Digital Extremes and animation arthouse THE LINE have collaboratively released a Warframe 1999 animated short heavily inspired by 90s Japanese animation with hints of Aeon Flux. The animated short brought players into the world of the game. With a haunting grunge track channeling some of the best of that decade of music, the animated short left me wanting even more.
We spoke with Game Director Rebecca Ford and Animation Director Venla Linna about the animation and the inspiration. Through THE LINE’s short, we glimpse The Hex’s personal struggles, the disorderly dynamics within their found family, and the lengths each team member will go to stop the Techrot infestation.
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BUT WHY THO: Warframe has a very distinct visual style that is all of its own. What is the process of creating that world in a different aesthetic? Did you know what needed to be present or needed to be adapted more heavily?
REBECCA FORD: It was important to us from the get-go that our short recreated the hand-drawn animation styles from the ‘90s and, from THE LINE’s past work, it was very clear they understood that era of animation. They instantly grasped how to bring a specific mood and tone to our version of 1999 with its own distinct visual style. And they absolutely did!
The six Protoframes were human beings once, in action they are beautiful and perfect killing machines, but still very much flawed and pained people with strong, visceral emotions that need to be expressed. Venla’s team was able to portray that complicated dynamic among the Protoframes’ team in just 99 seconds, we couldn’t be more thrilled with the end result.
VENLA LINNA: From my side, because it was the first time we were seeing these faces, it was extremely important that in the act of honouring the anime references we didn’t lose what made these characters distinctly themselves. We leaned more heavily into a naturalistic style that was true to who they were designed to be. and distinctly different from each other.
BUT WHY THO: What was behind the choice to make an anime-style short for Warframe instead of a traditional cinematic?
REBECCA FORD: While we were working on Warframe: 1999 and getting ready to start planning our promotional beats, we knew we wanted to do something different with a trailer. Art and stories from the 90’s and beyond (like Ghost in the Shell, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust) have formed a lot of our tastes.
Since we were making something set in ‘our version’ of 1999, we wanted to work with people who had a perspective on hand-drawn animation with taste. Because we loved Venla’s projects like ‘Heavenly Vessel’, we specifically asked if we could work with her on this one. We’re so happy we did!
BUT WHY THO: The short very clearly honors the dystopian science fiction of early 90s anime, particularly in the facial animations. How did you decide that this era of Japanese animation as an inspiration point? Was there anything else you pulled from?
VINLA LINNA: I think it came very naturally, both because I feel it was already so present in the source material and also because it’s aesthetically my favourite era of anime. Nothing beats films like Ghost in the Shell in terms of style. I also drew from things I grew up with like Aeon Flux, which I think is a perfect reference for a piece like this just in terms of mood.
BUT WHY THO: What was your favorite character to see adapted into this art style? Why? And were there any that were more difficult?
REBECCA FORD: I truly cannot pick. Not from a ‘safe answer’ way, but because each of them are so beautifully
adapted and moody. We would spend every week fawning over choices and details of each character, seeing them progress, it was truly the best part of the week. Seeing a first pass on Eleanor’s tongue, on Arthur’s hair, Lettie’s expressions, Quincy’s conflict, Mag’s power, and Amir’s joy, it was amazing.
VENLA LINNA: Lettie, all day. I’m not sure we very successfully avoided the JoJo allegations but beyond that, I just love her face. I think it was Aoi’s face that probably proved most difficult overall – the things that make her her are quite subtle. You almost have to bring out the measuring tape between her eyes to get it right. Also, I really did have to do a lot of drawovers of Arthur’s butt.
BUT WHY THO: The short does a fantastic job of using visuals to depict emotions and connections between the characters. What do you think about animation as a medium that lends to visual storytelling versus other mediums?
VENLA LINNA: The simple answer would be that it’s just my medium – same as a camera is someone else’s. I think there’s a level of love that is brought in by the hand that adds in all these details, a special magic in the animator that thinks to add a millisecond of hesitation into her shot, a quiver of an eyelash where no one might notice it.
It makes those decisions extremely visible, every bit of it is a deeply intentional choice someone made to add to the whole. An animation pipeline is like a practice of understanding each other’s intentions through each step – something about that collaborative conversation is extremely rewarding.
BUT WHY THO: While there is a clear Japanese influence on the art style used for the short, it never feels like it’s mimicking elements of animations that came before it. As a director, what goes into honoring something through original work? Whether it is anime greats like Katsuhiro Otomo, Satoshi Kon, and Masao Maruyama or even the IP you’re adapting?
VENLA LINNA: It feels to me that an animation director is a collection of influences and references bleeding into life experience. I didn’t want to go into it trying to copy specifics but try to capture the same feeling with what we knew to do. Some of it is a known method in composition and so on, but I think a lot of it is just perspective and intention.
I really did want to tell the story of these characters in a meaningful way, not only focusing on hype and flash but giving them a chance to voice a real internal struggle – I think that’s what all those directors did the best. I hope that comes through in the work.
With more and more video games getting the animated treatment with series like Castlevania, Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft, and, of course, Secret Level, THE LINE’s animated short has started something. With the world of Warframe and its lore already expansive, I’m itching for more animations. But even if we don’t get there, this anime-inspired look at the game was enough to get me excited to start playing, romancing, and embracing Warframe: 1999.
Warframe: 1999 is free now on PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.
