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Guild Wars 2 devblog highlights cinematic conversations
"One of the things we game developers always have to struggle with is reconciling our ambition with the reality of a production environment," begins today's Guild Wars 2 dev blog. That principle of balance comes into play in the case of the game's cinematic conversations, as the blog notes. James Boer goes on to detail many of the unique strategies used in Guild Wars 2's dialogue scenes in order to ensure that precious balance between ambition and pragmatism. For instance, characters are designed in such a way that they don't look terribly good during close-ups, and there is no easy way to integrate facial animation. As a result, the team settled on a compromise, pushing the characters farther into the background. This, combined with the painted backgrounds utilized during conversations, lends a unique style to GW2's cinematic dialogues. For the full details, just head on over to the ArenaNet dev blog.
Guild Wars 2 developer explains updated cinematic conversations
Guild Wars 2 fans are starting their morning with an interesting update and some entertainment, thanks to ArenaNet's motion capture and cinematic guru Chuck Jackman. Chuck is the mind behind the newest ArenaNet blog entry, all about the recent improvements to Guild Wars 2's cinematic conversations. The cinematic conversations in Guild Wars 2 are the brief cutscenes that take place between player characters and NPCs at significant points in the story line. Until now, players trying the demo have only seen the placeholder versions of these cinematics, which consisted of a lot of seemingly-random emotes and what Chuck describes as "some very basic lip-synch that resembled more of a duck's bill than a human's mouth." The team has been hard at work on improvements, though, and today's blog entry unveiled two videos of the new cinematics. It's a fairly lengthy read, with plenty of explanation of everything from emotes to facial animations to voice work. If your eyes glaze over at even a hint of tech-speak, fear not. While we have our doubts about Chuck's claims of blotting out the sun and tearing code from the minds of ancient gods, it's definitely an entertaining and informative read for any gaming fan. Check out the full entry at the ArenaNet blog.
Choose My Adventure: Story time!
Welcome back, Choose My Adventurers! Last week I took you on a leisurely stroll through my beginning days in Final Fantasy XIV's Limsa Lominsa and asked you lovely folks to choose what I should do next. Wouldn't you know it, you told me to go and finish up the storyline. So that's exactly what I did! This week, however, by popular demand, I'm going to be doing less play-by-play re-enactment and giving more of my impressions on whether the game is... you know... good. So strap yourselves in and head on past the cut and let's see what Eorzea had in store for me this week.
TERA introduces new healer trailer
Healers are the unsung heroes of fantasy worlds, protecting the valiant warriors of the realm and receiving none of the glory. Well, En Masse Entertainment is looking to change that, and to start it off the team has released a new cinematic trailer thathighlights the healers of TERA. Our healer host for the trailer, a female Castanic, provides us with a bit of backstory via voiceover as monsters ravage the land. The heroes of TERA won't take that sitting down, of course, and soon enough our Castanic friend and her allies make a grand entrance and take down a legion of foul creatures, only to find themselves face-to-face with one Big-Ass Monster. For all of the action-fueled excitement, hop on past the cut for the full trailer.
Secret World dev diary talks story, context
Sleuthing for more story-centric info regarding Funcom's upcoming horror-conspiracy MMORPG? Look no further than The Secret World's latest video dev diary featuring commentary from designers Ragnar Tornquist and Joel Bylos as well as lead writer Dag Scheve. The trio highlights The Secret World's use of the real world as both location and character, with Bylos calling it "the greatest resource of all." The video shows a few new clips courtesy of the game's cinematics, but Tornquist is quick to point out that cinematics don't tell the whole tale when it comes to The Secret World's narrative. In spite of the fact that every character in the game is motion-captured and fully voiced, the story is "embedded into the world. You have to look for it, you have to search for it. The story is exploration and the story is discovery," Tornquist explains. Funcom also seeks to challenge gamers in ways that depart from the traditional MMORPG paradigm, and Bylos says that "we're not just asking them to click a mouse button over and over again, but to think about what they do." Put on your thinking caps and click past the cut for the full video.
The Game Archaeologist jacks into The Matrix Online: Jamming with Ben 'Rarebit' Chamberlain
When we started into The Matrix Online month last week on The Game Archaeologist, one of the comments caught my eye. Massively reader stealthrider wrote: Please, please do a tribute to Rarebit. MxO was his baby, and no one took its death worse than he. He did everything for that game, much of it single-handedly. Everything from playing the canon characters and co-writing the story to fixing hundreds of bugs and even creating a new zone from scratch. Not to mention developing and implementing the story missions, new items, the RP item vendors, and pretty much everything else in MxO's final couple of years. He even implemented and moderated a player-created minigame as part of the official story. He retired from game development in the months before MxO's shutdown. He was that dedicated to this game that he couldn't work on anything else afterward. He's a god among developers, and he is as sorely missed as the game itself. I think this sums up how many Matrix Online vets feel about Ben "Rarebit" Chamberlain. So instead of a mere tribute, we drove the MassivelyMobile over to Chamberlain's house (read: send a polite email request), and he graciously said he'd be glad to reminisce with us. So hit that jump to find out the last word on MxO from the dev who held it together!
A smattering of topics from Star Wars: The Old Republic
Fridays mean new updates for fans eagerly waiting on Star Wars: The Old Republic, and while last week saw the kickoff of PAX East and a hands-on demo (which we played), this Friday sees discussion on a wide range of different aspects. For starters, the latest Fan Friday feature has been posted, showing off new concept art and a fansite spotlight as well as a few new Sith avatars for forumgoers. A new developer diary is also available, which discusses cinematic animations, one of the major selling points for the game. Certainly the motion capture helps, but as the diary notes, it's not quite as simple as suiting up some capture actors and getting their raw data. Even for a simple scene, there's some fairly elaborate work necessary to make the animation and overall environment feel convincing. The end of the entry is devoted to several community questions regarding flashpoints, fresh in everyone's mind after the aforementioned demo at PAX East. If you're curious about how loot will be balanced in a dungeon with multiple storyline options, take a look at the full entry to get a clearer picture of how the system will be implemented in Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Killzone 3 contains over an hour of cutscenes
The "3" in "Killzone 3" might as well stand for the quantity of cinematics in Guerilla's latest shooter -- three times the amount employed by Killzone 2. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) said in its bestowing of an "18" (mature) rating on the game that its cutscenes total 70 minutes. Its predecesor, by comparison, contained 25 minutes worth of story sequences, according to the BBFC. Let's see: We know that characters voiced by Malcolm McDowell and Ray Winstone will be chewing up the scenery for a good chunk of that hour and 10 minutes; the rest will therefore be composed of shouting space marines and other guys who are also shouting but have red "eyes." Someone get Michael Bay on the phone!
The Daily Grind: Should trailers use only in-game footage?
The purpose of a game trailer is undoubtedly to showcase the game and generate some excitement for it. Many companies opt to release trailers using in-game footage, making a big selling point of their game's graphics. This strategy has been used to successfully promote games from World of Warcraft to TERA. With a trailer containing actual game footage, players can get a good impression of what the game will look like before giving it a try. On the other end of the spectrum, some companies choose to create vivid cinematics to showcase the game's story and get fans excited. These tend to show some key point in the game's lore, which fans of that IP are likely to respond well to. We've seen some pretty epic cinematics for World of Warcraft's Cataclysm expansion, DC Universe Online's in-depth story, Lego Universe's unique gameplay ideas and Star Wars: The Old Republic's epic backstory. With the latest few EVE Online trailers, there has been a strange merging of those two ideas. EVE's trailers were once filmed using only in-game footage, but over the past several expansions, CCP has begun moving into a more cinematic style. The trailers still depict the in-game environment but are rendered in an external scene-composition suite using higher resolution versions of all the models and textures in-game. The latest trailer for EVE's upcoming Incursion expansion certainly looks good and tells the story of what's to come, but is it missing something fundamental by using out-of-game graphics? Where do you stand on this issue? Should game trailers use only in-game footage or do you find well-done cinematics more enticing? And is there a middle ground where the two can meet? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
BlizzCon 2010: Warcraft cinematics panel
CATACLYSM WARNING: There are spoilers here. The BlizzCon 2010 Warcraft cinematic panel took place Sunday morning and featured the answers to some of the most common questions about Cataclysm cinematics. Of course, you might have seen the big news about the amazing worgen cinematic. This video is intended to take place in the in-character timeline right as you learn your character's fate in Gilneas. It provides you vital information about how your character was captured after joining the furry crowd and how it came to be in stocks in the middle of the town square. The cinematic is fantastic. It's leagues different from the goblin cinematic. The goblin story is fast-paced and action-packed. The worgen story, by comparison, is moody and dark. It highlights the humanity of the worgen and sets the genre away from simple, raw adventure into something deeper and meaningful.
BlizzCon 2010: New Cataclysm worgen cinematic
As hinted during the Starcraft 2 cinematic panel yesterday, a new Cataclysm cinematic just debuted at the Cinematics: Cataclysm panel. As any beta worgen player could tell you, the "transition cinematic" that really kicks the story into high gear has been missing, and now we know where and what it is. As a quick gloss on what you'll see without spoiling anything too heavy, you'll see your character's transition from human to worgen, with some quiet speculation on whether your humanity's salvageable or not. We'll post it as soon as we can find/get a copy on YouTube, but suffice it to say -- it rocks. I'm amazed at the quality the cinematics team can get out of the in-game models these days. EDIT: A copy just went up and I've posted it past the cut. The quality's not that great, but I'll post a better copy as soon as one appears. EDIT: High-quality copy now available past the cut. BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
ArenaNet blog goes behind the scenes of Guild Wars 2 cinematics
Fans may not be 100% on board with everything they're hearing about Guild Wars 2 lately, but there's one thing nearly all of them can agree on: the game is gorgeous. One of the features that has gained attention is the cinematics. We saw a couple of them at the recent Gamescom and PAX demos, and now that we've had some time to enjoy the finished product, James Boer has some stories to tell about the creation of that product. James is the Audio and Cinematics Programmer at ArenaNet and the mind behind the latest blog post. His entry is all about the philosophy and technical work behind the creative process. While this entry is a bit heavier on the tech-speak than most of the ArenaNet blog, fans who are interested in the behind-the-scenes work of GW2 will find it a great read.
Goblin cinematic: Escape from Kezan
Xfire user Zilas just uploaded what we believe to be the cinematic detailing the end of the goblin starting zone Kezan. Frankly, it's amazing. There are spoilers for the end of the first part of the goblin starting experience, so be warned. Blizzard has, once again, topped itself in terms of cinematic quality and expression outside of its general pre-rendered cinematics. Hopefully the worgen transformation movie is just as awesome.
Behind the scenes with Guild Wars 2 cinematics and demo
ArenaNet scheduled quite a few hands-on sessions for Guild Wars 2 at Gamescom this week, and the first reports are beginning to show up from those lucky enough to get playtime on the first day. IGN has an overview posted with plenty of exciting new details on character creation, events, weapons, and much more. The demo included quite a few events that the writer stumbled across and a battle with an "enormous, purple, glowing dragon," presumably an unrecognized Shatterer. If you've not seen the write-up yet, it's definitely worth your time. While you're at it, pay a visit to the ArenaNet blog as well. The crew back in Seattle is keeping busy, and there is a new blog entry with a video entitled "Creating Guild Wars 2 cinematics." Finally, don't forget to watch for Massively's recap of the Gamescom events on Monday!
First Impressions: City of Heroes Going Rogue
To hear the team talk about it, Going Rogue isn't simply an expansion for City of Heroes but a full-on reboot of the game in general. It's hard to see how, on some level; outside of the new powersets and a new starting area, not much is visibly being added with the expansion. But sitting down and playing through the starting area and the game's opening suddenly feels like an entirely different experience. It's not a new game -- but it feels like a leap forward from where the game had been just a few days before. I didn't get nearly as much time with the Going Rogue beta as I would have liked, and I'll be the first to admit that I'm biased when it comes to City of Heroes. But even with those standards set, I was impressed right away with how the game has been revamped from the start -- and what these revamps mean for the game as a whole and moving forward. Click on past the cut for the first impressions of the latest expansion, which launches today. (Coincidental, yes?) %Gallery-99455%
The Digital Continuum: Lost in worlds divided
In the many MMOs I've played, the ratio between games that got world design right and those that got it wrong is surprisingly skewed towards the latter. Nothing kills the thrill of discovering a new online world faster than feeling like you're being kicked around seemingly unconnected environments without possessing any real understanding or control. This week's The Digital Continuum is aimed at discussing practical ways to address this problem. Obviously this is -- as per usual -- my personal opinion taken mostly from my brain and the experience gathering within it.
Behind the scenes with "that SWTOR cinematic trailer"
Sure, the Star Wars: The Old Republic trailer from E3 may have been lacking in the gameplay department, but that didn't stop it absolutely rocking the socks off anyone that saw it. The people that made that possible are from Blur Studio, specialists in CG animation for games, films, and commercials. The IGN video above features an interview with Derron Ross, an animation supervisor for the company. He explains that although you might not realize it in the final products, a ton of the highest quality game videos are from Blur -- as an example, one of the early Warhammer Online trailers that a lot of you will have seen is from them. Ross goes on to describe what it takes to create something with such dangerously high levels of awesomeness.If this little behind-the-scenes look at the SWTOR trailer has you craving more CG goodness, Blur's website has links to a ton of their other works for your viewing pleasure.
Blizzard's CG team talks about making those epic cinematics
Blizzplanet's got the tip on a great interview over at CG Channel with the Blizzard CGI team, responsible for, among many other great cinematics, putting together the Wrath intro trailer. We heard from this team back at BlizzCon, and here they give a little more insight into the thinking behind their process, rather than the process itself.One of the first questions that comes up is one that everyone would like to ask: Why haven't we seen a longer feature from these guys? But they say that, as always, their first priority is making great games, not great features, and as much as people would want to see a 60 or 90 minute cinematic from this team, they work for a game company. They also talk about something they've been working more on lately: in-game cinematics. I saw this at work in Starcraft II back at BlizzCon -- while most of Blizzard's cinematics so far have been completely separate from the in-game art, Starcraft II introduces models that are high-quality enough to be rendered cinematically, so much of the actual cutscenes are in-game rather than in separately rendered CGI. But as the team points out, their goal is to make them no less awesome.Finally, they do get into the nitty-gritty of designing their cinematics, and 3D animators will enjoy the ins and outs of how Blizzard made Arthas summon that Frostwyrm. We're just in awe of how much great work this team does -- hopefully we'll be seeing lots more of it in the future.
Blizzard unveils Wrath of the Lich King Cinematic Artbook
So hey, this is pretty cool. I like to consider myself a connoisseur of video game art, owning a good number of hardcover, glossy-paged artbooks that help me out when a) I need some inspiration, or b) I need to feel really inferior about my art. The artbook released with the Collector's Edition of Wrath was very well put-together (and certainly an improvement over the original WoW artbook with its half-pages of pre-rendered art for every race but orcs and humans) and had everything I like in an artbook--but oh, what's this, Blizzard? An entire book that shows and discusses the process of making the Wrath cinematic? Yes, this will do.Published by Insight Editions and titled The Cinematic Art of Wrath of the Lich King, it features 200 pieces of high-res concept art and CG renders, two 8x10 art cards with concept art of Arthas and Sindragosa the Frost Queen, lots of lore bits about major players in Wrath's storyline, and (I think this is the coolest) a 12-page illustrated storybook that tells the tale of Sindragosa. And even beyond all that, there's behind-the-scenes commentary about the cinematic every step of the way. It's valuable insight if you're interested in storyboarding, production, or just the Blizzard creative process.I think we can all agree that it sounds pretty awesome, whether you're into art or WoW itself. You can pick it up, if you're so inclined, at Amazon.com for the very reasonable sale price of $19.77 USD. If you're as-yet-unconvinced, you can check out a preview of the book at Blizzard's Wrath site.
BlizzCon 2008 panel list revealed
Now that the scramble for tickets is over, it remains for the wounded and battered veterans of the battle against the Fail Murloc to gird themselves and march forward, looking for succor where they can get it. Luckily, a list of panels for BlizzCon 2008 has been released, giving us something awesome to look forward to as we count down the days. For those of you who can't make it, be sure to check WoW Insider. We'll have liveblogs and notes from each WoW panel so you'll know exactly what was said and how it will affect your gameplaying experience. For the Diablo III and Starcraft II stuff, you'll be able to get the same treatment from our sister site, Joystiq. Check after the break for a complete list of panel titles.
