The new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is currently still in the PR phase. In a new blog post, the Art Director raves about the photorealistic graphics through the new engine and explains how they designed 3 multiplayer characters, the Operators, in a realistic manner.
At this stage, Modern Warfare is currently: We are still in the phase where the developers Infinity Ward and publisher Activision Blizzard completely control the information about the game.
So far, some journalists and YouTubers have only been able to see two missions and selected “partners” were allowed to try out the shooter but are not allowed to talk about how it actually plays: Non-disclosure agreement.
So we are in the hype phase, where all information comes relatively unfiltered from the studio itself. They are naturally trying to portray the game in the best possible light.
Realistically photographed rubble
Here are the latest information: In a blog post by Activision (via Activision), the Art Director of Infinity Ward, Joel Emslie, explains what techniques and how much effort has been put into ensuring that Call of Duty Modern Warfare looks much better and more realistic than previous titles:
- Essentially, they take a lot of photos of “things in the real world” and bring them into the game to achieve photorealism – the technique is called photogrammetry.
- Many outdoor shoots were necessary, where they photographed “trash” or “rubble” to make it look “real in the game.”.
- Drones were also used – they need all the details.
- When the environment was realistic, Infinity Ward invested a lot of time to make the characters look realistic too – otherwise, it would have looked terrible.
- Infinity Ward held a casting to find an employee they could then dress as a corpse and place in the game.
Operator selection as realistic as possible
Here’s what it’s all about with the operators: In the multiplayer mode of Modern Warfare, the playable characters are called Operators. They look different but do not differ in their abilities – just like skins in Fortnite. Operators are purely cosmetic.
Emslie explains that they looked for military uniforms and obtained them. The poses and equipment of the operators were recorded in a dedicated “prop house” with a lot of effort.
They would have moved the whole studio into the house, procured props, and dressed up. Everything should feel realistic. The characters would not be in a black room or in some crappy environment, but as real as possible.
In the character selection screen, players can later zoom in and take a closer look at the details.
Emslie highlights these 3 operators:
- Grind wears a full “ghillie suit,” a camouflage outfit. Emslie originally wanted to make it himself, just like the original suit, he says, but a character artist created such a good concept that they preferred to use that.
- Zane has a kind of cape that hangs over the operator’s armor. It is a tactical poncho that Emslie saw years ago and knew he wanted it in a game one day.
- Krueger, in turn, uses a “frogman” camouflage, a net that covers his face and shoulders. This design has been sought after for a long time and now they have “got it right.”.
Some of the operators are included with special editions of Call of Duty Modern Warfare.
