Hi everyone, my name is Richard Weigel (AKA. Rickythevoice), a huge fan of Tek Syndicate and old video games, there is not really a section for Animation development based off games XP so I thought this was close enough. (in truth I don't know which subforum to post this, I hope this one is fine) The setting is inspired by Reboot and a concept of being contained in an alternate world. So far it is a one man project, I am the writer, 3d modeller, animator, and voice actor. My forte is my voice, though a part of me wanted my ideas to be visually projected so i dabbled in other areas just to get my passion project to become a reality. I present you with my project: Game Story (it was a placeholder title but my friends really liked it). This will not contain parody characters from games, but actual ones.
It is not really a comedy, though it will have a bit of humor sprinkled in which i think is the best kind, it is more of an epic and a main character building experience. The story is about a person that gets trapped into the video game universe which contains many game worlds, he is basically sent inside different worlds clueless at the beginning. The main character is the main character of all games, the game world doesn't start unless he enters it. The interesting thing is that the universe hasn't recognized his appearance and mechanics so he is thrown in a game as the main character but doesn't look like the character at all, which can throw off the npcs for that world and they can start to develop a new script that never existed in the game to adapt to surroundings which leads to a corruption of a game.
If the outcome of the game is not in course of it's planned direction or ending, it can turn into a leak, which means that those characters from that game can leak into other games and cause more corruption into how adaptive or when characters realize that they are a game character. The Universe is like a Server in a way and when characters act unnatural, it has to put it's resources in writing a new script by the second in a more adaptive way. the more games that become corrupt, the more it takes a toll on the universe, which basically leads to a memory overflow that would destroy it's own existence. On top of that it is adapting the main character's appearance and game mechanics later on in the story.
The main character is becoming a video game character ever so slowly. Also when he leaves a game without reaching a way to pause it or complete the story (which happens a ton at the beginning since he doesn't understand that he is destroying the universe) he basically sets up a world that continues on without a main character, which happens if an npc develops an adaptive script. So what games will i be including into this story? Well i want this appeal to be to all audiences and still reach some smaller groups as well, so there will be a mix of some common known games as well as some really obscure and underrated titles.
Even if you don't know anything about the game doesn't mean the part will seem lost, it's just some of the backstuff and a bit of the characters behavior or intent will be recognized quicker and little "I got that reference" moments. But not at the point where you had to play the game to understand it. To give an example of the games that i use. the pilot episode is 5 minutes and the main character will be jumping 2 games quickly while the games become adaptive. The first one being Tiberian Dawn, Nod side. and the 2nd one will be Space Harrier. The reason I chose Command and Conquer as a first title was because of it's villain, I wanted the most intelligent, sophisticated and powerful villain to be my main villain in my story, Kane.
How warped will a universe be when he becomes aware of the game mechanics itself in the own game and start to leak into other worlds to expand a prophecy of peace. How do you stop one that keeps on coming back. and multiple variants of himself, an appearance of Red Alert 1 Kane would be in order and even making a story about cancelled games like the original idea of combining the red alert seires with the tiberian series. Also broken game mechanics result in characters not following turn based rpg movement or attack, being aware of UI, or using a minimap as a portal out of the game.
Game leaks can end up really bizarre like some enemy from Kirby's Dreamland ending up in Resident Evil as an example or vise versa. Or one that would be horrible would be an assisted AI like CABAL ending up in control of the actual script of another game. (Though that's if i can get somewhere with this XD) I'm probably just going to complete the pilot episode as a means of entertaining people for a story that i atleast wanted to create if I could. Mostly because created all these assets and design takes a bunch of time. Im thinking it will be done during October, after that even though it will be an uncompleted story, i will most likely not create most of the later ideas to incorporate in a visual format to go onto video game development that i most likely will be the only one again to work on it.
These passion projects are what get me up heh, i actually traded a lot of game time just to work on this stuff. I do wish I could get another to help on my project, but that would be me asking for another person who is kind of a jack of all trades as well, or atleast a 3d modeller or game designer with the same passion. I can write a story, it's just i had to create things myself to show what i can do. not the best 3d modeller, but here are some examples that are in WIP. here is an NES controller i made in Blender
Here is an NES Cartridge and i recently UV mapped it so i can put any texture as a cover image for it to make a stack of NES games
Here is a jewel case
Here is the NES
This is an early image of the beginning room of the animation, a setup for the main character before entering the video game universe
Here is a WIP of the exterior of the Tiberian Dawn Temple of Nod
A bit of an interior scene that will be animated
a 92 fs baretta, Kane used it to kill Seth so i decided for followers of Kane and himself to be armed with it inside the Temple of Nod
Here is a flying drone from Space Harrier, it was hard to know how to design it, so i looked at cover art for the game and got a bit of the visual concept from the Sega CD cover
Here is a shrub from Space Harrier
This is the Jet Cannon used in Space Harrier, the concept style is from Sega CD cover, plus added my own stuff like a blue electric coil from inside the cannon that powers the end kind of like a tesla coil that emits balls of energy, the coil will be very unnoticeable unless you see the end of the weapon in the animation, just there for detail sake
Now this is my latest piece of art, it is a table inside the main character's room, also to show multiple objects under my style of shading. it is neither a realistic or cartoony type of shader. It's close to cell shading with a very small gradient inbetween a 3 color shader. the first color is all objects emit light to a degree which means a lot less reliance on lighting. the 2nd color is from the light, and the third color is an outline in a way, it takes the color and makes a darker tone out of it depending on the camera angle. all on top of it having a slight blend between the colors.
I do have character models that ive been working on, but id rather show them off when they are not WIP, mostly because i need to add clothing to them and add hair
Anyways, Im hoping to have the pilot episode done by October. I do have a lot more done than i just showed, mostly really early WIP stuff. I started 3d modelling around August and got addicted to it. I am also playing a bit of a waiting game, awhile back i funded a kickstarter for a cheap Mocap suit that uses node sensory that costs around $700 (yes that's really cheap for what it is) it doesn't come to the backers until September. This will be great for me since i love acting and voice. Whilst I think i could have gotten most of it all done by April, i would have still had to waited, so at the same time i am working on my side game. Getting more done until September. Heck if Game Story becomes a successful pilot web animation and i get others with free time to work on it then maybe i could make another episode or turn it into the series i wanted it to really be. But i also want to get my game worked on, in the end it just depends on the feedback of a pilot. Already have the whole episode written out in a storyboard and i need to put textures and shaders on most of my stuff, probably will do placeholder animation scenes. I am always open to help or having others, it's good that i can create this stuff by myself though if it means all my projects are only done by me. It just takes time to work on this stuff. I hope you guys like this concept though, and i don't mind posting WIP updates on my project if wanted. It kind of motivates me seeing people like what I create.