Outline for the Third Term Paper

Special Effects in Animation and Live-Action

Special Effect: Explosions

Games: "The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker" and "Battlefield 4"

The Legend of Zelda:

Wind Waker: Extremely stylized. There are little plumes that are designed, then combined, overlaid, and animated to create a animated explosion. Not a lot of variation from explosion to explosion. Works very well because of the stylization of the game. (Overlaying of graphic plumes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zG5gHLCp7g, explosion examples: http://youtu.be/Ob-yWsolAzw?t=13m56s)

Battlefield 4:

Realistic explosions that are simulated using a virtual physics engine. Requires much more processing power than the explosions in Wind Waker. Attempts to simulate realistic chaos in an explosion, while making it feasible to compute. Very successful because it is able to balance what is designed and what is calculated by the computer, and the result looks quite realistic. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2vOu8QkPd0)

Outline:

I. Intro:

Thesis: Explosions can add a lot to the epic feeling of a video game, and can be done right in multiple ways.

II. Body:

The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker

• ·         Explosions are extremely stylized to fit in with the stylized world.
• ·         All of the explosions for a bomb are really basically the same explosion, but it isn't distracting due to the extreme stylization. When the explosions go off, the camera shakes a bit (as well as the world) to add to the impact.
• ·         Works very successfully for the game as the explosions look visually appealing and add to the feeling of action in the world.

Battlefield 4

• ·         Explosions are far more realistic and use more of a physics engine to simulate them.
• ·         There is a large variety in the explosions, and depending on what weapon you use, what you are exploding, and where you hit what is exploding the explosion will look different.
• ·         Works successfully because the play station has enough processing power to calculate the complex explosions that the creators have set up. Things blow up in an way that is done as realistically as any game ever has.
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Conclusion:

Whether simple and designed or more chaotic and physically accurate, explosions can add a lot to a game.