| Codehunters | |
| Director: | Ben Hibon |
| Music: | Joris de Man |
| Runtime: | 9 minutes |
| Budget: | £200,000 (estimated) |
Codehunters is a 2006 short film written and directed by Ben Hibon, animated by Axis Animation, with music by Joris de Man. It was commissioned by MTV Asia and shown at the MTV Music Awards.
Codehunters tells the story of four heroes: Shen, Lawan, Zom and Nhi as they join forces to battle corrupt gangs, dirty cops, rampaging monsters and the tyrannical Khann in the crumbling port city of Lhek.
A variety of techniques were used to achieve the appearance of Hibon's 2D drawings. The use of cel shading, 2D textures to create a drawing appearance, and character outlines to keep true the pencils of the artwork.
Gearbox Software's 2009 video game Borderlands uses an art style that resembles Codehunters. Hibon told Forbes:[1]
When asked by Kotaku about the similarity between Borderlands and Codehunters, Gearbox' CEO Randy Pitchford confirmed that "artists and designers at Gearbox were inspired and influenced by it".[2] Earlier in the game's development, Gearbox had used a more generic science fiction art style,[1] before changing to the final cel-shaded style.[2]
The film has received positive reception with praise going towards the artstyle, animation, and music. It has been viewed over 400 million times.