Sick of unoriginal mods, so here is mine

S

Samuel

Guest
Just reading these forums has made me realise how unoriginal alot of the mod ideas that people are coming up with. What's the point of re-hashing Counterstrike or The Matrix into a computer game? Infact the only real original idea that I've seen so far is the "stack objects ontop of each other to reach the exit".

I'm not all talk though, I think I've come up with a genuine mod idea that is unlike anything done before. I'll outline it quickly:

It's called Movie Star, and it is based around making movies in Half Life 2. This is done by getting a group of various people, Director, Camaramen, Prop builders (mappers), Sound Techs, Set painters (Texture artists), Actors, writers together on a server where they construct a movie from a script. The director organises things and cuts the movie up afterwards, the camaraman film the scenes from various angles, I guess the rest of the roles are pretty straight forward but I will explain them if needed.

To organise the together, a website will be created where people register. As movies are created they are listed on this website for download. Also, as people make movies, you can leave comments and rate people about how well they worked together, thus reducing the amount of griefers and creating teams of really good movie makers, and hopefully good movies.

Comments?
 
alot of work, and many smacktards screw up movies :)

maybe a movie clan, OMG, i got Copyright on Movie Clans. :D
 
Sure, their will be idiots, but by listing comments/ratings on the website about people you have worked with, you will be able to find people that are good at what they do and dedicated to creating awesome movies.

The website and mod will integrate together seamlessy, ie, you will be able to book servers to create movies on, and organise meetings on those servers.
 
So basically people make things like player models of film stars and props and make and record a movie in Source and then publish it on the web

IMO this isnt a mod idea, more like 'get-other-people-to-do-their-own-modding-and-i'll-host-a-website-for-it'
 
Why would they model existing movie stars?

Someone might want to create a sit-com, they use the mod which allows people to come together, create "takes" of scenes. Prehaps shift the props around between takes, get two or three versions the same scene. Once an episode is complete, people can downlaod the movie play it back in the mod. Watching them is not interactive. People could film a counterstrike 2 movie in it, using props out of counterstrike 2, actors, but the people watching it would not be able to play counterstrike 2.
 
Originally posted by Samuel
Why would they model existing movie stars?

Someone might want to create a sit-com, they use the mod which allows people to come together, create "takes" of scenes. Prehaps shift the props around between takes, get two or three versions the same scene. Once an episode is complete, people can downlaod the movie play it back in the mod. Watching them is not interactive. People could film a counterstrike 2 movie in it, using props out of counterstrike 2, actors, but the people watching it would not be able to play counterstrike 2.
Click to expand...

People have been making movies in game engines before, militia 2 for example was made in the HL engine using CS stuff and other custom things. I dont get what you mean "play it back in the mod" - will your mod include a version of windows media player or something?
 
No, I wouldn't record it as an AVI or MPG, it would be recorded as a normal Source movie eg a series of actions and scripts.

I think you'd need the mod itself to view movies because the standard demo playback would not be able to cope with any custom programming created when recording in the mod.

Does that make sense?
 
I think get it now! So its rendered on the downloaders comp in real time as if they were 'playing' the movie as a game?

*edit* level not game
 
Hard to make, but so was Natural Selection. However, look at where Natural Selection is now, over two million downloads. Look at where all the mods inspired by Counterstrike, Matrix whatever are. Even if they are the best made mod in the world people won't play them because Countrstrike or whatever is already good enough.
 
Originally posted by Submerge
seems hard to make
Click to expand...

Yeah, like source handles movies now. But say the mod comes with a selection of special effects, explosions, those waves that where behind the bullets in the Matrix (Job for a special effects designer here), then the person watching that movie would need the Mod to have those special effects.
 
It is original in the HL2 mod fieldm however it isn't original in game context. One of the greatest game designers of all time, Peter Moluynex (spelled wrong) is currently making a game called "The Movies".

Still might be fun.
 
Originally posted by SidewinderX143
It is original in the HL2 mod fieldm however it isn't original in game context. One of the greatest game designers of all time, Peter Moluynex (spelled wrong) is currently making a game called "The Movies".

Still might be fun.
Click to expand...

Just checked out a preview, similar but I think "The Movies" is single player, and more a simulation of the movie industry, rather then having a focus on creating movies for entertainment?
 
technically your mod isnt a mod...

I can do everything you said with two things.

1 Mapper.
Many Players.

All you need to do is write the script, distrubite it then have one 'camera man' go in spectator mode and film it.

I dont understand how your mod can be useful..

(sorry if it sounds mean, I might not understand what your trying to do)
 
he got the idea from the movies .. how lame .... besides i would get BORED if i was a cameraman standing there for 3 ****ing hours while I could be playing HL² singleplayer .. understood ? rather stupid idea ... the movies will pwn
 
Originally posted by Samuel
Infact the only real original idea that I've seen so far is the "stack objects ontop of each other to reach the exit".
Click to expand...
OMFG WHAT GENIUS THOUGHT OF THAT IDEA !
 
I think the idea has merit, pretty much he is setting up a mod specifically made for making machinima. While making machinima is relatively easy, having a mod made to specifically make machinima films would make them far more popular.

For example look at Red vs Blue the machinima comedy set in halo blood gulch ctf. Now imagine if you had actual support to make these films within the game.

Of course people who'd rather be playing cs2 won't be playing it but ameteur film makers would.

Jeez people don't be so damn quick to knock down an idea just because you'd rather play cs, thats your problem not his or the people intrested in this sort of thing
 
Sounds Pretty Cool

so in a way it might look like this
072703_full.jpg
AWSOME IDEA tho
 
I think your missing the point of what I'm trying to make.

I'm not copying the movies, the movies is a simulation of a film studio where you hire actors, create movies and sell them to virtual movies theaters. In other words, it's a simulation of movie studio and I'm not even sure if it is multiplayer, can anybody clarify?

My mod is divided into two parts:

The website:
--------------
The website tracks everybody who uses the mod. It tracks all the movies that you have worked on, the movies you are currently working on and the movies you are interested in working on. It tracks what roles you have worked on in each movie. It tracks comments that people have left about you when you worked on their movies. The website allows you to book servers, distribute props and sets and organise times to get together to film the movie. Look how the IMDB.com tracks information about actors and directors, it will be similar to that.

The actual halflife mod:
---------------------------
Once your have organised your movie crew you enter the halflife mod itself. Everybody takes their places and the filming of the movie begins. Actors act, camaramen film and directors direct the action and coordinate everybody to work together. The editing of the film also takes place within the mod.

If people want, I can break down the various roles that people will take when working on the films, eg, Director, Actor, Foley, Set creation, Props creation, Lighting, Camaramen..
 
LoL. I've never knocked a mod, and I'm not going to knock this one, but...for unoriginality, people want GOOD unoriginality. See me, I'm sticking with original. Non-linear gameplay + GTA-theme with a twist. Makes it semi-unoriginal and lots of fun. But who would honestly want to make a movie? Who would want to sit there and be the guy who holds the light in place?
 
Belive it or not, the people that built the original movies for Quake etc. It would not be a community as big as counterstrike, however it would be large enough I think to support a growing community, plus, because latency would not matter as much it would be a true world wide commuity, with people world-wide contributing to the movies.
 
Think of the odds man. Just a warning before you build this thing up and it might no go how your expecting it to. Good luck though anyway, I'll be sure to play it if it gets out.
 
"If people want, I can break down the various roles that people will take when working on the films, eg, Director, Actor, Foley, Set creation, Props creation, Lighting, Camaramen.."

Director - Nothing new required.
Actor - Maybe new models/animations depending on the role... unless you have a vast array of character models the players will need to make their own.
Foley - New sounds... again, unless you have lots of sounds the players will need to make their own.
Set Creation - Unless the players want to make movies based on a few sets you make... they will have to make their own maps.
Props creation - Map models... I hate to sound repetitive but... unless you have a huge variety people will need to make their own.
Lighting - That falls under level design or "set creation"
Cameramen - Spectators... what would you do that is so different?

Unless you do a ton of work making all kinds of levels, character models, props, sounds, etc... then the "players" will have to do a lot of work (why? because they want it to be what they imagine, not what you think up) that shouldn't be necessary just to play a "mod."

Besides all the tools that you need to make a movie come with HL2.

The only semi-original idea you bring to the table is a web site to keep track of the movie projects... and that's not even original because they've been doing that since Quake.
 
Look at the type or person who plays the sims, or contributes material to everything2.com. These are the type of people that would want to create movies. Plus, because you are reviewed by your peers, you will strive to be the best camara man/director/whatever so you will be recognised by everyone else in the community.

I don't have the technical skills to build the mod itself, I can build the website though. Maybe I'll put together a site that will outline the overall idea and the various roles you can be and see how much interest their is in that.
 
Originally posted by OCybrManO
"If people want, I can break down the various roles that people will take when working on the films, eg, Director, Actor, Foley, Set creation, Props creation, Lighting, Camaramen.."

Director - Nothing new required.
Actor - Maybe new models/animations depending on the role... unless you have a vast array of character models the players will need to make their own.
Foley - New sounds... again, unless you have lots of sounds the players will need to make their own.
Set Creation - Unless the players want to make movies based on a few sets you make... they will have to make their own maps.
Props creation - Map models... I hate to sound repetitive but... unless you have a huge variety people will need to make their own.
Lighting - That falls under level design or "set creation"
Cameramen - Spectators... what would you do that is so different?

Unless you do a ton of work making all kinds of levels, character models, props, sounds, etc... then the "players" will have to do a lot of work (why? because they want it to be what they imagine, not what you think up) that shouldn't be necessary just to play a "mod."

Besides all the tools that you need to make a movie come with HL2.

The only semi-original idea you bring to the table is a web site to keep track of the movie projects... and that's not even original because they've been doing that since Quake.
Click to expand...

Exactly, people will have to create content themselves, that is the whole point. Actors create movements, voices, wardrobe create skins for the actors etc. People contribute these models, skins etc into a common pool of assets, if they want to. Want to create a movie about counterstrike? Use the counterstrike models and sound effects if you have permission to.

There are existing tools in Source for editing demos, that's good, less work for me. Are their tools for creating voice channels on the fly? Creating camara paths? Hiding actors? Shifting props around? The mod will be designed for ease of filming, the more movie elements that have already been made by Valve the better, maybe I will only have to create a website to organise people together. I don't think it will be that easy though, I think their can be some changes to the engine to make it easier to film things in it. Thats what the mod code will be for.

This is not about playing a mod. It is about creating movies in the Source engine easily.
 
Here's some info related to making movies that I pulled from my log of the recent Valve chat:

"<valve|yahn> I've also gotten a bunch of questions about movie-making tools in the engine. Right now we support a demo file format which has the flexibility to be post-processed (at least for the camera control)"

"<valve|yahn> On demos: we have a nice UI for skipping ahead, doing fast forward, slomo, pause/resume, etc during playback. This has been pretty useful for us for cutting the e3 movies, e.g."

"<valve|yahn> We also have a separate demo metafile editor built into the engine which works on .vdm files (Valve demo metafiles). The metafiles allow queuing up events to occur at certain frames of the demo during playback: screen fade in / out, titling, sound fading, changing playback speed, issuing arbitrary commands, etc."

"<valve|yahn> Finally, we have another built in tool called the "Demo Smoother". This tool allows for completely re-authoring the camera track of a demo as a post-process. The tool allows for placement of a spline for the camera and then computes the correct camera position and orientation based on the spline positions and quaternions."

"<valve|yahn> Another thing which I think will allow for believable movie performances by actors is the tools we've created for authoring facial animations."

"<valve|yahn> We have a really neat tool called the "Half-Life Face Poser" which allows you to control all of the facial muscles on our humanoids' (could be faces on Alien legs in a mod though...) faces. In particular, you can store set poses as facial expressions or you can animate the face muscles in timing curves. These primitives can be placed together on a timeline to have your actors act out a scene."

"<valve|yahn> The faceposer allows for queuing up of the sounds the AIs might say and includes ways to extract the phonemes/visemes from the wav files and to tweak them until they are just right. In addition, actors in scenes have other controls which can be specified in the face poser, such as 'look at this other actor', 'move to this spot', etc."
 
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