo didn't simply update certain game files that Octoling models used?

2. The Octoling-Models are in fact, NOT just copypastas,
Nintendo had to do some things differently for Octolings, to get them to work. Again referring to the updates made for them.

Again, what actual game data have you seen that shows this? Not what you've heard through the rumor mill or hype factory, not what you've seen on the internet that you want to believe, but actual game data you've looked at that shows what files were modified and what models use those updated files. I'm wanting to know how they managed to do all this, but the people in this thread, despite following all this from day one and being experts on the subject, are only able to tell me that it's been done. Until you or someone in the thread can show me the actual game data or changelog from the devs, there's no point in discussing this further. I wouldn't be surprised to see them in a future release, though.

Why are we considering work on a sequel to begin with?
The game was released just half a year ago. So give it a few years at least before talking about a sequel.

Games don't appear out of thin air completed and ready to ship. There's a lot that goes in to it. If they want to have a title ready for the NX soon enough that the console has a decent amount of life left, they will need to get started sooner than later. It's not uncommon for devs to start a follow-up shortly after they stop supporting the original, so it's not unrealistic to think they will be working on a sequel soon unless they want to skip a console and release it after the NX.

 

[Paragon-Yoshi]

Aside from the Hacker's Tumbler posts showing a new mouth, what actual game data and patch notes from Nintendo have you seen that shows only the Octolings were changed and NIntendo didn't simply update certain game files that Octoling models used?

There is no official word from Nintendo at all. They kept silent about the whole thing-
Dataminers did all the digging and uncovered the content deep within the game's code.
And they datamined every update to this point, and see that the content in question has been updated with most of the updates that came.

Again, what actual game data have you seen that shows this? Not what you've heard through the rumor mill or hype factory, not what you've seen on the internet that you want to believe, but actual game data you've looked at that shows what files were modified and what models use those updated files. I'm wanting to know how they managed to do all this, but the people in this thread, despite following all this from day one and being experts on the subject, are only able to tell me that it's been done. Until you or someone in the thread can show me the actual game data or changelog from the devs, there's no point in discussing this further. I wouldn't be surprised to see them in a future release, though.

I am not dataminer. So you have to ask @NWPlayer123 that question.
I am sure she can give you the answers to that.

Games don't appear out of thin air completed and ready to ship. There's a lot that goes in to it. If they want to have a title ready for the NX soon enough that the console has a decent amount of life left, they will need to get started sooner than later. It's not uncommon for devs to start a follow-up shortly after they stop supporting the original, so it's not unrealistic to think they will be working on a sequel soon unless they want to skip a console and release it after the NX.

And that's exacly why it is unrealistic to talk about a given sequel at this point in time.
It is just like you said, games need a lot of work and time.

But dataminers uncovered the Octoling-Model in question very early in the game's life.time.
I am unsure when exactly. Again, something that only @NWPlayer123 can answer for us.
There is a possibility that it was there from the very beginning.
Originally unused. But since Octolings hace become so popular, something Nintendo probably didn't expect, they decided to ontinue working on it, hence the updates made on the model.

Now if you are saying Nintendo is already working on a sequel for the NX, that these Octolings are meant for... Sorry, but I think that is very unlikely.
Again, because the game is roughly 6 months old. It it way too soon for a sequel to be in the works.
And one more thing, that also was mentioned before, Splatoon was a surprise hit.
Nintendo never expected it to be successful. So it is very likely that Splatoon originally was supposed to be a Single Game, never meant as a series.
This massive success however changed things and a sequel have become realistic.
But again, not this early.

The success of this game, didn't come overnight. It needed some time for the game to sell.
Speaking even less for a sequel being in the middle of development right now.
Heck, they are not even done with the current game yet.

And yet you continue to suggest the Octoling is something made for a sequel?
Sorry, but that's impossible.

As professional as Nintendo is, even they cannot make a quality game in just a couple months.
Good games take at least a year to finish. And I am not even talking about planning and the like....

 

[BlackZero]

And that's exacly why it is unrealistic to talk about a given sequel at this point in time.
It is just like you said, games need a lot of work and time.

I do not mean the sequel will be ready any time soon, but they will be starting work on it if they want it ready for the NX in about 2-4 years. I thought I was rather clear that game development takes a long time.

Now if you are saying Nintendo is already working on a sequel for the NX, that these Octolings are meant for... Sorry, but I think that is very unlikely.
Again, because the game is roughly 6 months old. It it way too soon for a sequel to be in the works.

You don't honestly believe every game and its sequels are made completely from scratch do you? Developers recycle as much as possible from previous games. There's nothing unlikely about it, to start completely from scratch is inefficient and they'd be duplicating a lot of work already done for Splatoon. There is no real reason to not use older game data unless they just don't want to. I can't imagine devs not wanting to use it though.

Nintendo never expected it to be successful. So it is very likely that Splatoon originally was supposed to be a Single Game, never meant as a series.
This massive success however changed things and a sequel have become realistic.
But again, not this early.

Do you know how long game development takes? It took a 150 man core dev team 4 years to make GTA IV. Super Smash Bros Brawl too approx 3 years. If they are ending support soon, I doubt they are going to be sitting around doing nothing. They will either start another Splatoon project, or move on to something else entirely. If they start another one, it could take up to four years before we see it finished, which would be half-way through the NX's' generation life based on the Wii and Wii U. That could be longer or shorter depending on how the NX sells.

And yet you continue to suggest the Octoling is something made for a sequel?
Sorry, but that's impossible.

Sorry, I wasn't aware you spoke on behalf of Nintendo and the dev team. So you can confirm that Nintendo doesn't plan to re-use any Splatoon assets in a sequel should they choose to make one? That's a break from tradition, to say the least.

As professional as Nintendo is, even they cannot make a quality game in just a couple months.
Good games take at least a year to finish. And I am not even talking about planning and the like....

I have not suggested once in this thread that they will be releasing a sequel in the next few months. Actually, I have been quite clear that a sequel will be a long-term undertaking that they should start soon if they don't want to release at the tail end of the NX's life cycle. If any part of that is unclear, please quote it and I will try to explain it in simpler terms.

 

[G1ng3rGar1]

@BlackZero And why would they update something that's not going to be used in the current game? If they were using it for Spla2n, then I would have it separate from the first game. I wouldn't update it almost every update just to move it to the next game.

 

[Paragon-Yoshi]

Plus Nintendo is not the kind of company to just recycle content.
At the very least, they will put some serious time into re-working existing content for a new game.
Which takes time on it own.

The days, where you can simply copypaste content and call it a day, are over.

 

[Of Moose & Men]

These two say hello.

I'm not saying the Octolings will/won't be released in the next month or so. But they most certainly will leave things in that are un-accessable without hacking/cheating devices, that aren't released until the next iteration of the game. Just saying, them editing and updating the Octoling models does not make them automatically bound to be released in this game. They very much will still Copy and Paste things they already have, these two are examples of it.