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Meeting Report “Bringing authenticity to the
game” with Kudo
Tsunoda, GM of EA Chicago JUNE
2006 The talk focused on how EA Chicago is adjusting creative
priorities for the next-gen game development. The agenda
for the night included topics on: - Game Design - Creative Pipeline - Characters “Method
Acting” style of game design For Fight Night 3 a “Method Acting” style of game
design was implemented. Before Fight Night 3 the team was unfamiliar with
boxing, but during the development of the game they were encouraged to
participate in the sport. Kudo is a big believer in
this style of design and has gotten very familiar with the subjects of his
previous projects. All the members of the team were encouraged to go into the
ring. This style of game design allows the artists, programmers, and
designers to reproduce the experience with high fidelity. With actual ring
experience, and a few hard hits to the face, the designers noted that defense
was a crucial part of the game. Because of this Fight Night 3 became a game
where defense and strategy was king. As Kudo put
it, “Put yourself out there to immerse yourself in the content.” Creative Pipeline - Idea - Reference - Asset Base Collection - Asset generation - Implementation - Iteration - Final The talk focused on Reference and Asset generation and
introduced what he termed as an Asset Base Collection. Whenever possible the
team wanted to put real world assets into the game to generate a sense of
authenticity. Boxers were brought into EA’s
offices to have their faces scanned with a laser body scanner, which picked
up details as tiny as a mole or a pimple. High resolution photos were then
taken of their bodies, if the actual boxers were unable to be brought in
doubles with similar physical features were found for the asset generation. Everything was collected to help lend authenticity to the game.
The boxers gear, including clothes and shoes, were referenced and licensed if
possible. The power of next-generation hardware is allowing developers to
show more emotion in their creations and the team made sure to capture that
as well. Capturing a boxers emotion is no easy task, they’re great
athletes but not necessarily great actors. The physical impacts were also meticulously captured. Stunt
people were brought in to help capture the infamous “Impact
punch”. Motion capture equipment was used to see how a face reacts to
real punches. Although the team might not have gotten the results they
wanted, it only motivated them to look for new solutions to the problem.
Stock footage, motion capture, and anything that could be found was used to
generate seemingly authentic assets for the game. The smallest details, such
as the state of the boxers’ eye in offense or defense was, collected
while they were in the ring to help give life to their digital counterparts. “It’s
all about the details” The team worked just as hard on the special effect. To achieve
realistic sweat the team experiment with everything from capturing video of
boxers sweating to testing fluid dynamics in 3D program simulations. A
dedicated team member offered a fresh bloody nose, which occurred during a
lunch time sporting event, to be captured and added to the asset collection
in the hope of adding to the games authenticity. Equipment was set up in a
special room to capture how dust reacts on the ground, in the air, or with
people moving about the room. Cloth simulation and motion capture were used
to understand how the boxers’ shorts behave. The stunt people were
called again to help capture how sweat or blood moves on the body or face after
a blow. There was much abuse of stunt people in the making of Fight Night 3.
To Kudo it’s about “going the extra
mile to get all these things in the game”. Environments have always been an important part of bringing
authenticity to a sports title. The team made sure to capture as much as
possible to make sure that each arena, from The visuals are great but another key aspect of an immersive
experience is sound. EA Chicago has a dedicated sound room to experiment in
to achieve the sound effects they needed. There is a big difference in how a
boxing match sounds given your distance to ring. Hearing a punch from the
front row is brutal. Again, stunt people were brought in to get that meaty
punch sound, and if that didn’t sound right they tried animal carcasses
like in Rocky. Authentic crown noises were captured. Many lines of commentary
were recorded and a commentary system was incorporated that accurately
followed the action. Sound was also used to give the player clues, like
breathing rate and sounds of impact, on the status of their boxer and their
opponent. Sound also helped reinforce the HUD-less gameplay. FUN FUN FUN In the end it’s all about the fun. Team member were able
to visit places like IMAGES:
ABOUT THE SPEAKER “ Kudo Tsunoda, the GM of EA Chicago and the
creative visionary behind Fight Night Round 3, is the pre-eminent next
generation console developer here in the For more information on Kudo and
Fight Night Round 3 you can visit: http://www.easports.com/fightnightround3/ http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/e/easportsfightnightround3xbox/20060201-devinterview.htm http://www.gamespot.com/pages/profile/video_player.php?id=Kic0lWf65b8Iuw ABOUT OUR SPONSOR Our sponsor for this month’s meeting is James Murphy
at “Gain the skills you need to contribute to your
organization and advance your career by gaining recognition for those skills. Call 800-701-7936 or, on the web at http://www.virtualpartners.com. Virtual Partners employs only the Top Authorized and
certified Master Instructors in the Country for Autodesk 3ds Max, 3ds VIZ,
Character Studio, Mental Ray, Combustion, Maya and MotionBuilder.” For
questions, comments or suggestions about the |
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