Saturday, June 28, 2014

Cuphead Game Trailer

One of the delightful surprises at the recent E3 interactive game expo was the trailer for an upcoming video game called "Cuphead" by developers Chad and Jared Moldenhauer. (Direct link to video)


 The gameplay is classic run-and-gun with an emphasis on boss battles.


Here are some character sketches. The game uses traditional hand-drawn and hand-inked cel animation animation and painted watercolor backgrounds. A lot of the animation is on cycles. 


The bosses have rolling eyes and pop-out heads. Effects animation includes little puffs of smoke when Cuphead hits the ground and star-flash FX on shots and impacts. 

The period style is hard to nail down to just one era. The animation style owes a lot to Silly Symphonies like Hell's Bells (animated by Ub Iwerks) and the madcap mania of the Fleischer Studios of the 1930s. But the game also has a 1920s vibe because of the silent-picture title cards (complete with digital chromatic aberrations and "projectionist" focus pulls). The jazz music track has a bebop sound that places it more into the '50s.
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2 comments:

  1. Nate PeytonJune 29, 2014 at 4:37 AM

    My jaw dropped when I saw this during the e3 presentation. Thinking about it, I'm surprised no one has done this yet (to my knowledge). Hoping the gameplay can measure up to the gorgeous visuals.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJune 30, 2014 at 2:07 AM

    Unlike anything I have ever seen in a video game.

    There are other games with hand painted graphics but I think this is the first hand painted graphics in the style of old cel animation.

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