• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Remedy: Quantum Break's characters lifelike thanks to Xbox One power; 10+ hrs story

Lifelike look of characters
He says the studio’s own new technology, combined with the power of the Xbox One means the developer is able to create ‘digital doubles’ of the actors from Quantum Break’s live action TV show.

“When I say we can tell better stories with the new hardware it means better facial animation, better, more realistic characters. In fact we're actually using digital doubles,” he says.

“That's the future of what we have right now. The characters look exactly like the actor. Every performance and every nuance is now captured from motion capture and translated on screen directly. So we're really capturing everything in the facial movements.”

The notion of ‘digital doubles’, even on new gen hardware, is an ambitious statement to make. Hakkinen is confident however that the studio has been able to jump right across the uncanny valley and ensure characters look lifelike and won’t cause a sense of unease amongst players.

Story
"It was during that time that the big series started to come out with HBO and whatnot, Lost for instance was one where people were buying the boxsets, and then watching the episodes at their own pace," he told the site. "Some are binging through it, some are watching one a day, some are watching one every other day or once a week, but all at their own pace.

"The great thing about it was each episode had its own three act structure and ended on a cliffhanger, which kind of prodded you on to see what happened next. [Creative director Sam Lake] got the idea from that, that this would be a fantastic fit for a video game, especially a video game that has very strong narrative, because we're telling the story over ten plus hours."
The idea in Quantum Break is to alternate between episodes of the game and the TV show. "The game and the show are designed to be built as one experience, to be experienced as one package. So you play an episode of the game, then you can unlock an episode of the show, play another episode of the game, and unlock another episode of the show, and so on.

"Without telling too much, you'll be looking at two different sides of the coin from a story perspective," Hakkinen hinted. "In the game you'll be following the story of one theme, in the show you'll be following the story of another theme. These are meshing together to form the whole experience."
If you'd rather not view an episode immediately after unlocking it, you can view it later - or even on another device. "Obviously we are not naive to the fact that some people may not necessarily want to watch some linear media when they slot out their gaming time. So once it is unlocked, it's unlocked for you to jump in or experience whenever you then so choose.

"So it could be you catch up on it through your tablet device or your mobile device on the bus to work, and then you get home and you're ready for the next experience.
"
http://www.develop-online.net/inter...-quest-for-the-perfect-game-narrative/0187411
http://www.oxm.co.uk/68253/new-quantum-break-details-how-the-cross-media-storyline-works/
 

SEGAvangelist

Gold Member
Good stuff. Being able to watch the tv portions on any screen is a really cool feature. I guess they will be streaming these portions?
 
They said at VGX that they had a release date they were aiming for, I wish they would give us an idea of what it is. Doesn't make sense to be releasing all this information on it now if its 2015 with Sunset Overdrive/Halo etc are late next year.

Sounds good though, loved Alan Wake and I can't wait for this.
 

Gwanatu T

Junior Member
Perfect. 10 hours of gameplay is all I want. Getting good vibes from this game like I got before Alan Wake came out.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
"Obviously we are not naive to the fact that some people may not necessarily want to watch some linear media when they slot out their gaming time. So once it is unlocked, it's unlocked for you to jump in or experience whenever you then so choose."

this statement appears to conflict with one of the key things they have said about the tv episodes, that the ending cliffhanger of each episode is decided by the viewer and that impacts the game. how will this work if you play through episode 1 then 2 without participating in the tv series inbetween?

Guessing Paul is the person you're following in the show.

Game just keeps on sounding good.

they have confirmed that previously
 

oVerde

Banned
Must buy mmmmggh can't wait!

The parts of life action is one theme and in game being other give me good American Horror Story vibes.
 

JaggedSac

Member
"Obviously we are not naive to the fact that some people may not necessarily want to watch some linear media when they slot out their gaming time. So once it is unlocked, it's unlocked for you to jump in or experience whenever you then so choose."

this statement appears to conflict with one of the key things they have said about the tv episodes, that the ending cliffhanger of each episode is decided by the viewer and that impacts the game. how will this work if you play through episode 1 then 2 without participating in the tv series inbetween?



they have confirmed that previously

I thought they mentioned the choice at the end of the game play episode would decide the live action episode.
 

drgambit

Banned
Lifelike?

QuantumBreak.jpg
 

Copenap

Member
When "the characters look exactly like the actor" the footage they have shown so far must be fake or they have found some video gamy looking humans...
 

chubigans

y'all should be ashamed
This whole TV thing sounds so dumb to me. I honestly don't know what they're aiming for with high quality prerendered cutscenes and live action like this.

Then again it was hilarious in Need for Speed: Most Wanted, so I'm game I guess.
 
The characters looked extremely well done in the trailers, but It seemed to be completely non lifelike, and rather a very stylized look...

Anyway, in Remedy I trust. This will be amazing!
 

KorrZ

Member
Hmm, hopefully by him saying that you can choose to watch the TV episodes later, they won't be essential in terms of following the game's story. The whole live action TV series thing was the only sketchy thing about this game for me. As a companion piece that fleshes out the story and provides some different perspectives/context? Great! As a requirement...not so great.
 

timlot

Banned
Good to see its shaping up well. Nice to see those 'new IPs' coming to XB1. Looking for to this and Titanfall for something new. Hopefully It'll make it out in the 2nd or early 3 quarter of 2014.
 
I'm interested. I remember loving MGS4 because it was like somewhat perfectly regimented my team between playing a game and then taking a break to watch some anime.

I can get why some didn't like it but for me, right as I felt like breaking from the game and watch Netflix or something, a cutscene popped up and satisfied that urge and then put me back in the mood to play a game.
 
This game just keeps sounding better and better, and knowing Remedy the gameplay will also be pretty dang good. The mix of Alan Wake's focus on storytelling and Max Payne's focus more on great gameplay that they said they are bringing to this will make Quantum Break an amazing experience, well that is the plan and I have full faith in Remedy to pull this off. I just hope it does great sales wise, MS needs a good story driven game to sell well (kinda of like what the line of TLoU did for Sony).
 

x-Lundz-x

Member
Game will probably be amazing and I love Remedy. Maybe they can get the One down to a price I'm willing to pay for it by the time this comes out.
 

Darksol

Member
The more I hear about this, the less I like it.

Give me a game, or give me a show. As it stands, I expect Quantum Break to be a master of none.
 
Isn't it "curious" that every time Remedy speaks about its game it only enfatizes on how good the graphics and the plot will be?
It seems that they have learned the lesson from when Alan Wake launched and the "hardlol" players cancelled their preorders only because the game wasn't native 720p (even when AW is a pretty generic and boring TPS, but that didn't matter the least).

The problem is that if they don't sell in the millions this may be their last "game", although I won't be even a bit sad if a company with those philosophies disappears.
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
I thought they mentioned the choice at the end of the game play episode would decide the live action episode.

oh? i'm probably confused then. that would be easier to implement and makes sense with this new info. thanks for the clarification.

That's good. Did they say how beth is playing in all of this yet?

i believe beth and the gentleman (forget his name) are two main characters you'll swap between throughout the game.
 

harSon

Banned
Isn't it "curious" that every time Remedy speaks about its game it only enfatizes on how good the graphics and the plot will be?
It seems that they have learned the lesson from when Alan Wake launched and the "hardlol" players cancelled their preorders only because the game wasn't native 720p (even when AW is a pretty generic and boring TPS, but that didn't matter the least).

The problem is that if they don't sell in the millions this may be their last "game", although I won't be even a bit sad if a company with those philosophies disappears.

Are we living in different realities? Why would this game bombing put their studio at risk? Alan Wake sold 3 million units.
 
Are we living in different realities? Why would this game bombing put their studio at risk? Alan Wake sold 3 million units.

Not to mention Microsoft are funding Quantum Break (which is why they own the IP) and Microsoft Studios LA are helping with the live action stuff I think too?
 

StratJ

Banned
"Obviously we are not naive to the fact that some people may not necessarily want to watch some linear media when they slot out their gaming time. So once it is unlocked, it's unlocked for you to jump in or experience whenever you then so choose."

this statement appears to conflict with one of the key things they have said about the tv episodes, that the ending cliffhanger of each episode is decided by the viewer and that impacts the game. how will this work if you play through episode 1 then 2 without participating in the tv series inbetween?

they have confirmed that previously
Exactly what I thought reading this. Maybe its a series of events which are at a different time frame to the story of the game?

Anyway, really really excited for this one.
 

SpyGuy239

Member
Man this going to be a great game. I'm so much more excited for this than titanfall. Pity they won't be releasing it on PC which can show the game in its full glory ):
 

Krakn3Dfx

Member
5 hour game confirmed.

looks good! One of my most wanted games.

Yeah, this concerns me, game developers always seem to substantially overshoot actual playtime with their numbers. I guess we'll see, 10 hours for me is still kind of short tbh, I like a good 15-20 hours experience, but if it is at least 10 hours and good, then that would be okay.
 

Frumix

Suffering From Success
“That's the future of what we have right now. The characters look exactly like the actor. Every performance and every nuance is now captured from motion capture and translated on screen directly. So we're really capturing everything in the facial movements.”
Hey look Jodie they invented mocap! What do you think Jodie?
Exactly!
 

op_ivy

Fallen Xbot (cannot continue gaining levels in this class)
Man this going to be a great game. I'm so much more excited for this than titanfall. Pity they won't be releasing it on PC which can show the game in its full glory ):

i wouldnt rule it out. AW eventually did.
 
Are we living in different realities? Why would this game bombing put their studio at risk? Alan Wake sold 3 million units.
Alan Wake sold 3 millions thanks to it being at $10 a month or two after it's release. It was some kind of "Bayonetta success".

Furthermore, a game like that costs millions to produce, because it is technologically driven and that's what is most expensive on game design. You want perfect motion capture, with perfect graphics full of details and that costs a fuck ton of money.

Steverulez said:
Not to mention Microsoft are funding Quantum Break (which is why they own the IP) and Microsoft Studios LA are helping with the live action stuff I think too?
I thought of remedy as a Microsoft first party, if it's a second party they may be still "safe" if Microsoft funds the whole project.
 

JJD

Member
As much as I love Remedy and Alan Wake I'm really skeptical towards QB and this whole TV series approach.

Right now QB is the only xbone exclusive that interests me so I hope the game is good enough that justifies me getting the console.

That said graphically the game looks better than any next gen game I saw if that trailer is really real time.
 
Can't wait for this game !!!

I'm a huge Remedy games fan ! Alan Wake and Max Payne were incredible.

I just ordered an Xbox One, couldn't resist... TitanFall, Quantum Break... here i come !
 
Damn, that sounds fantastic. Especially like that I'll be able to watch the TV show on another device (through Smartglass I assume?).

I need more gameplay footage. Give it to me!!!
 
I don't think I understand the draw to this game. On one hand the story and setup sound pretty interesting. But then the focus on live action in a game just automatically destroys any interest I had.

I guess I'm confused because collaberatively we complain about live action trailers for games, but now that we're getting a game with an interwoven live action movie everybody seems hyped for it.

It reminds me of MGS4 and the many complaints it recieved over lengthy cutscenes. I mean isn't this doing basically the same thing but replacing the cutscenes with TV?
 
So we're judging mo-cap from screens instead of gifs? We're slipping.

That pic is mid-explosion freeze frame btw.

I'm interested in this game but not interested in the live action stuff at all. The long cutscenes in games like mgs4 bored me to tears.
 

SCHUEY F1

Unconfirmed Member
Alan Wake sold 3 millions thanks to it being at $10 a month or two after it's release. It was some kind of "Bayonetta success".

Furthermore, a game like that costs millions to produce, because it is technologically driven and that's what is most expensive on game design. You want perfect motion capture, with perfect graphics full of details and that costs a fuck ton of money.


I thought of remedy as a Microsoft first party, if it's a second party they may be still "safe" if Microsoft funds the whole project.

We get it, you don't like Remedy or Quantum Break.
 
Top Bottom