The Art and Science of Explosions
MAKING A CAREER IN SPECIAL EFFECTS
Risto Jankkila – VFX Lead
TL:DR
Learnings from the magic of movie effects
Innovative take on proprietary VFX tech
Game effects can go beyond
Movie and game industries seem to have loads in common and they do, in a way, but the closer you get the differences start to show. Risto dreamed of getting into both early on, as many of us do.
For many of us the launch of Doom was a major event: it was the shareware/freeware era of the nineties and this game had hype built around it before the internet. Of course as we know well, Doom delivered on that promise and revolutionized games and how we see them. For Risto it was not only a great game, but a window into how they are crafted. He spent his free time not only playing, but also tinkering around modding levels and understanding how the visual sprites worked. This was his way in.
DOOM sprites were the first entry point into game graphics for Risto. (1993 Ⓒ id Software)
Later 3D art became a focus through 3DStudio and Maya. Even from back then, learning the original particle system in Maya prepared him for the world he would enter much later. Imagine that, a hobby of messing around and learning to write MEL (Maya Embedded Language) to test out particle expressions, would somehow land him in manufacturing the famous “Housemarque Explosions” and our own proprietary particle tech. The Kaamos Engine.
Now as roads usually do, this one too has a detour. The journey of a career can be a rollercoaster, often with a few high points and thrills. Even before coming to Housemarque in 2011, Risto’s career was getting off to being one wild ride.
One of his first jobs was in the movie industry making special effects. There weren't too many movie projects in Finland then, and the special effects tasks in those were quite far in between and a bit rudimental. A pivotal early point, of course, was the transition from analogue film to digital movie making. The advances in technology took the industry by storm and a talented craftsman from Helsinki was a valuable commodity in the global big budget movie world.
London was calling, more specifically a few friends who had entered the industry there. RIsto soon moved with his family to the U.K. and got to work on some of the biggest Hollywood blockbusters. Films like the last two Harry Potters and Hugo, come with tons of new challenges for a visual effects artist. Getting to learn from the big top studios that work on these movies must have been quite the experience. As technology had transformed movies, it had also created the need for graphics and effects that would always make the summer blockbuster a bit bigger than the one from the previous summer.
A scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Ⓒ Warner Bros), a film duo that Risto worked on.
The movie industry differs from the game industry a bit in the way that the teams that make movies are usually brought together for a project according to the needs and then likely disband and form new teams for the next project. This applies for the production crews and all the personnel spending time in or around sets, but also large VFX teams work either internally or externally on specific key moments.
Fast iteration and getting the daily tasks is crucial to keeping a hectic schedule in movie making. This does translate at times into games as well, but “making games is a bit more free-form and allows for more creativity” Risto says. At least game projects are usually longer productions, so there is room to explore new technologies and innovate.
In movies, the scene is all you have, and everyone will see the special effects. In games, you may have made the coolest effect, but some players may never encounter it, or even be looking in the right direction when it happens. There are so many more details to consider, but that also gives artists freedom. For example, in Returnal the “Tentacle Tech” was wholly created by Risto and the VFX team using particle effects. Utilizing something fundamental to Housemarque explosions and putting them into a new context to highlight the naturalistic and creepy movements of many of our enemies. Meaning that the Tentacle VFX were going to be something that every player sees and reacts to for sure. This also really gave Returnal the right spice of atmosphere and fine tuned the “movie-like” feel that differentiates the game.
After working on a few (Oscar winning) blockbuster movie projects, the learnings and experiences were great, but Risto longed for something a bit more evenly paced out where he could really cultivate his art as well. Moving back to Finland offered a step back to calmer waters, but finding a place where his specialized expertise could be unlocked was a slight concern. Thankfully, in Finland we have recruitment services like GamePro that specialize in hiring for the games industry. It wasn’t long after returning home that he was already getting interviewed at the Housemarque Offices.
“I have enjoyed working at Housemarque very much. Definitely my favourite employer so far. I especially enjoy being part of a team that works on a product from early concept to shipping.” Risto explained. Compared to the movie industry where VFX can usually be outsourced and the artists are quite removed from the internal creative process.
Tentacle tech in full action in Returnal (PS5, 2021)
“Making games is a bit
more free-form
and allows
for more creativity.”
We here at Housemarque are still a reasonably small team (less than 100 people), so everyone is quite close to the project and is expected to chime in creatively, especially regarding their expertise. In Returnal, this lead to the Tentacle tech and other similar ideas being pitched directly in meeting by the Game DIrector Harry Krueger, and then the VFX team could be quite hands on and in close proximity to all of the production to fine tune the effects to blend in exactly as needed.
Peace of mind and giving room for creativity is important as well. Like many of us, Risto has felt the difficulties of remote work and found out early how much he actually enjoyed working at the office. To balance things out, there are lots of learnings to be had, but an open attitude is a good start.
“I often write down preliminary steps to a notebook and do a simple doodle of the effect before starting to work on it. If I get stuck creatively, a long walk usually helps. When working on a new technique, talking about it with other team members is important. This was much easier when everyone was at the office. During the pandemic spontaneous discussions with colleagues were much more rare unfortunately.” Risto opens up.
Not only that, but it seems that the game industry can also sometimes surprise you and bring things full circle. During the pandemic, as our teams were working from home, our HR wanted to give us a moment to remember. We were surprised by a lecture by the Romeros, John and Brenda. John of course being behind the game that got Risto interested in games in the first place. It seems that DOOM has its reach all around, and it’s great to see it still inspire a VFX veteran like Risto. Just like a young gamer and artist getting to return to his roots.
The Romeros stopping by virtually to say hi to the HMQ team in March 2021.
Written by
Mikael Haveri
Reading recommendation from Risto:
"Nature's Patterns"-series by Philip Ball for any vfx or environment artist or similarly inclined.
Shapes: Nature's Patterns: A Tapestry in Three Parts by Philip Ball (goodreads.com)