Beowulf: The Game [PC]

YANN LE TENSORER

Yann Le Tensorer

Job Function: Founder of Tiwak, currently Senior Producer on Beowulf

Yann is almost a living portrait of the video game geek: he started making games when he was a kid, and published 2 of them on Apple II at the age of 18! Right after his Computer Science studies he started as lead programmer at Ubisoft on Rayman, POD and Rayman 2. In 2000 he decided to found his own studio, Tiwak together with 6 co-founders, most of them from the Rayman 2 Team. Tiwak's first title was Tork, a first party platform game for Xbox (Microsoft Games Studios) At the end of 2003, Yann decided to sell the studio to Ubisoft and worked as producer on the award winner title Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.

Yann is now Senior Producer on Beowulf and is overseeing all aspects of the game's production.

MICHEL FESQUET

Michel Fesquet

Job Function: Lead Animator

After 10 years in the gaming industry, Michel's achievements include GRAW, Red Steel, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, XIII and Act of War just to name a few. Michel explains that "animation is everything in the game that deals with motion and motion's stylization. Finding Beowulf's motion style has been quite hectic. We knew we didn't want either the over-the-top treatment of arcade-games or the purely realistic approach of a combat simulation." The core team wanted more amplitude and a certain inertia that would best illustrate the sheer might and the dimensions of an epic hero with the strength of 30 men! You may not notice it first, but pay close attention and you'll see what Michel means when he evokes a certain "choreographed realism" that's not far from some Frazetta's paintings. "From the start we haven't looked at Beowulf's movement as a traditional game animator would, but really as you do in 2d animation. One of my artists is from the Gobelins (famous French animation school that's seen as one of the premium pool of talents for studios such as Pixar and Disney), was hired solely for the purpose of translating the unique style in all of Beowulf's movements, first on paper then on 3D.

For Beowulf, Michel and his team of nearly 20 animators created around 2500 animations, 700 only for the main character and more than 400 for the Thanes. The choreographic aspect of the game comes to life even more strikingly when you watch your men on the battlefield engaged in ferocious fights with NPCs. Their actions and reactions, this choreography, designed by Beowulf's animators is really what puts you right in the heart of the battle.

ALEX CARLOTTI

Alex Carlotti

Job Function: Audio Producer and Lead Sound Designer.on Beowulf

Alexandre started at Ubisoft Montreal 7 years ago as Sound Programmer on the engine that ran the original Splinter Cell and Rainbow Six games developed by the Canadian Studio. From programming he jumped to design and, as Lead Sound designer he worked on GRAW.

For Beowulf, Alexandre chose a very ambitious approach: "All in-game audio has been designed to promote a true sense of authenticity and realism. For the Thanes' warcry for instance, no studio could re-create the specific echo you find in vast Scandinavian forests. So we recorded a whole rugby team in the north part of Canada for a full day. We pushed this sense of realism even further in our more fantasy parts of the game." The Troll's cry, he explains is mainly based on African lions' roars, which we recorded in Montpellier Natural Park. No pre-recorded sound can give you such results."

Sound design on this project is treated as a major emotional factor. The psychological aspect of the character is key, and all sounds including the music are designed to give the player constant feedback about Beowulf's mood and state. Play Carnal and you'll be surrounded with anarchistic and dissonant sounds we call drone. Play Heroic, and you'll be accompanied with an orchestral music with choirs.