Autodesk software credited for many top games this season

It's always interesting to see what software game developers use to complete particular tasks, and this press release from Autodesk is quite ingenious as it showcases a whole variety of Autodesk products and how they were used in some of the big name games that have been released this year. Worth a read!

(press release)
Sydney, Dec. 17, 2008 - Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) has announced that most of the top games hitting the shelves this holiday season have been created with Autodesk products. Autodesk technology helps game developers execute their creative vision from start to finish. This season, it has been used by numerous developers to create games that offer believable characters, wondrous environments and enthralling game play, such as: Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Gears of War 2, James Bond: Quantum of Solace and Mortal Kombat® vs. DC Universe.

Fallout 3
Bethesda Game Studios used Autodesk 3ds Max software to create the post nuclear role-playing game Fallout 3 for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 game consoles and PC. The game takes place in Washington DC, 200 years after a global atomic war that has left the United States all but destroyed. "Fallout 3 offers an expansive world, unique combat, realistic visuals and a great cast of dynamic characters," said Istvan Pely, lead artist. "3ds Max allowed us to quickly explore our creative options to make the game's devastated world and hostile, mutated creatures as shocking and provocative as possible."

Far Cry 2
3ds Max and Autodesk MotionBuilder software were used by artists at Ubisoft to create Far Cry 2 for the Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3 and PC. This unique first-person shooter game offers a non-linear story, set in a 50-square kilometre environment, which gamers can explore freely. "Far Cry 2 provides a truly open-world experience, in a dynamic environment that includes a day and night cycle, destructible vegetation and realistic fire propagation," explained Alexandre Amancio, art director at Ubisoft. "The speed and flexibility of 3ds Max was crucial to the unconventional pipeline that was needed to populate the huge game expanse with highly-detailed art assets."

Gears of War 2
3ds Max, Autodesk Maya and MotionBuilder software helped Epic Games raise the bar for Gears of War 2 on a very tight schedule. In this Xbox 360 title, the studio explored the game's narrative on a deeper and more emotional level, paying particular attention to cut scenes that help the storyline to evolve. "3ds Max, Maya and MotionBuilder allowed us to iterate quickly and create content in record time," said Chris Perna, art director at Epic Games. "It also enabled us to go beyond anything we've done before. Without Autodesk's software, combined with our own proprietary Unreal Engine 3 toolset, we would have been hard-pressed to finish the game in such a short development cycle."

James Bond: Quantum of Solace
Using Autodesk SOFTIMAGE|XSI and Autodesk SOFTIMAGE|Face Robot software, artists at Janimation created four in-game cinematics for James Bond: Quantum of Solace -available for the PC, Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, PlayStation 2, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS game consoles. In only five weeks the team produced over four and half minutes of computer graphic content, which included dialog from the Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace movies. Janimation used Face Robot for over 85 percent of the facial animation they completed. "Given our short deadline and the number of faces we had to both rig and animate for lip sync, I felt more confident in our ultimate output quality using Face Robot," said Bradley Gabe, senior technical artist. "Face Robot helped us to deliver a true likeness of the characters, and portray great emotions, which helped to amplify the dramatic nature of the scenes," added Ludovick Michaud, senior technical and creative director.

Mortal Kombat® vs. DC Universe
Midway recently released Mortal Kombat® vs. DC Universe for the Xbox®360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. For the first time ever, Scorpion, Sub-Zero and the Mortal Kombat warriors battle with Batman, Superman and other popular DC Universe Super Heroes. The Midway team used 3ds Max and Maya to create art assets for the game, and MotionBuilder for character animation.

Many More
Several other game developers used Autodesk solutions to create games shipping this holiday season, including the following:
• Harmonix used 3ds Max, MotionBuilder and Maya software to create the 3D elements in Rock Band 2 – available for the Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3, and soon on the Playstation 2 and Nintendo Wii.
• For Wheelman™, TNA iMPACT!™ and Blitz: The League® II, Midway used both 3ds Max and Maya as its primary art packages, and MotionBuilder for character animation. As well, Midway integrated Autodesk Kynapse artificial intelligence middleware into the game engine of Wheelman, to give non-player characters spatial awareness.
• Silicon Knights used 3ds Max and MotionBuilder to create Too Human.
• Ubisoft used 3ds Max, MotionBuilder, Autodesk HumanIK animation middleware in the creation of Prince of Persia and Shaun White Snowboarding.
• Lionhead Studios used XSI in the creation of Fable 2.