The Increasing Role of Character Animation in Video Games.
Video Games have certainly evolved since the arrival of one of the earliest video games, Pong by Atari, more than 30 years ago. Back in the day, people were content to play this two-dimensional sports game that simulates table tennis. Gamers today, however, are demanding an increasingly more immersive gaming experience, one that the industry is constantly seeking to meet.
Almost every video game today uses character animation. It’s become a standard element in modern entertainment software.
Today, gamers find themselves in fully rendered CG worlds, competing in increasingly complex missions with more believable characters. This is where character animation specifically comes in to play: By creating greater empathy for the character, gamers become more involved in the game.
The uniqueness of gaming compared with other media is that we cannot just relate to the hero, but we actually become the hero.
As technological parameters, have increased and technology has become more sophisticated, game developers are using more complicated characters that allow the gamer to more fully connect with the gaming experience.
Programmers are constantly looking for ways to optimize artwork so that they can fit more into the budget that’s allowed. On a yearly basis you are seeing new engines, new ways of exploring animations and exporting more artwork onto a disk more efficiently. The result is that you can now have more characters on the screen at once, increased detail in scenery, further travel beyond the world origin, and more sophistication in the character itself.
The gamer wants to feel what the character is thinking, what his emotions are and know what the motivations are behind the actions. The technology makes it possible for greater subtleties within the character’s design, and gives animators more room for conveying thought and emotion through the character.
A Good Game Needs a Good Story
Technological advances also allow for increased intricacies of storyline. In this way, animators say that we start to see an overlap between the film and gaming industries.
Scriptwriters concentrate on storytelling and character development. If a game looks great,sounds great and is marketed well, it still won’t sell if the content doesn’t keep the
player involved, challenged, and wanting more.adding that after the content has been created, it’s the animators who are responsible for bringing it all to life. As a result, animation is playing a bigger role than ever.
To further involve gamers in the plot, more cinematics are being used so that gamers can see exchanges between characters and the subtext of what a character is thinking. It’s in a cinematic where an animator must control how users see the scene and where the animation is created through the lens of a camera shot, which is similar to watching a small ‘movie’ unfold.
A Big Demand for Character Animators
Character animators are in high demand in the gaming and the feature film industries because of their ability to bring characters to life. And animators say that creating empathy for the character is still the No. 1 objective in games and films.
As games become more sophisticated and technology advances, plot-driven games with more real and believable characters is where the gaming industry is headed.
Creating the animation for the video characters can be challenging, but is also rewarding and fun.
Whatever the future holds for the gaming industry, it is clear that character animators are in demand more than ever. Though the tools and technology are constantly changing, the core of what you do as animators remains the same.
From:-
Shazia Raza
30/7/2010
Academic Counselor,
Picasso Animation College, Lucknow.
Mobile: +919795460063
E.mail: shaziya@lucknowpicasso.com