Review Fix Exclusive: Marla Rausch Talks Call of Duty: Infinity Warfare, VR and More

January 4, 2017 Patrick Hickey Jr. Video Games 0

Review Fix chats with Marla Rausch, CEO of Animation Vertigo- the woman leading the charge, who spent countless hours with her workforce of more than 50 Filipino artists located in Manila. Together, they created the cutting-edge technology that makes the game so unique, providing the running, jumping, crouching, crawling and more in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

Review Fix: How did you get involved with the Call of Duty franchise?

Marla Rausch: It came about quite out of the blue.  I had been working with Sony Computer Entertainment and House of Moves and word got around that a team was getting a lot of motion capture work done quickly and in high quality.  During E3 I believe, I got to meet a producer from Activision. He said he had heard a lot about us, we did a test for them, and we’ve had a great relationship with their team since then.  I am grateful for the opportunity and the continued great relationship we have with them so many years later.

Review Fix: What was your team responsible for in the game?

Rausch: We make sure that the action shot on their motion capture stages – the in-game action, cinematic motions, and stunt shots – are tracked properly and we keep the fidelity of the motions the director wants into the 3d animations.

Review Fix: What did it feel like to see all your hard work in action?

Rausch: There is a lot of sense of pride and ownership in the outcome of the game, it makes me happy to see when the game is well received.  I know that my team gets super excited especially when they see motion they had worked on, with all the effects and textures that make the game great.  It’s a great feeling to know that we were a part of that.

Review Fix: What do you think makes your team special?

Rausch: I think more than the fact that our team works 24/6, three shifts a day, meaning we continue to work when our clients go home, until they come back in the next day, it is the fact that we really truly care about our clients – we want to make sure they are successful and that they meet their goals.  We understand that if they’re successful, we are successful as well.

Review Fix: What’s next for you?

Rausch: With the boom of VR/AR, we have been working on a few VR projects and anticipate that we would be doing more.  At some point, I like to think that we’d have a chance to do something on our own.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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