Farmingdale, NJ-based Mission Critical taps iPi Motion Capture technology for mobile game development.
Press release from iPi Motion Capture:
MOSCOW, RUSSIA – The mobile gaming world is one of the fastest growing areas in media today, and for game developers like the Farmingdale, NJ-based company Mission Critical one of their competitive advantages is their reliance on iPi Motion Capture. The markerless multi-camera motion capture system has been incorporated into the studio’s production pipeline and has played an integral role in all of the games the company has developed.
Founded in 2007 by Erik "Foyleman" Guilfoyle and David Gonzalez, Mission Critical Studios specializes in the development of exciting video game experiences for iOS, Android, PC, Xbox 360, PS 3 and Wii platforms.
“It’s fantastic to be able to come up with an idea and in a few minutes record exactly what you want and apply it to your characters,” Gonzalez says. "iPi Motion Capture is what mocap should be all about -- making your ideas reality in a matter of minutes.”
Getting Frantic
Among those ideas Mission Critical used iPi Motion Capture to bring to life is a game called “Frantic Freddy,” (available on the iOS, and soon on Xbox Live), which centers on a mentally unhinged character named Freddy who is forced to face his fears, such as his fear of roaches that gamers must stomp on to collect points.
“’Frantic Freddy’ is a good example of how we use iPi Motion Capture,” Gonzalez notes. “Our character's movement takes place inside a padded room so we created a faux room using plastic hanging from the ceiling and had our actor act out each of the movements and sequences. The Frantic Freddy character needed to be able to slap the walls (to kill the bugs) so the flexibility of iPi Motion Capture to capture the footage was a distinct advantage. So was the ability to be unencumbered while performing and not strapped into traditional motion capture suits was a huge plus as well.”
Gonzalez explains that the simplicity of the iPi Motion Capture set-up proved extremely helpful when it became apparent that some motion would have to be re-shot.
“We realized later on that all of the movements were not coming through effectively because the Freddy animation was sped up -- he has to step or slap the bugs as quickly as the person taps on the screen. We had to go back and re-shot a new performance using more deliberate actions. The simplicity of the setup and processing of the data in iPi Motion Capture made the process painless.”
Mission Critical’s workflow also incorporates other software such as 3DS Max, Maya, Lightwave, Zbrush, Motion Builder and Photoshop – all of which are compatible with iPi Motion Capture.
Thanks to the success of “Frantic Freddy,” Mission Critical has been selected an Xbox Registered Developer and are currently in the process of producing for the Xbox Kinect.
Mission Critical is also using iPi Motion Capture on a music performance game that involves recording their client’s performance and then translating the performance onto animated avatars of the band members.
“The motion that is generated through iPi Motion Capture is very clean,” Gonzalez notes. “It is the only mocap solution that we use at our studio, and now with the multi-camera setup, which basically eliminates any occlusion issues we might have had in the past, we truly have become iPi fans.”
