How a neurologist created a gaming company and was bought by Zynga

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How did Torsten Reil, a neuroscientist, create a video game company NaturalMotion, which was selected by Zynga?

Torsten Reil was originally a neuroscientist, neuroscientists and video game developers look irrelevant, but Reil founded the name of the NaturalMotion game company, the launch of the Clumsy Ninja (clumsy Ninja) a success. The social gaming company, Zynga, has been plagued by shrinking market share and user churn, recently spending 1/4, $527 million trillion in naturalmotion, as if suddenly placing Reil in the Savior's position.

How big a chance can this be?

Zynga has launched a number of popular games, such as the Happy Farm farmville,words with Friends, and casino games that run on mobile phones and Facebook platforms. Zynga's rise and rapid decline, its original game is low, advertising is more on the one hand, and more importantly, the user viscosity is not high.

Just name, maybe everyone is not familiar with the NaturalMotion, but if you play Grand Theft Auto V, you should remember the characters throw a punch, or jump out of the burning crater scene. The character can naturally complete these movements, all depend on NaturalMotion technology: Character action simulation technology, let them react to the environment in real time, appear more natural.

How to explain the scene to do good? Not to let the players deliberately praised, but let them as if in the real world, "simply can't stop."

And the Reil company's technology can bring this effect to the game. As CEO and co-founder of NaturalMotion, Reil has provided a dynamic graphics engine for many immersive video games. These effects are not noticed by the players, but they actually involve complex dynamic analysis, such as a cowboy who runs at a speed of 25 miles per hour and is shot down.

NaturalMotion mainly do dynamic action synthesis, and its new technology euphoria is a major breakthrough in real-time animation technology, the technology can accurately determine the cowboy fall when the arm stretching movement and posture. Racing Games CSR Racing and clumsy ninjas also apply this technique. Euphoria to the interactive animation, not to the storage data to call, but to the real game role of the actual muscle movement of real-time biomechanical simulation, increase the fidelity of the motion.

NaturalMotion experienced a game for others to provide technical support to their own creation of the game, the technology and hand-travel innovation Reil will have what kind of opinion? The author discussed these issues a few weeks ago with Reil.

About Super Effects

Q: Do you have a scientific background, such as neuroscience, and how do you think of establishing a naturalmotion company?

Torsten Reil: At the time, I was at Oxford University's Department of Zoology, engaged in real time simulations of different organisms to explore how they walk, and I created a simulation system of their body, muscles, and motor nerves that, by adjusting the system, could improve or lower the nature of the character's walking. It was this project that gave me the idea of creating naturalmotion.

Q: NaturalMotion began to play his own game before, is through the authorization of the Action simulation technology to other companies project. How is the company developing during this time?

TR: Our technology is used in a number of movie virtual person effects, such as The Lord of the Rings, Troy, prehistoric 10,000 years. Later we found that this technology can be used in the game, Rockstar games to come to us, and then set up a close cooperation with us, the common design of the euphoria real-time simulation technology.

Euphoria has been used in a number of games, such as Grand Theft Auto 4, and recently launched 5, Wilderness Gunsmoke: Redemption, Max Payne 3. For us, the goal of doing these projects is to use our technology to really create magical effects.

We realised that soon the hardware of the iphone would be able to run our real-time simulation technology, so we believe this is a good chance to do a hand tour.

Different from Zynga's strategy

Rw:naturalmotion There are many projects at the same time, how do you coordinate these projects?

TR: We want to play a different game than others, obviously it doesn't work to imitate other people's games. We believe that using our original content and technology can make the user feel magical game experience.

Similar games for the same group of users, even if they can attract users, so the user viscosity is not high. Products need to innovate, to build their own style, so that players see the differences in the game, so that they can stimulate the interest of downloading games. Product promotion strategy determines product development, not first to do the product and then consider how to promote.

We are very optimistic about the development of simulation technology in the game, it is expected in the game from the outside to simulate the actual things, as through action, the dynamic process of nature, such as water, mountains, to simulate the essence of things.

Analog ≠ imitation

RW: What's the difference between your simulation technique and your general animation simulation?

TR: The character action of the ordinary animation simulation is preset, and our technique is to really let the character have the characteristic of real-time response, each interaction can make different reaction.

Hand tour is now mostly two-dimensional animation, especially on the Facebook platform hand tour, such as Zookeeping game (similar to see), the game similarity.

And we want to use dynamic simulation technology and high-end image production, to provide players with richer, real game scene. This development of hand-made technology and the development of animation technology has a similar history, from the the 1930s two-dimensional animation Snow White, developed to three-dimensional production of Toy Story series, until the recent Monster University.

Pixar Animation company participated in a number of well-known animation production, including Toy Story, flying House travel, Monster University and so on, their outstanding animation technology for the audience to provide an extraordinary viewing experience, received a positive market response. And now Apple and other smartphone users in the hand travel requirements are similar to the previous animation, the need for more and more excellent simulation technology.

My horse game can be said to be a breakthrough for us, horse action simulation technology beyond the player's imagination, and even exceeded our expectations, not to mention the simulation of horse is not my expertise.

RW: A delicate and ingenious game, from horse-feeding to CSR, should be a big leap.

TR:CSR car gives us confidence, let us believe that we can rely on technology to do the game, and create their own characteristics, through innovation for the player to bring more real and richer game experience.

Technical Simple analysis

RW: As we all know, game consoles and mobile games are very different, so why do your opponents have a special trip?

TR: Through past design experience, especially clumsy ninja, let us feel the powerful touch screen, can greatly enhance the real sense of the game scene.

RW: Why is it that seemingly simple games such as clumsy ninjas have allowed you to use the euphoria technology?

TR: Technology is complex, but it lowers the threshold of the game, even children can easily play, this is the purpose of constantly trying new technology. We hope to achieve the ideal situation is, let the player feel refreshing, have to see the magic of the feeling, but in order to achieve the effect of the use of complex dynamic simulation technology is not necessary to delve into.

RW: Can you give a brief introduction to the principle of dynamic simulation technology?

TR: We focus on the skeleton structure of the character, the normal activities of people, such as moving the arm, are subject to the objective mechanics, such as the limited degree of bending. Resistance is constrained by a variety of specific actions.

To simulate a realistic action, you need to adjust the parameters of all joints. As for the characters, such as clumsy Ninja or Grand Theft Auto, because the player is very familiar with the movement of people, parameter adjustment is slightly wrong, it will look very strange.

Therefore, we have to adjust the biomechanical parameters of the great effort to install a large number of artificial intelligent controller, the controller can communicate with each other. For example, in the clumsy ninja, when the player to the ninja to throw fruit, the ninja on the one hand to avoid fruit, on the one hand, on the balance beam to maintain a balanced. Intelligent Controller uses artificial intelligence to sort automatically when multitasking is in parallel. (no need to rely on the current 3D animation key frame and motion capture technology, but imitate the human brain to think of 3D objects in the intelligent control of movement), and finally practice the result is not bad.

In addition, we also incubate the ninja "see" ability. The character captures the surroundings and sees the objects moving toward it. Based on the character's ability to try and roughly calculate whether an object will hit it, and react accordingly. It is expected that as technology progresses, it will eventually be possible to make the player appear to be in front of a real person performance, but it is expected that it will take 12 years to achieve this ideal state.

(via RW/fast carp)