78 réponses à ce sujet

[Altima Darkspells]

Palathas wrote...

Reusing minor resources like idle animations and drinking animations seems like a sensible option to me. Saves time and money. They also reused a few audio assets too like ambient noises. I noticed some sounds around the Docks and Low Town were from NWN and some of the quieter ambient music was from Awakening.

I personally don't have any issue with this because they mixed them up a bit.

I imagine it does save a lot of time...

...when you push out sequels every eighteen months.

[Travie]

Palathas wrote...

Reusing minor resources like idle animations and drinking animations seems like a sensible option to me. Saves time and money. They also reused a few audio assets too like ambient noises. I noticed some sounds around the Docks and Low Town were from NWN and some of the quieter ambient music was from Awakening.

I personally don't have any issue with this because they mixed them up a bit.

It would be, if "cutting corners" wasn't the unofficial theme to this game.

[John Epler]

Each project has its own motion capture and animation budget, and there comes a point where you make the decision between 'do we get a bunch of new generic animations?' or 'do we use custom animations for the high-impact scenes?' Sure, we could have gotten new drinking animations, but that would've involved losing assets elsewhere for what may have amounted to a slightly different 'here's a drink, now pretend you're drinking from it' animation.

That's not to say that we don't want to try and use new assets where we can. Evaluating and planning replacements for the 'old' animations that either A) look less than spectacular or have been used to death is an ongoing process.

But when the choice comes between 'make this emotional moment work by using a custom animation for its participants' or 'make it so when your character has a drink at the bar, it looks nothing like Mass Effect 2', I tend to fall pretty heavily on the side of the emotional moment.

EDIT: I should mention - there are animations from Jade Empire in ME. There are animations from ME and DA:O in ME2. Our animation library is shared across all projects, and when a cinematic designer says 'that looks like it does exactly what I need', it gets ported over.

Modifié par JohnEpler, 16 mars 2011 - 02:24 .

[Sen4lifE]

JohnEpler wrote...

Each project has its own motion capture and animation budget, and there comes a point where you make the decision between 'do we get a bunch of new generic animations?' or 'do we use custom animations for the high-impact scenes?' Sure, we could have gotten new drinking animations, but that would've involved losing assets elsewhere for what may have amounted to a slightly different 'here's a drink, now pretend you're drinking from it' animation.

That's not to say that we don't want to try and use new assets where we can. Evaluating and planning replacements for the 'old' animations that either A) look less than spectacular or have been used to death is an ongoing process.

But when the choice comes between 'make this emotional moment work by using a custom animation for its participants' or 'make it so when your character has a drink at the bar, it looks nothing like Mass Effect 2', I tend to fall pretty heavily on the side of the emotional moment.

EDIT: I should mention - there are animations from Jade Empire in ME. There are animations from ME and DA:O in ME2. Our animation library is shared across all projects, and when a cinematic designer says 'that looks like it does exactly what I need', it gets ported over.

I don't disagree to this.  Like I said, why fix what's not broken?  Something like a drinking animation, if it looks like their drinking, why throw it away?  How many people are going to notice, and how few of those are going to actually be disappointed about that?  How many ways can you take a drink?

I think the animation sharing thing isn't a bad idea, as long as you don't re-use animations for parts where it really counts, which you just stated that BioWare does try to avoid this.

[DinoCrisisFan]

I don't think that was an easter egg, I think it was BioWare being lazy...

[Mx_CN3]

I think that one of the strongest points of DA2 was the variety (and quality) of animations during cutscenes. Like when you meet Varric, basically the whole thing is a set of one-time-only animations, and it really made the scene work. Definitely an improvement over using the same animations every time it is remotely possible, and definitely worth it if they have to reuse some from old games.

[The Minority]

The only easter egg I found was in you walk up the stairs where the Templar Hall is, you can hear some guy getting beat down.

[Statisfaction]

So smart to use existing assets. They should've reused a few characters too

[DinoCrisisFan]

On the bright side, this gave them more time and money to put towards other things.

[CLime]

Hell, I was ready to give Bioware credit for a sly shout-out to Mass Effect when I first noticed this, but don't let me stop you from taking all the fun out of it.

Modifié par CLime, 16 mars 2011 - 02:44 .

[John Epler]

CLime wrote...

Hell, I was ready to give Bioware credit for a sly shout-out to Mass Effect when I first noticed this, but don't let me stop you from taking all the fun out of it.

Well, the scene itself was supposed to be a shout out. Just not the animation, necessarily. Though I don't think it's used elsewhere, so I'll stop ruining it for you

[DinoCrisisFan]

JohnEpler wrote...

CLime wrote...

Hell, I was ready to give Bioware credit for a sly shout-out to Mass Effect when I first noticed this, but don't let me stop you from taking all the fun out of it.

Well, the scene itself was supposed to be a shout out. Just not the animation, necessarily. Though I don't think it's used elsewhere, so I'll stop ruining it for you

Do you work for BioWare? Or are you a volunteer moderator?

[John Epler]

DinoCrisisFan wrote...

JohnEpler wrote...

CLime wrote...

Hell, I was ready to give Bioware credit for a sly shout-out to Mass Effect when I first noticed this, but don't let me stop you from taking all the fun out of it.

Well, the scene itself was supposed to be a shout out. Just not the animation, necessarily. Though I don't think it's used elsewhere, so I'll stop ruining it for you

Do you work for BioWare? Or are you a volunteer moderator?

I'm a Cinematic Designer. Which means I'm one of the guys who takes the written dialogue, then adds cameras, animations, faceFX and VFX to make it more visually interesting.

So when it comes to animations and how they're used, I speak from experience!

[Ramirez Wolfen]

JohnEpler wrote...

DinoCrisisFan wrote...

JohnEpler wrote...

CLime wrote...

Hell, I was ready to give Bioware credit for a sly shout-out to Mass Effect when I first noticed this, but don't let me stop you from taking all the fun out of it.

Well, the scene itself was supposed to be a shout out. Just not the animation, necessarily. Though I don't think it's used elsewhere, so I'll stop ruining it for you

Do you work for BioWare? Or are you a volunteer moderator?

I'm a Cinematic Designer. Which means I'm one of the guys who takes the written dialogue, then adds cameras, animations, faceFX and VFX to make it more visually interesting.

So when it comes to animations and how they're used, I speak from experience!

I want your job.

[Cody211282]

It's not an easter egg it's reusing the content from a different game because this game was rushed out.

Modifié par Cody211282, 16 mars 2011 - 02:57 .

[upsettingshorts]

You say lazy, Bioware cinematic designer says efficient. I wonder who I should believe... *scratches chin*

[Koreos]

I can't believe you guys. It's not like it's part of a main cutscene.

[ARustyFirePlace]

JohnEpler wrote...

EA TOLD US IF WE DON'T GET THAT GAME OUT ASAP THEY'LL SELL US AS SLAVES IN HONG KONG

fix'd

[devSin]

Do you ever get dialogue that's just so wacky that you at first don't know what to do? Or do they make sure you know the basics of what's going on when they hand it to you?

Some writer at some time has to have constructed something incomprehensible just to mess with you. I mean, what's the point of them even coming to work if they don't.

[mellifera]

JohnEpler wrote...

Each project has its own motion capture and animation budget, and there comes a point where you make the decision between 'do we get a bunch of new generic animations?' or 'do we use custom animations for the high-impact scenes?' Sure, we could have gotten new drinking animations, but that would've involved losing assets elsewhere for what may have amounted to a slightly different 'here's a drink, now pretend you're drinking from it' animation.

That's not to say that we don't want to try and use new assets where we can. Evaluating and planning replacements for the 'old' animations that either A) look less than spectacular or have been used to death is an ongoing process.

But when the choice comes between 'make this emotional moment work by using a custom animation for its participants' or 'make it so when your character has a drink at the bar, it looks nothing like Mass Effect 2', I tend to fall pretty heavily on the side of the emotional moment.

EDIT: I should mention - there are animations from Jade Empire in ME. There are animations from ME and DA:O in ME2. Our animation library is shared across all projects, and when a cinematic designer says 'that looks like it does exactly what I need', it gets ported over.

So, what you're saying is that I can expect a lot of butt scratching in ME3 as well?

[LifeBlood]

ARustyFirePlace wrote...

JohnEpler wrote...

EA TOLD US IF WE DON'T GET THAT GAME OUT ASAP THEY'LL SELL US AS SLAVES IN HONG KONG

fix'd

lol

[Dave of Canada]

ARustyFirePlace wrote...

JohnEpler wrote...

EA TOLD US IF WE DON'T GET THAT GAME OUT ASAP THEY'LL SELL US AS SLAVES IN HONG KONG

fix'd

Surely you can think of a better trolling attempt.

[Maria Caliban]

Koreos wrote...

My female Hawke pees in the same position as my female Shepard... unacceptable!

BioWare needs to return to the epic, tactical urination of Buldar's Gate.

[Kalovaril]

Swooping... is bad

[DaewaNya]

JohnEpler wrote...

I'm a Cinematic Designer. Which means I'm one of the guys who takes the written dialogue, then adds cameras, animations, faceFX and VFX to make it more visually interesting.

So when it comes to animations and how they're used, I speak from experience!

I wish you could make Kojima style cinematics seriously (<= me wishing very hard)