Auraxis: A World at War

[Hyncharas]

So no bites as yet from the PlanetSide 2 Devteam. Well, here's an official request to the studio for permission to start working with them on a machinima, nicknamed Auraxis: A World at War.

When it comes to the marketing of an MMO title, nothing's better than something that helps set the stage for players before it makes its way to retail shelves. The most notable example of this recently has been the Class-gameplay trailers and fully fledged cinematics for Star Wars: The Old Republic, telling the story from all sides before it's unleashed to everyone to play, worldwide. Unfortunately much of these movies take place inside the game architecture itself by the studio but, despite best efforts, there is only so much that can be done in a busy production schedule...

That's where Auraxis: A World at War comes in. From people who love playing MMOs and enjoy making mods for games, in partnership with the original studio that made PlanetSide, these would be cinematic minisodes that takes story material already and as-yet-unreleased, bringing it to life. Whether these are built by an independent game engine or a limited version of Forgelight is still to be determined, but the minisodes produced could form as part of an unparalleled marketing campaign for PlanetSide fans, by PlanetSide fans, in preparation for the retail launch. Anybody who were selected to produce these would also be credited in name and PS2-callsign, and the studio could sell them in HD in a Special Edition of the game when its due for mass publishing.

Since Hamma keeps saying just how expensive it is to run these forums, I also have a solution that I hope should only take a few weeks to sort out. Currently I run a forum of my own for another franchise, but will be planning to retask it for the purpose of setting up my own trading name. While it will involve some subforum shuffling and whatnot, I am prepared to host the machinima's project-site and forums there, so SOE then sponsors it and AGN handles any future Q&As that take place for its development.

If SOE are insterested in this proposal, please contact me via Private Message here on PSU.com in the New Year to begin discussions. Questions and comments are welcome.

[CuddlyChud]

I like cinematics for games and even though they don't show off the game itself, they're exciting to watch.

However, I think Smedley mentioned that they were planning on doing these kinds of narrative back-story videos during fan-faire (which seemed to get some negative reactions on these forums), so I imagine they'll be doing it in-house.

I'm all for fan-made videos, but I feel that the quality necessary for it to be really exciting needs to come from a developer, due to budget and technology constraints.

[Coreldan]

Well, this is one of the things that has no reason to say "no" to. Of course this kinda stuff would be cool.

Whether it's worth the money, resources and times is a whole other thing. Sadly I would rather have the effort put into making and balancing the game. Especially handling the cheaters will require 110% of their effort, now that the game is going f2p.

[Xyntech]

They've got high quality in game assets right? And they're using the Forgelight engine which will also be used for Everquest Next, which presumably means that it's relatively easy to animate faces (assuming the faction cinematics require facial animations), right? So if they do the cinematics with the regular game engine, I imagine that they could do some pretty impressive intro videos with a lot less work, relatively speaking.

Don't take a ton of time away from other areas of development of course, but I think this would be a pretty good way to help immerse new players and maybe get them up to speed on Auraxis from the point of view of the empire they chose.

I'd like to see each empires video do a good job of portraying them as justified and in the right, while giving extremely subtle hints and nods towards the the things that the other factions despise them for. At the same time, I'd like to see each video demonize the other two sides and paint them as clearly being in the wrong, without going totally over the top where it seems like nothing but mindless propoganda. Each side should paint the other two sides in a unique way, hating them for different reasons than the other two sides hate each other for.

[GTGD]

I voted no, but let me elaborate:

It would definitely be a buzzkill from most people that just want to get to playing.

HOWEVER.

I think it would be an incredible idea to have the most important aspects of the backstory appear in both text and cinematics as you are installing/patching the game.

[Xyntech]

Originally Posted by GTGD

I voted no, but let me elaborate:

It would definitely be a buzzkill from most people that just want to get to playing.

HOWEVER.

I think it would be an incredible idea to have the most important aspects of the backstory appear in both text and cinematics as you are installing/patching the game.

Easy way around that. Have a clear and easy way to skip the cut scene. Maybe even avoid having the videos play automatically all together and just have them on the main menu as an optional thing you can watch.

Maybe a combination of both. On a fresh install, the game plays each video once upon selection of an empire, but you have the option of skipping it and it never plays again without you selecting it from the main menu.

[Raymac]

I've got a special place in my heart for game cinematics, and I would absolutely freak out if there ever was a Planetside one. I honestly don't expect it because with the beauty of Foregelight, I think an "Actual Gameplay Footage" trailer would have much more impact. But a man can still dream.

[Alaska]

Originally Posted by Xyntech

Maybe a combination of both. On a fresh install, the game plays each video once upon selection of an empire, but you have the option of skipping it and it never plays again without you selecting it from the main menu.

That'd be cool. EVE online has something simliar. Upon selecting your empire it gives you a small 15-20 second cinematic while a lady tells you about that specific empire. I believe after you make your first character you don't have to watch/listen to it again. (It may have changed I don't know)

[cellinaire]

Yes, yes, and yes. (but I'd rather prefer the in-engine video myself )

[Hyncharas]

The principle behind this project would be from a community group experienced fans, not simply the studio. Whether it was with Forgelight or some other engine the project would be handled by contact with one of SOE's Community Managers and their main marketing department, through a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA), stipulating that any content made for the machinima would be non-commercial but they would be credited for the work. In the case of Forgelight we would most likely work with the Test team to ensure the limited access we had with the engine had documentation, and to troubleshoot any bugs or provide workarounds in the provided build.

Most of these would probably be backstory prior to the Declaration of War between the three empires, as in the AGN episodes. Some will take place on Earth, some in space and some on Auraxis during the expeditionary force's operations, to properly lay the foundations of each faction and how the others perceive them. Once a draft was made - roughly 1-2 months deadline for a minisode of a few mins length - each would be judged by the PS2 Devs prior to broadcast. This would then mean that the rest of the team could focus on gameplay balancing and other important aspects of the game for its upcoming beta...

I have over 10 years experience working in various roles for "mods" (game modifications) for engines including SOURCE, UDK and a little bit of CryEngine for standard titles and MMO projects, so I know what I'm doing. However, most of the people on here are mere players so recruitment would occur through ModDB.com sometime in the New Year, whilst some many be chosen for voiceacting alongside the original AGN cast. I also know some people I've worked with who'd be happy to help out in various areas.

[xSlideShow]

I would love to help with this. PM me imo.

[Furret]

Yeah, if you need voice actors, or in-game actors when beta comes out pm me definitely

[MgFalcon]

With the amount of time and effort going into the backstory I would be extremely disappointed if there would be no cinematic/in-game footage relaying the story of each faction. I picture it being a quick round up of all the important info leading up to the travel through the wormhole, and then a large focus on each Empire - taking the perspective from the narrating Empire.

I know some people do careless about story... but clearly they're getting no depth out of the game, but that is why there are games like CoD in the World. Planetside 2 needs the intro and story integrated into it before players (especially the new players) can start going around shooting everything. It's important information that one must understand, because Empire pride runs deeper in Planetside than any other game out there.

[Graywolves]

I like Machinima and Money.

[Hyncharas]

Originally Posted by MgFalcon

I know some people do careless about story... but clearly they're getting no depth out of the game, but that is why there are games like CoD in the World. Planetside 2 needs the intro and story integrated into it before players (especially the new players) can start going around shooting everything. It's important information that one must understand, because Empire pride runs deeper in Planetside than any other game out there.

I think it's also important to have a thing where the community can contribute content, in addition to simple ideas. Starting a mod if you've worked on a few is not hard; neither is learning a game engine if you have some experience in 3d animation.

In the case of Foregelight it may be a bit trickier if the studio has to make the scenes for each and won't collaborate, but there's no reason we can't draft out environments or storyboard the cinematics, then connect to a private server and do rehearsals while the final build is being made. That way we all know what to say when it comes to recording and then editing it for broadcast.