Creating First Person Movement for MIRROR'S EDGE

2. Tobias Dahl, Lead Animator • Mikael Lagré, Programmer Creating First Person Movement for MIRROR'S EDGE

3. Intro • DICE • The Vision • Team structure • Prototyping • Tools and pipeline • Iteration • Final Thoughts Agenda

4. Located in Stockholm, Sweden • Owned by Electronic Arts since 2006 • 260 employees • Battlefield and Mirror’s Edge

5. Intro • DICE • The Vision • Team structure • Prototyping • Tools and pipeline • Iteration • Final Thoughts Agenda

6. Through the character experience • First person free running • The chase – “fight or flight” • Heightened senses • experience • ∂ The Vision The KAOF’s

7. The Vision Through the character experience • Redefine 1st person • True immersion • Became a mantra on the team

8. The Vision First person free running • More like a 3P adventure game, translated to 1P perspective • Parkour-like moves • Allow the things you always wanted to be able to do in your ordinary FPS

9. The Vision The chase – Fight or flight • Momentum is rewarded • Assess the situation • When the odds are against you – the chase begins

10. The Vision Heightened senses • How Faith percieves the world • Focus on whats relevant, the rest become peripheral • Clean and fresh

11. Intro • DICE • The Vision • Team structure • Prototyping • Tools and pipeline • Iteration • Final Thoughts Agenda

12. Team structure

13. Team Structure • 5-6 people • Team seated together • Always one designer, one animator and one engineer assigned to a feature at the same time • Agile development, using scrum • The movement team was a perfect fit for the scrum format • 2 Week cycles, 2-3 moves • Allowed for fast iterations, design adjustments etc.

14. Intro • DICE • The Vision • Team structure • Prototyping • Tools and pipeline • Iteration • Final Thoughts Agenda

15. Prototyping • Initial concepts • First pre-visualization • Animate perception • First Person Mesh • The Whiteroom

16. Initial Concepts

17. Previsualisation First Iteration

18. Previsualisation Second Iteration

19. Previsualisation Final Version

20. Animate First Person Perception First idea, do some mocap, parent the camera to the head, done!

21. Animate First Person Perception Second idea, put some aim constraint on the camera.

22. Animate First Person Perception Third idea, animate it by hand and make it look cool and believable!

23. Animate First Person Perception Same goes for all 1p animations

24. First Person Mesh • Realistic appealing First Person mesh • No volume loss • Muscle and tendons • Something happening under the skin

25. First Person Mesh Comparison

26. First Person Mesh Final Version

27. The White Room

28. Intro • DICE • The Vision • Team structure • Prototyping • Tools and pipeline • Iteration • Final Thoughts Agenda

29. The Tools • Support all projects on DICE • Support different engines like Frostbite, BF2 and Unreal3 • Scaleable rigs • Created for Maya in MEL and API

30. The Tools • Design to fit first/third person animations • Both realistic and stylized animations • Deal with many characters for cut scenes • High frame rate (no playblasts) • No Maya referencing

31. Intro • DICE • The Vision • Team structure • Prototyping • Tools and pipeline • Iteration • Final Thoughts Agenda

32. Iteration • Movement was a key area of focus • Most moves iterated on 5-6 times • Attention to detail • Motion sickness

33. Jumping • Context sensitive animations • Layered landing animations • Heavy landings / skill rolls

34. Wall runs • Impact animation • Guided camera • Aiming • Dynamically triggered

35. Vaulting • Fixed metrics at first • Became fully dynamic • Choose animation based on height, speed and obstacle shape

36. Intro • DICE • The Vision • Team structure • Prototyping • Tools and pipeline • Iteration • Final Thoughts Agenda

37. Final Thoughts • Successful production methodology • Strong belief in the game concept from the beginning to the end • First person restrictions sometimes very challenging • The whole production – a learning experience

38. Questions?