Greetings adventurers!
We have several amazing animators from Hype Animation working with us on the game and since character animation is such a big part of its unique esthetic, in this installment of our Dev Diary series, we wanted to share a few words and insights from them.
Animating the characters for the Reverie Knights Tatics game was both challenging and fun. Challenge, because here at Hype Animation we hadn't worked with animation for games yet and we needed to understand the process and practically relearn some animation concepts. The fun was in the opportunity to work with a franchise based on the fictional universe of comics, books and RPGS known as Tormenta. Despite this, all this fun has had an air of challenge, as the franchise has a considerable fan base here in Brazil, and our work has to respect the lore of the universe of Tormenta; at the same time, it needed to bring innovation and of course, some surprises.
In the beginning, we had the idea of making the game's animations in 2D, this meant, using the traditional technique, with each frame drawn by hand on a two-dimensional support. But due to the lack of 2D animators on the market, we realized that this more traditional approach would be impractical. We then opted for the 3D animation process, modeling and animating the characters with the help of three-dimensional animation software. After the animation stage, each frame of the character would go through a post-production process that would leave it with a visual aspect similar to a traditional 2D animation, with a strong influence on the oriental features of anime animations.
We had total freedom to create the movements mixing exciting actions with humorous ones, trying to surprise and amuse the player, but without overshadowing the epic tone of the narrative. Because this is a tactical game, with character’s movements separated by turns, we were able to extend the duration of the animations, (since the gameplay does not demand an immediate response to the actions, as in a beat'em up game, for example). Thanks to this, the actions could be more elaborate, and it was possible to add small narratives to the actions, contributing to the cohesion of the game's universe. We use humor mainly in the Brigandine character, but many of the enemies also have humorous moves occasionally, like the Doglin's flaming attack, or the Bugbear who, when successfully blocking an attack, laughs at the heroes' ineptitude.
Other moves such as team attacks are intended to show the strength of heroes in an epic and exciting way and were challenging because they demanded an integrated and coordinated movement between two or more characters.
The team of Brazilian animators made a great effort to bring this dynamic to the actions of the game, working on the fluidity of actions and acting, showing that they are at a high level of technical quality and professionalism, compatible with the demands and quality expected by the international audience. I really hope you enjoy and have fun playing Reverie Knights Tactics as much as we had fun animating it!
Fabiano Pandolfi – Animation Director – Hype Animation
Don't forget to wishlist Reverie Knights Tactics:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1399690/Reverie_Knights_Tactics/
And if you have not yet, try the free Prologue:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1638140/Reverie_Knights_Tactics_Prologue/