Making the Mini-Cutscenes of Fallen Enchantress
Published on June 27, 2011 By ScottTykoski In Elemental Dev Journals

Ages ago (or, at least, what FEELS like ages ago) when we were nailing down the art style for Elemental, one of the key factors was creating a world where the cutscenes weren't in glaring opposition to the in-game graphics.

This was around the same time that Fable 2 was released, where a beautiful pre-rendered intro felt (IMHO) fairly out of place in comparison to the mid-game cutscenes (which were beautiful in their own right). It was that realization - that paintings brought to life can be as appealing as their 3d counterparts - that helped fuel the artistic style of the game.

Unfortunately, the dream of these moving paintings weaving a tale as you play the game was never realized in WoM. We got as far as the 'wedding' cutscene and the 'you killed a dude' cutscene before needing to shift the focus onto other things. In FE we want to revisit that idea and have mini-cutscenes that underscore major points in your adventures.




This is a painting done for "The Bilge" wildlands cutscene, a vast swampland dotted with the ruins of a former kingdom, now overrun with trolls and spiders who protect treasures of the dead.

There are several bits of this image that beg to be animated, for which we use a program called Anime Studio Pro. It allows us to take a 2d image and attach bones to it, letting us animate much like we do in 3d.




Once all those vines are animated, and the rest of the scene is put together in After Effects, we do a simple flythrough to get the first of our mini-cutscenes.


Sorry - no Blood or fantasy Violence in this video. We'll try and do better next time


Also, since mini-cutscenes are total polish and very data driven, we can keep adding more and more right up until gold (if the budget and time allows) . By bringing our paintings to life and really punctuating those key points in your adventure, we also breathe some extra life into FE itself.


Comments (Page 1)
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on Jun 27, 2011

first

 

I like it, although I couldn't see the pictures, only the video.

on Jun 27, 2011

Is that a troll I see in the video?

I must say, great that the moving paintings are back and kicking! I realy liked those little bits, it made the world come alive.

Go Boogie!

 

P.S. I get a 404 error for the pictures, not sure if it's just me.

Edit: The pictures are now visable and I didn't see a troll it was just a statue.

on Jun 27, 2011

OK, images moved...let me know if they show up now

on Jun 27, 2011

Great. I love the whole artwork in WoM. That will not change with FE. The idea of these moving paintings is fantastic. Really, really love it (and can´t wait to see more). 

Sorry - no Blood or fantasy Violence in this video. We'll try and do better next time

 

hahaha......I started to remind you as i saw your statement.Allright, maybe next time.

 

 

 

on Jun 27, 2011

This has got to be the best and most economic way of illustrating this kind of game on this kind of budget. Even if you could do 3d cut scenes i think you'd lose something of the stylised look to the game. If you've got the art, flaunt it, I say.

on Jun 27, 2011

There are some really talented artists at Stardock. I just wish you'd stop with the black outline. :<

on Jun 27, 2011

I like it, makes the game seem dark and foreboding.

on Jun 27, 2011

is there any chance that i see MY sovereign on the cutscene instead of a generic one?

on Jun 27, 2011

PanicWave
is there any chance that i see MY sovereign on the cutscene instead of a generic one?
Our Tech isn't quite there yet, but eventually that's what we want....maybe Expansion 2

on Jun 27, 2011

Beautiful stuff.

 

I can see what you mean about Fable 2. There is something to be said about consistency.

 

You make the artwork really come alive It sets a mood and leaves a wonderful impression.

Seriously, you are on to something here.

Hope the music that accompanies it is as good as the artwork.

 

 

 

on Jun 27, 2011

Hope the music that accompanies it is as good as the artwork.

Jepp, with some suitable music here, you can feel fantasy violence will going on stumbling in these wildlands. 

on Jun 27, 2011

I'll have to remember that piece of software, I naturally assumed you guys just chopped it all together in maya.

on Jun 27, 2011

The video looks great. Nice work!

on Jun 27, 2011

Looks gorgeous. I've always really liked the art style of Elemental; it has a very dark fairy-tail like quality. Not sure if that's what your going for, but it works. 

on Jun 27, 2011

The 2D art is Elemental's best strength. Please don't horribly compress them or make them tiny resolution.

 

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