Galloping Ghost Productions
Supplemental Data Packet
Two
sophisticated, HD-based video games to come out
fighting hand-to-hand from Galloping Ghost.
taken from
REEL CHICAGO
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Galloping Ghost owner
Doc Mack in costume for “Conquering Light”
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Galloping Ghost Productions
is developing a video game that they say will be
the most data-rich 2D hand-to-hand fighting game,
ever. And they’re doing it twice over.
The Brookfield independent
game developers plan to finish shooting its first
game, “Dark Presence,” by October and have it
ready for release in January, with their
follow-up, “Conquering Light” not far behind.
Owner Doc Mack says their
games stand apart from other hand-to-handers in
the elaborate stories and character backgrounds,
image clarity—you can see facial expressions
really well—and especially the detailed fighting
moves.
“‘Mortal Kombat’ runs at
three to four frames per move,” Mack said. “Our
characters are running at 120 to 150 frames per
move.”
They’re shooting live actors
against a green screen in a Brookfield warehouse,
on an HDR-FX1, Sony’s first 1080i HD Handycam.
They also use a Cannon XL1S SD camera for
two-camera setups. They capture the footage
directly into Final Cut Pro using proprietary
Windblue software, then animate the characters and
backgrounds in 3D Studio Max, Maya and a custom 3D
engine.
Actors, including Mack and
his staff, portray ten characters in “Dark
Presence,” and 18 in “Conquering Light,” with some
actors playing multiple characters. Each character
is filmed going through a sequence of 300
choreographed moves, with weapons including
swords, scythes and claws. Each move ends by
returning to the starting stance.
“We’re using a lot of real
weapons,” Mack said. “We’ve had a little bit of a
hard time casting, because it ends up being a
somewhat dangerous process.”
Unlike other 2D fighting
games, Galloping Ghost is filming each character
from both the left and right sides. There’s no
image flipping, which doubles the amount of
information in the game, and adds variation as far
as game play—your moves are different for each
side.”
Galloping Ghost is also
shooting more direct interaction between actors,
so their movements are spatially accurate relative
to one another’s size and choreography.
This attention to detail,
combined with the fact that they’re capturing in
HD, yields massive amounts of data, so Galloping
Ghost is compressing some of the images and plans
to release the games in standard definition to
accommodate the memory limitations of today’s
systems.
“We want everything to fit
on one DVD,” said production team leader Matt Buk.
“We’ll have all the footage in HD, so maybe in the
future we’ll release a Hi-Def version of the
game.”
They’ve begun background
design and music composition, and still need to
record the games’ limited dialogue and engineer
intro screens, finishing moves and hidden options.
Galloping Ghost will likely
market the arcade version of the game directly to
chains like Dave & Busters.
They’re seeking a publisher
to distribute a console version of the game for
the XBox, or the XBox 360, which Microsoft is
scheduled to release by this holiday season.
Galloping Ghost incorporated
in 1997. They’ve offered web design, duplication,
production and consulting services over the years,
but are now focusing exclusively on game
development. They have a core staff of seven plus
a team of freelance actors, artists and musicians.
They’ve started “Dark
Presence” twice before. “When we filmed it the
second time we got to the point that we were about
to release it,” Mack said, “but the technology had
changed so much that, while we had a lot of
advantages over other games, at the time we were
not visually up to my expectations. But this time,
I think everyone who likes ‘Mortal Kombat’-style
games is going to be impressed.”
Call 708/485-2452 or see
www.gallopingghost.com.
—Ed M. Koziarski
Ed M. Koziarski is in
post-production on the feature film “The First
Breath of Tengan Rei.” Email:
Ed M. Koziarski
Ed M. Koziarski
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have questions or would like a hard copy of the book please
contact
Doc Mack at
Ghostlord@GallopingGhost.com
or 708-908-0267
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