Puppet Game Trailer Leads to 100k Wishlists

One of the most talked-about games at this year’s Summer Game Fest was Felt That: Boxing, developed by Sans Strings. The event, which saw over 50 million livestream views, showcased numerous titles, but Felt That: Boxing stood out due to its unique concept and striking visuals. The game features digital puppets that appear almost indistinguishable from live-action characters. Within days of the trailer’s release, the game had received over 100,000 wishlists on Steam, pointing to a strong public interest in its novel visual presentation.

A New Approach to Animation and Visual Fidelity

According to Sans Strings, the realism seen in Felt That: Boxing is the result of an end-to-end animation pipeline designed to operate entirely in real time. In an interview with a16z, Sébastien Deguy (co-founder and CEO of Sans Strings) explains that the system relies on procedural techniques combined with physics-based animation and real-time rendering, all powered by Unreal Engine. This setup allows digital characters to be animated instantly in response to user input, removing delays that are typical in traditional animation workflows.

Deguy emphasizes that this method gives performers and artists direct control over the puppets, creating a more natural and expressive form of animation. Instead of relying on multiple departments and extended rendering times, the system provides immediate feedback, enabling quick iterations and adjustments on the fly. The result is an efficient pipeline where even subtle character movements and facial expressions can be tested and refined in real time.

Cross-Media Flexibility in Unreal Engine

Ryan Corniel, Sans Strings’ co-founder and creative lead, illustrates the team’s approach through their ongoing YouTube series, Gleeful Beasts. The series features oddball characters rendered with the same technology used in the game. Corniel begins the design process in ZBrush, creates hair simulations in Houdini, and brings everything together in Unreal Engine, where the final animation takes place live. He uses motion controllers from Valve’s Index headset to perform character movements directly, capturing spontaneous and natural animation.

The ability to render animations live means that content can be produced significantly faster than through traditional linear pipelines. What would typically take weeks to render can, under Sans Strings' system, be completed in real time. This has implications not just for games but also for web-based content, short-form video, and interactive media. Deguy notes that since the characters already exist in Unreal Engine, they can transition between mediums easily. With the right controls, a character built for a video can become part of an interactive game without additional development work.

Future Plans for Interactive and Linear Content

Following the strong reception to Felt That: Boxing, Sans Strings is looking to expand its content offerings. The team is currently developing a television series in collaboration with Stoopid Buddy Productions, co-founded by actor and producer Seth Green. The goal is to apply their real-time animation tools to longer-form storytelling. Video content featuring the game’s characters is also in development ahead of the game's release.

In the coming months, Sans Strings plans to grow its team to support these projects and refine its production pipeline further. As part of the upcoming SR005 startup accelerator, the company aims to secure additional investment by the time of its Demo Day presentation in October.