Motion Capture Accelerates Uganda’s Game Development Industry
A tale that has evolved since 2004, Sunjata is the project that will take the Ugandan video game industry – and then the world – by storm. But first, the small team at Klan Of The Kings needed the tools to bring their vision to life.
Comic artist and African folklore lover, Ronald Kayima, had a sizeable task in front of him when transforming his story into a video game. Sunjata immerses players in a world of African mythology, ancient tales, and stunning visuals, designed to celebrate the continent’s illustrious history and educate those who haven’t had the opportunity to learn about it before. In an Assassin’s Creed-style game, warrior protagonist Kaar Menelik fights against the gods to save his community.
A brief history
Through founder Ronald’s comic book creations, he met Hannington, a talented 3D artist who took to Sunjata at first sight. From there, with expert advice from collaborators Hans de Heer and Phillip Mukasa, the burgeoning team transformed the plotline into a cinematic, photorealistic game.
Without a well established game development industry in Uganda, finding the resources to produce a AAA game was a challenging feat for the team to face. The gaming industry and Ugandan game developers have been virtually non-existent – until now. Sunjata is up to the task of setting the tone for an industry that has yet to break out.
Part of the development team’s goal is to establish Uganda as a player on the global games stage. To do that, they need to push for the highest quality content possible, and have it reach outside of the country. “Every milestone we hit, I see it spark a certain level of change in our industry down here,” explains Ronald.
Challenges and opportunities
Klan Of The Kings opted to use Unreal Engine to build Sunjata, with Ronald learning the software from YouTube videos. The consistent tutorials eventually led him to an Xsens case study demonstrating the use of motion capture in game design.
Upon using the motion technology, Ronald found the process “very user-friendly and very easy to implement” into Sunjata, making a small team’s large workload a little lighter. “The process also allowed us to create some high-quality, cinematic trailers,” adds Ronald. “That gave us the polish we need to get noticed.” The natural next step was to fully integrate the Xsens tool into Klan of Kings’ current and future projects.
Because there is no established Ugandan game development industry, the team felt that they had to get it right the first time. The pressure to stand out from the crowd and prove themselves was immense, leading to development staying under the radar so it “can really be looked at from a Western, developed point of view,” Hans van Linschoten, entrepreneur and collaborator, explained. Due to some perceived prejudices, the team had to prove themselves to the larger games industry. Finding a sense of unity in the project was proving difficult, due to a lack of belief in the project and the entities in their own skills, resulting in a smaller team and a whole lot of work in front of them.
An abundance of data
Motion capture helped Ronald and the team transform the game's animated elements, giving Sunjata a true AAA feel. While the game is currently around halfway through development, the team has access to tools that will help them to capture 3D motion free of needing a stage or cameras. This, paired with the Xsens demonstration videos and support, gives the team the ability to develop high-end content despite the lack of resources in Uganda.
Previously difficult-to-execute tasks were made easier by having the tools to digitally replicate human motion, posture, and gait to uplift their animations and gameplay to AAA status competitive with the Western industry. As the game is completely original and high-concept, anything they wanted to add to the game was now simple due to the use of motion capture sensors and instant digital data transfers.
What’s next?
Sunjata is halfway into development, with the second half predicted to accelerate thanks to Unreal Engine and Xsens.
Klan of the Kings remains a small team of four permanent members, but Ronald notes that the amount of talent he comes across in Uganda is immense, and “there’s not enough high-level content coming out yet.” With that, Ronald and the team wish to “push that agenda and really make sure that content does come out of the country on a high level.”
With Xsens, Klan of Kings was able to deliver high-quality gameplay that matched their expectations. In a sector with currently limited options, we could provide the gear to enable a higher level of technological creativity.
Trailers for the game are available now, featuring gameplay, a hint to the story and, of course, beautiful introductory visuals created with Unreal Engine and Xsens motion capture technology.
