Bioshock PS3: Of Little Sisters and Ferris Wheels

September 24th, 2008, 20:38 Posted By: wraggster

My name’s Grant and I’m an animator for the BioShock Add-On Content Challenge Rooms. I was asked to spearhead any animation tasks that was needed for this project. The development team has been working hard here at 2K Boston on these new rooms and we are closing in on the finish line. But, it has been a great experience because it got me the chance to do things I haven’t done before for Bioshock.

One of our first goals was to get the Ferris Wheel in the game. The finished asset was actually physically in the original release of the game, but never used. It was a shame, because it’s a really well crafted piece. So I went through the steps of breaking it apart, rigging it and getting it to move convincingly. Then I had to learn some things about collision and getting the Little Sister to stay in the carriage without misbehaving. After a bit of elbow grease and sweat we got a functioning Ferris Wheel in engine. I hope you guys have fun playing in that room!

I also had to do quite a few more custom Little Sister animations. Revisiting the Little Sister rig from BioShock was a welcome assignment, and I found it somewhat cathartic to once again channel my inner child. My coworkers must have thought it odd when I would jump around my space and wave my arms to act out some of her moves. Actually they’re probably used to it by now.

The team worked really hard and it was fun diving into this project. I have to give props to Kirk Bezio (Add on content Designer), Chad King (Add on content Lead Artist) and Dan Kaplan (Add On content Programmer) in particular for their roles in getting this done. It almost felt like being back in school, except my peers weren’t students but big time pros.

Thanks for taking the time to read our post!

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/...ferris-wheels/

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