Something kinda cool to check out is the new trailer for "The Act". It's actually a video game by a company called Cercropia, Inc. Our company, Funnypages Productions, animated on this awhile back and they are starting to wrap up the project this summer. I don't know how it is going to go over, but it IS interesting. There's really nothing out there like it. It's a "film game" meaning that it should feel like you are playing-and controlling- a Disney style animated film. It is 100% traditional, hand drawn animation created with alot of the same animators and artists that animated LILO AND STITCH, MULAN, ETC. (Cecropia ended up hiring a bunch of the Disney artists that were layed off when they closed down the Florida studio.) All there is is a "PONG" style knob controller and you move it slightly to the left of right. What you are trying to do is control the character's emotions and actions with the controller. SO, if Edgar, the main character, is trying to flirt with this girl at a bar (I'm not sure this is an actual scene, but it was an early test scene) then if you move the knob to the right a little, he turns toward her and smiles. She then reacts to this by turning slightly toward him (the computer controls her actions randomly, I believe) or turns away from him slightly. If she reacts positively, based solely on body language and acting, then you move it to the right a bit more and Edgar winks at her. She may turn away, or touch his knee you just don't know. If she turns away, you go to the left and he backs off. If you turn it WAY to the right too soon, he starts laughing uncontrollably or tries to hug her or something obnoxious like that. That makes her turn off completely and throw a drink in his face or something. I know I'm making this sound kinda racy, but it's not really. They have (at least for as long as we were on it) kept it pretty G or PG. Anyway, check it out here: http://www.cecropia.com/
PS. Rob and I animated some of the shots in the trailer.
10 comments:
Sounds like a lot of fun!
I really like the main charcater Edgar, very appealing... Love the animation in the trailer, good to see traditional animation combined with games.
Sorry Seaacat, I won't be at Comic Con this year. No one is more disappointed than me about that! "NEXT year", he says once again....
Thanks for the link, Tom! Wow! If the whole game plays that smoothly, it'll be a sight for sore eyes. Really solid stuff.
Looks cool!
~R
Sounds pretty neat-o! I love this pic of the characters! ;)
Tom,
Yes , it's still totally "G" rated. There are Warner Bros. cartoons from 1942 that are more racy .
Miss you guys. It was fun working with you on this .
David N -
if you arent going to comic con this year, will you be going to siggraph this year?
I saw a preview for THE ACT via Cartoon Brew some time ago. It looks really good! Even for a PG-type rating, it still looks adult in its own way. It's nice to see Disney-type animation take a refreshing route.
BTW, I bought your book CREATING CHARACTERS WITH PERSONALITY months ago and finished reading it! A great book, very professional stuff! I'm planning on doing a review on my own blog, save that I highly recommend it. One of the better new "how to draw" books. :)
Thanks John Paul, I'm glad you liked the book. I appreciate all the kind words by those that have written me about the book. Randy, thanks for trying, but whomever BabyJesus1 is, there's something bugging him that has nothing to do with any of us. I deleted your comment along with his just because it doesn't make sense without the context. Sushipajamas, no, not going to Siggraph either. Sorry. It's just a very busy summer.
The trailer looked fantastic Tom. I remember you telling me about this one day over the phone. Kevin Barber filled some of us is at work. I'm so glad someone was willing to see the strength that animation was able to lend this project. I don't think it could have been done any other way and some talented people to do some work for it. I hope I can see more of this game somehow.
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