Behind-the-scenes glimpse of Kong Fu master animating Wukong
BEIJING -- Light attack, heavy attack, dodge, immobilization, and transformation... as millions of "Black Myth: Wukong" players fight their foes with unrestricted combos of skills and abilities, many may wonder how these eye-dazzling moves were made possible.
Considered China's first homegrown high-cost, high-volume, high-quality stand-alone title, "Black Myth: Wukong" is deeply invested in the usage of cutting-edge motion capture technology to incorporate real-world martial arts into the game.
Through the technology, the actions of professional stuntmen dressed in customized suits with reflective points are recorded from all angles, processed into virtual data and finally presented on in-game characters.
Yin Kai, hailing from Shandong province, is among the game's motion capture crew. He undertook the majority of the action work for the game's protagonist, a monkey character based on the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West.
"Many people have a childhood dream to become the Monkey King. As I trained in the martial art that uses a monkey-style staff, I accepted the job offer right away," Yin was quoted as saying in a feature story released by China Media Group.
Inspired by TV stars such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li, the young Kong Fu enthusiast began practicing martial arts at the age of five and majored in martial arts performance at Shanghai University of Sport.
To make the combat scenes more engaging both technically and artistically, Yin integrated a variety of elements from Chinese martial arts and traditional opera.
He also used nuanced body gestures to express different facets of his characters. For instance, Yin dived into meticulous observation and emulation in order to vividly present the animality and intelligence of the game protagonist.
"Every time we start filming a character, we will speak with the directors in advance about its personality, background, signature weapon, moves, and so on."
For the motion capture crew, a perfect move on the game screen may take rounds of revision behind the scenes. "Sometimes a shoot might start at around 10 a.m. and end at 2 a.m. the next day," Yin said.
Since its release on Aug 20, "Black Myth: Wukong" has taken the gaming world by storm, selling over 10 million copies across all platforms within three days of release. Its developer Game Science revealed earlier that the game's peak number of concurrent players across all platforms already surpassed 3 million.
Several prominent gaming outlets praised various aspects of the game. PC Gamer lauded its "expressive combat" while IGN reviewed it as "a great action game with fantastic combat, exciting bosses, tantalizing secrets, and a beautiful world."
As a participant of the game's production, Yin also shared the pride and joy following its success. "Seeing that my performance is loved by the gamers, I feel all the hard labor I put into is worthwhile," he said.
