Stormgate Opening Cinematic

Platige Image has produced the trailer for Stormgate, a highly anticipated real-time strategy (RTS) game from developer Frost Giant Studios. The cinematic trailer was created entirely using Unreal Engine and was first teased during Frost Giant Studio’s segment at The Game Awards in 2023. Stormgate is slated for a 2024 Early Access release.

Stormgate is an upcoming real-time strategy game from Frost Giant Studios, an independent game development studio founded by Tim Morten and Tim Campbell – previously with Blizzard Entertainment and among the people responsible for fan-favorite RTS games such as Warcraft III and StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. The script for the opening trailer that Platige Image worked off was penned by NYT bestselling author Micky Neilson, who was involved in the creative development of blockbuster franchises such as World of Warcraft, Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo. The trailer also features actor Simu Liu, whose credits include Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Barbie.

The studio flipped the classic CG workflow for the project to push it closer to film production workflows. Accelerating initial 3D asset creation along the stillomatic to converge in early performance capture with a virtual camera enabled us to work in virtual space with actual characters, props, and environments, giving the director and cinematographer a chance to operate as they would on a live-action set. The captured footage was made into a preliminary previz that same day for Frost Giant, which they were delighted with.

“Working with anatomically stylized characters in MetaHuman was quite the challenge. Together with Frost Giant, we decided to use a technology we haven’t seen deployed on the market yet, so we learned a lot and experimented throughout the process. Our team is experienced and robust enough to handle challenges like these enthusiastically – and the risk is often worth the reward, as the results tend to be spectacular,” says Joanna Strzałkowska, a producer on the project.

“Although we had considerable artistic freedom, we had to maintain visual consistency with the style of the game. We worked with the artists of Frost Giant Studios to develop the look of the characters and environment, consistent with their vision. We worked quickly and efficiently at every stage. During the shoot in our motion capture studio, we recorded all camera moves to create full coverage and edited the video. Later the same day, we presented the entire story in motion to the Frost Giant team and planned the next stages of production,” adds director Michał Niewiara.

Platige Image is an experienced, award-winning creative studio with a rich portfolio of video game trailers and cinematics, including projects delivered for the biggest international video game developers, such as Ubisoft, Activision, Smilegate, and CD Projekt Red.

At Platige, the Stormgate trailer was produced by Piotr Prokop, Executive Producer; Joanna Strzałkowska, Producer; Michał Niewiara, Director; and Adam Rybarski, VFX Supervisor.