Baldur’s Gate 3 devs outline their “big gamble” with immense mocap effort
Larian StudiosLarion Studios is pulling back the curtain on their “big gamble” to make Baldur’s Gate 3 characters come alive. The secret sauce? An unprecedented effort in motion capture technology.
Since its full release, Baldur’s Gate 3 has been turning heads for all sorts of reasons. From players crafting god-tier mages to speedrunning the game in record times, the community is buzzing.
The astounding character depth and attention to detail that has seen Baldur’s Gate 3 emerge as one of the best games of the year so far.
But what is it that’s making the characters in Baldur’s Gate 3 feel so different from other games?
Performance Director Aliona Baranova spilled the beans on social media, revealing that a jaw-dropping 248 actors were involved in the game’s creation.
“For almost ALL the dialogue we recorded, we ALSO captured the actors’ mocap data,” Baranova tweeted.
“All 248 actors, ALL the NPCs and not just the companions put on a mocap suit and their movements, gestures and physical choices were recorded & sent along with the audio files for the animators to use in game. Which is why the performances feels so alive.”
“The iconic head wiggles Jen did as Shadowheart WERE Jen’s actual head wiggles,” she revealed. “Those quirky gestures and theatrical flairs you see? All real. All actor choices.”
Larian Studios lead writer Adam Smith has shared that mo-capping every single line of dialogue was a “big gamble” for the team, but it’s this visual draw that has helped Baldur’s Gate 3 reach the levels of success it has.
“We knew it would be expensive, we knew it would be time-consuming,” Smith told Games Radar. “It also means that it’s a lot harder to edit and iterate. We still did.”
“The dialogue is suddenly much more expensive. But what it gives us is a game that looks beautiful. The characters feel more alive because we’re close in on them. The cinematic art, the character art, it’s just gorgeous.”
From Shadowheart’s head wiggles to Astarion’s theatrical flair, these are the actors’ actual movements we’re seeing. It’s this insane level of detail that has set Baldur’s Gate 3 apart in a sea of RPGs.