Animation Companies Having Fun in Games

For Perky Pickle Studios, they were brought on to the Crash Bandicoot franchise to help develop story. © Vivendi Universal.
A number of smaller studios are creating animation for publishers and developers of videogames, including for the console, PC and online platforms. In many cases, their work is limited to cinematics/cut scenes and promotional trailers. But there is more and more demand for in-game assets as well.
There have long been studios specializing in this market. “Companies like ours have been around a long time,” says Krissie Franco, vp production at Hydrogen Whiskey Studios, which has been in business since 1991. It has been creating gaming animation for 12 years, and doing so almost exclusively for the last 10, worked on franchises such as Civilization and WWE.
General animation companies are starting to get more heavily involved in game animation as well. Perky Pickle Studios, which launched in 2000, is one example. It creates animation, from preproduction through post-production, for all platforms and in all styles. Perky Pickle has worked on Vivendi Universal’s Crash Bandicoot franchise, and was involved creatively during the entire development process, according to owner Jordan Reichek. “There are incredible possibilities for us in animation to be branching out,” he says.
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By Karen Raugust for http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=2861