Samwise Didier Gives a Shout-Out to Hive

[Archian]

The HiveWorkshop has just received one of the greatest honors any Warcraft III modding community could ever hope for: a personal shout-out from Samwise Didier, the legendary Blizzard artist, art director, and the stylistic father of the entire Warcraft universe.

Yes, that Samwise. The man whose bold, chunky, unmistakable art style defined Warcraft, StarCraft, and Heroes of the Storm. The man behind orcs with huge chins, shoulder pads the size of boulders, and the iconic Blizzard fantasy aesthetic that shaped an entire generation of gamers and creators.

And he noticed us.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1998742353259971016

 

[stein123]

The legend himself!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Chaosium]

What a guy! Praise be Samwise "BTNTemp.blp" Didier \o/

 

[Evilhog]

"Hiveworkshop: now featuring Samwise Didier's Seal of Approval!"

 

[Avahor]

 

[Panda]

Very nice to see we are getting noticed, as we should!

<3

 

[FlameofChange]

Quoting a response from the tweet :

With all due respect, Sam, Hiveworkshop has been constantly tolerating AI generated content on it’s forums with no restrictions whatsoever and it’s unfortunate that a community which used to be the creative center of RTS modding fell to that plague.

Seen like that, it is much less sexy alas.

 

[Footman16]

Quoting a response from the tweet :

Seen like that, it is much less sexy alas.

I'm curious who made that reply to the tweet, since it's untrue about there being "no restrictions whatsoever". Especially since the Hive is still a place of lots of creativity and the majority of the works are non-AI and will probably continue to be so. A response like that seems to me, to be insulting to all the artists who still call the Hive home and who contribute.

It's a shame someone has felt the need to sully what is a nice and thoughtful gesture from Samwise Didier.

 

[Panda]

I'm curious who made that reply to the tweet, since it's untrue about there being "no restrictions whatsoever". Especially since the Hive is still a place of lots of creativity and the majority of the works are non-AI and will probably continue to be so. A response like that seems to me, to be insulting to all the artists who still call the Hive home and who contribute.

It's a shame someone has felt the need to sully what is a nice and thoughtful gesture from Samwise Didier.

Theres always gonna be at least 1 hater haha.

 

[Chaosy]

Very cool.
Would be even cooler if he did it while working for Blizz but I'll take what I can get

 

[Dr Super Good]

"Shoulder pads the size of boulders"
Did he invent them or did game workshop invent them for warhammer fantasy battles? Hard to find a chronology of orcs with big shoulder pads but what is certain is that both intellectual properties had them by the time Warcraft III came around.

 

[MickCraft]

Samwise is a legend - his large Warcraft III poster hung above my computer for roughly five years and is my desktop background to this day. I think it is great that he is familiar with the Hive! Well done Evilhog!

 

[knight26]

Fuck yeah.

 

[Superfrycook]

Our old friend Samuro.

 

[Rommel]

Samwise, THE man and THE legend!

Meeting him in person 15 years ago was one of the coolest moments in my life, period.

proceeds to the Vault of Relics

 

[Nyctaeus]

Bows down deeply and humbly.

All hail The Master!

 

[Armelior_is_back]

Is he still at Blizzard ? No idea what he's up to since the old site where Blizz artists with him, Metzen and 3 or 4 of the WOW guys posted their concept arts disappeared (I think it was called Heroes of the Storm like the game or something like that).
Over time WOW seems to have changed artstyle so I'm guessing no.

In any case, yes the guy is a legend and his artstyle influenced way beyond just Blizzard games or RTS when WOW became a cultural phenomenon.

 

[Retera]

Is he still at Blizzard ?

No. He was very clear about this on his YouTube channel.

I am intimately familiar with this because based on that video, for entertainment, I posted a 10 minute long AI generated parody where AI Samwise says almost the same stuff but instead says that the reason he left Blizzard is that Retera is evil, ruined Reforged, and made continuing in the creative space of Warcraft impossible for AI Samwise. (This is, of course, a parody.)

Seen like that, it is much less sexy alas.

Glad to see Footman replied to this and how it's false. Hive has dedicated sections for AI generated content to hide it from user view. To me that indicates a desire to promote non-AI creators in a difficult world where these technologies exist whether we like it or not.

Obviously when users do not self report, it's much harder to filter out AI generated content, but this problem is not unique to Hive. AI generated content which is not labeled as AI generated does not come with good watermarking, and never will.

Yes, that Samwise.

It's funny for me to think that even this past week, I was riding around a map of 0.5.3 Kalimdor loaded into a LibGDX game that uses Hive's "View in 3D" model technology for Warcraft to render Warcraft stuff in a custom game environment, toggling between RTS camera for building some night elf buildings in Ashenvale versus toggling back to a third person "WoW" camera and UI and mounting up on the "Dwarf Car" from Azeroth Grand Prix repurposed as a mount for my hero, blasting around the world at +400% mount speed in the rocket powered "car" listening to one of my AI generated metal songs that includes the lyrics:

And I don't care if Rhonin Sammy's
Not here to make it fancy
He'll always be the cube
To kill the little noob
That lives in all of us

I uploaded it here for fun, but the music is clearly labeled by Hive Workshop as AI generated.

Edit: Text aside, my point is that this was a ton of fun this week and wouldn't be the same without Samwise Didier:

 

[General Frank]

Great shout out from Samwise. Truely a legend.

 

[Retera]

Anyway, really cool to see the shout out from Samwise. I think it might be time for me to order his book for myself as a holiday gift. Maybe you guys on Hive could order a copy as well. As I recall, it's an art book of mostly drawings called "Brutal: The Art of Samwise" and he specifically got permission to include even some of the Blizzard/Warcraft concept arts he drew in there.

 

[Wlizer]

What a guy! Praise be Samwise "BTNTemp.blp" Didier \o/

View attachment 562997

Wtf I always thought this was bill roper

 

[Chaosium]

Wtf I always thought this was bill roper

I think so? It's the texture for the SammyCube as well so it makes sense I think lol

 

[Retera]

Any time it was up for debate which human beings were represented by the Shoveler and Sammy! units, I always enjoyed the fact that they both have tooltips in the game data which can be accessed to read about who they represent.

[zshv]
Name=Kobold Shoveler
Hotkey=K
Tip=Train |cffffcc00K|robold Shoveler
Ubertip="Vice President of Blizzard, Frank pearce. Powerful programmer, good at cutting through the chaff and getting tasks done. |n|n|cffffcc00Attacks bugs.|r"

[zsmc]
Name=Sammy!
Hotkey=M
Tip=Train Sa|cffffcc00m|rmy
Ubertip="Lead artist, Sam Didier. Good at concept art and texturing. Has many artist minions that do his bidding. |n|n|cffffcc00Attacks bad art.|r"

 

[Bitterman]

I am surprised that he knows that Hive exists, still, great shout out!

No. He was very clear about this on his YouTube channel.

I am intimately familiar with this because based on that video, for entertainment, I posted a 10 minute long AI generated parody where AI Samwise says almost the same stuff but instead says that the reason he left Blizzard is that Retera is evil, ruined Reforged, and made continuing in the creative space of Warcraft impossible for AI Samwise. (This is, of course, a parody.)


Glad to see Footman replied to this and how it's false. Hive has dedicated sections for AI generated content to hide it from user view. To me that indicates a desire to promote non-AI creators in a difficult world where these technologies exist whether we like it or not.

Obviously when users do not self report, it's much harder to filter out AI generated content, but this problem is not unique to Hive. AI generated content which is not labeled as AI generated does not come with good watermarking, and never will.


It's funny for me to think that even this past week, I was riding around a map of 0.5.3 Kalimdor loaded into a LibGDX game that uses Hive's "View in 3D" model technology for Warcraft to render Warcraft stuff in a custom game environment, toggling between RTS camera for building some night elf buildings in Ashenvale versus toggling back to a third person "WoW" camera and UI and mounting up on the "Dwarf Car" from Azeroth Grand Prix repurposed as a mount for my hero, blasting around the world at +400% mount speed in the rocket powered "car" listening to one of my AI generated metal songs that includes the lyrics:



I uploaded it here for fun, but the music is clearly labeled by Hive Workshop as AI generated.

Edit: Text aside, my point is that this was a ton of fun this week and wouldn't be the same without Samwise Didier:

View attachment 563475

Speaking of AI, i think it would be nice now that both ip's now live under the same roof, it would be nice to have a voice pack for Skyrim curated by hive.

the draenei companion mod became file of the month at SSE nexus, uses ai, and is very polished.

 

[Luashine]

Day 10950: Senpai noticed Hive.