They’re NOT Zombie’s!
Naughty Dog are releasing a series of development videos that will pull back the curtain on our design, our technology, and our ideas that shape The Last of Us. This first video reveals the idea behind the fungus infection that has jumped from insects to humans. An intriguing idea compounded by the wonderful concept art and modelling on display in The Last Of Us game.
Evolution Studios have announced DriveClub is their next racing title due for release on the PS4. It’s the game they’ve always wanted to make and been in development for 10 years. That much is certainly true as I worked on some UI concept videos for DriveClub when I worked at Evo over eight years ago. There are some pretty bold claims in the demo video to the level of modelling detail and photorealistic shaders – even depicting brushed suede direction on the seats! However the cars and environments do look incredible and so to does the UI. I love the crisp graphics and subtle animations. The logo looks great as well.
Bungie have announced that they are developing Destiny for PS4 and PS3 as well as releasing two videos featuring the first gameplay footage and some striking new concept art to add to the previously leaked material. The artwork proved so inspiring to Russian designer Ilya V. Boykov he created his own Destiny art in motion animated trailer.
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Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics have released an 11 minute gameplay walkthrough from next months’ new Tomb Raider reboot.
Monastery Escape Gameplay Walkthrough
Lara makes her way from a Monastery to the edge of a Scavenger shanty town, using the environment to succeed in brutal combat.
Whilst displaying new game features, such as gunplay and the ‘fluid’ cover system, it also shows off some the environments. A mountainside crash site, river rapids and the shanty town are richly detailed and atmospheric, but are they in the same league as Uncharted or Far Cry? Laura’s face also looks a little light in detail, almost like a rubber mask in the cinematic cut scenes. Certainly not as appealing as the concept art suggested.
Concept Art World has recently featured two different concept artists who have created some beautiful artwork for the Dead Space 3 game. Joseph Cross and Jens Holdener are the featured artists who have an impressive array of videogame work in their portfolios. Joseph currently works for Bungie and Jens has also created concept art for Dead Space, Dead Space 2, Tomb Raider: Underworld and The Simpsons Game.
3D World have taken an in-depth look into Blur Studio’s epic cinematic trailer for The Elder Scrolls Online.
After watching this truly awesome cinematic, that’s got fantastic CG characters and scenery, cool VFX and animation, and more werewolves and extendable wooden ladders than you could shake a stick at, we caught up with Blur Studio’s Senior CG supervisor Jerome Denjean to ask him some technical details…
Their pipeline includes 3DS Max for layout, modeling, lighting and rendering; Softimage XSI for rigging and animation; ZBrush, Mudbox and Mari for modeling and texturing, V-Ray 2.0 for rendering; Eyeon’s Digital Fusion for compositing and Ornatrix for the CG hair creation.
Imaginary Forces takes the videogame cinematic to a new level with Sony’s God of War live action trailer. Is it any further removed from the game than a rendered cinematic? Or is it a forerunner to a movie? Read the blurb, then watch the trailer.
What drives a warrior to relentless brutality? Deceived into murdering his beloved wife and child by Ares, the brutal warrior Kratos of Sony’s “God of War” video game series has endlessly sought to avenge the unthinkable deed he was tricked into committing. Director Karin Fong peers past the gruesome ferocity to uncover the genuine humanity and emotion brought on by this pivotal moment in the affecting 2:00 live action trailer “From Ashes” for the launch of Sony’s “God of War: Ascension” title, produced direct-to-client.
See below for a visual FX breakdown of the scene in Allan McKay’s 2013 Reel as well as Imaginary Forces’ Blood and Ink teaser for God Of War Ascension.
Will Christiansen is an animator on the gameplay team at 343 Industries who was primarily in charge of the Elite character and the assassination and first-person animation systems for Halo 4. He has just updated his YouTube channel with some new Halo 4 assassination animations, featuring both keyframed and motion capture work. It’s great to see them in detail outside of the game environment.
Verold Studio is a platform for publishing interactive 3D on the web. It allows you to export your models, from your favourite 3D modeling tool, to a project in Verold Studio. Use the collaboration tools to review your assets with stakeholders in real-time, and the presentation engine to publish your creations to your website or blog for the world to experience in glorious 3D.
This could prove to be an invaluable tool for 3D artists and outsource managers. Those seeking to present their portfolio online can simply upload their work and include it on their site with a simple piece of javascript. Meanwhile outsource managers seeking to evaluate freelance work can use the Verold Studio to assess 3D models and textures privately in real-time. What do you think? Has Verold got potential?
