The General Idea
In this module, we are required to construct a minute animation sequence using visual effects which would be covered in the lab sessions. I generated a few ideas, but stuck with a city environment based around an asset pack (Epic Games, Inc, 2022a).
I have drawn up a mind map around this idea and included some visual effects that could be used within the sequence.
The type of sequence I will be doing is a video game cutscene of a character walking through a city landscape, as they search for their target, i.e. a boss fight that takes place soon thereafter. The character I will be using is Murdock from Paragon (Epic Games, 2016; Epic Games, Inc, 2022b).
Storyboard
To get started on planning, I drew up a digital storyboard on how the sequence will play out, what time each shot will be, and the types of camera shots, visual effects and sound effects would be in the animation.
Animatic
I put together a quick 60 second animatic showing the scene as it’s supposed to be roughly mapped out. The scenes are very similar to what was shown in the storyboard but with some colour added to the frames.
Inspirations
The first inspiration comes from the first few scenes of Dead Rising 3, where the player character is walking around an apocalyptic setting, discovering the zombie infested city he is in (Capcom Game Studio Vancouver, 2014; NameslessDreadx37x, 2014).
The second inspirations comes from this scene in Metal Gear Rising: Reveangence before the Blade Wolf boss fight, as Raiden is walking through a hallway before being interrupted (Merta, K., 2014 ;PlatinumGames, 2014).
The final inspiration comes from Metroid Dead’s boss intro cutscene to this fight, as Samus is walking further into the boss arena (Boss Fight Database, 2021; Mercurysteam & Nintendo EPD, 2021).
References:
Boss Fight Database (2021) Metroid Dread – Experiment No. Z-57 Boss Fight [Video] Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_EAOfbFTKo&t=54s [Accessed 18th December 2022]
Capcom Game Studio Vancouver (2014) Dead Rising 3 Apocalypse Edition [Video Game] Capcom. Available online: https://store.steampowered.com/app/265550/Dead_Rising_3_Apocalypse_Edition/?curator_clanid=34827957 [Accessed 12th December 2022]
Epic Games (2016) Paragon [Video Game]
Epic Games, Inc (2022a) City Environment Megapack vol 02 [Asset Pack] Available online: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/city-environment-megapack-vol [Accessed 29th September 2022]
Epic Games, Inc (2022b) Paragon: Murdock [Asset Pack] Available online: https://www.unrealengine.com/marketplace/en-US/product/paragon-murdock?sessionInvalidated=true [Accessed 27th October 2022]
Mercurysteam & Nintendo EPD (2021) Metroid Dread [Video Game] Nintendo.
Merta, K. (2014) Scene 9. Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – All Cutscenes [YouTube Playlist] Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzcUfeElf9s&list=PL6c7jk4KwaEUTNz7G913IOOS2RgAdLQu0&index=9 [Accessed 13th December 2022]
NameslessDreadx37x (2014) Dead Rising 3 – Story/Cutscenes – Opening (Part 1) [Video] Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke6ThW3Dr80 [Accessed 12th December 2022]
PlatinumGames (2014) METAL GEAR RISING: REVENGEANCE [Video Game] Konami Digital Entertainment. Available online: https://store.steampowered.com/app/235460/METAL_GEAR_RISING_REVENGEANCE/ [Accessed 13th December 2022]