Over the past decade, virtual music projects have evolved from marketing experiments into major entertainment events capable of attracting audiences far beyond their source material. From game-connected pop groups to fully virtual performers, the intersection of music, animation, fashion, and interactive worlds continues to expand in increasingly ambitious directions.

Dungeon Fighter Online's hit new song Pick Your Poison is one of the latest examples of that evolution.

Created through a collaboration between Tencent, DFO developer Neople, Potion Projects, Ninoc Studio, and Circus Studio, the animated music video introduces I-D, a virtual band inspired by the Dungeon Fighter Online universe while drawing influence from contemporary music culture, fashion, punk aesthetics, and stylized animation techniques.

It features a star-studded team including co-writer EJAE of HUNTR/X and KPop Demon Hunters fame, who co-wrote the Grammy and Oscar-winning song Golden from the Netflix film. Creative talent from the teams behind Riot's League of Legends K/DA viral POP/STARS sensation is also involved.

The result is a visually striking production that blends hand-crafted 2D direction and compositing with sophisticated 3D character work, creating what Tencent internally described as a "2.5D" visual style. Learn about how it was made in our exclusive interview.

First, can you tell me a bit about the background of the studios and the teams that worked on this?

Viranda Tantula, Executive Creative Director and co-founder, Potion Projects: Tencent and Neople first approached us about co-developing an animated music video with them based on the Dungeon Fighter Online (DNF/DFO) universe. A few of us had previously worked together in our days at Riot Games. Our first call at Potion was to our friends at Ninoc- they have an eye for directing, camera, and storyboarding like no one else I’ve ever met. We’d collaborated together during their days at Fortiche, and we built a really cool rapport and creative trust over the years

Simon Andriveau and Romain Barriaux, co-directors and co-founders of Ninoc Studio: Potion approached us about the project, and from the beginning, the ambition was to create something that sat somewhere between 2D and 3D, what Tencent referred to internally as “2.5D.” At Ninoc, we specialize in directing, storyboarding, and 2D animation, while our production partner we brought in, Circus, has strong expertise in 3D. Since we actually share the same workspace in Paris, bringing them on the project felt very natural.

It ended up being a highly educational first collaboration for everyone involved, and probably one of the reasons the project could evolve so organically throughout production.

Pick Your Poison immediately stands out because it feels inspired by the world of virtual K-pop projects like K/DA, while still developing a very distinct identity of its own. What was the original creative vision behind the music video?

Nathan Romero, Creative Lead, Potion Projects: While we definitely drew a ton of inspiration from the universe of DNF, Early 2000’s electronic rock bands, live K-pop concerts with heavy metal instrumentation, and fashion mavericks like Vivienne Westwood were all on our moodboard. We even went as far back as the mythological era to the original rebel, Prometheus. The pixelated torch in the video is the symbolic throughline and serves as a parallel to Prometheus giving fire to man, the players bringing light back to the fantasy world of the game, and music/fashion as a catalyst of culture.

Simon and Romain, Ninoc Studio: There are definitely some similarities on the surface. Viranda from Potion was already involved in K/DA, and Romain and I were also closely connected to that project in the past while we worked at Fortiche.

Both projects share a stylized 2D-inspired rendering approach, with painted textures on characters, camera-mapped matte paintings, and, of course, the idea of a virtual K-pop group connected to a video game universe.

That said, we feel the comparison mostly stops there. The music, pacing, visual language, and editing rhythm of Pick Your Poison are quite different. From the start, the goal was not to replicate an existing formula, but to build something with its own energy and personality while still embracing some of the visual excitement associated with K-pop music videos.

Our goal was to put a contemporary twist on the core theme of DFO and present it through real-world culture. In DFO, each of the character archetypes has an aspect of rebellion in its origin stories. For lack of a better word, they were all punk rock. So that’s where we drew inspiration from.

The project blends 2D direction and compositing from Ninoc Studio with 3D character production by Circus Studio. How did the collaboration pipeline between the studios work in practice?

Simon and Romain, Ninoc Studio: Honestly, the collaboration happened very naturally because we literally work side by side every day. Ninoc’s offices are located inside Circus’ studio space, so communication was extremely fluid throughout production.

It was very motivating for both teams to work together on a shared project like this. We’re strong believers in on-site collaboration, especially on productions that require constant artistic iteration. Being able to walk across the room to discuss a shot, a lighting issue, or a compositing detail makes a huge difference in terms of precision and efficiency.

Having that level of proximity between departments was honestly a luxury on a project this ambitious.

Dungeon Fighter Online already has a long-established visual identity and lore. How did you approach adapting that universe into a music-video format centered around a virtual K-pop group?

Viranda Tantula, Potion Projects: The trick with these projects where you’re taking an established canonical fantasy IP and re-imaginging them into a contemporary setting is to find that sweet spot of balance between keeping enough from the original world that makes it uniquely that IP, and more importantly identifiable to the fan base, but from there bringing in all the modern elements that push it from fantasy -> culture. So we like creating worlds for these mash-up worlds that feel a bit out-of-time, and of no identifiable location if that makes sense…

Simon and Romain, Ninoc Studio: Tencent actually gave us a fair amount of creative freedom. We introduced more contemporary visual elements into the environments, and the editing style leaned more toward modern music videos and live-action-inspired pacing.

At the same time, respecting the lore was extremely important. The goal was never to disconnect the project from DFO’s identity.

Tencent was also interested in pushing the franchise further toward a more “2.5D” visual direction. They had experimented with similar ideas before, but wanted this project to explore the concept more deeply while still avoiding something that felt too close to the “Fortiche style.”

Fans of the game will probably notice quite a few hidden references and easter eggs throughout the video. Some are subtle enough that you’d need to pause frame by frame to catch them. We even referenced the franchise’s pixel-art heritage by pixelating the Slayer’s torch fire in certain shots.”

From a production standpoint, how early were music, storyboarding, choreography, and animation development happening in parallel?

Viranda Tantula, Potion Projects: Music usually starts these projects, as without a track that feels hooky and memorable, it’s really hard to have people watch something a second or third time- so we really focus on this first. So while the song continued to evolve over the course of the project, we had the topline melody really early, as well as a structural instrumental.

In parallel, the gang from Ninoc began to do a couple inspiration key frames, and our teams at Potion and Ninoc together started a character design phase with a dope team of concept artists from 4 different continents. We also brought in the choreo team pretty early, as we had a lot of trust with them (The Kinjaz) from some previous projects, including True Damage, K/DA, and others. In addition to dancing, it was cool because they also did some acting and posing references for the animators

Simon and Romain, Ninoc Studio: We started in a fairly traditional way, with visual development, design exploration, and early staging ideas. In a music video, having the music early is absolutely essential before starting storyboarding and animatics. Even if the vocals or instrumentation aren’t final yet, we need enough stability in the track to lock the structure, BPM, and emotional rhythm of the piece.

For the dance sequences, The Kinjaza developed choreography based on the camera work and staging directions we had already explored. They brought a lot of creativity and were also very open to ideas we wanted to push further. 

Once the animatic was approved, it essentially became the blueprint for the final edit, almost frame-accurate. Animation then starts from that locked foundation. Ideally, by that stage, final vocals are already available, especially because of lip-sync requirements.

One of the strengths of the video is how movement, editing, and camera work sync tightly with the music. How did the team approach rhythm and timing throughout the animation process?

Simon and Romain, Ninoc Studio: A lot of that work really happens during the animatic phase. Rhythm, timing, camera language, emotional intention... everything is established there.

For a project like this, image and sound need to function almost as a single entity. When they align perfectly, the video gains a completely different kind of energy.

Once the animatic is locked, the role of layout artists and animators is essentially to elevate what’s already there. We actually had a simple internal rule during production: if you deviate from the storyboard, make sure it’s for something even better.

The video combines heavily stylized 2D effects with fully 3D characters and environments. What were the biggest technical and artistic challenges in making those elements feel cohesive?

Simon and Romain, Ninoc Studio: The main idea was to constantly blur the line between 2D and 3D.

Compositing probably played the biggest role in making the integration believable, but layout quality, matte paintings, and camera mapping were just as important. Those elements help ground the hybrid aesthetic and prevent the visuals from feeling disconnected.

One of the biggest technical challenges was the line treatment of the characters. We wanted something more sophisticated than traditional cel-shading, with lines that behaved in a more illustrative and organic way.

Now we fully understand why that approach isn’t attempted very often!

K-pop visuals often rely heavily on fashion, silhouette design, and lighting language. How did real-world K-pop aesthetics influence the costume, color, and staging choices for the I-D group?

Nathan Romero, Potion Projects: Funny enough, internally we never referred to I-D as a K-pop group. To us, they were always a band. With bands, you tend to see a lot more individuality with each member’s sense of style. The character’s backstories and original designs helped inform their individuality, which was expressed through a unifying rock aesthetic. This meant torn garments, belts, spray paint, stuff a band might use to throw together an outfit in a garage.

Viranda Tantula, Potion Projects: I’m glad Nathan mentioned that thing about us not referring to it as a K-pop band. Funny enough, it was a concept I brought over from my time being on the creative leadership team of K/DA of the original K/DA. While I think most people might refer to K/DA as a K-pop group, we always saw it as a general love letter to pop music, rather than just being a K-pop thing.

K-pop pulls references from a lot of different sources, and that’s something we’ve always found to be cool. You should have seen our Miro mood boards for this project, lol, they were huge. They were absolutely bananas, and while they did feature a lot of K-pop references, it actually spanned way wider, including a ton of fashion references (everything from Vivienne Westwood, to Rick Owens, and a bunch of indie designers).

Simon and Romain, Ninoc Studio: We looked extensively at K-pop culture and staging references early in production. But we also had to remember that I-D is ultimately a virtual group born from a fantasy video game universe.

Each character already came with their own lore, abilities, and visual identity, which we couldn’t ignore. Because of that, the final designs probably feel a bit more individualized and specific than what you’d typically find in a traditional K-pop group.

The goal was really to find a balance between recognizable K-pop energy and the unique personality of the DFO universe.

Lighting and compositing play a huge role in selling the final look. What tools and workflows were most important for achieving the vibrant concert-style presentation and effects-heavy shots?

Simon and Romain, Ninoc Studio: Our process was fairly empirical. We started with mood boards, key shots, and style frames very early in production.

A style frame is important because it allows you to define a final-quality image before animation production truly begins. Even if the final shots evolve later, those frames immediately reveal the technical challenges ahead and help align every department visually.

Once we had style frames we loved, the compositing process became about reproducing that feeling as faithfully as possible in motion.

Were there any particular shots, sequences, or transitions in Pick Your Poison that proved especially difficult to execute technically or creatively?

Simon and Romain, Ninoc Studio: The close-up shots on the characters’ faces were definitely among the hardest.

First, Tencent is understandably very attentive to how its characters are represented in those moments. But beyond that, close-ups are always challenging because audiences instantly notice every small issue related to animation, lighting, shading, or compositing.

Those shots required a particularly high level of polish from every department involved.

How did the team balance the need for high-end polish with the speed and iteration demands that music-video production often requires?

Viranda Tantula, Potion Projects: To be real, I’m not sure how well we balanced it. Meaning we did our best to push the polish as far as we possibly could within the resources we had, but it definitely involved a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.

Thankfully, we had a ton of mutual trust between our teams and our partners at Tencent and Neople, and they were with til the very last moments of the production, affording us the time needed to get it done in the right way.

Simon and Romain, Ninoc Studio: Honestly, it required an enormous amount of work from everyone involved. The teams at Circus, Potion, and Ninoc all pushed incredibly hard because everyone genuinely wanted the video to be great.

As Viranda mentioned, Tencent and Neople were extremely supportive throughout production. They never overloaded the project with unnecessary revisions or counterproductive requests. Everyone involved was looking in the same direction creatively.

People sometimes forget that the artistic success of a project depends just as much on the quality of the client relationship as on the talent of the studio producing it.

Creative Teams Behind 'Pick Your Poison' from Ninoc Studio and Potion Projects