The new system allows characters to react naturally to what is happening
Actor Roger Clark, who played Arthur Morgan in Red Dead Redemption 2, commented on Twitter their attitude to The Last of Us: Part II. The actor referred to an unusual facial animation, which he considers the best in video games. The message said the game designer and script writer of the game Neil Druckmann. The developer mentioned that during the game, the animations are not assigned a specific scene or frame — instead, they constantly adapt to the emotions felt by the characters.
Clark:
“As a fan of Star wars, who did not like “the Last Jedi”, I’m not going to criticize those of you who don’t like TLOU2, but the game completely absorbed me. This is a breakthrough. Best facial animations I have ever seen, thanks to the excellent acting, the design and pace of the narrative”
Drachmann:
“One thing you might not notice is that all the facial animations in the gameplay (not rollers) are systemic in nature. It is not a technique of capturing faces. This amazing system was developed by animator Keith Paciello. This is what was never seen in the games.”
The system allows the characters smoothly and naturally react to what is happening on the screen. Druckmann explains:
“This means that the facial animation in the game do not need to configure manually. The line of dialogue is tagged and linked to an extensive list of emotions and characters seamlessly display these emotions during the conversation. Each character has its own set of animations related to emotions. It’s really great. This system works independently from the systems lip synch, but in combination with it. This was not used capture face, used during play. Everything was created manually.”
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