The game will provide a unique and ambitious mix of strategy and all-out gore-splattered action. It will also feature innovative online multiplayer modes featuring Blitz's new 1-versus-many gameplay mechanic that will allow a single third-person player to take on multiple first-person enemies.
Endorphin 2.5, developed by Oxford-based NaturalMotion, is the newest version of the company's award-winning 3D character animation software. The software uses Artificial Intelligence to create 3D character animation in real time. In addition, version 2.5 allows powerful new transitioning, blending and behaviour features, combined with enhancements to asset repurposing tools and improved FBX support, allow animators to create realistic, fully interactive 3D character animation faster and easier than traditional keyframe or motion capture techniques.
Chris Swan, Project Manager of Possession for Volatile Games enthused, "Incorporating endorphin 2.5 into the Possession animation pipeline has been one of those rare experiences where you receive a significant increase in quality and a saving in time all in one go!" He continued, "Our next-gen title relies heavily on our zombies and civilians attacking each other in very detailed and original ways. There's only so far that you can go with real-life actors of course, which is where endorphin steps in. In minutes we can literally load in some motion capture footage, set up a few behaviours on the characters, and let endorphin work out the rest! The resultant animation is incredibly convincing (we haven't had to touch up a single animation so far), while the save in hand-animation time is huge."
Possession is being developed for next generation consoles, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. The game allows the player to take the role of The Enslaver, a former good guy transformed into an evil, twisted killing machine, who leads a horde of hundreds of zombies on a mission to lay waste to an enormous, thriving city.
In addition to controlling vast hordes of humans and zombies in single-player games, Possession will also feature an online, multiplayer mode where one player faces up to seven others in a bloody contest of wits, tactics and survival against The Enslaver and his massive zombie army. endorphin plays a vital part in the creating of 'lifelike' battles between zombies and humans, especially as next-generation consoles will allow Volatile Games to create ever more complex sequences.
Chris Swan, Volatile Games added, "Additionally, endorphin is very enjoyable to use, thanks to its intuitive layout, robustness and very close level of support. The speed with which it operates is also highly impressive. Using multiple next-gen character rigs we still find that endorphin only takes seconds to calculate the results of our complex attack scenes. This makes it very easy for us to quickly export multiple resultant animations from a single attack, and then choose which one is our favourite!"
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