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Tag: REALTIME

REALTIME team up with Ukie to #RaiseTheGame on diversity

The #RaiseTheGame pledge, an initiative from UKIE, is a collaborative and high-impact commitment to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in the games industry — creating cultures where everyone belongs, voices are heard and ideas can thrive.

We are proud to announce that we are supporting the #Raisethegame initiative by pledging to create change within our own organisation.

Companies signing up to the pledge work towards:

  • creating a diverse workforce by recruiting as fairly and as widely as possible
  • shaping inclusive and welcoming places to work, by educating and inspiring people to take more personal responsibility for fostering and promoting diversity and inclusion
  • Reflecting greater diversity within games at every level from game design and development through to marketing and community engagement.

REALTIME joins developers, publishers and other companies associated to the video games industry who have also signed-up to the pledge, including Xbox, Mediatonic, Rare and EA.

Says Tony Prosser, Managing Director of REALTIME, “We wholeheartedly support the principle of equal opportunities and nurturing a diverse and inclusive environment within our business. Signing up to Ukie’s #Raisethegame pledge is a hugely exciting step for REALTIME; diversity in our workforce ensures diversity, innovation and resilience in our work, which is a vital to our company culture.”

From concept to completion: Dragons in The Watch

In early 2021, BBC America aired the fantastical new Terry Pratchett adaptation – ‘The Watch’. A fantastical world as rich as Terry Pratchett’s Discworld required some innovative VFX work to bring this adaptation to life, especially the dangerous Noble Dragon that threatens its world and the cute, but fiery, pocket-size dragon Goodboy. 

REALTIME was a key creative partner on the series, creating a range of 2D and 3D VFX, including for the two very different dragons. Uniquely anarchic and thrillingly entertaining, the character-driven drama follows several of Terry Pratchett’s best-loved creations on a riotous and emotional odyssey.

But how did we approach such a task? In part one, we’re going to run through the initial stages as we worked to meet this unique brief. Let’s run through our VFX journey…

A tale of two dragons

This project presented two specific challenges: creating the smaller Goodboy, a dragon who fits in the palm of your hand, and at the other extreme, the colossal Noble Dragon, a creature the size of a jumbo jet, with enough firepower to destroy a city.

From the brief, we had to create something never seen before. With two distinctly different creatures to create, we started with the concept art. It’s at this stage we began to sketch out the look of the dragons, building an idea of how to bring them to life in 3D. In an age of Game of Thrones and other high fantasy, dragons have become part of the zeitgeist. Our goal was to make something brand new that gave the series two unique dragons of its own.

The production team had originally wanted to use a real gecko to ‘act’ the part of Goodboy. The wings and fire breath would just be added in post-production. In practice, this was a very challenging task to accomplish on set, as we saw when we suggested production do a camera test early on. It proved too difficult to work with a real lizard. This meant Goodboy needed to be a full CGI creature, but also work with the budget limitations of the series.

We still wanted to have the feel of a real-life lizard, so drew inspiration from the armadillo lizard. As we would be getting much more up close and personal with this creature, we had to focus on bringing life to it, capturing his personality and character. We visualised a rescue puppy to help us understand the kind of emotional response we wanted Goodboy to elicit from viewers, adding details like his broken wings and scars.

Goodboy might well be the cutest character in the series – just watch him sing – but he also has a dangerous side as a hand-held flamethrower. There’s a lot of personality to Goodboy that had to be brought out through the VFX work. He needed a cheeky personality with an expressive face, but we had to be mindful of budgetary considerations when designing his body and rigging his face. 

In the grand finale of the series, Goodboy takes centre stage to stop the rampage of the Noble Dragon. Without spoiling it for you, it proved a great opportunity to bring some of Goodboy’s personality to the forefront and finish the series with a bit of Pratchett-esque tongue-in-cheek wit. He is quite a young and inexperienced dragon, and we played this up in his attempt to fly. He launches off with a running jump, but his flight is very bumpy as he has to learn as he goes. 

For the Noble Dragon, with its awe-inspiring size, we needed a different approach. To make it feel different to the dragons featured in other popular fantasy series and films, we wanted to give it an ethereal, smoky quality. This meant it would need to go through multiple stages and be highly FX-driven.

When we designed the Noble Dragon, even though its scales wouldn’t be seen by the audience, we still rendered a version with them because we need to know how it looks and operates. 

But we’ll talk about the Noble Dragon in more detail in part 2 when we dive into the pre- and post-vis processes. This is where the two dragons really came to life. Stay tuned for part 2!

REALTIME has a team of highly creative individuals who can elevate your project with fantastic ideas and visuals. If you would like to find out more, get in touch with me at [email protected].

 

Four of the most inspiring women in the games industry

The video game industry has a reputation as a male-dominated space. At REALTIME, we are committed to playing a part to change this. To mark #IWD 2021, we are planning to sign up to the #RaiseTheGame Diversity pledge by UKIE. 

In 2019, 46% of gamers in the US were women. It’s a hobby that transcends gender and in this 21st-century world, we can move beyond this outdated viewpoint. Despite this, only 24% of game developers worldwide were women. Almost half of all gamers are women, yet there aren’t enough voices representing them.

Thankfully, that number is on the rise and we only have amazingly talented and skilful women to thank for that. They are working behind the scenes to bring games to life and lead the way for other young girls. Here are just a handful of the many inspirational women in the games industry who have had a huge impact. 

 

Robin Hunicke

Robin has had a rich and very impressive career. Starting off at EA, she worked on multiple games, including MySims as lead designer and Boom Blox as a producer. After leaving EA she went on to produce the award-winning Journey for the PS3 at thatgamecompany. If that wasn’t enough, she worked for Tiny Speck to develop Glitch. 

Robin is now the co-founder and CEO of the game studio Funomena, a studio that describes its games as “experimental, playful, and engaging” and is behind the charmingly bizarre Wattam. Robin is well-recognised in the industry for her support of indie games, experimental approach to game design, and advocating for women in the games industry. 

 

Aya Kyogoku

Aya worked her way up at Nintendo to the role of sequence director on Animal Crossing: City Folk. After City Folk received mixed reviews, Aya, as one of the two directors, decided to take a different approach with its sequel, New Leaf. She used her position as director to address the gender imbalance in the industry by hiring a team that was 50% female. She also encouraged members of the team, no matter their role, to make suggestions for the game. The tireless efforts of Ava and her team led to New Leaf selling over 12 million copies and receiving some of the best reviews for the series to date. 

That was until Aya Animal Crossing: New Horizons came along. Aya struck gold again, creating a game which the world very much needed last year. The game received the “Game Of The Year” award from the Japan Game Awards and sold over 1.88 million copies in three days in Japan. 

Twitter also announced it was the most tweeted about game in 2020. In the year that saw the launch of the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, along with massive titles such as The Last of Us Part II and the Final Fantasy VII Remake, that’s no easy feat.

 

Dona Bailey

Dona’s first exposure to video games was when her friend took her to a bar with an arcade to show her the game that the song “Space Invaders” by The Pretenders was named after. Already working as a programmer, she realised Atari was using the same microprocessor. So she decided to leave her job and moved to California in hopes of working for them.

Dona joined Atari’s coin-op division, where she was the only woman. In a four-person team, she worked as the software developer and engineer on the legendary game Centipede. It became one of the most commercially successful arcade games during the arcade golden age. 

Dona is also credited with designing the game in such a way so as to appeal to a broader audience. As such, Centipede became one of the first coin-op games with a significant female player base. She was a true trailblazer, and who knows if the industry would be the same without her impact.

 

Danielle Udogaranya

Of those working in the games industry, only 2% are black. And across all ethnicities, only 28% are female. So we estimate about just over 0.5% of the people working in the entire games industry are black women, and that fact hasn’t gone unnoticed. Representation matters and Danielle Udogaranya is at the heart of the discussion in gaming.

She’s known by her Twitch moniker ‘Ebonix’, but she is also a hugely influential voice in the wider industry and co-founder of Black Twitch UK. As a Sims streamer and customer content creator, she advocated for more inclusive skin tones. Her efforts paid off last year when EA added more than 100 skin tones to The Sims 4, as well as more options for black hairstyles.

She knows just how much people crave representation. She put it best when she said: “I wasn’t met with any push back, but rather embraced by the community, because I was creating content which allowed them to feel represented and see themselves in their games.”

 

Honourable mentions

Four definitely isn’t enough; there are too many great women in gaming to name. There’s Bonnie Ross, current corporate vice president at Xbox Game Studios and head of 343 Industries, the team helming the Halo series. Or what about Siobhan Reddy, studio director at Media Molecule, who just released the revolutionary Dreams?

Some talented voice actresses have brought their characters to life through amazing performances. Ashly Burch is one such name, starring as Aloy in Horizon Zero Dawn and Chloe in Life is Strange. Both Ashley Johnson and Laura Bailey delivered outstanding work in The Last of Us Part II. And we can’t not mention the extremely talented Yoko Shimomura, the composer behind many stellar soundtracks, including those for the Kingdom Hearts series and Final Fantasy XV.

But this is just a drop in the industry. Women are our community managers, our concept artists, our programmers, our animators, our writers, our QA testers, and all those in marketing, advertising, and PR.

There’s still a long way to go in bridging the gender gap in the games industry, but with women like this leading the way, we’re well on our way to gender equality in the industry. The work they are putting out today could be the inspiration many young girls need, and we can’t wait to see who the next rising star will be.

We also want to point out the great work Code Coven is doing with their female-led, games industry-focused online bootcamp. Their inclusive and friendly learning environment is sure to make the games industry a more diverse place to be. And if you would like to discuss your next project, get in touch with me today at [email protected].

Our five most anticipated games to watch out for in 2021

The anticipation for the next big game release never really goes away. The industry is constantly expanding and revolutionising, and so with each new announcement comes fresh excitement about what games are bringing to the table.

With the release of new consoles in November, the anticipation for next gen game releases has ramped up once again. With this sense of palpitation in the air, and people hoping 2021 will be a marked improvement on last year, we’ve put together a list of some of our most anticipated games.

 

Battlefield 6

The Battlefield franchise is a staple in the first-person shooter genre. The release of Battlefield 6 is looking to push the classic franchise even further, utilising the power of next generation consoles to expand the game and its capabilities. At an EA Play event in 2020, EA’s chief studios producer Laura Miele promised that developers DICE were ‘creating epic battles at a scale and fidelity unlike anything you’ve experienced before’, so there are big expectations for this release.

EA and DICE are keeping their cards close to their chest in terms of gameplay and story, but they’ve proved that these details aren’t necessary to create anticipation. Battlefield 6 promises to make the most of the next generation tech, with its detailed and realistic facial animation and sneak peaks at scenes with hundreds of soldiers running across the screen.

While the PvP multiplayer is, at its core, sticking to their classic 32 vs 32 battles, reports are circulating that the maps are being designed to support 128 players. This doubles the scale of PvP and offers potential online gameplay experiences that far exceed anything the franchise has offered before.

 

Halo: Infinite

Halo: Infinite is under the microscope after being delayed in 2020. After its much memed gameplay demo at an Xbox Series X showcase, fans will want to see how it pushes the boundaries with its graphics as they left some feeling underwhelmed.

Indeed, 343 Industries is determined to get this right, and the delay will hopefully lead to a better end product. The next generation should give them all the power they need to create the greatest Halo game yet, with creative director Joseph Staten claiming: “This was the Halo we imagined back in 2000, finally come to life, after 20 years of technical and creative innovation.”

We’ve yet to see a video update in 2021, but we’re sure 343 Industries are working hard to make this the best looking game it can be, to match the tight FPS mechanics the series is known for.

 

God of War: Ragnarok

From an Xbox staple to a PlayStation one. God of War: Ragnarok is the highly anticipated sequel to the soft Norse reboot of the series back in 2018. We’ve seen very little of the game, with just a short logo teaser back in 2020. But we all know what we’re in for when it comes to Kratos.

We aren’t the first people to talk about how excited we are for this game. The God of War sequel topped many ‘most anticipated’ lists at the end of 2020, including the official PlayStation Blog’s ‘Most Anticipated Game’ award. It’s safe to say the excitement is palpable right now.

 

Back 4 Blood

You can always trust The Game Awards to drop some exciting news. Amidst all the excitement was this title from Left 4 Dead creators Turtle Rock Studios. As the name of the game might suggest, this is a spiritual successor to the much-loved series, which has gone without a new entry since 2009.

The gameplay looks just as visceral as the Valve series, with the emphasis on 4-player co-op as you try to escape the hordes of the undead. The asymmetrical multiplayer, which puts four people in the role of the special infected, is also one of the game’s best features. It’s sure to be a multiplayer success and exactly what Left 4 Dead fans are after.

 

Gotham Knights

The Arkham series of games showed us that superhero games didn’t have to just be poor tie-ins. In a way, PlayStation’s excellent Spider-Man game (and its Miles Morales expansion) couldn’t have existed without it. So after the release of Batman: Arkham Knight in 2015, we’ve been waiting to see what was next for the caped crusader.

It turns out we’ll be stepping into the shoes of his super family instead, with players taking control of Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and Red Hood. Most exciting is that every character has their own distinct playstyle, making each playthrough fresh and interesting. Two-player co-op also allows friends to team up and mix it up on the fly, dropping in and out as they please. It takes a more traditional comic-book approach, giving it a bright style that makes it distinct from the Arkham games. It’s a new direction for Batman games and we can’t wait to see how it goes.

 

Honourable mentions

With lists like this, there’s never enough room to talk about everything. While we can’t wait for these five games, there are plenty of others that make us just as excited. Fans are giddy with anticipation for Resident Evil Village, especially after the excellent Resident Evil 7. This one is bringing witches into the mix, so we’ll see how they clash with the regular zombie aesthetic.

PlayStation also has a couple of games that are sure to make the PS5 an even better purchase. Both Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Horizon Forbidden West are sure to live up to the hype and prove to be excellent sequels. Beyond that, who knows what 2022 holds? The recently announced Indiana Jones game from Bethesda, the ever-mysterious FromSoftware game Elden Ring, and the recently delayed The Lord of the Rings: Gollum game.

The next generation of gaming brings with it an immense collection of exciting new games, with new and old franchises taking advantage of the capabilities of the new consoles that will soon be released. New tech is making the possibilities of game design endless, and these five games only hint at the potential of next generation gaming.

It is far from an exhaustive list, with many amazing games likely to be released this year. But if we didn’t limit ourselves, we’d be here all day! This is just a taste of what to expect, and if you’re anything like us, the next few months couldn’t go fast enough.

At REALTIME, we’re just as excited about the next generation as you are. We are ready to share our experience and want to collaborate with you to access the full potential of any exciting next-gen game ideas you may have. Get in touch with me at [email protected].

Why your car configurator is a vital sales feature

Shopping around for a car online offers more choice and comfort than the in-person experience at a dealership. Online car shopping has only accelerated in the face of COVID-19 and is more important than ever to focus on. It’s part of a slow shift that’s been happening for years; in 2019, a Cox Automotive car buyer survey reported that 61% of car shoppers’ time was spent online and now 37% of people looking to buy a car imminently are likely to make their final purchase without ever visiting a dealership. 

In this increasingly digital world, we cannot overstate the value of imagery. A car configurator is a core feature of online car shopping and provide a valuable service to customers who utilise them. But a key component to making it a success is selling the dream of owning that car, something you can achieve by making it look as realistic and desirable as possible. This isn’t just a car, it’s their car. So what are the benefits of creating a car configurator with impressive visual fidelity?

 

It’s engaging

Interactive content gains twice the engagement of static content on websites. A car configurator, therefore, is an effective way of encouraging your customers to not just look at the car but engage with it. Interactive content also increases the number of return visits to your site, keeping your business and a customer’s dream car in their mind.

The more they interact with it, the higher the chances of them making the purchase are. By engaging with the car, it makes the idea of owning it more real. And the better it looks, the more real it feels, taking it from a dream purchase to an actual purchase.

 

It’s personal

Customising a car online makes the final product feel more personal. The end result is created by your customers themselves and reflects them directly. Making all the choices for a vehicle allows the customer to feel involved in the creation process; the final product becomes a collaboration between you and your customer.

When they create their dream car, every choice is intimate. What finish do they want on the dashboard? What colour do they want the seats? And what gadgets do they crave? This is their car and it’s a feeling you can’t recreate at the dealership.

 

It’s persuasive

One of the most simple benefits of a car configurator is how it allows customers to fully visualise their car. Picking a paint colour from a sheet is not the same as seeing the car in their chosen colour fully styled with all their customisation choices. This confirms for customers that what they see is what they want – it removes the guesswork or hesitation from the process. 

Seeing a finished product in a car configurator will make it more real for your customer. They can look at it and know that what they see is a car unique to them. This makes the product feel attainable and more tangible than words on a screen or a conversation in a dealership.

With the pandemic making it riskier to be in proximity to strangers, more people who previously didn’t have a need for a car are now looking to buy one. As they turn online, you want your customers to have all the tools they need at their fingertips to make the best choice for them. With an intricately detailed configurator, you can make their next car-buying experience a painless one.

At REALTIME, we have 20 years of experience making car configurators for the biggest names in the automotive sector. Work with us to ensure your car configurator offers the best experience to your customers. For more information on our car configuration options, get in contact with me at [email protected].