Developer Ninja Theory explains how Epic Games technology has enhanced the new Devil May Cry game.
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Matthews said Ninja Theory used pretty much all of the engine’s features at one point or another during the game’s development.
“One really useful aspect for us was Matinee, as this allowed us to easily set up complex cutscenes and really get into the minutiae of achieving the filmic look that we’re after,” said Matthews. “On a related front, the material system allows us complete control over the look and feel of every surface we create – early on we made the decision to allow our artists to create their own materials and this really helped us create the distinct atmosphere of the game.”
Ninja Theory has been at the forefront of performance capture, having worked with actor and director Andy Serkis on Heavenly Sword and Enslaved. Dante and the other characters that are featured in this game are being brought to life using the latest performance capture technology from Ninja Theory, which has excelled at pushing things forward over its past story-driven action games.
“We’ve developed an in-house facial motion capture solver that we used for all of the cinematic scenes in DmC Devil May Cry,” said Matthews. “This allows us to get top quality results without having to pay external companies to wrangle content for us.”
Performance capture plays an important role in bringing a Hollywood cinematic feeling to the game. Early on, Capcom told Ninja Theory to think of Dante and DmC as a contemporary movie. This was part of the goal of introducing this fresh take on Devil May Cry to a wider audience, whilst at the same time preserving and building on the DNA of the series.
“This idea of creating a Dante in the west and as if he were in a modern day movie has guided us through development,” said Matthews. “We’re very happy with where we’ve ended up and I hope that those new to the series and existing Devil May Cry fans will find a lot of fun in the game.”
