[StarLiner]

I'm testing the waters with this idea of mine, seeing if it's plausible before making a major commitment.

Freespace is an amazing game, but would it work if translated into something interactive? Machinimas tell stories with games, sometimes making entire movies out of them. I've got a good amount of experience in Video editing and was toying with the idea of a movie set in Freespace, using FSO and Garry's mod together.

This* FSO trailer demonstrated that you CAN use the Freespace engine to create cinematic fight scenes. Any Gmod movie will show you how powerful that is. It could draw new players into the FS community if the movie itself was good enough to draw attention from people who haven't played Freespace.

But when I sit down an actually think about wether or not it could be done, my mind quickly draws a blank as to what the heck the movie would actually be about. So I'm here to ask: What kind of story line do you think would an interesting FS experience, and be appealing to people who have never heard of the game before? Then after a basic concept it would need a script, voice actors, figure out how many people would be involved total and what would need to be done...

I'd love any input, if anybody knew a good fanfiction that might be good in movie format, that would be awesome too.

* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhAR8rWPluQ

[deathfun]

Question: Serious storyline, or not so serious storyline

[StarLiner]

Question: Serious storyline, or not so serious storyline

I was thinking more serious-ish, maybe the same level of seriousnessity as the campaign.

What about following the crew of a single GTVA destroyer through the second Great War?

Would there be any way to convert Freespace models, like fighter or gun models, to Garry's mod to be used as props?

[Droid803]

Hrm, I think most exterior scenes can be handled in FSO alone, probably would be better than messing with exporting ship exteriors, which probably wouldn't look all that good to-scale with a person on the hull.

However, if you want to make internal shots of starships, an FPS engine would probably be a lot better, seeing as FSO has little to no ability to handle that in a sensible manner.

Maybe ask mjn.mixael to get his MainHalls and Terran Marines/Vasudan cutscene models imported as levels...that could be cool. I'm not entirely sure what format Garry's Mod uses, but you can get everything from FreeSpace 2 into 3D Studio Max, I recall seeing being able to get stuff into the HL2 engine. I guess they could be for use as props or something.

[deathfun]

I was thinking more serious-ish, maybe the same level of seriousnessity as the campaign.

What about following the crew of a single GTVA destroyer through the second Great War?

Would there be any way to convert Freespace models, like fighter or gun models, to Garry's mod to be used as props?

Question Two: Intended length?

[StarLiner]

Hrm, I think most exterior scenes can be handled in FSO alone, probably would be better than messing with exporting ship exteriors, which probably wouldn't look all that good to-scale with a person on the hull.

However, if you want to make internal shots of starships, an FPS engine would probably be a lot better, seeing as FSO has little to no ability to handle that in a sensible manner.

Maybe ask mjn.mixael to get his MainHalls and Terran Marines/Vasudan cutscene models imported as levels...that could be cool. I'm not entirely sure what format Garry's Mod uses, but you can get everything from FreeSpace 2 into 3D Studio Max, I recall seeing being able to get stuff into the HL2 engine. I guess they could be for use as props or something.

Yeah, this is the intended idea. FSO for all Exterior shots, Gmod for everything interior. The ship models could perhaps be used as props for a hangar bay, or shots on a planet. mjn.mixael? Is that a member here? Maybe I could try PMing him to ask if that's possible, thank you!

EDIT: Found and messaged, would love any other places to look for things.

Question Two: Intended length?

I'm still hammering that out...

Gmod movies can end up being as long as 90 minutes, yipes! Though realistically maybe aiming for 30-70 minutes would be good if this became serious.

[Retsof]

Hm... I assume you were inspired by Clear Skies?  I don't have much to suggest, but I fully support the idea.  I do have an idea for the general feel.  I'd say mostly serious (it is a war after all) with some funny/entertaining banter in low tension moments.  But I guess that is very vague and likely what you planned on anyway.

[StarLiner]

Good news is there are a very good number of maps available in Gmod that could be used as Freespace ships (Or stations?) with a touch of imagination and maybe some texture redecorating.

Bad news is I still can't think of anything that wouldn't be totally cheesy

Perhaps taking place during the second Great War, starting by showing the conflict with the NTF, showing the arrival of the Shivans.. drawing a blank after that

[deathfun]

Question three: How complicated do you intend to get?

[StarLiner]

Good Question! My video editing software lets one green screen and fancy tricks like that, so that'll help quite a bit. One thought I had in mind was taking a fighter cockpit from Gmod, fancy it up a bit, place pilot model inside, Greenscreen outside, put FSO combat on the screen to make it appear as if the mdel was piloting the craft. It would help fighter scenes quite a bit, methinks. I want to find a suitable map in GMod that can be prettied up to appear as the CIC of an Orion or Hecate class destroyer, fancy it up with animations of the ship or Jump node maps for textures to give it the FS feel.

I'd like to get a concrete story hammered down before really diving in, as that would help give the project real direction.

Since Shivans are, as a whole, rather mysterious, they wouldn't exactly make the greatest villain in history in my humble opinion. This is because interactions as a whole would be limited to "OH GOD THEIR TEARING OUR SHIPS APART."

What about a story that opens with the GTVA is fighting the NTF. Opening scene can give exposition for the Great War, GTVA, Shivans, and losing contact with Sol. Big battle against an NTF outpost, supply area, corvette, whatever. Big victory, use it to introduce the universe and the characters.

Acouple of scenes later the Shivans show up. Invent a new faction of the GTVA that is trying to sabotage the Alliance in favor of the Shivans, who they believe are the bringers of the Apocalypse/Judgement day/Believe Humanity should be vanquished as part of a cycle/better for the universe/etc. Essentially Hamer of Light 2.0, though much more Terran focused. This would allow the creation of a real villian with a face, name, motivation, all that good stuff. Make them one of the primary antagonists along with the Shivans.

At first, show the GTVA going 'Yeah, We can kill these Shivans, We'll show them what REAL firepower is!" followed by the GTVA getting their collective rears kicked. The crew of the destroyer that the story focuses on is in the thick of the conflict, participating in a couple of battles that could be going very poorly for them and force the ship to jump away.  The ship is badly damaged with the drive offline. A scene taking place two days later shows the ship getting It's subspace drive and transceiver operational, and listens in to the tactical status. The GTVA is losing hard at this point, with a world or two being glassed and many major ships and installations destroyed. The destroyer picks up a distress call from a Vasudan convoy under attack and decides the best thing it can do at that moment is to keep up the fight and help their allies.

The Vasudans are refugee scientists running from an edge world where they were studying ancient technology. They had found a treasure trove of data that they thought could have been the key to figuring out what the Shivans really are and how to defeat them.

In this scenerio we'd be going with FS1 style "The Shivans are great preservers that stop advanced civilizations from ruling over everything."

This is all I have so far. Yes, it's a rather major change from the campaign in certain areas. Yes, it borrows heavily from Battlestar Galactica. These are what have me worried. Too unoriginal, too different? Any ideas for how to end it, possibly by changing the whole thing in certain ways? It would include themes such as being in control of your own destiny, shown by Humanity defeating the Destroyers who had decided it was the GTVA's turn to die as part of the cycle of destruction.

This is a VERY rough summary of what my mind came up with . It needs characters thought up and many things figured out. Hell, it needs a good amount of what GTVA culture is like thought up. Part of me wants to go "Screw it!" And turn the FS1 campaign into a movie-esque thing, but a Freespace movie without beams doesn't feel right!

Would love thoughts opinions criticism and better ideas.

[deathfun]

The reason I ask these questions is primarily to well... make up a story
I've got what I need and will get back to you on that within the next couple of days. I'm off from work and well, needed a project that could be done in that timeframe (3D modeling? Not so much. Skyrim on the other hand, sure, but not as productive)

I've read your summary, but for a thirty - seventy minute thing, it's far too broad and you won't be able to get everything you need in as good as quality as you want. Consolidate the ideas, get detailed. Focus on an aspect, not the whole thing

Essentially, NTF conflict, Shivan conflict, HOL 2.0 conflict. Pick one of the three and roll with it. Don't try to incorporate all of them. Why? Too many different branches which you'll need to connect, explain, characters get out of hand, things get too complicated, you get frustrated, etc. Now, if you were to do three different thirty minute episodes, yes, that'd work... but not what should be three full length episodes in a single episode.

And if you were to do the NTF conflict, I wouldn't start it with an attack on an NTF outpost. Instead, I'd have it commence with an attack on a GTVA outpost. Afterall, it'd be far more engaging if the GTVA were to be caught off guard by a full fledged attack (and lose for once) starting the entire war between the two factions. This provides you with ample opportunity to give NTF some actual fighting credibility (as opposed to the chicken shoot they are) while introducing everything you need to about them. I'd steer clear of Bosch as one of the main characters as he's already been done, and you may want to base on something you've created. It makes it easier for you as you know exactly what this new fellows motivations are, as opposed to a character who hasn't been completely explained, and still has questions associated with him.

If you go with the Shivan conflict, have a single fleet battling them which parallels the main campaign of FS2, but isn't directly involved. Afterall, Alpha 1 wasn't at every single encounter. Just every single important one... This then becomes a story of the fleet, not the Shivans. You are right about them being mysterious, but not correct on the interactions part (It's "they're tearing our ships apart" by the way). How do I mean? Well, build on the mysterious. This is a fan creation, so don't pin yourself down on what they are, but what they're doing. Have a moment where this Shivan Warship jumps into a system only to hang out by a planet. When the GTVA come to battle it, instead of it doing what we all know and love, instead, anti-climax. It just... jumps out, no shots fired. You can then build on this mystery rather than the mystery of the Shivans

HOL 2.0 conflict: My opinion? Don't even bother. Trying to make it credible for Terran pilots to aid the extinction of their own race just won't happen. Vasudan's were more believable as they had the prophecies, and were at war with Terrans not a few weeks ago.

[StarLiner]

Hey, thank you for the input! I'd love to hear any story concepts you come up with, the hope is to create something that the community would enjoy, pull new people into the game, and hopefully be something that  would be proud of.

The thought behind bringing in the NTF wouldn't be to make them a central part of the story. I like the idea of showing them attacking/destroying a GTVA outpost, perhaps that could be one of the opening scenes, the next showing the GTVA would be redoubling it's effort against them? The idea isn't to make it NTF centered, more to show how the GTVA is in turmoil in the post-Great War universe. It would give time to flesh the FS universe out a bit for people who've never heard of it.

I like the idea of following a specific fleet, maybe centered on a specific ship within it?

Question: Could the comm animations be extracted and used for this? That might allow at least some Vasudan interaction.

[deathfun]

The problem with starting off with such an attack is the fact you're giving the viewer the impression that the story is based around the NTF, and not something else. In this case, you would want to introduce the Shivans during said conflict, and ultimately having them be the victors. That would portray the Shivans as the main antagonist, while the NTF are simply a side thing.

Take the FS1 intro cinematic for example. They make mention of the Vasudans, and yes, they're quite important. However, everyone already knows that there's more to it... that these new fellows are far more key than the Vasudans. Same goes for the FS2 introduction. Reference is made that they're now far more prepared for any future encounters with the Shivans essentially telling us what we already knew. They'll be back, and in greater numbers.

[StarLiner]

What about having the very first scene give some exposition, such as showing the first war, the Shivan invasion, "We vanquished the Shivans, but at a great price." Go over the lose of Sol, Vasuda, the strengthening of the alliance afterwards. Then, *32 years later* showing the NTF wrecking a GTVA base. It would give all the needed history and establish that there will be more.

Acouple scenes of backstory and introducing the main characters, maye showing a news reel of the NTF attack to give exposition on who they are and give more info on the Alliance."The 15th Fleet(To pick a name at random, just for discussing ideas) is being deployed to combat the growing NTF threat and try to win back recent losses.

Cut to a scene of a communications ship on the edge of GTVA space, perhaps near the subspace node from the start of the campaign? being attacked by Shivans. When they attack in force, say that the 15th fleet is forced to redeploy to combat the Shivans. Go from there. Say something about how the GTVA and NTF are putting things aside to combat the Destroyers once more.

A big hope is to portray Shivans as more then Evil Aliens of the Week. The mystery aspect you mentioned would help immensely with this.

[Mort]

How many episodes is it going to be? How long would each episode be? This would help greatly with crafting a story

[StarLiner]

One hour+ long movie

[Droid803]

That's going to be quite an undertaking.

[StarLiner]

Which is why I'm getting as much of the groundwork set as early as possible.

I don't want to make an announcement, "HEY GUS IM MAKIN A FS MOVIE" then abandon the project half way through. I want a complete script, all the sets mapped out, and a good knowledge of how everything will be FRED'd before starting.

That's also why I want as much input into the project as possible, sharing ideas can only raise the quality.

[Mort]

I would suggest making your script more focused. Despite their mystery, the Shivans can be a good villain if done properly. If it's just an hour long movie, there isn't much time for character development and it would be difficult to develop a really threatening villain.

[StarLiner]

Any advice or thoughts for how to do Shivans properly?