Arkane Studios Employee Spotlight: Victor Syllos
Welcome back!
had the privilege to talk to Animator, Victor Syllos about the work and inspiration it takes to breathe life and emotion into the games that Arkane Lyon makes.
What is your role at Arkane Lyon?
I am an Animator, which means that I bring the characters, objects and environments to life by making them move, talk, and act in a 3D environment.
We work closely with other teams to make sure that our characters fit the personality we want to give them and so their actions match what the gameplay needs in terms of feeling (from combat to movement).
Our work ranges from a narrative focus with cinematics to gameplay animations. We also help define the personality and appeal of every character, object and environment.
At Arkane, we want to give personality and uniqueness to the worlds we make. We pay close attention to how every part of the world feels alive to reinforce immersion and make them memorable.
When did you join the studio?
I joined Arkane Lyon in 2020 as a junior animator on DEATHLOOP, just before the pandemic. I worked a bit on site in the studio and I’m now working from home.
I worked on the more narrative aspect of DEATHLOOP and loved bringing our favorite Eternalists to life, and since then I've worked mainly on the narrative aspect of our games.
Before you joined Arkane Lyon, did you have any past experiences that you would like to share?
During my life I have had the opportunity to do various jobs, from retail to flower delivery. Those experiences allowed me to interact with a lot of people which helps me during my current day-to-day work. Most of the characters I animate remind me of a person I might have encountered. As an animator it is important to observe the world and the people living in it. Having met such a variety of personalities and experienced many different situations helps you to understand what makes each person unique, and how to transcribe that to your work
I have also worked as an animator on multiple types of projects, from ads to tv cartoon shows mostly. I’ve worked on beloved characters like Spyro and Crash for Skylanders Academy, and South Park characters for Ubisoft. It was very interesting to animate characters from my childhood!
What does your day-to-day look like in your role?
As an animator my days are very busy! In general, it’s a mix of creativity, technical problem-solving, and constant collaboration. We receive requests from other departments about their animation needs. It could be the narration team needing a conversation scene between multiple characters, or the gameplay team needing specific actions like an attack. When the intentions are clear, we can shoot in motion capture or animate it from scratch.
When we shoot in motion capture, we film ourselves or an actor for our specific needs. Then we clean the animation data to be more in line with our style - it can be changing the pacing or the posing. The idea is to make the action shine with personality and appeal. We then polish the animation to be as beautiful as possible.
When we animate from scratch (keyframe animation), we do a blocking scene: using a limited number of poses to convey the action, the intention of the scene, and in general we film some references to help envision the action. Then we move to what we call a spline scene where animation becomes smoother with more poses and better timing. We then finish with a refined scene where all the action is polished.
During this process, we regularly export the animation to the engine to see what is working or not. This is where we receive feedback from our lead and animation director and the other departments to make sure that the artistic and technical intentions are aligned!
What is your favorite part of the job?
There are so many things to love. From the actual craft that is very interesting and intensive to making acting/movements proposals that add personality to the game and seeing it working in the engine as intended!
There’s a consistent feeling of progression in animation that feels very satisfying. It’s incredible to see how much you learn, and how much it shows on screen. It’s also great when you see that your animations stirred emotions in players. That they felt what you wanted them to feel at any given moment.
What is something that inspires you about your role?
Life! Everything is inspiring for an animator. Watching sports on tv, going to a show, talking to friends, or just walking around the neighborhood.
I also get inspired by my team at Arkane and teams from other studios - animation is an artform that has its own excellent artists. Watching other animators work is a way to understand their personalities, and to learn more about yourself. The” Arkane touch” is visible on the animators working here, and they inspire me everyday with their work!
What other games or studios inspire you?
So many games inspire me! The game industry is huge, and the variety of games always amazes me. I could talk about it for hours!
Speaking of variety, I’ve always loved Capcom games. I am a fighting game player so of course I play Street Fighter a lot, but their catalog is really amazing! Their games shine with personality visible on their animation, that’s why we remember their characters so fondly. Ace Attorney is also great on that matter, but anyone who has played Asura’s Wrath or Devil May Cry will remember their time in those games!
Nintendo games have the same effect, they shine with charisma and fun! And Super Smash Bros. is an excellent love letter to the game history.
Square Enix and Naughty Dog always impressed me with their titles, the way they handle storytelling, the whole cinematic work is incredible. Their games are pieces of art on so many levels!
I love the indie scene also! Cuphead from studio MDHR with their amazing style, Inscryption from Daniel Mullins Games, Outer Wilds from Mobius Digital. So many incredible titles with variety that I think any developer should get inspired from!
Any words of inspiration to prospective game developers?
The game industry is large and diverse, you don’t need to fit in a specific place. Be curious about the medium and find the way you want to express yourself and with whom.
When creating a game, you’ll exchange a lot of ideas with your teammates and people around you. It’s important to always treat the people around you well.
You should also trust yourself and your creation, it might move someone that needs it. Working in the industry is hard so it’s very important to have a good work/life balance and to stay focused on what matters to you!
At the end, creating a game is very satisfying, so enjoy the ride as much as you can and don’t hesitate to count on others to help you!
