Posts Tagged ‘Daniel Lilleberg’

Earlier this year, Hi-Rez Studios, the makers of the upcoming action MMO, Global Agenda, received an e-mail from the wife of U.S. Army Captain Chris Ficquette.

“My husband is in the United States Army and will be re-deployed for his second tour of duty this summer,” the e-mail stated. “ To date, I have not yet found a bigger fan of video games than him. Is there any way that I could have my husband involved in motion capturing so that he could be immortalized in your video game?”

The timing was impeccable. It so happened that Hi-Rez needed additional motion capture on some special weapons handling. What better than to use a seasoned military veteran?

Soon after, Chris came into the Studio and met with Lead Animator Daniel Lilleberg. Armed with nothing but a few Nerf weapons, Chris went to work. He even revealed some funky moves that were perfect for in-game emotes (short sequences that players can have their character perform by typing a command in the in-game chat window).

In the short video below, you’ll see three emotes that Chris performed the motion capture for that have subsequently been added to Global Agenda – HoeDown, RoboDance, and, our personal favorite, Psycho.

Also see below a few pictures from Chris’ motion capture session (shown with Lilleberg).

Chris and his unit are soon shipping back to Afghanistan. As Independence Day approaches, Hi-Rez wishes him and all of his mates in the 146th Movement Control Team the best of luck and godspeed. And a hearty shout of appreciation to all of our men and women in uniform from Hi-Rez Studios.

Every motion-capture sequence starts and ends with a “T Pose”, in order to level set the capturing software.

Daniel and Chris choreograph a sequence.

Strike a pose.

Daniel watches as Chris’ motions are captured.

Having fun with melee.

What do you do at Hi-Rez Studios?

I am the Lead Animator, responsible for animation and animation design in Global Agenda. I also supervise the technical art standards as far as rig design, asset transferability, and overall art/animation interaction.

How did you get into the video game industry?

Making games was always a goal, I just wasn’t sure how to go about it initially. Eventually after spending my entire now useless Bachelor’s degree in History drawing all up and down the margins of my notes, I began looking into how to get into games. This was in the 90’s, so there wasn’t really the schools devoted to making games, and certainly information and tutorials were not available the way they are now. So I elected to just get instruction in animation, and to gear my work in that degree towards game art, and just kept pressing. I had to take some unrelated gigs early on — architecture and instruction, but I just kept at it until I got signed on at Heuristic Park.

What is on your iPod?

Nothing, because that would mean I owned an Apple product. On my mp3 player lately, however…Clutch, which goes without saying, as they are the best. Madball, excellent NYC hardcore. And getting the most play lately, Lucero, probably the best band that nobody knows about.

What is your favorite Global Agenda character/class to play?

Definitely Recon class. I am not the biggest fan of shooters (with the current exception of Left 4 Dead, which totally has its claws in me) and the Recon class build I use allows me to play Global Agenda without shooting, by using melee, stealth, and the array of traps. This gives me an experience in Global Agenda that is more tactical, tense…less twitchy.

What are your Favorite Games?

Way too many to name, but some that come to mind immediately:

Early Madden games — before it got to be the bloated monopoly it is today (sorry, the Sega/EPSN football games were a vastly superior product before Madden got scared and bought exclusive rights to the NFL)…Madden used to be a great game, and I know of specifically one projection screen TV that had the field image burned into it from too much Madden in college.

Bomberman — Great party game, in most of its incarnations. Most specifically the Bomberman for the Turbo Graphics back in the day. It can, and has, been adapted into a drinking game. I suggest beer, however, instead of the whiskey we used in college.

Left 4 Dead — -Currently playing and loving this game, but it makes me think of an older, and perhaps predecessor, zombie game called Hunter: The Reckoning. Great co-op undead fighting game from back in the day. The sequel was a massive letdown, however.

In my free time..

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Hmmm… Free time…I currently only have a passing acquaintance with free time as we are pushing pretty hard to make Global Agenda the best product it can be, but when I am free:

Sports — playing and watching basketball and football.
Concerts when the right band or comedian comes through (just saw Patton Oswalt in a very small venue — it was very cool).
Reading. Playing games with my nerd brethren, both video games and board games (Fantasy Flight has been good to us with the Game of Thrones series, and now a very cool Battlestar Galactica game).
Spend time with family, friends, puppy dog.
Beer and the usually clownery that is associated with it.