1997: one years on Angel Quest for GT Interactive

Virtual Studio : video game industry

Angel Quest

July. 10th, 1997 02:33 by Stéphane de LucaPermalink | TrackBack: https://stephanedeluca.com/trackback/238 — updated on Oct. 29th, 2018 19:17 exists for 26 years & 8 months ago

Angel Quest is the video game I developped from May 1996 to September 1997 for GT Interactive. This project was the first to use optical motion capture for realtime animation: we pioneered this advanced technology.

The heroes was an Angel living in a very large world: he could make use of his ability to fly to speed up its move towards the next location to visit.

Numerous characters were also there to help him find his way, giving him potential clues through interactive dialogs.

The game was developped for Sony PlayStation and PC.



Angel Quest

July. 10th, 1997 02:33 by Stéphane de LucaPermalink | TrackBack: https://stephanedeluca.com/trackback/278 — updated on Nov. 13th, 2018 01:11 exists for 26 years & 8 months ago  Content not available in English.

Angel Quest est un jeu video que j'ai développé de mai 1996 à septembre 1997 pour GT Interactive. Ce projet fût le premier jeu à utiliser un système d'acquisition optique de mouvements (motion capture).
Ce jeu fût développé pour Sony PlayStation et PC.



Realtime optical motion capture

Nov. 11th, 2005 23:18 by Stéphane de LucaPermalink | TrackBack: https://stephanedeluca.com/trackback/277 — updated on Nov. 13th, 2018 01:17 exists for 18 years & 4 months ago - .

The main character of the game was an angel therefore most of the animation was difficult to capture:

A great deal of imagination was involved and we used a lot of tricks to achieve the capture: for instance, when we captured the take off:

Eight optical infrared cameras system

You can see two out of eight infrared cameras that enable the system to capture the trajectory of the balls glued on the actor:

Acting

This character was supposed to float in the air. You can see me shaking a base on which the actor is sitting.

Fighting

The actor is ready for a strike.

By the way, one can see on the rear, two cameras as well as the super computer starting capturing the movement.



Capture optique de mouvements en temps réel

Nov. 11th, 2005 23:18 by Stéphane de LucaPermalink | TrackBack: https://stephanedeluca.com/trackback/279 — updated on Nov. 13th, 2018 01:14 exists for 18 years & 4 months ago  Content not available in English.

Le personnage principal du jeu était un ange. Évidement cela n'a pas simplifier la capture.

La capture de la plupart des mouvements fût difficile et nécessita beaucoup d'imagination et d'astuces, comme par exemple, le décollage de l'ange.

Vous pouvez voir deux des huit caméras optiques qui permettent de capturer la trajectoire des boules collées à l'acteur.

Jeu d'acteur et combat

Ce personnage était censé flotter dans les airs. On peut me voir en train de secouer la base où l'acteur est assi.

Le cascadeur est prêt pour la capture d'un coup.
Et les caméras ainsi que le super calculateur dans le fond démarrent la capture.



Angel Quest: PlayStation screenshots

July. 10th, 1997 02:33 by Stéphane de LucaPermalink | TrackBack: https://stephanedeluca.com/trackback/897 — updated on Apr. 5th, 2019 07:48 exists for 26 years & 8 months ago

Angel Quest was running on PlayStation on which I programmed the engine and the game in C and assembler.

All the characters were in 3D and animated through motion capture: I developped a compression tool that reduced the data stream (curve) that was moving each node of the skeleton.

The word was really huge: I had to stream all blocks silently from the CD-ROM drive as the heroes was moving: it was a big challenge due to bandwidth limitation.

A we can see in those early screen shosts the engine was running at 3O frame per sent on NTSC monitors: a big speed optimisation process had to take place!


Angel Quest on PlayStation
Sdl avatar

PlayStation screenshot

@stephanedeluca

An early preview of the game on PlayStation from 1997. #angelquest #playstation

Angel Quest on PlayStation
Sdl avatar

PlayStation screenshot

@stephanedeluca

An early preview of the game on PlayStation from 1997. #angelquest #playstation

Angel Quest on PlayStation
Sdl avatar

PlayStation screenshot

@stephanedeluca

An early preview of the game on PlayStation from 1997. #angelquest #playstation