In Focus: What Remains of Edith Finch
No Code’s Creative Director Jon McKellan talks about what he learned recreating a space station for Observation.
BUILD-AN-ASTRONAUT
”To simulate actress Kezia Burrows in zero G using mo-cap we used a system where we’d capture her limbs separately and then blend them together. Chris Wilson, lead animator, would also do swimming motions lying down on a stool.”
HOME OFFICE
“On the actual ISS, laptops are just stuck to every surface at every angle. Most of these laptops run on DOS and they run one specific programme only, so you don’t lose lots of crucial data in case of a malfunction.”
FOUND FOOTAGE
“Cameras on the station are all of the same quality because we wanted tech to feel unreliable as a whole, to give you a sense of unease. The interference and glitches make it feel like they might fail at any minute.”
LITTLE HELPER
“The spheres are based on real technology. Moving around in them can be disorienting because you’re suddenly a spherical body experiencing zero G, which is simulated through the camera speed and the drag before you come to a full stop.”
WORK IT OUT
“Most of the in-game tech is based on how it looks and handles on the real station. The puzzle is that you’ve got to work out how to handle an interface that a trained astronaut had years to get used to.”
THE MAIN CHARACTER
“We did a lot of research on the ISS over a six-month period. There’s many books which detail the building and technology of the ISS. NASA are also incredibly open with their material, their entire photo library is free to use.”