On Planet Zoo I worked as an Animation Programmer. We had a vast amount of animals of all shapes and sizes to make. My biggest contribution to this project was a proprietry animation retargeting system. This enabled sharing of animation with quick modification, crucial for a game with roughly 150 animals each with 200 animation at launch.
We quickly found that retargeting animation as placeholder assets was especially useful, enabling the dev team to work with the creatures while the animators carefully crafted the final animation. For a good chunk of development the Galapogus Giant Tortoise walked around with the motion of the West African Lion!
The team did a fantastic job on the project and the game received a great critical reception. Very happy memories working on this one :)
The press enjoyed the animation in the game and I was glad to interview on the topic: