1905 Movie Network Special Article: China's first triple-A game "Black Myth: Wukong" became popular all over the world once it was launched, breaking the sales record of China's stand-alone games.
Among the countless hot topics surrounding the game, the animated short films at the end of each chapter, while supplementing the plot, show different forms of styles such as 2D hand-drawn, stop-motion animation, and ink style, which have also attracted the attention and discussion of many players and animation fans.
Behind the six animated short films "See", "Deaf", "Fart", "Don't Listen", "Can't Help Yourself" and "Unfinished", a large number of Chinese animators have gathered the creative power of many well-known animation production teams in China.
Gamers play the role of "Destiny Man", embark on the road of journey to the west full of danger and surprise, fight monsters and upgrade to the end, not only gain a sense of accomplishment in clearing the customs, but also bring an unexpected and surprising experience to the hidden ending animation "Unfinished" that appears at the end.
In the classic melody of "Cloud Palace Xunyin", it pays tribute to many classic passages of "Ninety-Nine Eighty-One Difficult" in the original work of "Journey to the West", full of feelings and ingenuity. This closing also provides an open-ended interpretation of the ending, which is unsatisfying.
"Unfinished" is directed by Yang Tingmu and Human Wolf, and co-produced by Wolf Smoke Animation Studio, Fantasist Animation, Jinghuatang, and Mai Dong Pictures. 1905 Movie Network interviewed Wolf Smoke Animation Studio to uncover the behind-the-scenes story of the creation of this game animated short film.
In May 2023, "Unfinished" was officially launched, and it is the latest of all 6 cutscene animation shorts to start progressing, and the production time is relatively tight.
Wolf Smoke Animation Studio was the first to join, responsible for all the preliminary work, including character design, prop design, color design, scene drawing, storyboard design, etc., and the short film was produced for more than a year, and finally completed about 5 minutes in duration.
Storyboard of "Unfinished".
More than 10 years ago, Wolf Smoke Animation Studio knew the creator of Game Science, the developer of "Black Myth: Wukong", and produced a 2D animated short film for the game "God of War".
Game science has always been fond of 2D animation, and Wolf Smoke Animation Studio is also famous for the creation of 2D hand-drawn animated short films, "Kung Fu Chef Niang", "Shanghai Batman", "White Bird Valley" and ink animation "Bai Yueer" are all deeply loved by a group of domestic animation lovers, and are currently producing a traditional martial arts style short film "Black and White Swallow".
Through "Black Myth: Wukong", the two sides have the opportunity to cooperate again, as well as further attempts in the creation of two-dimensional painting style.
"The whole game is visually realistic, with very figurative light and shadow. There is some stylization of this short film, and based on the text provided by the game, we decided to use this style that is a bit like a traditional comic strip, white drawing, and graphics.
In the early design stage, I referred to the works of many comic book artists, and then summarized them into ways suitable for two-dimensional animation expression, such as the special effects of water, clouds, and thunder and lightning, which are relatively close to the generalization of traditional comic books.
This style is rarely used in 2D animation, because it pays more attention to the sense of form, and the requirements for composition and color are different from the realistic style, and the requirements for aesthetic ability will be higher. ”
The 5-minute film has more than 80 shots, including more than 20 characters, more than 30 kinds of props, almost one shot changes a scene, and most of the shots have more than one design draft, and the workload and design difficulty are greater than that of ordinary animated short films.
According to Wolf Smoke Animation Studio, "The characters in it are very different from the game characters, and they have completely changed into another artistic shape. There are some characters that still don't appear in the game, and we have a lot of room to create. So the early character setting is the most interesting part. ”
"Unfinished" character art
The whole creative process is not a storyboard and then a soundtrack, but a form similar to the production of a music video, and all the graphics must be progressed according to the musical framework provided by the game. In the end, the picture of the short film, the story of the game, and the background music of "Cloud Palace Xunyin" must cooperate with each other to take shape.
"Unfinished" design draft
"Unfinished" is different from the game promotional animation, which has to assume the function of narrating the hidden ending story of the game, and there are many blends with the original "Journey to the West".
"This short film is quite larger than several other short films in terms of narrative span. For example, a certain part of the original book is beyond the space that can be carried in a few minutes, or it is not so representative, making it difficult for players to see in one or two shots, and we will repeatedly consider the trade-offs. In the end, it's up to game science to determine what you want. ”
So, what is the hidden ending of this story?
"There are a thousand Ham·Ret in the eyes of a thousand people, and each player has their own opinion on the ending, and the feedback I have seen so far is quite positive, and some comments say that when I see this ending, I cry while fighting, and I am still very moved. It not only contains feelings for the original story of Journey to the West, but also resonates with the spirit conveyed by the game itself. ”
In the opinion of Wolf Smoke Animation Studio, there are many small design details and flashing original characters in the animation with hidden endings, and I hope that players can find and discover it by themselves, and continue to discuss the ending.
"The soft style of Chinese painting is so tense", "If you make an animation of Journey to the West according to this style of painting, I'm afraid it will be another generation of classics"...... There are some animation fans who comment on the Internet, hoping that "Unfinished" or animation of this style can be made into a feature film.
Wolf Smoke Animation Studio believes that the current investment cost and production difficulty of 2D animation are relatively high, and it is difficult to turn it into a feature film in the short term. Especially in terms of staffing, there are not many core creative sources of domestic 2D animation, and there is a lack of mature and huge team support, and more efforts are needed in the industry.
"Black Myth: Wukong" not only brings Chinese games to the world, but also shows the high level of Chinese animation. The 6 cutscene short films have different styles, rich content, and excellent quality, and have received numerous praises.
Wolf Smoke Animation Studio said frankly, "Everyone's efforts have not been in vain, and each animation has found the most suitable team to do it." The fact that everyone likes it so much is the result of everyone's ability being maximized. At the same time, I didn't expect that "Black Myth: Wukong" would be so popular.
Seeing
"Deaf"
Fart
"Don't Listen"
"Involuntarily"
Unfinished
"Everyone is not only focused on "Black Myth: Wukong", but also has a new understanding of domestic animation. It turns out that domestic animation can reach such a high-quality height, in terms of the level of animation short film production, we are still quite strong, no worse than Europe, America and Japan.
Especially two-dimensional animation, which has not received so much attention in the public eye over the years, this is a particularly good opportunity to let everyone know that there is still such a group of people in domestic animation who have been sticking to it. ”