As my interest lies in creation of innovative E-learning games, this panel discussion led by Mr. Wayne Gilbert (Senior Animation Director of Black Box) was quite informative about creating the right visual.  They tackled the issue of photo realism with intensity.  It exists in films, but do games really need it?  I personally would like to see the animation in games to be less cartoony and more photo realistic.  It would make the players feel like they are interacting with live characters, thereby getting two-in-one package of watching a movie while playing the game.

The panel, however, felt that "games should be games and films should be films."  This was rather an unexpected response from the panel which was made mostly up of EA's distinguished members.  After all, photo realism is the bench mark of EA games whereas Nintendo is more animation style.  Stylization drives technology, but capturing anatomically correct  curvature in photo realism is still quite difficult.  The flaws are much less obvious with cartoony animations.

As per the panel, photo realism will never catch the image of real person.  Facial expression is a major obstacle since the animation characters are not technically acting but rather "lipsinking."  Mr. Gilbert used a scene from the movie Blade Runner as an example.  He first showed the clip where Roy, the blond replicant says that "all those moments will be lost in time like tears in rain."  Next he showed an animated character lipsinking the same line, which obviously lacked Rutger Hauer's charismatic performance.  In order to chanel animation (ie. to change direction of body), tighter unit of body movement is essential.  One of the challenge is to connect face and body smoothly.

Overall rather than worrying about little details in animation, the panel suggested that we make fun games that play well.  As for team work, collaboration is the key to success.  Instead of animators passing finished artwork to soft engineers like a factory assembly line, take active part in the process by speaking up.  Note that an engineer who overthinks too much is actually dangerous to the project.  More complex AI is, there is more chance of getting bugs.  Key is simplicity where "fat is cut off to keep everything lean and focused."  The artist needs to drive the implementation and the style must serve the overall game plan.  In order to achieve smooth flow the animator has to plan well ahead, push for the script, and work closely with the soft engineers.

The panel highly recommended video referencing, where your co-worker video tapes you as you act out the scene from the game.  In other words, it is crucial to not just accept the procedures as an animator.  Try to develop an eye to see if any movements are too stiff or awkward by motion capture (MoCap).  See how it works on real person by hiring actors, athletes, etc., but you must direct them well otherwise they will move around too much.

They touched upon the necessity of outsourcing due to tight budget and challenging deadlines.  Animators, however, must not lose creative control.  They must direct by communicating clearly with overseas vendors.  "Block task then polish task."  Plan ahead and learn to delegate work to other animators so they can also direct.  It is all about teamwork!  Lastly, test your own game by playing it at early proto stage and also with the final product.  Don't just rely on your kid's or other people's responses, but play it yourself to see how fun the game actually is.

One last note from the panel is that games currently lack colour.  They look desaturated so it will be interesting to see which company steps upto this challenge of breathing some life into animation in games.