“WET”: A2M Embraces Autodesk Middleware and Animation Tools to Boost Game Pipeline

Rubi, the third-person shooter’s main character, is a feisty problem fixer trying to figure out who double-crossed her and why. She is able to combine a unique mix of shooting, acrobatics and swordplay to combat enemies. The game’s dual-targeting system lets players control one of Rubi’s weapons and auto-targets the other.

With a combination of photoreal 3D and stylised graphic novel-type visuals, the game’s gritty look and feel can be compared to such films as “Kill Bill,” “Desperado” and “Sin City.” In key moments, Rubi goes into “Rage Mode,” giving players an entirely different experience. Rubi becomes faster and stronger, and the game’s graphics transform to a minimalist colour palette with enemies in contrasting colours.

Autodesk Kynapse Helps A2M Focus on Creativity and Game Play
Using Autodesk Kynapse enabled A2M to focus its development efforts on the creative look and feel of the game and high-level game-play interactions, rather than the time-consuming processes of path finding and location awareness.

“Our main philosophy with regards to development tools has always been that if it’s good and it already exists with the right price tag, why reinvent it? That’s why we chose to work with Kynapse as our AI engine for ‘WET.’ In the game, the player confronts a large number of enemies. We needed a path-finding and location awareness system to control decision making for these characters in a coherent manner,” said Martin Walker, CTO, A2M. “Kynapse has a fantastic hide-and-shoot algorithm that was used to conceal and disperse the enemies in a natural way throughout environments.”

Optimising a Game Pipeline with Autodesk Maya and Autodesk MotionBuilder
Maintaining a stable and consistent pipeline from one title to the next is key for A2M. With a staff of 500 and a dozen projects a year, standardising on reliable off-the-shelf tools like Maya is essential. MotionBuilder was also used heavily by the A2M team to help enhance motion-captured sequences. “MotionBuilder was used extensively to clean up motion capture data,” said Walker. “Also, when we did our mo-cap, we weren’t sure which villain would take on which moves. With MotionBuilder, we were able to retarget motion data onto different characters even if the skeletal data wasn’t necessarily a perfect match. This saved a tremendous amount of time and allowed for experimentation.”

“WET” is A2M’s first mature-rated game title. “Titles like ‘WET’ are almost interactive films at this point, and the quality of the content is more important than ever. So if we can optimise our pipelines to enable more iterations at a faster pace, then we’re ahead of the game. Tools like Autodesk Maya, MotionBuilder and Kynapse help us get there,” said Walker.

Published by Bethesda Softworks, “WET” released on September 15, 2009. The game was written by Duppy Demetrius and actress Eliza Dushku (“Dollhouse” and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) voices the game’s main protagonist, Rubi Malone.