10 Video Games That Put Insane Work Into Tiny Details
2. Horses Can Choose From 3,000 Movement Animations - Red Dead Redemption 2
There's a fair argument to be made that Red Dead Redemption 2 is the most obsessively detail-rich video game ever made, and that's perhaps felt no better than through the lengths the developer took to ensure they delivered ultra-realistic horse companions.
In a recent GDC talk, Rockstar North's lead AI/game programmer Tobias Kleanthous detailed the shocking depths to the game's horse programming.
The team started by filming real footage of horses in Scotland to use as a reference, after which they decided to create 3,000 individual movement animations which the game could string together on-the-fly to reflect the horse's gait, speed, mood, and even the terrain it's travelling across.
This allowed the game's horses to seem reactive in the way that a real horse is rather than a vehicle bound strictly to your exact instructions, including a self-preservation mechanic whereby the horse wouldn't willingly hurl itself into harm's way at your command.
On top of this, each of the 19 breeds of horses in the game has their own temperament and personality type, and even their own "poop cycle." Yup.
It's a dizzying amount of work, and while horses are certainly not a minor part of Red Dead Redemption 2 in of themselves, the effort put into making them seem like living things is arguably incommensurate to its actual importance in the grand scheme of things.
The excellence of the end result, though, speaks for itself.