Developers’ Diaries #1 by Starni Games

Hello guys!

Creating games is a challenging, creative and exciting process.

We decided to share with you what happens behind the scenes in our new series
of articles — Developers’ Diaries by Starni Games.

Recently, we have announced our next project Strategic Mind: Spectre of Communism (to be released in Q4 2020). We are already working full steam on the project.

Last week we tested a new setup for mocap and sound recording: we tested two different microphones to decide what is the best way to record sound and animation for Spectre of Communism. Additionally, we had to decide whether to switch to an adjusted production process for mocap and VO.

We tested two microphones: stationary studio mic and DPA microphone lavalier.



Microphone lavalier is used on TV and in TV-series if the actor has to move a lot during the recording as it is very convenient and moves with the actor.

Studio stationary mic is used for music recording, podcasts and radio. It is fixed in place and cannot be used by a moving actor.

Despite the stationary mic providing finer details of the voice, we decided to use the lavalier mic as it offers high quality recording while also allows movement. It is extremely important for us as we will use the motion capture technologies to record the movements and facial animations of the actor and then transfer them to the game character. If we use a stationary mic, the sound will drop if the actor turns his head away from the mic to look at the other character.

Our cinematic director Constantine tries out the some of the motion capture equipment setup:



Our COO Oleksandr is adjusting the helmet with an attached Iphone, which is used to capture facial animations:



Some weird stuff happening during the tests. The good thing is that the issue was quickly solved:



[h3]The results of test[/h3]
We decided to go for a new technical setup.

[h3]Old production process[/h3]
Motion capture + preliminary VO made by one actor for all characters. All other voice actors had to fit the preliminary VO and lip sync during the final VO.

[h3]Planned production process[/h3]
Motion capture + final VO at the same time by every actor. We think this way the voice and animation will be a better match. The time will tell.

We hope that these adjustments and new mic will help us deliver the cinematics of higher quality in the upcoming project.

The VO + mocap sessions will start soon. We will keep you informed about our progress.

Your Starni Games team