VFX and Animation in World of Warplanes Hangars

What the talk is about

Valentin Minitskiy describes how hangars in World of Warplanes evolved over the game's five years, from nearly lifeless surroundings with a few background effects to living scenes with animation, characters and scripted events. A key turning point was the hangar for the Japanese Menace event, with a war state, air raids and destruction that play only where the player is looking. Later came paired hangars for further events, a factory hangar with animated workers, atlas-based crowds, a crane and clickable elements, plus themed hangars for cross-promotions with Iron Maiden and films. In the Q&A he says effects are painted in Photoshop or made as flipbooks, physics is mostly baked, and optimization is tuned at the end. Useful for VFX and technical artists.