Niubie Interview

I was fortunate enough to be interviewed for a spanish language website similar to Kotaku called Niubie. If you know how to read in spanish and would like to check the interview out then please follow this link. For everyone else I would like to share the interview translated in english. I hope you guys enjoy it:

- Bruno, can you tell us who you are and what is your typical day like being lead in-game animator in Sony?

My name is Bruno Velazquez and I the Lead in-game animator for God of War3. I have always had a passion for animation and video games and I feel lucky to have the chance to be involved in both at the same time. My place of birth was Mexico City and I moved to the United States when I was 12. I’ve been working in the game industry as an animator since 2002 and some of the titles that I’ve worked on include Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks and God of War 2.

A typical day at Sony is mostly divided into half my day involved in meetings and supervising other animators and the other half doing my actual animation work. It is quite challenging since we have a large group of animators. I am also responsible for animating Kratos so I need to make sure that I do the character justice with my work.

- Describe us the process used to create animations for God of War 3

Usually each animator is responsible for and entire character from beginning to the end. Each animator works closely with a Combat designer and together they come up with ideas of how a character should move and behave with feedback from the Game Director and the Lead Animator. Before we start animation however, we have various meetings to analyze the concept art and to discuss the personality of the character and how they fit into the God of War universe whether he is a simple soldier or Zeus himself. We have a realistic approach to our animations but we always keepin mind that the gameplay comes first.

- What's the advantage of doing animation by hand as opposed to motion-captured animation?

The biggest advantage would have to be that we don’t have to worry about putting a Centaur or a Minotaur into a motion capture suit. No but seriously, there so many mythological creatures in our game that it wouldbe impossible to be done with motion capture. Even though Kratos is human and could potentially be motion captured, I feel that no actor could capture his brutality as well as the animation team. I do feel that motion capture is a valuable tool and we are actually going to use some of it for our cinematics which involve subtle acting and dialogue. All the in game animation however will remain 100% key frame.

- How much of the game's animation has been reworked, and how much is taken from God of War 2?

I would have to say that probably 80% is brand new and about 20% from Godof War 2. However every animation will be polished and reworked to bring it up to the next generation standards. You can also expect to see many brand new abilities and moves for Kratos as well as various new brutal finishing moves.

-What software did you use, and how did you decide what was best for God of War 3?

The software that we are currently using is Maya. This software has been used at Sony Santa Monica since God of War 1 so the team is really familiar with it. We decided to continue with this program since it has worked well for us in the past.

- What major challenges did you encounter in working toward the levelof excellence that God of War fans will expect and how did you address them?

The major challenges comes from some questions that we ask ourselves everyday from each other when working on something new: Does it feel likeGod of War? Is this something Kratos would do and why? Would the Fans like it? If the answer is no to these questions then we go back and work on it some more. We are constantly trying to find ways to make things bigger and better that the previous game and we feel that making the God of War fans happy is the most important thing.

- How has your experience working in games changed over the years, specifically with the current generation?

As far as animation is concerned, things have not changed as much as the other disciplines such as modeling. There have been several advancements such as motion capture and rag-doll physics but the basic principles of good timing and weight are still the key ingredient to making animation great.

- Are there any features of the PlayStation 3 that excite you as an animator?

The features that excite me would have to be the ability to have much more detail on each one of our characters. We can now get much closer with the camera and see much more detail in the movement of the characters. We are also able to include new levels of facial animation which is especially important for Kratos. Now you will be able to see his facial expressions much better as he take his enemies apart. The Kratos character model is also much more detailed that he will be used for both in-game animation and cinematics.

- Any closing words of wisdom for all the aspiring game animators reading this interview?

I would have to say that if you want to be an animator you should start by looking around you and studying life. Look at how people walk and act, analyze the way you dog runs or how your little brother plays soccer. The key to animation comes from observation. Of course I would also recommend taking classes and reading as many animation books as possible. Watch making-of documentaries on how animation was created for Hollywood films and don’t forget to play lots of video games as well!

Thanks for reading!