This year I only attended a few talks at BAF Game, ones that would be of most relevance towards my dissertation. The one that I really enjoyed the most was a talk from Warren Spector who designed Epic Mickey. It was great to see game animation that embodied some of the 12 principles of animation and had that appeal that you wouldn't necessarily get from other games. Mickey Mouse is such an iconic character and because of this the animation and style had to be recognisable to his original form. Luckily Mickey is a very adaptable character, over the years he has had many different design iterations, for a game though he had to come across as a 'hero'. The team had to make Mickey look like a hero but also have his original appeal.
The animators did a great job with all of the animations. They used old Mickey cartoons as reference in order to get his movements correct, they did these so well that when composited in the original scene, people couldn't tell that it was 3D. I was immediately drawn to the animation when Warren showed us at BAF, I went and bought the 2nd one for myself and the animation really impressed me. Because of it being a game, the animations have to seamlessly intertwine with one another. When a player wants to change actions, the movements have to change at any point and without being noticeable. Game like Epic Mickey make game animation more appealing for myself, right now I'm looking at feature film animation or commercials. Unless it's cinematics I find game animation somewhat repetitive , yet with Epic Mickey it feels more refreshing and exciting. It's combining the exaggeration of animated characters into game format.
Showing posts with label BAF Game. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BAF Game. Show all posts
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Sunday, November 13, 2011
BAF Game - Day 2
Day 2 consisted of:
Nick Adams came to talk about Blitz Games most recent production - Puss in Boots for Kinect. He specified 4 key areas in which they worked by.
Tony Wills from Eurocom talked about Goldeneye - the new Bond game. This was purely motion capture where the camera would track movements using an optical system. They would capture the footage in real time in order to speed up production and this would then reduce the need for re-capturing. What I found interesting was seeing different game companies using similar technology yet adapting it in their own way. You get to see the pros and cons of each and the work process that they do to get to their final product.
Over the 2 days it has given me some valuable knowledge into the industry and how they go about working. Referencing and testing is key and stories are important. After seeing the work and development behind L.A Noire I think I will probably go out and purchase it to see the real gameplay. At first I wasn't too interested in it but after seeing the technology behind it I am more interested and inclined to play it.
- James Busby - Ten24
- Nick Adams - Blitz Games
- Brendan McNamarah - Team Bondi
- Tony Wills - Eurocom Developments
Nick Adams came to talk about Blitz Games most recent production - Puss in Boots for Kinect. He specified 4 key areas in which they worked by.
- Start with the player - they had to focus on the performance of the character, in this case Puss in Boots. The 3 main areas in which actions would derive from would be combat, traversal (cat attributes) and thievery ('cat burglar').
- Deliver a hero experience - to begin with they tried out Avatering. This is where you take the skeleton of a person and directly impose it onto the character. However they found out that this didn't work too well. From this they tried gesture drive animation. They animated lots of variations of sword play for example. Which ever way the person moved they would then play the specific animation - this worked far better. They would take what the player did and exaggerate it.
- Working with Kinect - they had to use preemptive gesture here in order to have everything move in time with each other.
- Start gesture - detect the start position and prepare the correct animation
- Mid gesture - full animation would be triggered
- End gesture - the whole animation catches up
- Usability Testing - this highlights any issues, they would test it out on their target audience to see how the players perceived their game. From this they would then make any necessary alterations to improve it. Always test.
Tony Wills from Eurocom talked about Goldeneye - the new Bond game. This was purely motion capture where the camera would track movements using an optical system. They would capture the footage in real time in order to speed up production and this would then reduce the need for re-capturing. What I found interesting was seeing different game companies using similar technology yet adapting it in their own way. You get to see the pros and cons of each and the work process that they do to get to their final product.
Over the 2 days it has given me some valuable knowledge into the industry and how they go about working. Referencing and testing is key and stories are important. After seeing the work and development behind L.A Noire I think I will probably go out and purchase it to see the real gameplay. At first I wasn't too interested in it but after seeing the technology behind it I am more interested and inclined to play it.
BAF Game - Day 1
This week I attended BAF Game (The game part to Bradford Animation Festival). This took place over 2 days and had many speakers from different parts of the game industry talking about their most recent work.
Day 1 consisted of:
The first talk was by Jay Grenier from Image Metrics. He explained the characteristics of Faceware - a facial animation technology which Image Metrics created. This piece of technology is not necessarily a film or games tool, it's an animation tool. It has been used in many well known films and games such as: 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', 'Assassins Creed' and 'Red Dead Redemption'. Unlike Motion Capture, you do not need any markers on the face or body in order for the movements to be picked up. It is able to work from any video feed therefore making it inexpensive. This video would then have to be processed and converted into a specific file in which the Faceware software could identify and break down the video. Faceware itself is not dependent on a specific rig e.g Maya, 3ds MAX, instead it is driven by the software, this means that no matter what 3D programme you are running it will be able to intergrate within that and still work all the same.
The way Faceware works is that once the video is input into the software, it analyses it and you are able to look through the video and find the key poses. Groups are created, normally into brows, eyes and mouth and you are able to set poses to specific areas of the face. The good thing about Faceware is that it seems quite simple to pick up and it does not matter if you specialism is in a specific 3D programme, the same principles would still apply.
Adrian Hon was the next speaker and he spoke about storytelling within games. He mentioned that games which had bad stories still would sell fine, so are we more bothered about the gameplay than the storyline? I myself find that the storyline makes the game, if there isn't a story that gauges my interest then most of the time I will stray away from it and not bother playing it. Adrian mentioned 3 things that would determine what games would be produced.
Risk - for a while video games would of had to go through publishers and they would help to fund and distribute the game. However recently publishers have no wanted to risk not making enough money so are not taking the risk to distribute games with a more unusual storyline or gameplay.
Distribution - In the last 5-10 years, a lot of things have changed to where we play and buy games. For example App store, Android, Steam, Facebook - all these places hold games where you can play or buy them yet you do not have to have any permission to publish your game. This is good and bad as even though really good games are now able to reach the public audience, how do you filter them out from all the average ones?
Funding - this plays a big part in producing a game. You'll need money to do this and normally you would try and get some funding of some sort. The person who may give you funding will demand some input and could prevent good/different games being produced. There is a way to get around this now, sites such as 'Kickstarter' and 'Indie Gogo' allow you to post your game and try and get funding from the public. This is exactly what Adrian and his company Six to Start did with their game 'Zombies Run'. They managed to get their funding goal and even more than they had anticipated so now this allows them to produce and distribute their game.
Simon Oliver explained that today, anyone is able to make their own game. There are so many pieces of software available to help you achieve what you want. Unity being the main one, a game development tool. Simon set up his own company and by doing this it gives you freedom. You are able toe work differently and have the freedom of expression. The freedom to meander - you do not have to have a set goal, you do not need to know what your final product will be like. You are able to experiment.
Olly Nicholson spoke about Unity and the new features the updated version would include. Unity is a free software which enables you to produce and develop your own games. There is a huge community so if you ever need help there are specific websites that would probably answer your question. There are always newer updates with Unity so there will be more specific tools to make creating your game a whole lot easier.
Matthew Stephenson and Nick Rodgers came from Frontier Developments to talk about Kinectimals and their most recent project Disneyland Adventures. Nick Rodgers was the lead animator for Kinectimals. Reference was key for this game not only did they take reference from cats, but for the movements they wanted to produce they found that dogs were a lot more lively and able to mimic the actions they wanted. They also took reference from humans to gain specific movements. Overall there was about 14 hours of animation and 2 hours of cinematics - the cinematics was not introduced until the last 5 months of production; this shows that you can be asked to do anything, no matter what time constraints you have.
Matthew spoke about Disneyland adventures and the mammoth task they had to take on. They had less than a year, almost 9 months with 20 animators to produce a game. This game had 36 hours, 28 minutes, 57 seconds and 16 frames of animation with 180 characters, each with its own rig. Near the end of the project they had to outsource to other studios as they did not have enough animators internally. Again for this game they referenced a lot. They watched Disney films and broke them down frame by frame to analyse and figure out how to transfer the movements and the 2D characters into 3D. A lot of work went into both projects, and by outlining what they did it really makes you appreciate all the time and work that goes on to create much loved games.
The last speaker of the day was Carlton Reeve. He pointed out something that took me by surprise, you will find kids these days determined to finish a specific game and put so many hours into it, yet how many hours would they spend studying or trying to improve their education? It takes about 100 hours to complete Grand Theft Auto 4 which is equivalent to 1/2 a GCSE and an 1/18 of a Masters Degree. He wonders what games are really good for - educational games never let you fail, however you do not learn if without failing. If you fail you will normally persevere through until you succeed. Carlton made the point about kids never learn from educational games, however I feel that it really depends what the game involves and what sort of questions are asked. I played many educational games when I was younger and I found them not only enjoyable but I also learnt from them as well. If a game is thought through and produced in a certain way I feel that it may well help someone to improve a certain area in their education.
I found the first day to BAF Game quite interesting as I got to see some of the specific pieces of software used in industry, and got to learn more about what goes on when making a game. Seeing these pieces of software in action and the end results gives me more motivation into wanting to pursue a career in animation and to gain as much knowledge and experience with 3D programmes as I can whilst I am at university.
Day 1 consisted of:
- Jay Grenier - Image Metrics
- Adrian Hon - Six to Start
- Simon Oliver - Hand Circus
- Olly Nicholson - Unity 3D
- Matthew Stephenson and Nick Rodgers - Frontier Developments
- Carlton Reeve - Play with Learning
The first talk was by Jay Grenier from Image Metrics. He explained the characteristics of Faceware - a facial animation technology which Image Metrics created. This piece of technology is not necessarily a film or games tool, it's an animation tool. It has been used in many well known films and games such as: 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', 'Assassins Creed' and 'Red Dead Redemption'. Unlike Motion Capture, you do not need any markers on the face or body in order for the movements to be picked up. It is able to work from any video feed therefore making it inexpensive. This video would then have to be processed and converted into a specific file in which the Faceware software could identify and break down the video. Faceware itself is not dependent on a specific rig e.g Maya, 3ds MAX, instead it is driven by the software, this means that no matter what 3D programme you are running it will be able to intergrate within that and still work all the same.
The way Faceware works is that once the video is input into the software, it analyses it and you are able to look through the video and find the key poses. Groups are created, normally into brows, eyes and mouth and you are able to set poses to specific areas of the face. The good thing about Faceware is that it seems quite simple to pick up and it does not matter if you specialism is in a specific 3D programme, the same principles would still apply.
Adrian Hon was the next speaker and he spoke about storytelling within games. He mentioned that games which had bad stories still would sell fine, so are we more bothered about the gameplay than the storyline? I myself find that the storyline makes the game, if there isn't a story that gauges my interest then most of the time I will stray away from it and not bother playing it. Adrian mentioned 3 things that would determine what games would be produced.
Risk - for a while video games would of had to go through publishers and they would help to fund and distribute the game. However recently publishers have no wanted to risk not making enough money so are not taking the risk to distribute games with a more unusual storyline or gameplay.
Distribution - In the last 5-10 years, a lot of things have changed to where we play and buy games. For example App store, Android, Steam, Facebook - all these places hold games where you can play or buy them yet you do not have to have any permission to publish your game. This is good and bad as even though really good games are now able to reach the public audience, how do you filter them out from all the average ones?
Funding - this plays a big part in producing a game. You'll need money to do this and normally you would try and get some funding of some sort. The person who may give you funding will demand some input and could prevent good/different games being produced. There is a way to get around this now, sites such as 'Kickstarter' and 'Indie Gogo' allow you to post your game and try and get funding from the public. This is exactly what Adrian and his company Six to Start did with their game 'Zombies Run'. They managed to get their funding goal and even more than they had anticipated so now this allows them to produce and distribute their game.
Simon Oliver explained that today, anyone is able to make their own game. There are so many pieces of software available to help you achieve what you want. Unity being the main one, a game development tool. Simon set up his own company and by doing this it gives you freedom. You are able toe work differently and have the freedom of expression. The freedom to meander - you do not have to have a set goal, you do not need to know what your final product will be like. You are able to experiment.
Olly Nicholson spoke about Unity and the new features the updated version would include. Unity is a free software which enables you to produce and develop your own games. There is a huge community so if you ever need help there are specific websites that would probably answer your question. There are always newer updates with Unity so there will be more specific tools to make creating your game a whole lot easier.
Matthew Stephenson and Nick Rodgers came from Frontier Developments to talk about Kinectimals and their most recent project Disneyland Adventures. Nick Rodgers was the lead animator for Kinectimals. Reference was key for this game not only did they take reference from cats, but for the movements they wanted to produce they found that dogs were a lot more lively and able to mimic the actions they wanted. They also took reference from humans to gain specific movements. Overall there was about 14 hours of animation and 2 hours of cinematics - the cinematics was not introduced until the last 5 months of production; this shows that you can be asked to do anything, no matter what time constraints you have.
Matthew spoke about Disneyland adventures and the mammoth task they had to take on. They had less than a year, almost 9 months with 20 animators to produce a game. This game had 36 hours, 28 minutes, 57 seconds and 16 frames of animation with 180 characters, each with its own rig. Near the end of the project they had to outsource to other studios as they did not have enough animators internally. Again for this game they referenced a lot. They watched Disney films and broke them down frame by frame to analyse and figure out how to transfer the movements and the 2D characters into 3D. A lot of work went into both projects, and by outlining what they did it really makes you appreciate all the time and work that goes on to create much loved games.
The last speaker of the day was Carlton Reeve. He pointed out something that took me by surprise, you will find kids these days determined to finish a specific game and put so many hours into it, yet how many hours would they spend studying or trying to improve their education? It takes about 100 hours to complete Grand Theft Auto 4 which is equivalent to 1/2 a GCSE and an 1/18 of a Masters Degree. He wonders what games are really good for - educational games never let you fail, however you do not learn if without failing. If you fail you will normally persevere through until you succeed. Carlton made the point about kids never learn from educational games, however I feel that it really depends what the game involves and what sort of questions are asked. I played many educational games when I was younger and I found them not only enjoyable but I also learnt from them as well. If a game is thought through and produced in a certain way I feel that it may well help someone to improve a certain area in their education.
I found the first day to BAF Game quite interesting as I got to see some of the specific pieces of software used in industry, and got to learn more about what goes on when making a game. Seeing these pieces of software in action and the end results gives me more motivation into wanting to pursue a career in animation and to gain as much knowledge and experience with 3D programmes as I can whilst I am at university.
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