In February, South Korean gaming company NCsoft released its 2021 earnings report. In the Q&A session of the earnings report, NCsoft's financial director (CFO) said that the company will target the global market in the future and focus on multi-type multi-platform products including MMOs and interactive movies.
In the following two months, NCsoft did disclose a series of new content to confirm that it is not exaggerated, in addition to last month's new game conference, recently, NCsoft's Visual Tech department also showed muscle, released the company's latest visual technology research and development demonstration video "Hunting (CACCIA)", once again showing NCsoft's deep accumulation in technology as a Korean game giant.
Visual Tech is NCsoft's department responsible for the production of game CG and visual effects related technology research and development, and has previously been responsible for the CG production of games such as "Paradise R", and "Hunting" is the first video in the new "Art Lab" series launched by NCsoft and Visual Tech, which aims to share NCsoft's work and achievements in the technology development process on the one hand, and is also a form of active communication with players on the other hand.
Here is the full version of the demo video Hunting:
yes! This light! yes! This hair!
As a technical demo video, NCsoft also sets up a more detailed backstory for the video and the characters in it.
NCsoft said that because there were no lines in the demo video, and because oil painting was an important element in the entire plot, the team set the story in Europe, where the Renaissance movement was booming in the 15th and 16th centuries. In the video, the heroine Beatrix, in order to escape the dull and boring reality, imagines a big battle with the lion in the painting and wins.
According to the introduction of the official website, the prototype of the heroine is the first feminist in history, as early as the 14th century in Europe advocated the opportunity to give young women equal educational opportunities to the poet Cristina de Pisan, but unlike the female poet who uses her pen and words as a weapon, in the video, the protagonist takes up the sword and fights the lion.
In fact, the protagonist Beatrix's name is the protagonist from Quentin Tarantino's film "Kill Bill", which is also a contemporary character full of female power, and the superposition of this dual image actually enriches the connotation of the demonstration video, telling the story of a woman breaking through oppression.
"After setting up the characters, we devised a way to express the key word 'oppression' in a direct or indirect way. The protagonist is set as a model for painting, and the act of painting itself has a metaphor for imprisoning someone in a small box or canvas. ”
Behind-the-scenes production of The Hunt (in Korean):
Looking at the aspects related to video and technology, combined with the behind-the-scenes footage released before the video, it is not difficult to find that through "Hunting", NCsoft mainly shows its achievements in motion capture, character modeling and modeling, and light and shadow.
The first is the character modeling and texture of the protagonist Than Atrex, NCsoft said that in order to more accurately express the emotions of the characters, Visual Tech obtained 35 different facial expressions by 3D scanning the live model, and generated 142 deformation targets based on these 35 expressions. The same work is also implemented in the expression processing of the "lion".
As for the details of the character's face, including pores, acne, wrinkles when making expressions, etc., Visual Tech used a series of "normal maps (a kind of bump map that shows bumps, scratches, etc.)" and "diffuse map (showing the reflections and surface colors of the surface of the object)" to create a "wrinkle map", supplemented by 30 masks, Visual Tech was able to make a variety of detailed expressions for the character.
In terms of clothing, including the painter, the costumes of the characters in the video use the costume creation tool "Marvelous Designer", developed by a South Korean company, which claims to "adopt the real traditional clothing production method into 3D modeling", and Visual Tech also said that the tool helped them create "natural and realistic medieval clothing".
As for the character and the big lion's hair in the video, NCsoft uses the "Maya Xgen" and "Unreal Groom" solution, of which "Maya Xgen" is mainly used to create hair more easily and directly, while "Unreal Groom" mainly allows hair to respond to wind or gravity in real time, and can also be linked with Unreal Engine's new particle system Niagara, while "Unreal Groom" It is also possible to dramatically improve the visual fidelity of simulated hairs in real time by rendering each hair individually.
Secondly, the light and shadow effects in the video, Visual Tech's General Artist (Integtation Artist) DukYoung Youn said that in "Hunting", the team used ray tracing supplemented by traditional pre-baking methods, in order to reduce the shadow problems caused by ray tracing, Visual Tech excluded objects in the distance of the picture from the range of ray tracing.
Finally, there is another demonstration focus of the entire video, which is the simulation of fluids such as oil paint and lion saliva. In this regard, Visual Tech said that the paint team of the oil painting used the visual effects tool "Houdini"'s "flip Solver" simulation, so that the pigment can flow naturally in a special texture, while the lion's saliva uses the "vellum simulation" of "Houdini", which is then pulled between the gums and adjusted, and the real saliva effect is produced.
NCsoft regained its big-name ambitions
Unlike last year's attitude of delving into the kryptonite system in games such as "Heaven" and "Sword Spirit", if GameLook wants to evaluate NCsoft's various performances since 2022, there is only one word" "prodigal son back, wash his heart".
The first is to diversify. First, NCsoft's CFO emphasized in a previous interview that "NCsoft will try to diversify while maintaining the existing MMORPG advantages led by the "Paradise" series." We acknowledge Steam's impact and plan to maximize the fun of PVE and adventure"
Subsequently, NCsoft also announced five new multi-category and multi-platform works, and released five concept videos of "TL (Throne and Liberty)" and "Project E (hereinafter referred to as PE") on March 20, proving that it is actively expanding new MMO game IP.
Although in an interview with Korean media, the person in charge of NCsoft also said that the positioning of "TL" was originally "the next generation of "Paradise" products", and "PE" as another work under the same world view, I am afraid that the positioning is not bad, but fortunately, the differences between the games discovered by NCsoft and its LIGHTBOX House studio in time have successfully positioned the new game as a new IP, which is also a cliff stop.
These two MMO also inherit the fine tradition of Korean MMOs in terms of screen, at least in the promotional video and demo look quite good, but also got a lot of players praise. YouTube data shows that one day after the release of the game, the number of "TL" and "PE" promotional videos has exceeded 600,000, and the number of "PE" promotional videos that focus on oriental aesthetics is even slightly higher.
Not to mention, on the Art Lab website, NCsoft also acknowledged that "there is no progress without change, and game development is no exception" and made a commitment to "working with various game development teams to achieve high-quality visual effects and further demonstrate the unique art that NCsoft can lead the game industry." ”
In a 2019 interview with Visual Tech published on NCsoft's official website, Jinsu Kim, the team's character modeler at the time, also said that his dream was to create a good game, "In addition to thinking about becoming famous and better than others, I also want to go one step further and create a high-quality game." ”
NCsoft's Motion Capture Studio Image source: NCsoft's official website
In fact, from the relevant news of "PE" and "TL", as well as the youtube comments of the full version of "Hunting" and behind-the-scenes footage, it is not difficult to find that although many netizens have given positive comments on the amazing demonstration effects of games and videos, NCsoft's credibility in the hearts of some players is also in jeopardy.
"Is this the in-game graphics? Oh," "It seems that nc is trying to do something different, but I can't expect anything", "NC has games, they are specialized in the textbook system, the screen, the interface is just wrapping paper".
Of course, there are also netizens who hate iron not steel, "If there is such a technology, why does NCsoft still cling to "Heaven" and only suck the hard-earned money of domestic uncles." While this may be hard work, I hope that sooner or later NCsoft will turn its attention to the global market."
However, as the "first" big manufacturer of Korean mobile games, NCsoft can turn back in time and regain the ambition of the big factory under the premise that some games have hit the street last year, but still make a lot of money.
As for "Hunting" and the "Art Lab" series that will continue to be updated in the future, Ncsoft uses to show muscles, GameLook believes that in addition to being a means for NCsoft to actively communicate with players, it is also a report card handed over by NCsoft, trying to recover its lost reputation and player trust in the past through its own hard power, of course, everything still has to be spoken by game products.
With a long history, NCsoft, which has money, technology, and players, should have done better, at least for the time being, it gave the impression that it was trying to do better.
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