In a developer’s blog posted today, Cinematic Artist Kimihiro Tomino discussed the technology used in Dragon’s Dogma that allows customized characters to be properly rendered, even during major cutscenes. While there aren't any specific details on how the character creation works, Tomino wrote about having smaller characters show up with just as much realism in epic scenes as larger characters.
What we do know is that Tomino has a thing for ninjas. He prefers to make a smaller framed assassin-type character that actually looks like a ninja opposed to being stuck in a bulky pre-made body of a guy that just so happens to be wearing a ninja mask. Thanks to some developments in Dragon’s Dogma, this will be possible.
“However there really haven’t been any games that let you have complete control over the height and frame of your character and had that reflect back in the story of the game.”
Tomino uses the pre-made body types of Dragon Age as an example of how customization is not as complete in most games as they could be. The solution: Real-Time Rendered Cinematics. This will help the camera adjust naturally to customize-made characters, providing a more natural flow when watching a cutscene. Take a look at the shots below to see the innovations used. Hopefully this will come out as smooth as it is being advertised as and eventually help out games in the future.