Naughty Canine has described The Last of Us Part II as one of the crucial bold video games it has ever made. One of many main new additions is one thing that might not be instantly obvious, however, will little doubt have a huge impact on the sport: a brand new traversal animation system.
Admittedly, “a brand new traversal animation system” might not sound thrilling, however, the implications of it actually do. GameSpot attended a hands-on occasion for The Last of Us Part II and spoke to co-director Anthony Newman, who highlighted “movement matching” as one of many key new additions to the sport.
“It is this know-how for characters shifting by means of an area like working, strolling, leaping, and that sort of factor,” Newman defined. “In all our earlier video games there’s been this actually distinct state machine the place we are saying, ‘Play a run animation. Then play a flip left animation. Then play a flip proper animation.’ The best way movement matching works is it takes this huge bucket of animation, simply tons of and tons of animations, and chops them into little tiny bits. While you outline the trail {that a} participant or an enemy needs to take, moderately than saying, ‘Play this after which play that after which play that,’ the system really seems on the bucket of animations, finds those that match the trail that you just’re already taking, and blends them collectively frame-by-frame.”
The impact of that is, as Naughty Canine says, a lot smoother, extra pure motion to characters. “It is this completely new means of doing traversal,” Newman continued. “I feel, as you play the sport, you need to have observed simply how fluid the participant feels. With each foot plant, each flip, there’s as little mixing as potential. That is utilized for our NPCs. That is utilized to the horses. That is utilized to the canines. We even have these canines and horses and mocap fits working around getting the information that we would have liked for this actually intricate system.”
A brand new gameplay video for The Final of Us Half II was proven throughout Sony’s latest State of Play occasion. The video offers fleeting glimpses at a number of the motion scenes the place this type of motion will turn out to be most evident. Extra importantly, nonetheless, the trailer confirmed a launch date for The Final of Us Half II.
We additionally realized that The Final of Us Half II will come on two discs, which is one thing of a rarity for the PlayStation four titles. If you happen to splash out for one of many particular editions of the sport, you will get a observe from co-director Neil Druckmann. You may learn the heartfelt message from The Final of Us Half II’s director prematurely, nonetheless.
