Flip fest part 2- Ninja theory :)

After listening to how pixar's pipeline works, it was very interesting to hear the processes that 'Ninja theory' went through for game design as they explained their pipeline at the Flip fest. The group had designed a game called 'Heavenly sword' which was beautifully done and they also made some pre-game release films, which again i was quite impressed by.
Granted, for me Prince of Persia would of made my day, and i haven't played 'Heavenly Sword' so i was not as apprehensive or excited as i could of been, but non-the-less i persevered with listening and faining interest and here is what i found out...Designing games is damn hard!



So, the people we had talking to us were: Guy Midgley - lead animator, Stuart Adcock- Technical art director and Nina Kristensen - Co-funder.
And to be completely honest here the only one that made any sense was Guy, but that is irrelevant to the pipeline isn't it. This blog is NOT a bitch fest.
So first of all, what would need to be done are;
Style tests - these are a series of tests to determine how the character would move and to question the agility of the character.
Develop basic combat - When using fast combat, keep the poses at the end, even if the moves are fast.
Synchronised movements- Characters fighting together
Super style - Heavier fighting moves which are much more developed
Game play animations - Abit cinematic
Game Hero - A cinematic piece with gameplay involved. This needs to be built up too, 1st in blocks, 2nd rough cuts with basic characters and 3rd will be the final piece.
USE PERSONAL ACTING TO SEE HOW MOVES FEEL AND LOOK
Shoot any acting like a movie



As you can probably tell, this pipeline isn't in as much detail as the Pixar one, but the same rules apply. Do research, look at real movement and make it is realistic as possible.




Here's the preview for Heavenly Sword. Now all thats left to do is for me to get a games console and not be dissapointed while i play it?