Ninja Theory, much like Naughty Dog and Quantic Dream, has always been at the forefront of motion capture – but some of the stuff that it's doing with Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is frankly insane. In this video detailing its Siggraph 2016 award-winning real-time cinematography technique, it demonstrates its ability to capture and shoot in-engine cut-scenes as though they're a live-action film.
Allow us to explain: in most games, the performance capture data is recorded, and then imported into the title's engine, where it's edited and cleaned up to create a cut-scene. But in this example, the Cambridge-based developer literally shoots a scene on-the-fly, using video editing-esque software to layer performances on top of each other – all in real-time.
This is truly innovative stuff. Sure, the gear it's using probably tops seven figures, but the real exciting thing here is the ability for the director to see how a scene will look in-game as it's being shot. Really impressive stuff – and as for the title itself, we're really loving the vibe that it's going for. This is one to watch, we reckon.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 13
I wish they would just get this done already. I want to play it!
@Gamer83 Me too!
A-mazing, I can't wait to play this game.
I love Ninja Theory games – they're always underrated. Can't wait to play this.
Isn't this an old video? well a few months old?
I have been interested in this for what seems like years now. I still find it amazing tat people overlook it when talking about PS exclusives to come. I know they are a small studio relatively but you would think this can't be that far off now - especially if they are using Motion Capture to handle the majority of the animation...
@BAMozzy Could be. They uploaded to their channel this week and I hadn't seen it, but it may have been floating around before that.
I'd still say it's at least about 9 months from release. Ninja Theory said that as soon as they announced it that they would keep people updated on every aspect of it's development, when it was announced they probably hadn't even started it yet. Not to mention that they had to reworkthe combat within the past year. So I'd say sometime in 2017.
Innovation in motion capture for games means nothing if it doesn't do anything for the gameplay because we'll just end up with another QTE fest that hardly constitutes as a "game" in the end product. The game industry is in serious need of innovation in gameplay. The gameplay that we've seen from the game thus far has been quite underwhelming and lacks any sense of innovation. We can just go to the cinema if we want to watch a movie.
I still really really want a sequel to DmC above all else when it comes to Ninja Theory. Shame it's unlikely to happen.
@Devotion But they never set out to innovate the gameplay, their ultimate goal was to make an "independent AAA" game that doesn't break the bank.
Already in love with this game, am really hyped to play it.
@adf86 Right, they said they were trying to work with a small team and small budget but retain the same AAA quality of older titles. I don't see how this expensy technology here fits into the equation! Unless it's not actually that costly.
My expectation with NT is never "innovative gameplay", but a cinematic, character-driven experience. Here it looks like it may end up similar to Ryse (timing-based Simon-Says type battles that are fun at first but a bore in longer play sessions, imho). I wouldn't expect anything all that "new", but hopefully there's a lot of polish and depth to the simplistic mechanics we've seen thus far.
Sod Horizon. Hellblade's where it's at.
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