Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2: It Took 1 Month for Artists to Create That 40ft Film-Quality Troll

Lunatic_Gamer

Lunatic_Gamer

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Making an impressive gameplay debut during this year's Game Awards, Ninja Theory and Ziva Dynamics reveal just how much work went into creating that impressive troll for Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2.

"This deadline for the troll was really right," Simon Clutterbuck, VP of Creative at Ziva Dynamics said in a press release. "We had 3 artists working on it and only one month to get it all done. Building out a realistic body utilizing our existing datasets as a starting point saved us a lot of time. The tech is really changing the way our partners tackle character work."
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The team notes that it took six hours of rendering per 50 frames, which was baked using 15 AWS (Amazon Web Services) clusters in order to handle the process. Additionally, in order to bring the troll to life, they used machine learning in to train the troll's assets to pull all kinds of animations in real-time, all while maintain the original quality they produced.

"By utilizing their latest runtime technology Ziva helped Ninja Theory bring the full fleshy horror of the Troll to life in a way conventional workflows just can't do." says Andrew Vidler, Technical Director at Ninja Theory. Since its inception, Ninja Theory has been devoted to pushing the envelope for interactive digital content. They have continued to work with new, paradigm-shifting technology teams to uncover and create the bleeding-edge of gameplay experiences, and the partnership between Ziva Dynamics and Ninja Theory is set to generate even more best-in-class character results into 2022.
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mp1st.com

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2: It Took 1 Month for Artists to Create That 40ft Film-Quality Troll

Ninja Theory and Ziva Dynamics reveal just how much work went into creating that impressive troll for Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 gameplay debut.
mp1st.com
 
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As someone who knows absolutely nothing about game development, that seems….a bit too long for what I'm sure is a highly skilled team? I'm sure they were simultaneously working on multiple other things, though, so to say this one took the entire month is probably stretching the truth a bit. Those of you more in the know about such things feel free to skewer me!
 
Jsisto said:
As someone who knows absolutely nothing about game development, that seems….a bit too long for what I'm sure is a highly skilled team?
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Blizzard devs need one week for a 5sec play of the game animation in Overwatch IIRC. Just as a comparison of a company's team with top notch animations.

We don't talk about animation that doesn't just work somehow but is high quality standard instead.
 
Jsisto said:
As someone who knows absolutely nothing about game development, that seems….a bit too long for what I'm sure is a highly skilled team? I'm sure they were simultaneously working on multiple other things, though, so to say this one took the entire month is probably stretching the truth a bit. Those of you more in the know about such things feel free to skewer me!
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Only 3 people were working on it. More importantly read this on how it was built.
www.yahoo.com

Senua's Saga: Hellblade II Gameplay Reveals Character by Ziva Dynamics

Ninja Theory's Senua's Saga: Hellblade II reveals a machine-learned troll body by Ziva Dynamics. Senua's Saga Hellblade II Troll Senua's Saga Hellblade II Troll VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Dec. 09, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Unveiled on stage at the 2021 Game Awards, the Senua's Saga: Hellblade...
www.yahoo.com www.yahoo.com
Ofcourse there are people who will still lol the OP, who don't understand the scale of certain portions of game development.
 
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kbear said:
There's a dude in the trailer thread that said the troll looked last gen. I'm starting to understand why you guys have that sticky.
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In the IGN Halo Infinite gameplay video last month, there were some dudes commenting how they can make that build in a PC in a few hours. Never underestimate the shit armchair devs can come up with.
 
Is there a date yet, I think I recall reading it was still in pre-production.

It looked great and trailers like this build interest, hopefully it's somewhat close to coming out.
 
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Jsisto said:
As someone who knows absolutely nothing about game development, that seems….a bit too long for what I'm sure is a highly skilled team? I'm sure they were simultaneously working on multiple other things, though, so to say this one took the entire month is probably stretching the truth a bit. Those of you more in the know about such things feel free to skewer me!
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As a software engineer I can tell you a month to get something like this done is FAST. This stuff takes a lot of work, and that sounds like four weeks of intense work to me.
 
Dr Bass said:
As a software engineer I can tell you a month to get something like this done is FAST. This stuff takes a lot of work, and that sounds like four weeks of intense work to me.
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Most of the time is spent on storming the topic idea. Then narrowing it down to the 1 thing that you are going to focus on. Break it down, and give each member their task.
We took this in college, and it was little bit nightmare to reach 1 good topic we can work as a group.

In work force, this must be hard task to do.
 
Jesus Christ the length some of you will go just to downplay something for console warring is insane. Great get by Microsoft I'm glad some of these investments are starting to pay off and some of these teams have money to work on games how they want.
 
R3claimer117 said:
Jesus Christ the length some of you will go just to downplay something for console warring is insane. Great get by Microsoft I'm glad some of these investments are starting to pay off and some of these teams have money to work on games how they want.
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Same people who exult over cinematic experiences elsewhere. This gameplay trailer sets a new bar.
 
Jsisto said:
As someone who knows absolutely nothing about game development, that seems….a bit too long for what I'm sure is a highly skilled team? I'm sure they were simultaneously working on multiple other things, though, so to say this one took the entire month is probably stretching the truth a bit. Those of you more in the know about such things feel free to skewer me!
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Concept art
Character Model
Skin Texture
Shaders
Character Rigging
Character sound/voice
Character Animation

This stuff can take weeks.
 
SlimeGooGoo said:
"Gameplay"

Seriously, making gameplay and cutscenes seamless was something that was probably impressive back when Metal Gear Solid 4 was announced.
This trailer just makes the project look like a movie with "on rails" interactive segments inbetween.
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I have to agree with this.

When Ready at Dawn released The Order 1886, it's obvious they tried to go the Naughty Dog route. But they tried so hard and lost the plot, they went the Quantic Dream route.

They think they are making a Cinematic game, but they just end up feeling like a interactive train track.

Run back, throw spear, Run back, throw spear. Like what the heck was that.
 
Hendrick's said:
Same people who exult over cinematic experiences elsewhere. This gameplay trailer sets a new bar.
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While true, you're adorable. The same people who called those cinematic adventures, "boring movie games we can watch on YouTube," are now gushing over the once multiplat "repetitive" game they now see as their own.

When are we all going to drop the baby nuts façade and admit it's both sides of the same coin, aka,
Spider-Man Reaction GIF

?
 
Not to sound like a warrior but, there are some bonafide Sony fanboys in this joint complaining about "walking simulators" and "QTE's".

Wooh, boy! That's deep dawg. That's deep....
 
Oddvintagechap said:
I have to agree with this.

When Ready at Dawn released The Order 1886, it's obvious they tried to go the Naughty Dog route. But they tried so hard and lost the plot, they went the Quantic Dream route.

They think they are making a Cinematic game, but they just end up feeling like a interactive train track.

Run back, throw spear, Run back, throw spear. Like what the heck was that.
Click to expand...

Yeah , it's a shame because The Order had great potential particularly if there was a co op mode.
 
Yo I'm a Nintendo and Sony fanboy but even I have to admit this was the most impressive trailer at the game awards. I'm jealous that I can't play this on PS5. Super impressive coming from such a small team.
 
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DeepEnigma said:
While true, you're adorable. The same people who called those cinematic adventures, "boring movie games we can watch on YouTube," are now gushing over the once multiplat "repetitive" game they now see as their own.

When are we all going to drop the baby nuts façade and admit it's both sides of the same coin, aka,
Spider-Man Reaction GIF

?
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Sorry to destroy your narrative, but I don't think I've ever said a good thing about Hellblade outside of graphics. Do your homework, search the forum.

You are right that I do not typically like these types of games and that crosses all platforms. I hope HB2 changes my mind, but it's okay if it doesn't. Not all types of games are for all people.

That said, presentation-wise, this game is setting a new bar.
 
Hendrick's said:
Sorry to destroy your narrative, but I don't think I've ever said a good thing about Hellblade outside of graphics. Do your homework, search the forum.

You are right that I do not typically like these types of games and that crosses all platforms. I hope HB2 changes my mind, but it's okay if it doesn't. Not all types of games are for all people.

That said, presentation-wise, this game is setting a new bar.
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Bro, I literally said the same thing you did about "the same people" usage.

You need not take it as to mean about yourself to be lumped in there. You know damned well what I'm talking about, since it's literally a mirror and always has been on here with green vs blue.

I respect you enough to know that you're smarter than this and know the duality.
 
I just get that feeling MS will axe this studio because this won't get alot of playtime and they are taking so long to make a game and wasting so much money on what is possibly a short game. There isn't as much hype for this either.
 
DeepEnigma said:
Bro, I literally said the same thing you did about "the same people" usage.

You need not take it as to mean about yourself to be lumped in there. You know damned well what I'm talking about, since it's literally a mirror and always has been on here with green vs blue.

I respect you enough to know that you're smarter than this and know the duality.
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Fair enough, I misunderstood your post. It's Friday, I'm drinking. Thank you for clarifying.
Patrick Stewart Cheers GIF by Blunt Talk
 
Embark used AI to train the spider to walk, now Ninja Theory use AI to help animate this troll. How long till activision buys an AI company with hopes they can fire half their employees ;)
 
DeepEnigma said:
All good brother, have one for me as well.
Tom Hiddleston Cheers GIF by Nerdist.com

Two years sober in a few days, myself. May break it soon though.
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Cheers, but I don't recommend you break your sobriety, it's probably not worth it and there are other less destructive and just as enjoyable avenues in life. But I'm also of the mind that if you have the willpower to moderate, go for it.
 
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Played with the voice volume off in the first game. Didn't need to hear 564832724 voices in my headphones telling me shit, no thanks. As if I'm some child or tree stump. I despise ASMR and anything whispering in my ear for that matter. Graphics look good though. Looks like this one is more of the same audio style. Meh
 
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That's huge. I remember rendering in 3DS Max years ago and it took forever for some of my projects. 15 AWS clusters sounds insane, so a rendering farm to render this bad boy without any reductions in quality? Back in the day I asked our professor about Final Fantasy Versus XIII's CGI and he said they probably have a massive amount of machines doing all the rendering. I didn't quite finish the first game, but I liked the first half of it. I'd be up to playing the sequel.
 
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I couldn't tell what was gameplay and what was cinematic. I assumed it was switching between the two, right?

Anyways, looks awesome. Microsoft certainly needed a game like this. That's my take.

Here's another. People who downplay 3rd person, over the shoulder, story based games like TLOU2, God of War, Days Gone, Uncharted 4 and the like and who are super excited about this game...I can't help but to ask, why?

I mean I get it if you are tired of the genre, but shouldn't that apply everywhere? Just sayin.
 
Graphics looked very good. I want to know more about the game and hopefully there is better combat this time around. I wouldn't mind getting this on PC if it further aligns with my interests.
 
How long did it take to make the one they used in that "gameplay," "trailer," then? /Kretos


I was sold. Game is looking fire so far. Probably gonna check out part one soon.
 
elliot5 said:
Senua's Saga: Hellblade II Gameplay Reveals Character by Ziva Dynamics (yahoo.com)
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Cool, Ziva Dynamics. Keep that name on a pin, they're doing interesting stuff!

Ziva is who Insomniac used to train their hero model with ML so that Spider-Man had a muscular system inside its character animation with the PS5 update. Ziva also have their ZRT Face Trainer character generation system (which can create characters for use in Unreal 4/5, Unity, and elsewhere) that is a strong challenge to Epic's MetaHuman. Mostly they're a CG company doing monsters and animals and people models for TV/Film (if you saw Kong vs Godzilla, they put the muscles on the big monkey too,) but we should be seeing them in gaming more and more in the future.

 
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ShaikhCroft said:
It's not like 100 or 200 people took one month to design that! It's only by 3 people! Not surprising!
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All your years of softbody (muscle/skin) simulation and character sculpting tell you that?
Solarstrike said:
Played with the voice volume off in the first game. Didn't need to hear 564832724 voices in my headphones telling me shit, no thanks. As if I'm some child or tree stump. I despise ASMR and anything whispering in my ear for that matter. Graphics look good though. Looks like this one is more of the same audio style. Meh
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Thats literally part of the experience.
But to each their own....not every game is for every one so its fine if you dont understand or want to experience what Ninja Theory is trying to achieve.

On Topic
Seeing how much work Ninja Theory is putting into this game, im so excited for Project Mara.
This is why I love gaming so much, getting exposure to such varied experiences that are mostly unattainable in other entertainment mediums.
Unless something else shows up around the time this game releases this game is gonna sweep DICE and BAFTA for technical awards.
 
These Hellblade threads are filled with people who obviously didn't play the first. I think they assume it's more like GOW and less 75% visualization puzzles that it actually is. It's a cinematic experience that uses sound and atmosphere to tell a story. It's more akin to a plagues tale than GOW. Slow walking from beat to beat is what the game is…and it was an amazing experience for it.
 
It's a bit like Alembic, that Ryse used, movie quality assets and animation .. only now you can trigger the animations in real time, amazing really.
 
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