Computer Graphics World

June 2009 31 Gaming n n n n character's mesh. By using the vertex infor- mation of the character's mesh, however, the vertices of the blood mesh will be the same as the character's, which means the Z-scores are exactly the same, eliminating any intersection between the two surfaces, explains Tarukado. To ensure that the lighting remained con- sistent with the visual style, Tarukado and his fellow programmers additionally created a system by which the artists could quickly adjust the grayscale gradation on the parti- cles, meshes, and other lighting effects. ey also added blooming effects to enhance the fireworks and other electrical effects. Maintaining Control e game's control scheme is a combina- tion of button mashing and wild flourishes of the Nunchuck that often can send the camera reeling around the on-screen ac- tion. To combat the unruly and disorient- ing camera, the team included a "reset cam- era" feature so players could reset the view behind Jack. According to Tarukado, the developer had to keep the player's camera controls simple for two reasons. e first reason was to help the player maintain the breakneck pace of the game's playability. e second was the limited numbers of buttons on the Wii compared to other platforms. "We choose to give the player control over camera reset functions only af- ter they've performed an attack maneuver, rather than completely devolve control to the player throughout the game," he adds. e broad, exaggerated, almost Loo- ney Tunes-esque style of animation nearly precluded the use of ragdoll physics for the NPCs. "Because Jack has so many at- tack variations and can be almost infinitely creative in his kills, we had to be equally creative in crafting the enemy's reactions to the trauma. We spent a lot of time, in the early stages of development, trying to perfect those reactions using Havok phys- ics, but could never quite attain the right exaggeration in the movement, so we cre- ated most of them manually," says Taru- kado. "However, you can still see ragdoll animation in some places—like when the enemies are hit by a bat and sent hurling into a rose bush (wall of spikes)." Whether or not the violence in the game will negatively impact sales will become ap- parent in the months to come. Or, perhaps, the unique graphic-novel look of the title will attract players who are growing tired of the same types of first-person shooters that are currently dominating the market. Either way, the designers deserve kudos for think- ing outside the same-old game box. n Martin McEachern is an award-winning writer and contributing editor for Computer Graphics World. He can be reached at martinmceachern@hotmail.com.

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