In “Stacks,” it doesn’t take long to get a feel for the beautifully odd Hay Day characters. The Hay Day cowboy says it all in his lovely improvised jingle: “A sheep, a pig and a cat!” Not only are the lovable characters grinning along to the music, they’re stacked on top of each other…naturally.

The CG team’s challenge was to make the already cartoony characters appear photo-real and believable: one part of the process was the use of skin simulations, making the skin wobble and stretch as it would on a real animal.

The artists wanted to maintain the recognizable style of the game and keep it simple while playing with the comedy and having fun with the animation. The pig in particular is a very faithful character, so they played off that dog-like devoted vibe with features like tail-wagging, head-shaking, sitting at his owner's side, ears flopping, eating corn like a dog would a bone - plus giving him the ability to break into a big grin.