Thursday 13 December 2012
Thursday 6 December 2012
InFamous
The video game InFamous uses a very novel idea for its cutscenes. the game takes a strong influence from comics and the superhero genre, so the story and karma cutscenes follow a similar tone and visual style to motion comics.
The cutscenes have the visual appearance of the panels in a comic, with individual images within the panels, moving around to demonstrate what is happening in the scene while the player character Cole McGrath narrates the action.
While I will not use this style of cutscene in my own work, the module brief requiring to produce a more "In-game" style cutscene. I find this style very interesting and would like to produce sometihng similar at a later date.
The cutscenes have the visual appearance of the panels in a comic, with individual images within the panels, moving around to demonstrate what is happening in the scene while the player character Cole McGrath narrates the action.
While I will not use this style of cutscene in my own work, the module brief requiring to produce a more "In-game" style cutscene. I find this style very interesting and would like to produce sometihng similar at a later date.
Would you Kindly
The video game Bioshock is remarkable in many ways, one of which is the way it is a commentary on the video game medium itself, similar to how Watchmen is a commentary on comic books.
Bioshock is also notable for putting the player in the role of the character Jack and using cutscenes that allow the player to retain control of Jack. This allows for a level of immersion not present in an FMV cutscene, characters look directly at the camera, giving the illusion they are talking directly to the player.
The cutscenes featured are often signified by a change in contrast on the screen and a glowing phantom would appear in front of the player, showing the player an aspect of Rapture's (the city the game takes place in) past.
Bioshock is also notable for putting the player in the role of the character Jack and using cutscenes that allow the player to retain control of Jack. This allows for a level of immersion not present in an FMV cutscene, characters look directly at the camera, giving the illusion they are talking directly to the player.
The cutscenes featured are often signified by a change in contrast on the screen and a glowing phantom would appear in front of the player, showing the player an aspect of Rapture's (the city the game takes place in) past.
Wednesday 5 December 2012
Video Game Cutscenes
Cutscenes are an important aspect of the story telling in a video game. The cutscene is used to give the player crucial information, as well as providing a transition from one game level to the next. Cutscenes can serve a variety of purposes and can be executed in a variety of ways, sometimes being fully animated cinematics, other times being scripted sequences with the player just being a person in the room, or being talked to.
Below are a number of examples of some of the different kinds of video game cutscenes:
Bioshock: Would you Kindly (major plot spoilers)
The Would you Kindly moment in Bioshock is a fantastic example of a cutscene that starts with the player in control of Jack, the playable protagonist, and then losing control, with this being mirrored in the game's story, as Andrew Ryan takes control of Jack)
Mirror's Edge:
The cutscenes from Mirror's Edge are unlike most modern video game cutscenes, in that they are not rendered using the game's engine, nor are they 3-D models. Instead Mirror's Edge utilises a Cel-Shaded technique, fitting with the game's cyberpunk anime inspired aesthetic.
Left 4 Dead 2 Intro:
The introductory cinematic for Left 4 Dead 2 differs from most Valve games in that it is fully animated, the sequence is rendered using the game's engine however has a much higher graphics quality than the playable sections of the game.
Below are a number of examples of some of the different kinds of video game cutscenes:
Bioshock: Would you Kindly (major plot spoilers)
The Would you Kindly moment in Bioshock is a fantastic example of a cutscene that starts with the player in control of Jack, the playable protagonist, and then losing control, with this being mirrored in the game's story, as Andrew Ryan takes control of Jack)
Mirror's Edge:
The cutscenes from Mirror's Edge are unlike most modern video game cutscenes, in that they are not rendered using the game's engine, nor are they 3-D models. Instead Mirror's Edge utilises a Cel-Shaded technique, fitting with the game's cyberpunk anime inspired aesthetic.
Left 4 Dead 2 Intro:
The introductory cinematic for Left 4 Dead 2 differs from most Valve games in that it is fully animated, the sequence is rendered using the game's engine however has a much higher graphics quality than the playable sections of the game.
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