#125 - Carlos Mendieta Interview (Metroid Prime 2 & 3, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, Animation, Drawing, Comics etc.)

Carlos Mendieta is an animator in the video game industry. He is
most well known for his tenure at Retro Studios where he worked
on Metroid Prime 2 & 3 as well as Donkey Kong Country Returns
and Tropical Freeze. He is now creating his own comic book and
creating a kickstarter, visit the website to support.


 


WEBSITE
https://www.carlosmendieta.com/?fbclid=IwAR0GNIfo-tVcBGw3y_BchCaR-lTPTdxrVbYuigJIJJ4E3UW7nz9QDZbvnvA


 


#metroidprime2 #donkeykong #retrostudios


 


TIMESTAMPS


00:00 - Intro


01:10 - Differences Between Animating And Drawing/Team
Collaboration


02:44 - Getting All The Animators To Establish The Same Style For
A Game


04:01 - Animators Comraderie/Animators Work Structure On Metroid
Prime 2/3 


06:05 - Metroid Prime 2 Animators Were Never Under Huge
Pressure/Prime 2 Cutscenes


07:01 - Carlos First Bit Of Work Was The Space Pirates


07:50 - Carlos Loved The Original Metroid Prime


08:32 - Complexity Of Prime 3 Cutscenes Compared To Prime 2


09:47 - How The Structure Of The Cutscenes Were For Prime 2 And
Prime 3


11:00 - Cutscenes Storyboards


12:24 - Carlos Was Told Prime 3 Wouldn’t Have As Many Cutscenes
As Prime 2 Initially/Sammy Hall


13:37 - Adjusting Animation Style From Metroid To Donkey Kong


14:45 - Donkey Kong Playing DS Animation


15:30 - SD To HD Doesn’t Change Animating Much/New Skeletons Were
Created Between DKCR & DKCTF


16:37 - Donkey Kongs Fur Was Handled By Engineers Not Animators


17:09 - Animating The Bosses Of Both Donkey Kong Games/Owl Boss


18:15 - Cutscenes For Donkey Kong Vs Metroid Prime/Facial
Animation


20:46 - Duration Of Making One Cutscene In Donkey Kong


21:45 - Having A Plan Before Animating Is Critical


22:42 - Compressing Animation/Framerate


24:01 - Acting Out To Get Animation References Right/Keyframe MP


26:30 - Carlos Animated Himself For The Walrus Butt Hit Reaction
In Tropical Freeze


27:30 - Samus Was Animated As A Badass Where As Donkey Kong
Animation Was Exaggerated


28:38 - Carlos Animated The Samus Thumbs Up In Prime 3 And It Was
A Big Cutscene To Animate


30:46 - Retro Studios Animation Team Continued To Get
Better/Carlos Went To Artschool With A Lot Of Retro Animators


31:40 - How Carlos Ended Up At Retro Studios/Being Excited To
Work On Metroid


33:37 - Working On Metroid Prime 2 & 3 Wasn’t Stressful Due
To The Team


34:58 - Crunch For Prime 2 Was 3 Months And Was Only
Cutscenes/Polish At The End Of Prime 2 Development


36:25 - Metroid Prime Franchise Is The Only Franchise Where
Cutscenes Were Done At The End


37:30 - Story Was Changed Part Way Through Prime 3 Which Made A
Ghor Cutscene Change


38:30 - How A Small Tweak  Can Dramatically Change
Production


39:30 - Nintendo Cares About Quality


40:30 - Nintendo Gets QA Testers On A Game From Early Development


42:23 - Carlos Loved Working At Retro Studios/


43:54 - Most Of The Metroid Prime 2/3 Animation Team Is Still At
Retro


44:40 - Why Carlos Left Retro Studios & Moved To New Orleans


44:45 - New Orleans Inspires Carlos


47:07 - Carlos Is Kickstarting A Comic


47:43 - Carlos Shows Off Artwork For His Comic/Idea Of The Comic


48:52 - It Takes 8-12 Hours To Do One Drawing


49:38 - Carlos’ Thinks Metroid Dreads Cutscenes Are Awesome


50:35 - Carlos’ Loves The Animation Of Cupped/


52:00 - Carlos Theorises How They Animated Cuphead


52:45 - Environments On Metroid & DK Were Handkeyed


53:50 - Destructive Terrain Of Tropical Freeze/Frantic Fields
Trees Were Animated 3 Times


55:20 - Carlos Favourite Cutscenes He Worked On


56:15 - Timelessness Of Retros Games


57:10 - Carlos Didn’t Lea