Silent Storm details

Nival sent us the following Press Release which reveals that they will be using LifeStudio:HEAD facial animation technology:

Nival Interactive's new game Silent Storm scheduled for Worldwide release on PC CD-rom in September 2003 through JoWood Productions is using the high-end real time facial animation technology by LifeMode Interactive. Nival will release on Friday 25th a new demo version of Silent Storm, showcasing this forthcoming 3D WWII tactical RPG loaded with innovative features. View demos at http://www.nival.com/eng/s2_files.html

The game provides a unique character editor that allows for creating faces of your own heroes: choosing personality, culture, face features and individual haircuts. The edited characters are extremely lifelike and respond with movie-quality lip-synching and facial animation. Thanks to LifeStudio:HEAD SDK and its sophisticated technology it is possible to overlay lip-synch with variable emotions depending of AI commands in the game run-time, and to exchange animations between different head models.

Nival Interactive's CEO, Serge Orlovsky said, "LS:Head has radically simplified lip-synch realization and generation process of character's faces in the Silent Storm. This technology has knocked weeks off our development time, saved us a few gallons of coffee and resolved a lot of our team's headaches in the process!!"

Silent Storm is a true 3D game combining turn-based tactical combats and role-playing set against the background of the WWII. As the war rages on, you will lead a squad of elite troopers deep behind enemy lines to perform secret missions and prevent a disaster the true scale of which could be fully appreciated by neither of the involved parties. Pick your mercenaries from a pool of more than 40 elite soldiers of 30 different nationalities. Equip your squad with over 75 authentic WWII weapons ranging from commando daggers to hand-held rocket launchers, including experimental and rare models. Be sure to assess your troopers' skills adequately before you embark on a mission: you'll only be able to take five of them with you. Your objective is sabotage with no holds barred.

For the first time ever in a 3D tactical game: choose any game style and difficulty level without any restrictions! Non-linear campaign structure allows preparing your squad for the main mission by taking on an unlimited number of automatically generated missions in any way you like: attack your enemy head-on or use stealth and guile. Almost any mission has multiple paths to completion. The first attempt ever in a 3D tactical game: this time, truly interactive environment with fully deformable geometry! Destroy anything in the game including multi-storey buildings and dungeons, anywhere and at any time you see fit. No script-imposed restrictions any more!