This was one of the most fun assignments I’ve worked on for any game. I was responsible for creating a cinematic intro that explained what happened between the first tutorial mission, where we see the outbreak happen, and what follows in the rest of the game, weeks later when the world has descended into chaos.
I really enjoyed the creative freedom and responsibility with this project, from hashing out the story via storyboards with one of the co-founders and creating a rough animatic in After Effects to lay out the flow and composition of the shots, to creating most of the 2D assets. I also provided art direction for Witness, the animation studio that did the final animations and effects.
It was satisfying to see the finished product in-game and know that millions and millions of people got to see it. That is a stark contrast to how it commonly is, when your work may not be seen by anyone outside of the development team.
Stills from the final animation:
