Los Angeles, Calif. - VICON House of Moves was involved in creating the animation and
providing motion-capture services for the recently released highly
cinematic video game, WET, published by Bethesda Softworks.
"WET," developed by Artificial Mind and Movement (A2M), is a highly-stylized third person shooter that seamlessly blends gun play, sword kills and over-the-top acrobatics to create the ultimate interactive action experience. The game allows the player to shoot anywhere, anytime with the freedom to shoot while running, sliding down ladders, sliding across the floor, or performing any number of acrobatic moves. Featuring an ironic mix of humor and violence, unique retro film visual treatment, and original 70's inspired music, "WET" is a third- person shooter experience unlike any other.
Epic, action-packed battles between the game’s hero, gun-for-hire Rubi Malone, and her foes are featured at intervals throughout the game. VICON House of Moves was engaged by A2M to animate a final climactic battle, and contributed to other fight sequences as well. The cinematic-like sequence allows the player to make decisions that guide the course, and ultimately the success or failure of the battle.
“House of Moves was a great partner to work with on this game. They quickly understood what we wanted and were able to deliver it on time,” said Stephane Roy, Senior Producer, "WET." “The quality of the rendition of the animation was excellent and added a lot of energy to the boss battle sequence.”
VICON House of Moves (HOM) completed multiple days on the motion capture stage shooting several performers, including a weapons specialist to perform complex sword fighting moves. A2M selected the moves that would make it into the game and then the animation team at HOM tracked and retargeted the capture data onto 3D character and weapon models provided by A2M. HOM executed the character animation by utilizing a motion capture base, and added dynamic poses, speed adjustments, weight, timing and other sweetening elements as well as key-framing facial and secondary animation. The final approved animation was delivered to A2M in Autodesk Maya for integration into the game engine.
“When we built out our animation team at House of Moves, it was exactly with this type of project and collaboration in mind,” said Brian Rausch, VP of Production, VICON House of Moves. “A2M conceived and built a beautiful game, and we’re pleased that we were able to contribute with such a pivotal battle sequence. With the in-house animation team at HOM, we were able to keyframe and finalize several of these heavy action sequences. In the past we have been tied to specifically what was captured. In the case of "WET" we were given the freedom to deliver compelling and polished animation by any means necessary. So we set out to deliver an animation sequence that matched the beauty of the character design and the power in the voice performance. We believe we did just that.”
Featuring top-notch voice over performances from Eliza Dushku (as Rubi Malone), Malcolm McDowell (as crime lord Rupert Pelham) and Alan Cumming (as villain Christopher Sorrell), "WET" offers up a perfect mix of violence and humor set against a stellar soundtrack and original score, both of which capture the game’s cool, retro-70s grindhouse vibe. "WET," published by Bethesda Softworks, was released on September 15, 2009. For more information about "WET" please visit http://wetthegame.com.