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

Agenda  Intro  DICE  The Vision  Team structure  Prototyping  Tools and pipeline  Iteration  Final Thoughts

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

 Intro  DICE  The Vision  Team structure  Prototyping  Tools and pipeline  Iteration  Final Thoughts Agenda

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

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

 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 First person free running The Vision

 Momentum is rewarded  Assess the situation  When the odds are against you – the chase begins The chase – Fight or flight

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

Agenda  Intro  DICE  The Vision  Team structure  Prototyping  Tools and pipeline  Iteration  Final Thoughts

Team structure

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.  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.

Agenda  Intro  DICE  The Vision  Team structure  Prototyping  Tools and pipeline  Iteration  Final Thoughts

Prototyping  Initial concepts  First pre-visualization  Animate perception  First Person Mesh  The Whiteroom  Initial concepts  First pre-visualization  Animate perception  First Person Mesh  The Whiteroom

Initial Concepts

Previsualisation First Iteration

Previsualisation Second Iteration

Previsualisation Final Version

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

Second idea, put some aim constraint on the camera.

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

Animate First Person Perception Same goes for all 1p animations

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

First Person Mesh Comparison

First Person Mesh Final Version

The White Room

 Intro  DICE  The Vision  Team structure  Prototyping  Tools and pipeline  Iteration  Final Thoughts Agenda

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

 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  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 The Tools

Agenda  Intro  DICE  The Vision  Team structure  Prototyping  Tools and pipeline  Iteration  Final Thoughts

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

 Context sensitive animations  Layered landing animations  Heavy landings / skill rolls Jumping

Wall runs  Impact animation  Guided camera  Aiming  Dynamically triggered

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

Agenda  Intro  DICE  The Vision  Team structure  Prototyping  Tools and pipeline  Iteration  Final Thoughts

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  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

Questions?