Dino Crisis Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Summary
Plot
Gameplay
Development
Marketing
Reception
Credits
Gallery
Translation errors
Further notes

Dino Crisis 3 entered production in mid-2000, led by Hiroyuki Kobayashi as Producer and Shinji Mikami as Executive Producer for Capcom Production Studio 4. The game was devised as an exclusive for the Xbox to boost sales for the emerging console in Japan, with Kobayashi later stating that its graphical rendering abilities made it the better choice than the PlayStation 2.[1][2] Prior to the arrival of Higuchi and Kamiya, Dino Crisis 3 had been conceptualised as a "human drama" set within an unspecified facility in a city under siege from rampaging time-displayed dinosaurs, with the player and AI partners working together to fight them in ways that could change the outcome of the plot.[3] This proposed game was never made, owing to the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, which made Capcom concerned about how a destroyed city environment would be seen by players. A space-ship setting was instead devised,[1] with Dino Crisis 2 writer Noboru Sugimura hired to create the script, which was complete before Higuchi and Kamiya's attachment to the project.[4] Seeking a style comparable to Japanese science fiction cinema, Kobayashi sought after a storyboardist and cutscene director from the film industry. His first pick was Shinji Higuchi, but due to scheduling conflicts worked with Makoto Kamiya, taking up storyboarding and cinematic directing, respectively.[4]

Programming

Early Dino Crisis 3 HUD design

An early version of the HUD, shown at the 2002 Xbox Conference.

Early Dino Crisis 3 HUD design 2

Patrick fighting the Australis in the same presentation. The environment does not appear in the release version.

The game's HUD went through considerable development in 2002. Originally the HUD was to be positioned on the bottom-left corner of the screen, and show health and jetpack fuel stats as lines, as well as the number of WASPs available to the player.[5] The weapons system itself was different from earlier games; players would rely on a main weapon with infinite ammunition, with the option to switch to other forms of ammunition for stronger opponents which would be limited and have to be found or bought. The WASPs were designed as a secondary weapon which would fly around the map and provide additional aid to the player during combat.[2]

Like in Dino Crisis 2, more focus is given to giving players the fun of shooting dinosaurs than item conservation and avoiding them like in Dino Crisis. A shop feature was created for the game where, like in Dino Crisis 2 the player could purchase supplies based on points accumulated from killing dinosaurs. However, in this game the player could accumulate a finite number, requiring them to return to the shop frequently or they would receive no further points.[2]

In developing the camera, the team decided to take full advantage of the Xbox's power and make it 3D rather than using 2D pre-rendered backgrounds like Dino Crisis 2 had done. In a similar manner to Studio 1's contemporaneous Resident Evil Outbreak, rooms were divided into zones where a camera would follow the player, then cut to another camera when they leave the area.[2]

Character designs

Patrick helmet sequence

Sketches showing how Patrick's helmet was to assemble.

Character design was handled by Futoshi Nagata for the concept art phase, and by a team on the CG art phase. Characters were designed based on Japanese science fiction tropes, special attention given to the SOAR uniforms, with Higuchi storyboarding how parts of the suit would move. Caren, as a non-SOAR character, was given a design inspired by Japanese "race queen" idols, models who attend rallies. She is known to have gone through clothing changes, with her purple tights removed following criticism by Executive Producer Mikami.[6]

Creature

The creatures that populate the Ozymandias are revealed in the story to be genetically-engineered human-dinosaur hybrids. As such the creature designers were free to create the creatures how they wanted; this was liberating for the designers, as the Dino Crisis and Dino Crisis 2 teams had problems with making the Therapods unique. A common theme in the dinosaurs was that they would have exposed skin and could release electricity as a form of attack.[7] The Cebalrai final boss was a late addition to the game, and was the brainchild of CG director Makoto Kamiya.[8][excerpt 1] Due to this fascination with mecha, 3CGI paid particular attention to making the cutscenes of Ozymandias' transformation seem more realistic, with moving parts being locked in place.[8]

Environment

Ozymandias at Xbox Conference Summer 2002

A modular map of Ozymandias, as shown at Xbox Conference Summer 2002.

Ozymandias at Xbox Conference Summer 2002 2

Ditto.

The Ozymandias' design changed over the course of production. Until mid-2002, the exact designs of rooms were liable to change for reasons from how good they would look in cutscenes, to tailoring motion capture to the area.[9] According to Kobayashi, radical changes were made sometime in early 2002, and by the time the storyboarding process began the ship's interior was radically different to what had previously been conceived, and the planned size of the exterior shots was increased.[4] Storyboard editor Shinji Higuchi himself caused some alterations when he offered the idea that the ship would be capable of transforming. A long-time fan of mecha, Higuchi got the idea from the 1984 film, "Sayonara Jupiter!", which he worked on. This film also involved a transforming space ship over Jupiter.[8] A rough idea of the ship's sector layout and transformation make-up was decided by Xbox Conference 2002, wherein Kobayashi introduced the sci-fi concept.[8]

Story development

Dino Crisis 3 city proposal

An early story proposal centred on the emergence of dinosaurs in the present day world in a city,[10] possibly the very time distortion Dino Crisis 2 alluded to with the Noah's Ark Plan. A single image hinting to this storyline was shown by Yoshiki Okamoto when he announced three Capcom games at the May 16 Xbox announcement for E3 2001. After the September 11 attacks, Kobayashi moved the project away from the city proposal and to something else. With offers from the Flagship team, led by Noboru Sugimura, Hiromichi Nakamoto, Shin Yoshida and Hiroaki Kanazawa, it was agreed the game story be shifted to a futuristic environment in space which would allow for new ideas. The scenario was finished some-time before March 2002, wherein Kobayashi ordered the storyboarding process to begin.[4]

Cutscenes

Storyboards were handled by Shinji Higuchi, who was also involved with the ship designs. Higuchi was a well-known Japanese special effects director and was associated with the sci-fi and kaiju genres. They had in fact wanted him to handle the entire CG movie process, but he was double-booked, also doing the CG film, Minimoni ja Movie: Okashi na Daibōken! (ミニモニ。じゃ ムービー お菓子な大冒険!).[10] When asked by Kobayashi who would make a good director, he suggested hiring Makoto Kamiya.[11] Higuchi produced the storyboard designs between March and May 2002.[9][excerpt 2] Higuchi later regretted no putting more action into the storyboards, which would have resulted in more action-intense cutscenes.[10]

Kamiya's directing of the CG movie had initial problems owing to the storyboards and ship maps provided to him. Kamiya found the sketches to be too vague; as the room designs involved raised levels, he felt 2D sketches were not sufficient in telling him where things were in a room.[9] According to Kobayashi, some room designs had not been finished when the storyboarding process had begun, and some were changed to conform to the needs of the motion capture.[9] As Higuchi neglected to sufficiently storyboard the Ozymandias' transforming process, Kamiya was left to plan out from scratch. To make the sequences seem more realistic, the ship's external shots included locking mechanisms.[8] By the end of CG production, some 54 minutes of pre-rendered sequences had been produced.[12]

When it came to motion capture, it was decided that capturing and photographing actors in dinosaur costumes would not be as effective in a game as in Kaiju films.[4] Kamiya's team gave Caren's motion capture actor freedom in portraying Caren to give a more realistic style for the character who, unlike the others, is not a soldier. For the cutscenes, Kobayashi ruled against blatant sexualisation of the character, and ruled that there be no breast jiggling or upskirt shots.[6][excerpt 3]

Sound design

English dubbing was managed by Soundelux, a studio based on 7080 Hollywood Boulevard which had worked with Capcom before with Resident Evil.

Sources

  1. 1.0 1.1 Christian, Nutt (September 19, 2003). Hiroyuki Kobayashi on Dino Crisis 3 - Page 1. GameSpy. Archived from the original on 24 Jun 2013. Retrieved on 2013-03-02.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Dino Crisis 3 Interview. IGN (September 17, 2003). Retrieved on 2014-03-19.
  3. X-Box 2001 conference summary (Japanese).
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Premium Fact File interview.
  5. IGN - "XBOX CONFERENCE SUMMER '02".
  6. 6.0 6.1 PREMIUM FACT FILE, p.48.
  7. DINO CRISIS 3 PREMIUM FACT FILE, p.UNKNOWN.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 PREMIUM FACT FILE, p.47.
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 DINO CRISIS 3 PREMIUM FACT FILE, p.43.
  10. 10.0 10.1 10.2 PREMIUM FACT FILE, p.44.
  11. PREMIUM FACT FILE, p.42.
  12. PREMIUM FACT FILE, p.UNKNOWN.


Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "excerpt", but no corresponding <references group="excerpt"/> tag was found

Advertisement