In recent years animation in video games have become sophisticated and more ‘realistic’. There has been a visible difference between the quality of animation in films/tv compared to video games. This is evident by observing the first 3D animated movie Toy Story (1996) and comparing it to the biggest game released in the same year in terms of production budget and sales, Super Mario 64. In both visuals, and practice of animation principles Toy Story is superior to Super Mario 64, the same goes for most AAA games and big production movies. However, in recent years animation in video games have enjoyed an exponential increase in quality, my critical report explores how this happened and what are the main reasons for this upgrade in animation quality. When comparing video game animation to animation in film/tv this report will focus mainly on the post Toy Story era. Below are the main questions I will aim to answer in the report.
- Technology? Modern games are much larger than older games, capable of handling more assets and hardware is more powerful.
- Animators? What is the ratio of animators working on a typical AAA game today compared to the 90’s and 2000’s
- How has Motion Capture contributed to animation quality in video games