Our goal is to reconstruct the opening scene from Final Fantasy VI. The scene involves three soldiers marching on the mining town of Narshe, clad in mech-like armor. Small skirmishes with the local militia ensue, and the scene ends with the discovery of an artifact in the mines.

Technical Pieces
Eric Hielscher: Structural Modeling of Flames for a Production Environment
Ryan Kern: The Motion Dynamics of Snakes and Worms
Justin Weidner: Fast and Controllable Simulation of the Shattering of Brittle Objects

Division of Labor
Eric Hielscher: Sound, environment modeling (town, mines)
Ryan Kern: BVH Hierarchies into Maya (militia motion), tank
Justin Weidner: mech models and their motion (possible rigging)

A more accurate account of the actual scenes and dialogue can be found here.

Start with shot of a snake/worm crawling along the ground. After the snake is crushed by a huge mech (Magitek armor), dolly/pan out to show all three units marching in the snow (cue theme music as soon as snake is crushed). Show credits on screen while mechs march towards a town in the distance.

Mechs approach outskirts of town. Dialogue between invaders and local militia (militia: halt! invaders: no way!). After dialogue, pan camera to a side view and simulate a "real" Final Fantasy VI battle. After the militia are disposed of, the mechs charge through the main street of the town. Ever so often, more militia run out from behind buildings and are consequently mowed down (not in traditional turn-based fashion, to avoid redundancy). Eventually, they reach the mines.

The mechs enter the mines and notice how eerily quiet it is (small dialogue). After traversing a short distance, a tank(?) rolls out of the shadows and engages the three. A short battle ensues with the three mechs victorious. The three move deeper into the mine and come upon the artifact/esper/Tritoch. The artifact responds to their presences, destroying two of the mechs and disabling the leader. Perhaps have a short dialogue between the tank and artifact where the village elder warns the three that they shouldn't mess with what lies beyond (ie. artifact).

Motion blur crappy shadows

A playblast demo

• Need a way to overlay text on screen (credits and damage for turn-based section)
  
• Need a way to distinguish the lead mech from the other two support mechs