Frost Giant Studios teamed up with Zoic Studios to dazzle fans worldwide with the cinematic trailer premiere for the video game, Stormgate.
Stormgate is currently in pre-alpha development, scheduled to commence beta testing in 2023. The action-packed trailer, directed by Zoic Studios’ Chris Jones, was crafted entirely with real-time filmmaking techniques in Unreal Engine, leveraging the power of game engine technology to draw players into the world of Stormgate.
The eagerly-anticipated RTS game teased a crumbling planetary landscape filled with treasures and foes as the player uncovers secrets to a long-abandoned past. The story begins hundreds of years in Earth’s future following the near-extinction of humanity caused by the Infernals, a playable alien race hellbent on claiming this planet for their own.
These otherworldly demons emerged from Stormgates: seemingly dormant portals that began pouring out demons during powerful solar storms. As the Infernals return to threaten humanity once again, humans must gather their courage—and climb into their 20-foot tall mechs—to save the world. Watch below:
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The launch campaign harkens to devoted fans of the classic real-time strategy game franchises made wildly popular in the 90s with an introduction to a world that leans into that game nostalgia.
To achieve this effect, design agency Hamagami/Carroll–the agency behind the logos of Warcraft and StarCraft–was brought on to design the classic look for Stormgate. With a proven track record for crafting award-winning visuals that spark fan frenzy among gaming enthusiasts, Zoic Studios was tapped to elevate this classic style further.
Based on concept art supplied by Frost Giant, the Zoic team built all of the assets and crafted the spot entirely in the game engine. Jones worked closely with the Frost Giant team to co-write the script for the trailer, further engulfing eager audiences into the eerie dystopian world of Stormgate.
The trailer is a continuation of Zoic Studios’ pioneering approach to real-time filmmaking technology, with the official launch of the company’s dedicated Real-Time Group in 20xx. Similar to the full game engine approach to the Stormgate trailer, Zoic also leveraged a Final Pixel approach in the VFX work for Season 3 of the AppleTV+ series For All Mankind, which will release on June 10.
Selected as an Epic Mega-Grant recipient in 2020, the Zoic team has worked to refine a parallel pipeline for pre-rendered and real-time asset creation, which has been deployed for top series including Warner Bros’ Superman & Lois and Stargirl, as well as SEE for AppleTV+, The Boys for Amazon Prime Video and the upcoming Netflix series Sweet Tooth.
Southern California-based Frost Giant Studios was founded in 2020 by Tim Morten and Tim Campbell, veteran game development leaders who helped create some of the most acclaimed and best-selling PC games of all time–as well as some of the most-watched esports–including Blizzard Entertainment’s WarCraft® III and StarCraft® II.
CREDITS:
BRAND: Frost Giant Studios
PRODUCTION: Zoic Studios
- Director & Executive Creative Director: Chris Jones
- Creative Director & VFX Supervisor: Ian Fenton
- Executive Producer: Jason Cohon
- Head of Production: Sabrina Harrison-Gazdik
- Producer: Zack Whitley
- Associate Producer: Jeremy Brooks
- Coordinator: Pavleen Kaur
- Coordinator: Josh Modglin
- Senior Editor: Andrew Renfro
- Editor: Adam Williams
- Lead UE: Kate Gotfredson
- Rigging and CFX Supervisor: Noah Schnapp
- Animation Supervisor: Patricia Binga
- Animation Lead: Denny Bigras
- Gurvand Tanneau: Flame Lead
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