The Witcher 3's Sex Scenes Came From 16 Hours of Mo-Cap Data - Update

[Steven Bogos]

The Witcher 3's Sex Scenes Came From 16 Hours of Mo-Cap Data - Update

There will be no Bioware-esque "puppet thrusting" in The Witcher 3.

Update: The Witcher 3 developer Nikolas Kolm has clarified the whole "16 hours of mo-cap data" statement, explaining that "It took 16 hours to record all mo-cap material for the sex parts. This does not translate to 16 hours of sex in game."

Source: Twitter [https://twitter.com/NKuillAndInk/status/560438277392834560]

Original Story: Sex in video games, due mostly to The Witcher 3 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/80900-EA-Responds-to-Mass-Effect-Report-on-Fox-News], it's no problem. In fact, sex is a very important part of the game, Senior Game Designer Damien Monhier explains, telling us that over 16 hours of motion-captured data was used to make up the sex scenes that takes place in the game.

The Witcher 3's opening scene utilizes one of these sex scenes right off the bat, showing that our hero, Geralt, had just been intimate with the elusive Yennefer."People might think we're putting sex into the opening scene for no good reason," explains Monhier. "No, no, no. We are establishing that your character was intimate with this woman recently in order to plant in your mind that, at very least, he must enjoy her company."

"Sex is the quickest way in which to establish the relationship and provide a justification for the player to pursue this woman," he continues. "We couldn't just tell you to go find someone you don't know or care about. It wouldn't work."

The Witcher is a dark fantasy take on the world, and the sex that takes place in it is an essential part of it. It makes it feel real. You may remember a scene in The Witcher 2, where, Geralt trips over while hurrying to remove one of his boots as he follows a naked lover into a pool. These kind of human interactions are what CD Projekt Red are aiming for with their utilization of motion-capped data.

Hopefully, The Witcher 3 is able to move past those incredibly awkward "puppet-thrusting" sex scenes we've seen in Bioware's titles, and give us something a lot more realistic.

Source: The Guardian [http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jan/28/sex-witcher-3-grand-theft-auto-of-fantasy-games]

Permalink

 

[The Lunatic]

Well, I guess if you're going to do something. You may as well do it right.

Spare a thought for the poor interns that had to sort through it all.

 

[Risingblade]

Almost makes me feel bad that I'm going to skip all those cutscenes, almost.

 

[bat32391]

Huh. Bet that was an interesting experience.

 

[Haru17]

16 hours ?

i feel sorry for the mo cap artists...

I know, all that chafing! It's like Martin Freeman in Love Actually...

 

[Erttheking]

I don't know why I find this news so hilarious, I just kinda do.

Sixteen hours of motion capture artists rubbing up against each other...poor souls.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I feel sorry for the people who had to do the motion capture. 16 hours in those stupid suits pretending to hump each other. Gah.

Incidentally I have a rule regarding films that if there's a sex scene within the first 5-10 minutes, then it's probably a bad film and I'm going to guess that the same applies to video games.

 

[KoudelkaMorgan]

I already pass on games with sex scenes in them, optional or not. It is just completely uninteresting. If that is what they consider the best way to establish a reason to care about a character, rather than making the character interesting in the first place, then fan service away.

Its kinda sad that I can get better characters in a hentai anime than I can in AAA RPGs these days, and more interesting sex as well.

 

[seditary]

Wonder if they get paid extra for that?

 

[Metalrocks]

im sure they took their time to capture these parts.
but good to hear that their aim was not only sex.

 

[Absolutionis]

don't contribute to the game and are there just to be there.

So every EA RPG?

You grab a squadmate, put in the right dialogue options, receive sex scene. Term it "romance" as a verb when applied to a character.

At least The Witcher puts Geralt out to be a promiscuous and careless guy where these scenes fit his character.

 

[karkashan]

The more I hear from these devs about their design decisions the less I want to play this game.

I didn't really want to in the first place, considering how bad the first two games are.

 

[UberPubert]

Good god, I followed the source link to the Guardian and gagged a little.

"Witcher 3, the grand theft auto of fantasy games"

Nnnnoooo.

A lot of people like to harp on about the (completely optional) sexual content of the first two games, but the usage of sex and nudity in the Witcher has never struck me as crude, or a focal point of the game. The majority of the games are spent fighting monsters, and after that a lot of time is spent listening to characters dialogue and reading text, most of which is relatively unsexy. The addition of sexual content is just a minor part of fleshing out the world of the Witcher and it's characters.

But I like the salt in this thread. "a taboo subject" indeed, Mr. Bogos.

 

[Lono Shrugged]

I too, do not enjoy a woman's company unless I have recently fucked her.

This is a known true fact (on MRA websites)

 

[joshuaayt]

"Sex is the quickest way in which to establish the relationship and provide a justification for the player to pursue this woman," he continues. "We couldn't just tell you to go find someone you don't know or care about. It wouldn't work."

Oh, OK, so you've got a team of bad writers who can't think of any decent ways to set up a relationship. Good to know.
That is so lazy. You should not be looking for the "quickest way" to set anything up in a narrative, you should be looking for the best way. That might involve sex, sure, but it's not just "Oh yeah a sex scene that'll do it"

 

[RazgrizRex]

That's the problem with selling an established character/world to an audience with no knowledge of the source material - a long running series of fantasy books, first published in 1990.
I really feel sorry for CD Projekt RED
The only thing they should have to say about that scene is:
"We're staying true to the source material. That's who they are, that's what they do - it's cannon".
The fact that Geralt even HAS a sex drive is part of what makes him so unique - he's the only witcher that does.
IIRC the first story in the first book opened with a sex scene

 

[Dragonlayer]

I too, do not enjoy a woman's company unless I have recently fucked her.

This is a known true fact (on MRA websites)

I'd be careful with mocking the developer's awkward phrasing if I were you, I'm pretty sure that's how the Tomb Raider reboot turned from "You will be motivated to kill this sleazy villain!" to "THIS GAME IS NOTHING BUT RAPE ALL MEN CAN ONLY CARE FOR A WOMAN TO PROTECT HER FROM RAPE RAPE RAPE RAPE RAPE RAPE RAPE RAPE RAPE!!!!" and the absolute detonation of "THAT'S -IST!!!!!!" on the internet afterwards.

OT

14 of those motion capped hours come from the intimate love scene shown in this article's preview image.