| |
Working on Wild Life! was
a unique opportunity for me to use animation to create a personal
connection between the player and the animals in the game.
Right from the start, our ultimate goal was to make the animals
as realistic and life-like as possible. I wanted players to
get personally attached to the animals in their animal parks.
I wanted players not just to play Wild Life! like a typical
empire building game, but to get involved with the animals,
give them names, watch them grow up, teach them tricks, and
visit them from time to time just to see how they’re
doing. Realistic animation had to play a key role in bringing
out the personalities of the animals, since simulation games
don’t typically have a prefabricated story line with
characters, dialog, and dramatic events to bring characters
to life.
To get the level of realism we were
looking for, we did a lot of homework on how real-world animals
move and behave. For example, I got a call one day from the
Producer asking about the giraffe. “It looks like a
dying spider curling its legs up when it goes to sleep,”
he complained. “That just can’t be right.”
As it turns out, giraffes really do sleep in a curled up position.
They don’t sleep standing up like many other herd animals.
They curl up on the ground and rest their necks over their
backs. After showing the Producer a few photographs of real-world
giraffes curled up like spiders, he just scratched his head
and said, “Wow. I’m glad you did your homework
on that one. I never would have guessed it.”
We kept our focus on realism even when
we were working on fantastic or prehistoric animals like the
unicorn, dragon, and tyrannosaurus rex. Out of all the animals
we created, my personal favorite was the dragon. I wanted
players to feel the breeze when it flaps its wings as it flies
by. I also insisted that the dragon breathe fire truly realistically
without any cheesy particle effects. Likewise, we avoided
unrealistic “magical” effects with the unicorn
and favored a more realistic, horse-like approach instead.
The result may be less flashy, but it’s a lot more believable
and less cartoon-like than many older games’ depictions
of unicorns. I wanted the T. Rex to have its own prehistoric
feel, so I worked with the Technical Director in addition
to the animator to give it a fast, snappish sort of feel that’s
a little different from the slow, lumbering T. Rex depicted
in many movies and games of the past.
But realism isn’t enough to get
players to feel a personal connection to the animals, so we
also used animation to create unique personalities in each
of the animals. Just as we gave the T. Rex a prehistoric feel
to its animations, we also wanted the give each animal its
own unique look and feel. The panda is particularly cute and
does things like rolling back a little too much when it sits
down, as if it almost falls over before recovering its balance.
If the panda had rolled too much, the animation would have
looked cartoon-like. If it didn’t roll enough, it wouldn’t
look as cute and the overall feel and personality of the animal
wouldn’t come through.
After all was said and done, I have
to say I owe a debt of gratitude to the talented people who
brought the animals to life and gave them personalities all
their own. In many ways, working with modelers, artists, and
animators is the best part of my job. The level of teamwork
and enthusiasm on this project was truly an inspiration to
me. And, the collective pride we all shared was something
that kept me excited to come to work everyday. |
|
