It's Alive! A behind the scenes look at character animation.

Hi, welcome to our fifth development blog, where in the lead up to our first gameplay video we’re excited to give you a behind the scenes look at our unique animation process. Where most games use 3d models or hand drawn sprites, we’re using real video footage that is converted into a freely moveable character.

There are a huge number of variables with something so complex, from the lighting set up, to the cutting out, and the prop continuity, and we’re putting a lot of emphasis into getting it all perfect.

In order to simulate convincing walking, we use a treadmill, which you can see in the video below.

We record this walk from several different angles, and the final result, once integrated into the game is a photorealistic character that can be controlled freely using the WASD keys.

Not only does this allow for fluid animation, given that is real human movement, but also allows us to implement a huge variety of animation, from the basic walk, to sword fighting, jumping, and interacting with specific objects. Moreover we can also convey a really convincing sense of weight and impact, and this goes back to our prop production. We can design prop chains that require significant force to break, and translate this into an animation of a creature really viscerally breaking free from its constraints.

Using this same method we are also creating full motion video cut scenes for the game, in addition to first person interactions, like reading through a book, and actually having your hands visible and turning pages.

Visually the realistic characters against a digital background also look particularly striking, while still blending in successfully, this gives the game a sense of ‘unreality’ or ‘wrongness’ that we really want to permeate from every corner of Purgatory.

We’re really excited to demonstrate the animation running in game, and getting your feedback.

As always, thanks for reading.