Kinetic typography in games

[Marek]

Just wanna draw attention to this post I just wrote for gameslol, since I think it's a pretty cool post about an obscure topic, and I'm interested in hearing of other examples:

http://www.gameslol.com/2008/11/30/kinetic-typography-in-games/

Edited November 30, 2008 by Marek

[Cigol]

Man, I seriously still have wet dreams about the DIRT interface, it was really nifty. He's like the gamers equivalent of the guy who did the title sequences for se7en

I also notice there is yet more shunning of the brilliance that is Valkyria Chronicles ( ) as it also happens to feature text in (what I'm hoping is) a kinetic fashion. Fire a machine gun for example and a Batman & Robin style "RAT-A-TAT-TAT" flashes across the screen, or when an explosion in the distance goes off you'll see a "BLAM", and so on and so forth. It's consistent with the style of the game - and as it features no blood or guts the textual representation fills that void.

[Nappi]

The intro sequence of GTA IV with its kinetic typography and music really caught my attention. It was one of the first PS3 games I played and I remember thinking "So, this is what next gen is about."

[Roderick]

Didn't the cellshaded shooter XIII also do something like that; having sound effects appear on screen?

It's an interesting topic; always fun to see how title sequences change.

On a somewhat related note, I'm so happy that movie trailers are slowly abondoning their horrible cliches where they HAD to have movie trailer guy utter stupid oneliners that are supposed to be exciting. It's so much more awesome when a trailer does something original, even without text and just uses music and editing to create the right tone.

[toblix]

The GTA IV intro was awesome. I actually got goosebumps at the moment the car was hoisted up in front of the logo.

[BaconIsGood4You]

I was actually thinking about video game intro sequences not to long ago. Some standouts for me are the Half-Life, Fallout, and Metal Gear series. MGS 3's intro was done by Kyle Cooper's (of se7en fame) Prologue Studios.

[ThunderPeel2001]

MGS 3's intro was done by Kyle Cooper's (of se7en fame) Prologue Studios.

Wow cool!

EDIT: Their website makes no mention of GTA, but it did do the MGS3 intro.

EDIT EDIT: Note to self -- MUST READ POST BEFORE REPLYING

Edited November 30, 2008 by ThunderPeel2001

[elmuerte]

What about the Tron 2.0 intro (skip to 2:40 for the title sequence):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0BusKeMb40

[Marek]

MGS 3's intro was done by Kyle Cooper's (of se7en fame) Prologue Studios.

Whoa! Did not know that!

Also thanks for linking to Prologue. I absolutely love their work and hadn't seen some of their recent stuff.

[DanJW]

Wow, so many of my facourite title and credits sequences in that Prologue list. Just the other day I was trying to find the Iron Man credits because I enjoyed them so much. Unfortunately every single video on the internet shows the overhyped epilogue after the credits

[SignorSuperdouche]

This technique seems to be very much in fashion at the moment, in a similar way to how every film managed to shoe horn in some bullet time after the Matrix came out. Just like bullet time, as much as I like the asthetic, I just feel so over exposed to it at the moment it's really starting to turn me off.

I'm not saying that it has no value beyond it's novelty, but I think that that is much of it's current appeal. Once that has worn off and people are using it sparringly and only where it is appropriate I'm sure I'll warm to it again but for now, for me it's

[Cigol]

I thought the intro to Mirrors Edge using a similar technique (and reminiscent of Panic Room) was rather pointless and boring so I skipped it, but GTA at least wove it into the introduction of the game taking some of the focus off the technique.

Unfortunately every single video on the internet shows the overhyped epilogue after the credits

I never knew about that

[elmuerte]

Went through quite some intros of video games, and text in introductions is quite rare.

[Roderick]

Wow, so many of my facourite title and credits sequences in that Prologue list. Just the other day I was trying to find the Iron Man credits because I enjoyed them so much. Unfortunately every single video on the internet shows the overhyped epilogue after the credits

Oh man, my head literally exploded upon learning of it. I was cleaning up chunks of my head hours later with my decapitated body.

[Jake]

If you love title sequences and professional motion graphics work (especially if you love its history and watching some amazing past work, as much as the new stuff), you need to check out the blog the Art of the Title Sequence. They have very crisp full opening and closing title sequences from a ton of great films (and occasionally television and other media), as well as occasional analysis and sometimes Q&As with the designers responsible. It's one of my favorite blogs.

I realize I'm drifting waaay away from "kinetic graphics in games," here, but this excellent throwback to 80s title graphics, in music video form, is fairly amazing.

Anyway... games!

Edited November 30, 2008 by Jake

[elmuerte]

ooh... stranger than fiction, that's an awesome title sequence

interesting site

[Marek]

I realize I'm drifting waaay away from "kinetic graphics in games," here, but this excellent throwback to 80s title graphics, in music video form, is fairly amazing.

That "kinetic blah blah" stuff was just my starting point for looking around on YouTube when I saw it on that other blog. Feel free to take the thread in any direction you like.

Awesome links! Art of the Title 1000% bookmarked.

[n0wak]

The kinetic type videos of scenes from movies were cool with the first bunch (Pulp Fiction / Big Lebowski) but they're getting kind of tired now.

Anyway, video games are obviously taking cues about production quality and design from the other media, primarily those motion graphics focused fields like music videos and intro sequences, so it's nice to see it... though seeing it in something like a cinematic introduction to a game, as in GTAIV, is a poor use of the format. It's too film-like rather than game-like (ie. interactive.)

But I do like what Codemasters has been doing with the Colin McRae series menus in general. They've always been pretty slick, minimal, with nicely animated type. It's nothing mindblowing, but compared to most games' bland menu systems it stands out quite a lot. I wish to see more of that kind of refined design in games, especially if it'll be interactive.

(And the Mirror's Edge menu items are badly kerned. It bugs me.)

Also: here's a couple of good type things that I haven't seen mentioned

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=4450200

(actually, in some ways, the GTA intro reminded me of these. )

[Jake]

Cleaner copy of Panic Room's title sequence:

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/03/26/panic-room-2002/

As someone pointed out in the comments there (and as you probably were doing just by association), the Panic Room opening titles are sort of thematically similar to the classic North by Northwest ones.

--

Since we're talking about this stuff a lot, here's a quick opening sequence I did for Strong Bad episode 4, during an all nighter one Sunday night a couple months back. It pales in comparison to anything else being discussed in this thread, but was fun to make.

---

Now let's explode and rape that with an actual amazing thing -- the closing credits to Iron Man. (Be sure to watch the HD version.) There's what the Tron sequel won't look like, but should -- an old Vectrex system colliding with a self aware out of control AutoCAD, accidentally shot on film and equipment stolen from a 70s porno studio and then left under a couch for 20 years.

Edited December 1, 2008 by Jake

[infovore]

Dirt is nice, but personally I think the spatial typography in Grid is a lot better; highlights include the flight down the grid at the start, and some of the stuff in the garage. Can't find any examples right now, but if you've played it, you'll know what I mean.

Of course, the top trump of embedding UI in the environment right now is Dead Space, which doesn't so much do it with text as with the entire fricking UI. Which is a nice way of stopping you from pausing the game to recombine herbs and reload... oh, wait.

[Marek]

Man, I seriously still have wet dreams about the DIRT interface, it was really nifty. He's like the gamers equivalent of the guy who did the title sequences for se7en

After we got him on board he made some mockups for the interface of our game, and suddenly it all started coming alive for me. I was super excited. The game wasn't just a bunch of stats and names on a screen anymore (as in our prototype) but something very real and awesome-looking. Sadly he's moving to Australia now.

I saw the Dead Space interface yesterday and thought it was very interesting. A little distracting though maybe? I mean the intention was probably to integrate the interface into the environment more, but the opposite kind of happens where it's like INTERFACCCEEE IN YOUR FACCEEEE (imagine that said in Strongbad voice). I still like it a lot though.

[infovore]

I saw the Dead Space interface yesterday and thought it was very interesting. A little distracting though maybe? I mean the intention was probably to integrate the interface into the environment more, but the opposite kind of happens where it's like INTERFACCCEEE IN YOUR FACCEEEE (imagine that said in Strongbad voice). I still like it a lot though.

As long as you don't knock the camera control, the Dead Space menus are pretty unobtrusive; the projection of them (and all readouts from all screens) into the gameworld is more for consistency than for distraction. If you're not careful, the standard angle it appears at when you hit back/select doesn't really reveal what's really going on; you have to fiddle to see the shiny, as it were.

[Nachimir]

Now let's explode and rape that with an actual amazing thing -- the closing credits to Iron Man. (Be sure to watch the HD version.) There's what the Tron sequel won't look like, but should -- an old Vectrex system colliding with a self aware out of control AutoCAD, accidentally shot on film and equipment stolen from a 70s porno studio and then left under a couch for 20 years.

Thank you. This is basically game design and typography porn combined.

I hadn't seen Dead Space and won't be getting it, so for anyone else in the same boat here's a video of the UI.

[BigJKO]

What an absolutely lovely thread! I love "kinetic typography" (even though I had no idea it was called that)

I remember being so happy when the intro titles for the first Sam & Max episode started. It reminded me of how lively the intros to the old LucasArts classics used to be.

Oh, and I have to give a nod to MK12 studios, who did the credits (and Ferrel's statistic though shots) in Stranger than Fiction. They have lots of their own non-commercial kinetic typography stuff there too.

[Jake]

It's usually referred to as "motion graphics," actually. When I hear "kinetic typography," the first thing that comes to mind is that video someone did which consisted solely of a reworking the "Ezekiel 9:17" speech from Pulp Fiction into a bunch of sliding animated type, but I guess the phrase could be applied more generally if you wanted.

Oh, and I have to give a nod to MK12 studios, who did the credits (and Ferrel's statistic though shots) in Stranger than Fiction. They have lots of their own non-commercial kinetic typography stuff there too.

One of the guys who worked on the Stranger than Fiction title sequences is now at Telltale, though he's doing in-game choreography, not motion graphics, but hey.