Neogeotracker's recent activity

  1. Comment on What is your favourite cutscene/cinematic in any game? in ~games

    Neogeotracker
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    This was the reason I applied to Blizzard in 1998. I saw this at e3 that year and was blown away.

    The opening sequence to Brood War

    This was the reason I applied to Blizzard in 1998. I saw this at e3 that year and was blown away.

  2. Comment on What is your favourite cutscene/cinematic in any game? in ~games

    Neogeotracker
    (edited )
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    Aww that is nice to know. I've been in the film-games-animation industry for 25+ years now so it's easy to forget the impact some of these projects have had on people. It's nice to read about it...

    Aww that is nice to know. I've been in the film-games-animation industry for 25+ years now so it's easy to forget the impact some of these projects have had on people. It's nice to read about it when they do. To answer your questions.

    • Yes. When I started at Blizzard the Cinematics Department was less than 10 people. We were all huge cinema buffs. Making a fully CGI animation film was and is a very big undertaking, especially at Blizzard quality. Doing so without the support of the game just wasn't a possibility (back then and now to a degree). For a stand alone film you needed the support of A-list actors/directors. There's a 100year old system for that and we were just a small group of guys making game cinematics. There was no way the company would fund a movie. There was a bit of talk about trying to shoe-horn a narrative that could stand alone outside the games into the process of the cinematics, then circulate that at festivals as an 'indie film' but there was so much creative fire back then it was never going to get that structured. The games were the first and foremost priority. I have to say I loved the old blizzard leadership when it came to their narratives, they made edgy choices. That drew me to the company and I've very much seen that dip over the years since.

    • I'm not sure I completely understand the second question, but the basic answer is we just had time, focus, and an iterative process. We were making cinematics with over the counter animation software, 3dsmax (brazil renderer), after effects, combustion, etc. When it came to art creation it was very iterative. My biggest lesson was: Do it once and it's OK. Do it twice and it's BETTER. Do it a third time and it starts to become GREAT. And this is if you're already 'good' at what you're trying to do. Practice is the key. That and the awareness that it can always be done better. Working next to incredibly talented people also helped.
      A lot of those other titles you mention were immensely better than what we were doing as they had huge infrastructure and RnD departments dedicated to elevating their platform/tools. We were always blown away and scrambling to try and do something that could stand out. That crow at the beginning of W3 was in direct reference / competition to the bird scene in Pixar's Bug's Life, we aimed for something just as real and intense.

    2 votes

  3. Comment on A "low-risk" AMA thread for everyone in ~talk

    Neogeotracker
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    IAMA Creative Director. I've been working in animation / vfx / design since the mid 90s. I worked at Blizzard Entertainment in the late 90s early 00s. I worked for David Lynch on and off for about...

    IAMA Creative Director. I've been working in animation / vfx / design since the mid 90s. I worked at Blizzard Entertainment in the late 90s early 00s. I worked for David Lynch on and off for about 10 years. I've done a ton of Game Industry Key Artwork: Batman Arkham City, Wolfenstein New Order, and much more. I published my own game in 2012. These days I'm a Creative Director at a metaverse gaming company. I love film and games, and the merger of the two.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on What is your favourite cutscene/cinematic in any game? in ~games

    Neogeotracker
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    Warcraft 3. For selfish reasons, I worked on those!

    Warcraft 3. For selfish reasons, I worked on those!

    43 votes

  5. Comment on What is your favourite cutscene/cinematic in any game? in ~games

    Neogeotracker
    Link Parent
    Diablo 2 yes. Remastered no way. I worked on D2 cinematics and they did a bad job on the remaster. Marius no longer looks like Marius. They made the wanderer have potato sack robes which was a...

    Diablo 2 yes. Remastered no way. I worked on D2 cinematics and they did a bad job on the remaster. Marius no longer looks like Marius. They made the wanderer have potato sack robes which was a design choice (back then) due to limitations of cloth sim tech not being able to handle complex clothing design, there's something blizzard was great for (character design) why not spice that up with some real robe design? I've a bunch of other minor detailed changes that I didn't like, overall, imo, they put the the Art Direction into the wrong areas.

    6 votes