We thoroughly enjoyed working on the ATB Arena trailer. Getting to work alongside game studios is always a pleasure for us. The worlds and stories they create often astound us and any player who touches them. Whether duelling in a battle royale, outflanking in meeting of the minds, or traipsing around a fantastical world, embarking on quests.

That enjoyment is increased ten-fold when we get real creative freedom with the project. Without any real constraints, we love getting our teeth into something in the area of VFX & Cinematics that we can explore and experiment with. The project in question is the stunning trailer created for the AR card game, ATB Arena. Getting involved in a game like this was incredible. The designs of each character is something we spent a lot of time looking at.

From an angelic, armoured warrior, to a mechanical mage Anubis! We knew we had to pick the right ones for us and execute them well. For the characters, we had a set of 12 to choose from the game, which the client provided for us. The three we chose were, we thought, the most interesting. However, we also considered each character given the resources and time allocated to the project.

For this ATB Arena trailer, we were given full control of almost the entire trailer. From the initial concepts and lookdev, to storyboarding, initial renders, all the way to the final product you see, we were delighted to create and refine. This project took us three months from start to finish. And, the only elements that we were locked into were initial references provided by the client. For the FX you see, we used Houdini. For modeling and animation, we used Maya. And finally, for rendering, we used Redshift.

The dragon was one of our favourite parts and something that we put together ourselves. The concept went through several iterations, going from creepy and grotesque to a little more fantastical. Through deliberation, we eventually settled on the design you see – including a careful blending of its bone colours and the lessening of the very unsightly elements.

We had a blast creating this cinematic and bringing it to life for our client at ATB Arena. If you’d like to see what we can do for your game cinematic, character design, or what VFX we can provide, check out our website or get in touch.