Creating an Action Comedy Game with AccuRIG Realtime Tools

Get Slapped, a vibrant indie game development studio and multimedia company nestled in Southern California, is renowned for crafting boundary-pushing games that defy convention. With a diverse team boasting decades of professional experience, their creativity flows like a fine jungle juice, blending seamlessly to concoct innovative gaming experiences.

Embracing fresh perspectives, the team welcomes new faces to infuse their ideas into the mix, while honoring the wisdom passed down by industry OGs. Amidst this collaborative spirit, Get Slapped! emerges as their latest creation – a slap-stick action comedy arena fighting game with an evolving narrative and an ever-expanding roster of fighters.

To bring their vision to life, the team joined the Reallusion Pitch & Produce program to leverage cutting-edge tools like Character Creator, AccuRIG, Cartoon Animator, and iClone, pushing the boundaries of gaming innovation and delivering an unforgettable gaming experience across multiple dimensions.

Greetings, and congratulations on being part of the Reallusion Pitch & Produce program! Please share with us the premise of your game Get Slapped! and tell us about your team.

Hello! And thank you! We're happy to be a part of it! Our game Get Slapped! is a slap-stick action comedy beat'em up fighting game, with an expanding narrative and roster of fighters. The idea came from fusing the idea of slapping competitions and South Park humor.

Our team is mostly based in Southern California. At our peak, we had 40+ members, with many different skills and backgrounds, from over 6 different time zones, all across the globe! I'm extremely proud and grateful to see what we have accomplished and to be serving the team.

Your team used AccuRIG to rig unconventional characters for your game. What are the advantages of using AccuRIG, and how were these characters originally created?

Reallusion's AccuRIG was integral in getting a quick rig on our 3D models in order to test, and have for real time when giving creative direction on our motion capture shoots. It also provided faster feedback and iteration when improving the overall rig's movement.

Our Slapican characters are bipedal, but their eyes are essentially where our human chest would be. Early on we would take our character model, and AccuRIG it in less than 15-30 minutes, and be able to achieve improved eyelines for our performances.

Get Slapped has also been experimenting with Cartoon Animator's 2D capabilities for future updates. Can you share with us why you decided to use Cartoon Animator, and what future projects you have in mind?

Coming from a mocap background, Cartoon Animator always piqued my curiosity on "what if we could mocap 2D animation?"

Thinking of the possibility of exploring different styles and in-game slap dimensions where 2D and 3D characters interact is a fun challenge, and I believe there's something innovative to be achieved by utilizing such software to explore the next level of 2D production.

For your game, Character Creator has been used to characterize and retarget, to later view and clean up mocap data in iClone. What are the benefits of using iClone versus other mocap cleanup tools?

Utilizing iClone has been handy for having specific tools and setups for foot contacts, hand poses, and prop interaction. Overall it’s a more budget-friendly solution when starting out and figuring out a pipeline, especially if you want to consider real-time solutions. The learning curve with any software takes some time, but documentation and support from other existing software can be scarce in comparison.

Players will be able to download Get Slapped on Steam. When will this be available, and where else can fans follow your game?

Early Access is available now on our website. Early Access is available for wishlist and is soon coming to the Epic Game Store. It will be on Steam later this year 2024.

To find out more about the making of Get Slapped Game, please see the original article for more details.