At CitizenCon, Cloud Imperium Games brought details about Squadron 42, the single player game from Star Citizen. The cast includes Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson, Mark Hamill and John Rhys-Davies. Get inside screens, behind-the-scenes video with the cast, a facial animation tech video and the Bishop Senate Speech cinematic. Also, a new site dedicated to Squadron 42 opened.
Update: Added the Alpha 2.0 Demo video.
All comments (26)
Still up in the air about this game. The never ending development schedule, the ridiculous cost of ships. Hope they get it finished at some point.
Still up in the air about this game. The never ending development schedule, the ridiculous cost of ships. Hope they get it finished at some point.
The actors are a waste of money though. No one cares about famous actors being in games. They should have just hired some random non-famous (but good) actors for way less money.
Also, the facial visuals are impressive for in-game. Of course going as far back with Crysis 3 they did a lot with the same engine, pushing much of the lighting and skin features in-game. not that much far apart from that game other than the newer animation and mo-cap techniques, and also the filmic AA quality.
I would say this game visually does do the Cryengine3 justice, among other titles as well. At 2k+ resolutions i'd say this would look glorious!
The actors are a waste of money though. No one cares about famous actors being in games. They should have just hired some random non-famous (but good) actors for way less money.
For me the actors performance does not translate well.
When you remember how good L.A.Noire looked, you would expect better results today. I still think L.A. Noire is the game to be beaten regarding facial animation/performance.
For me the actors performance does not translate well.
When you remember how good L.A.Noire looked, you would expect better results today. I still think L.A. Noire is the game to be beaten regarding facial animation/performance.
In star citizen's case they're using blend shapes, which many games have been using as well. The only difference is the texture resolutions are much higher for it's skin wrinkles and facial expressions.
http://mobileanimalbackgrounds.com/img/chimpanzee/...
http://mobileanimalbackgrounds.com/img/chimpanzee/...
The end result is a recording playback overlaid on a 3D model's face. the process can be seen here if you still don't get it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jkWYfgvCRk
And here is a better look at the actual model from L.A. Noire.
http://oi48.tinypic.com/2ppixpz.jpg
The actual models of L.A. Noire are not modeled and animated like most games, instead they use real people's face recordings....which is why the face animations look real, because they are technically real. hope this helps.
The same technique was used in movies like Matrix Reloaded (notably the Burly Brawl scene). For gaming i think it's an evolutionary dead end.
The same technique was used in movies like Matrix Reloaded (notably the Burly Brawl scene). For gaming i think it's an evolutionary dead end.