Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/48986
n n n n Gaming The animators increased the number of Batman's combat moves to make him appear more powerful. Gun, so we've given her the Whip Swing and the Claw Climb; altogether, it looks and feels very different playing her," says Coban. Cat- woman is also a prime example of Rocksteady not only pushing facial and body mocap to en- hance performances, but also run-time phys- ics to enhance the dynamic motion of hair, coats, straps, and, specifically, Catwoman's whip, which snaps and coils with astonishing realism. "We always had the ability to add ad- ditional movement to a character's animation using run-time physics simulation, but we re- ally pushed it hard on Arkham City." Cape Animation Newly enhanced run-time physics simulation also underlies much of Batman's improved cape animation, which billows in the wind, unfurls during the character's Power Dive, and pleats and settles as he slows into combat mode. The in-game cape combines a mixture of elements: real-time cloth simulation driving a skeletal mesh rig; hand-keyed skeletal anima- tion; and off-line cloth simulation, authored in 3ds Max cloth and baked onto skeletal ani- mation. To produce the ultra-realistic clothing animations in the pre-rendered cinematics, artists baked this off-line cloth sim onto vertex animation. From the outset of production, the team wanted to have extremely fine control of the cloth but also ensure that it was reacting in a nat- ural and dynamic way to the environment, the weather, and Batman's movements. "The biggest change during the development of Arkham City was the redeveloping of the cape rig midway through production. We had to make it easier for animators to pose the cape more intuitively for any particular action," says Coban. This pose would then form the driving shape for the final physics simulation at run time. During most of the gameplay, the in-game 46 December 2011/January 2012 cape is pure real-time simulation, but when a particular iconic move or a stylized result was needed, the keyframed animation kicks in. In some situations, an animation is used for the overall shape, while the sim adds physics detail at the edges. For example, the wind rippling through the cape is achieved by level artists plac- ing volumes in the world nearby. "We spent a lot of time trying to retain a high level of anima- tor control while still running the cape under live physics simulation," says Coban. Balancing animator control with live physics simulation was also crucial to animating Robin's staff. "It's a complicated piece of kit that can bend, flex, extend, and turn into a shield, all while he's swapping it from hand to hand," he adds. Combat Choreography To handle the crush of assailants and the sprawling, open setting, Batman's range of movement for maneuvering through the en- vironments and for hand-to-hand combat has undergone an aggressive expansion. In fact, his animation set has doubled. According to Hego, the expansion of the game world drove a redesign of every aspect of Batman's naviga- tion and combat, as well as a huge overhaul in the way that the team conveyed story and narrative elements to the player. "For example, the enhanced Power Dive—through which Batman gets around the city and the player experiences the freedom and exhilaration of flying through alleys and over the skyline— was a completely new development challenge for us, resulting in the full-momentum gliding system," he says. Furthermore, doubling the number of combat moves was essential to convey a sense of variety in Batman's combat skills, so critical to the feeling of power and dominance offered by the FreeFlow Combat system. Waylaid by Oswald Cobblepot's goons and the Frankenstein-like Solomon Grundy in the Iceberg Lounge, Batman chains his punches and kicks to clear the room, following up a roundhouse kick to one thug with a swift leg sweep to another in a seamless series of multi- ple, simultaneous counters, all the while react- ing to thrown objects and without the slightest hitch in the blending system. "In Arkham Asylum, thugs would generally attack one at a time, but in Arkham City, we've blown that out of the water, letting thugs rain punches and kicks in simultaneous assaults that really make the player feel pressure—as they would in a real fight," says Hego. "Con- sequently, Batman can now perform double Cinematic Touch The numerous cut-scenes spliced throughout the game unspool through the Un- real game engine using an advanced lighting rig setup. The rig—which uses hun- dreds, if not thousands, of lights—simulates global illumination and bounce lighting to add realism, and can be tailored precisely for the atmosphere and design of the shots. "Our engine is so powerful," says cinematics director Paul Boulden, "we were able to create shaders that simulate subsurface scattering and ambient occlusion. It was important for us to not merely create a realistic visual, but to stylize it accord- ing to Rocksteady's trademark vision." Boulden meticulously directed the cut-scene performances, adding them together from extensive facial-capture sessions. "We wanted to bring a new level of realism to the characters. One of our main goals was to bring the characters to life by making them more believable," he says. "We captured actors with a physical marker setup on their faces. We were able to capture subtle gestures and nuances that would have been otherwise impossible to get. Rocksteady is driven by the conviction that bringing characters to life will yield a stronger connection to the audience, thus allowing us to tell a more convincing and immersive story." —Martin McEac hern