Nicolas Arrowood

In an action game, the response time between when a player pushes a button and when their attack is performed has to feel great. To improve this response time, we use a special tool to fine-tune when each animation can be canceled into other actions, and occasionally even make subtle adjustments to their total speed. We have to be careful, though – if the animators catch us changing the speed too much, they get pretty mad…On the other hand, Square Enix mentioned better lighting and shadows definition for PS4 Pro, but from what we can see in the comparison screenshots above, and playing the demo, those improvements might not yet be implemented in the demo. That's quite understandable, considering that we're still about two months from release.It took three different designers to arrive at the character you see now: One made the original concept, another made the full rough design, and a third (that’s me!) added all the additional details. I also worked on the designs for the other machine lifeforms you’ll find in NieR: Automata, making sure they have an appropriate amount of visual detail. I also check over all these designs with an eye towards what configurations and mechanical details would make for the best possible 3D character models.The difference appears to be less visible during cutscenes, where developers probably managed to squeeze a little more juice out of the standard PS4 due to the controlled rendering environment, bur it's still quite noticeable in elements like YoRHa 2B's hair. Crossovers with Phantasy Star Online 2 and Monster Hunter Frontier Z were also announced, with the implementation of equipment and quests dedicated to nier automata walkthrough|https://nierautomatafans.com/: Automata . More details will be announced at a later dDuring Square Enix’s E3 live coverage , NieR: Automata Director Taro Yoko, Producer Yosuke Saito and Director Takahisa Taura provided lots of information about the title’s gameplay, story, characters and more.During a livestream on Twitch hosted by several members of Naughty Dog, tons of new information was revealed about upcoming PS4 exclusive Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End : gameplay, length and difficulty of the game, photo mode and much more. You can read about it in the article.As an animator first and foremost, there’s a lot you can’t help but want to leave in. But you’re not making a movie here – you’re making a game, and it has to be tight and responsive. The truest sign of a skilled game animator is their ability to make something great with the number of frames they’re given.The images captured on PS4 show some very visible jaggies basically across the whole picture, while the PS4 Pro version is much smoother. This appears to indicate a superior anti-aliasing solution on top of the difference in resolution. To help you see the difference (even if I doubt that this is really needed) you can check out a zoomed area on both platforms below, with massive jaggies on standard PS4 and much smoother edges on PS4 Pro. During the livestream, that you can watch below, we also saw the game played with different level s of difficulty. Easy, Normal, Hard and Very Hard will be available. Easy, Hard and Very Hard were showcased in the video that you can see at the bottom of the post at 00:10:45, 00:16:30 and 00:22:20 respectivThe atmosphere that supports the game is really crucial to the franchise. The team is working on bringing it back from the first game with lighting, texture and more, but also to surpass it with the new game.The game will release in Japan for PS4 on February 23rd, in North America on March 7th, and in Europe on March 10th, 2017. A PC version is also scheduled to come next year, but no release window has been announced for that one.What you see here is a test level where we check characters’ animations to make sure they’re ready to go in the game. We also use this level to try out visual effects, like the sword arc you can see above, as well as special effects like clouds of dust, explosions and more.We know that many of you are eargerly expecting to see more of upcoming PS4 exclusive NieR: Automata . Well, look no further. During the NieR Music Concert & Talk Live event set in Tokyo, Director Taro Yoko and Producer Yosuke Saito introduced the first live gameplay, which looks absolutely awesome. If you want to see YoRHa 2B and YoRHa 9S in action, make sure to watch the videos in the article.9S isn't really a close friends with the protagonist 2B, they're more like acquaintances. 2B is a battle-type android, while 9S is a scanner-type. The way they control when you play them is slightly different due to their abilities. Their movements are about the same, though.In a tight, closed space, sounds don’t echo very much. In a wide open room like the one above, though, echoes last longer. Echoes also change depending on the materials that make up an area: They’re louder when you’re surrounded by metal than when you’re surrounded by dirt, for example. Each area you explore in a game needs its own reverb settings to get these echoes just right.