No Matter Studios, Praey for the Gods

No Matter Studios is the indie game company behind one of the most highly anticipated titles in the indie space, Praey for the Gods. After raising more than $500,000 for their game on Kickstarter, the three-person team has released some absolutely breathtaking trailers and the game looks like it will live up to the dream of their 15,000 backers. In this video Co-Founder & Director Brian Parnell explains how the Smartsuit Pro and Rokoko Studio became a vital part of their animation workflow.

Three Washington-based friends Brian Parnell, Tim Wiese and Hung-Chien Liao have turned a hobby project into one of the most hyped indie titles in recent years. Praey for the Gods is set in a dystopian world of vengeful gods and unforgiving winter landscapes and features some of the most impressive visuals and enticing worlds that we have seen in an indie production.

In order to meet their huge ambitions, they had to find a workflow that allowed them to keep quality high, while still working iteratively and as a small agile team. The Smartsuit Pro and Rokoko Studio has become key in that pursuit.

"Smartsuit Pro has been a HUGE time saver for us. I now easily get animation ideas in game within minutes. I just throw on the suit and get a ton of different takes to choose from"

The players of Praey for the Gods are sent to a desolate frozen island to discover the mystery behind a never-ending winter and defeat the enormous beasts that defend the territory. The game is produced in Unity and is set to be released on Windows via Steam, then PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It’s a non-linear game where you must choose who you battle and how, traverse dynamic snow terrain, explore mysterious temples that contain secrets and treasure, and scavenge to survive.

Inspired by games like Shadow of the Colossus, the ambitions are huge and so far the trailers and material that have been released suggests that this team can actually pull it off. The speed of setup without compromising on quality of output that Rokoko’s tools provide, allows the team to skip some roadblocks that had previously taken a lot of time and energy. Parnell explains how he prior to having the suit would have to get on conference calls with outsource animators or write up detailed explanations of what we needed animation wise. After receiving the animation he would then still have to tweak it to get the look exactly as he wanted. With the Smartsuit Pro at hand, he can instead produce precisely what he has in mind within minutes of getting the idea, and have it in game shortly after.

"The Smartsuit Pro has allowed us to improve our cutscenes, and add more subtle animations for our characters. It's also allowed us much more creative freedom to try out new ideas that in the past were simply too difficult or time consuming."

Parnell and the team is the perfect example of a small team that punches way above their weight in the quality and scope of their work by utilizing tools like Unity and Smartsuit Pro. Enabling extraordinary talents and storytellers like them to realize their vision is exactly what drove us to found Rokoko back in 2014, and we hope indie creators out there will follow their example.

"For small teams, it used to be impossible to even consider using mo-cap as a tool. Now? I walk downstairs to my office, put on the suit and go! "