A hand holding a game controller with the words 'Side Quest' in glowing text on it, surrounded by lightning bolts and a blue background, with the Apple TV+ logo at the top.

Side Quest: "The Last Raid"

This is an episode of the show Side Quest on Apple TV+ that takes place almost entirely using in-game footage from the fictional MMO video game “Mythic Quest." 

Season 1, Episode 4
Air Date: March 22, 2025
Engine: Unity
Runtime: 27 minutes


Episode Synopsis:  Five high school friends in a long-running MQ guild discover a glitch that might break the game -- or their friendship.​

Five fantasy characters standing in a grassy meadow surrounded by tall trees and mountains under a sky with soft pink and purple hues. One character appears to be a warrior in armor, another a sorceress with long white hair, a cloaked figure with glowing eyes, and two other characters, one with a hood and another with a head covering, all engaged in a conversation.

We had the challenge of making the visuals feel grounded in a game environment but also cinematically interesting. 

My Role

I was a Producer on the TV show Side Quest, and took the lead on the end-to-end workflow and delivery of this special episode, comprised of mostly game assets. This included the initial proof of concept, managing schedule and budget, as well as conceptualizing the unique workflow, resources required, and how to integrate delivered assets into the live-action television Post Production workflow.

Process & Overview

Flowchart outlining animation production process, from avatar creation to final cut, including storyboards, blocking, scenes, voiceover recording, editing, and review steps.

We had to create our own pipeline (and pivot often) for this specialty episode with no tried-and-tested production blueprint for how to use mostly gameplay footage in an episode of a live-action television show. 

“The Last Raid” Pipeline

Animated scene of five fantasy characters dancing together in a dark, rocky cavern with a skull on the wall in the background.

Two main Ubisoft studios were involved: Ubisoft Red Storm & Junction Cinematics at Ubisoft Toronto, with support from three additional Ubisoft studios.

Storyboards, Characters & Environments

  • Recorded voiceover with cast & edited into Radioplay

  • Created Storyboards for key scenes

  • Augmented existing gameplay sandboxes (previously created for Mythic Quest) and created new environments

  • Characters were created or modified from existing Ubisoft asset library

A fantasy scene from a video game showing a large, monstrous crab with a humanoid creature riding on its back. The crab's claws are raised, and it is on a grassy field with small humanoid characters in armor nearby. In the background, there are trees, medieval-style buildings, and a castle on a snowy mountain under a blue sky with clouds.

An environment previously created for Mythic Quest was modified to become the location for the Tavern Exterior final scene of the episode.

How We Approached This Episode

Previz, Camera, Lighting & Scene Assembly

  • Used Unity to blocked out scenes and set camera angles

  • Cinematic designers created avatar movement for each scene

  • A rough animatic of previz blocking and early animation was cut together so we had some visuals for every scene

  • Feedback on animatic (focusing on camera and character placement) from Showrunners & Directors

  • Finessed avatar movement beyond preliminary blocking after getting feedback on performance and changes to dialogue.

Scripted as the opening scene of the episode, the Cyclops fight was one of the first scenes to be storyboarded.

Flow Production Tracking (formerly ShotGrid) served as our frame-by-frame communication hub, where we could spotlight sequences that were hitting their mark or pinpoint exactly where artists could fine-tune camera work, character placement, and animation timing.

A digital media library interface of Flow Production Tracking software with four video files, each with thumbnails, titles, review status, upload date, uploader, view counts, and file sizes.
A female character wearing a mask and armor, standing in front of a rocky background with magic spell snowflakes floating around her.

We were able to experiment and implement director feedback with camera and character placement in real time using Unity. 

Screenshot of a video call with five participants, labeled Devon, Kelly, Rory, Seth, and Freddie, each in their own room with various backgrounds and wearing headsets.

The live-action portion of the episode with actors was filmed in one day during principal photography.

Some scenes were preliminary blocked with rough animations for the animatic while environments were being created.

A knight in ornate silver armor with gold accents, wearing a helmet with wing decorations, standing outdoors in a forested area, gesturing with two fingers.

Integration into Live-Action Television ​​​Workflow

Editing & Post-Production Process

  • Rendered out scenes as they were ready and sent to Post Production

  • Side Quest TV Editor assembled episode (game capture + audio + live action), and episode directors and showrunners gave detailed feedback.

  • Ubisoft Red Storm finished all game asset visuals (animation, VFX, lighting) scene by scene.

  • Once each scene was approved, the entire episode was rendered out from Unity as sequence of high resolution TGA images and submitted directly to Post Production finishing house.

Fantasy character with pointed ears in a blue outfit performing magic in a dark cave with glowing pillars and torches

Challenges & Learnings

  • The 2023 WGA writers strike shut down production of the TV Show during filming.

  • Game asset work continued without creative feedback from Showrunners.

  • A few weeks before release the Showrunners added a new 4 page opening scene, requiring a high volume of work at an expedited pace.

A new “Gameplay Camera” angle was added to the final boss battle to keep the episode feeling rooted in gameplay.

This had the added benefit of being much easier to produce than the cinematic style of the other boss battles, and allowed the team to focus efforts on the newly added opening scene.

Praise for the Episode…

“The Last Raid” is what more of Mythic Quest should be as a whole: a celebration of gamers and video game content."

- Hannah Gearan (Screen Rant) 

The final chapter of “Side Quest” is easily the best, taking place almost entirely in the world of “Mythic Quest.”

- Brian Tallerico (RogerEbert.com)

"The fourth and final episode is undoubtedly the show’s strongest chapter, rounding the spin-off series out with an authentic, relatable and touching tribute to the power of community and digital spaces in connecting people… Watching the drama unfold via the game (relying heavily on voice performance) is also a bold but perfect move..."

- Nicola Austin (Game Rant) 

"The final episode is the first to be (nearly) entirely animated, giving us a closer look at the game that caused all the fuss. ... Its arc is, frankly, wonderful, and easily the best and most complete of the four episodes."

- Peter Martin (Screen Anarchy)

Still Images from the Episode:

  • Four fantasy characters in a battle scene: a humanoid warrior with a wild boar skin, a knight with a sword, a hooded dark figure with glowing eyes, and a female mage casting a spell surrounded by blue light, set against a rocky, fiery background.

  • Fantasy video game scene featuring six characters amid a fiery, rocky landscape. Characters include armored warriors, a large ogre with a mask, a woman with braided hair and a mask, an old wizard with a long beard, and a woman with white hair and elaborate clothing raising her fists.

  • Two fantasy creatures in front of a haunted castle at night with a full moon, one wearing a boar mask and the other in armor, surrounded by leafless trees and a graveyard.

  • Fantasy scene with two armored warriors fighting in space, a green dragon, and a large fiery explosion in the background.

  • A muscular fantasy creature with a boar mask on its head, metallic tusks, and a shield-like chest piece, flexing its arms in a medieval village setting.

  • A fantasy character standing in a mystical, outer space environment with a purple nebula, planets, and starry sky in the background. A large, multi-headed dragon with sharp teeth is behind her. The scene includes glowing magical elements and a health bar at the bottom.

  • Fantasy scene with characters by a lake near a castle, mountains, and a forest. One character is on a diving above the water, another is sitting on the dock, and others are nearby.

  • Video game scene depicting a fantasy battle between a large cyclops creature breathing fire and a knight wielding a sword, set in a fiery red rocky environment with a pedestal and scattered bones on the ground.

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