What makes the game different?
Dzwinel’s love of ’80s entertainment inspired him to design combat with exciting counterattacks, a wide variety of weapons, brutal (and sometimes funny) finishing moves, and a powerful combat system. Unique multi-directional combat. However, what makes this game truly unique is the way Dzwinel and Jacobus teamed up to bring the action style to life.
A match made in Humble
Long before joining MFE, Jacobus followed the evolution of the game through a series of posts made by Dzwinel that showed the core loop of the game engine. Jacobus told business partner and executive producer Zac Swartout, “We had to work on this game. Please contact this guy”. The thing is, Dzwinel, a lone developer in Poland, seemed almost unreachable, so Jacobus gave up the hunt. But then one day, Humble Games contacted Jacobus to ask if he wanted to do spin on a game they were publishing. When he learned it was the Midnight Fight Express, Jacobus jumped at the chance.
In-session motion capture
After an introductory call, Jacobus and Dzwinel decided to shoot four days during which the team would execute 300 shots as planned including combos, intercepts, finishes, environment attacks, and enemy moves. direction. As the day of filming began, Jacobus and Dzwinel realized that there had been a miscommunication: each move had to be made against the enemy north, south, east and west. No 300 photos; there were 1,200 photos taken within 4 days. “No problem,” said Jacobus, who is performing with his longtime stunt partner and friend Fernando Jay Huerto. “Jay and I have worked together for decades. We would have to do every shot on the first go. “
Over the course of four intense days of motion capture, the team will narrow down the roughly 300 shots needed for each day.
Action Design Process
Dzwinel organizes combat with loose parameters: hero engages enemy, hero kills, enemy dies. Jacobus and his team were allowed to fill in the rest. Dzwinel Skyped into the footage via laptop to ensure that the mocap group stayed within the confines of the combat system. When designing the action, Jacobus knew that the tone had to be fun. “Audiences have enough super serious action games and movies. MFE can be the release of the catalyst they need, not only with the exhilarating physical movements but also with the grotesque. ” Jacobus and Huerto would propose their ridiculous ideas, and Dzwinel would say whether it was too long, too short, too crazy, or (often) not crazy enough.
Get 300 action shots per day
Jacobus and Huerto knew they were having a hard time. With a goal of 300 shots per day, this gets them just 1.6 minutes per shot to view the shot list, choreograph moves, confirm moves with Jacob, cut shots, run mocaps, execute shots and cut. They sped up the creative process by creating a system for the basic directions: north involved in brawl since it’s confrontation; to the west is Taekwondo, Eric’s first martial arts style, as it relates to his good kicking; south is Muay Thai, better when attacked in a blind shot; and the east side is a mix of Hapkido, another style Eric knows, and wrestling, Huerto’s specialty.
Know your fighting motives
After the first four days of motion capture, Jacobus and the team were assigned 40 more finishes to the game’s pistol and shotgun weapons, this time in a four-hour motion capture shot. , they had six minutes to complete each shot. Despite a more relaxed schedule, Jacobus thought out over 50 finishers ahead of time to make sure they could get it all done, involving great pistol toss, acrobatic weapons, and attacks Fancy melee with shotguns.
Unfortunately, Jacobus soon discovered another unexpected curve: the MFE engine pinned the weapon to the right hand, but everyone who finished Jacobus caused the weapon to leave the right hand. So again, Jacobus thought quickly, and he and Jacob thought back to all 40 who finished and finished ahead of time. Important key? Know the fighting motives before you prepare!
Putting it all together
With the motion capture finished, Dzwinel had to integrate all the motion capture animations into the MFE. Dzwinel has hand-to-hand combat moves, but he now has over 1200 animations to play with. When it comes to integrating animations, Dzwinel says it’s a simple process. “The process of integrating all the animations from the mocap sessions was so easy that I could simply bring them into the game, crop the animations to the required length, and have them work within minutes. I had a lot of them so I could choose from the best blows and there was a lot of variety in my combat system. “
The future is bright for action games
Jacobus believes that games like MFE are a sign that there is a sea of change taking place in game development. “In the past, developers didn’t cede much control to the action team. Now we integrate into the project like a developer. In fact, our action team is bigger than the entire development team! “
Dzwinel notes the importance of variety in Midnight Fight Express. “The multitude of animations is what makes Midnight Fight Express so enjoyable. It has been a great experience for me to have the opportunity to work with Eric and his team. I wouldn’t be where I am now without his help. We did something special together, and I hope everyone enjoys the many things they can do in Midnight Fight Express. ”
Jacobus notes how Dzwinel lays the groundwork for the collaborative experience. “He created a process that allowed us to come up with as many ideas as possible, and it was as crazy as possible. After our main shoot is over, I’ll secretly capture the miscellaneous moves and combinations and send them to Jacob. I never want the mocap process to end. If Humble hadn’t asked me to stop, I would still have started this match today. “
Midnight Fight Express launches on PS4 on August 23.