Video in-game cut-scene movie clip planning

[Destructavator]

OK, now that I have some serious tools for rendering outdoor scenes, terrain, skies, and backgrounds, I'd really like to get going on ideas for in-game cinematic clips.

Ideas and storyboarding plans can go here, in this thread, anything from hand-drawn sketches to quickly rendered low-quality still drafts.

If you propose an idea, please keep in mind the following:

- If it isn't terrain, clouds, scenery, etc., and we don't already have a 3D model for it, someone will have to make a 3D model and possibly animate it.  Please don't dream up something with outlandish details that require lots of highly detailed models and then expect one of the modelers here to simply do all that work for you.  We already have quite a bit in the data source to start with.

- Also about models, large objects that are viewed from a distance (buildings) should be rather simple, without too many polys, or else rendering scenes would take too long.  Close up content should have fairly good detail though - An example would be the interior cockpit of a Phalanx fighter aircraft and the pilot, to depict a pilot pressing controls and operating the aircraft in the middle of air combat, looking out the window, etc.

- Between Crystan and myself there shouldn't be too many issues coming up with SFX and soundtracks for the movie clips, however:

- No language, written, printed, or spoken please.  That would create localization issues, as we would then have to have alternate video clips and alternate soundtracks for every single language the game supports, which isn't really feasible - I personally wouldn't support such a thing.

- Even without language, we can still depict characters that communicate.  If a civilian is shown watching an alien ship land, a later shot of the video clip could show the same person frantically interacting with another person, out of range for hearing any exact words, but making gestures and pointing to where they saw the UFO as if to imply "It's over there!  I'm serious - I saw a UFO land!"

If a good plan for a video is put together, approved by BTAxis and Winter, and it seems do-able (doesn't require tons of fancy modeling work beyond reason), I will put it together and make it happen.

[Destructavator]

I'd like to point out that a priority will be a new intro video for the game, one that is actually decent.  The old one was thrown together as a "placeholder" and is, quite frankly, a bit crappy.

[H-Hour]

Is the level of detail you're looking for? If so I can slap some quick textures on these. The other buildings I was talking about are going to be a pain to convert over, because all the texturing is for a RSB format that was peculiar to Red Storm Entertainment games.

[Destructavator]

Is the level of detail you're looking for? If so I can slap some quick textures on these. The other buildings I was talking about are going to be a pain to convert over, because all the texturing is for a RSB format that was peculiar to Red Storm Entertainment games.

Yes, that type of mesh detail, with few polys and faces like that, is just about perfect for what I'm looking for, although if the mapped textures have a decent amount of detail that would be nice.  For UV textures I'd suggest a resolution of ~512x512 or ~512x256 tops (depending on the shape of the UV map), although if the initial texture size is larger it can always be scaled down w/anti-aliasing to preserve perceived detail.

Keep in mind that when such simple models are added to a TG2 scene as a population, it can end up producing a large number of combined polys that can add up.  TG2 actually is designed for rendering in small sections at a time, so even if complex models were used I don't think it would run out of memory or anything, it would simply take a very long time to render the whole scene.

I can use city buildings, suburban structures, rural farm buildings, just about anything.

For objects that aren't in a population but are instead a single (or small number) instance, such as one or two fighter aircraft in a scene, we can probably get away with complex models (which is actually good for close-up shots).

BTW, populations should also work for people, making small crowds of scattered civilians.

[Hertzila]

Just a question but if the intro is supposed to show (if it shows) the initial attacks, shouldn't it be allowed to use the specific place's language in signs and such, if not even in speech? Since they are predetermined, it shouldn't be affected by the local language settings. German in Bonn most likely stays German, whether the player him/herself is from Germany or Australia.

[Destructavator]

Just a question but if the intro is supposed to show (if it shows) the initial attacks, shouldn't it be allowed to use the specific place's language in signs and such, if not even in speech? Since they are predetermined, it shouldn't be affected by the local language settings. German in Bonn most likely stays German, whether the player him/herself is from Germany or Australia.

Hmmmm....  That's a good point.

I guess, in the end, it depends on if the intro does indeed show the initial attacks as detailed in the plot, or if it simply shows a "generic" mission from a UFO detected to Phalanx troops landing at a crash site to deal with it, much like the old original XCOM Intro.

Once we start planning an intro storyboard, at that time that type of thing would be more clear, I guess.

[Destructavator]

OK, here's a start of a plan/idea for a new intro.

1 - First a city is shown, a port city between terrain and an ocean or body of water, everything peaceful and hunky-dory, nice and calm.  This is the first attached pic, although once I get some more simple building models a final product would look much, much better than this (I only have one simple skyscraper model used for this pic, and I rendered it at draft quality).  Perhaps the camera could even be slowly drifting in the air toward the city, and/or slowly rotating, whatever.

2 - The Earth in space is shown, still nice and peaceful for the moment.  Then, any calm music stops, and an alien mother ship/carrier approaches the planet.

3 - At a very high altitude, an individual UFO is shown descending away from the large carrier, headed down towards the surface.

4 - The UFO is shown flying above terrain, and the camera lingers on the UFO for a moment before shooting across ahead of the UFO's path to view the city, so it is clear that the UFO is headed *toward* the city.

5 - Phalanx aircraft are shown in the air, also above the terrain, on patrol but not (yet) near the UFO.

6 - A Phalanx pilot glances down at a radar display and sees the UFO as a detected object.

7 - The pilot looks up, and sees targeting crosshairs on the HUD showing where the UFO is, far ahead of the aircraft (second attached pic).

8 - The pilot presses a button, and,

9 - The HUD shows a zoomed box that shows a more detailed view of the UFO, on the HUD (third pic).

10 - The Phalanx aircraft are shown "punching it," increasing speed to full, racing to reach the UFO before it reaches the city.

11 - A few brief clips of some air combat, until a Phalanx missile causes the UFO to crash-land near or at the edge of the city.  (Should the UFO down one of the Phalanx aircraft first, before it is beaten?)

12 - A dropship is shown in the air leaving a Phalanx base.

13 - The dropship flies over the terrain toward the city and lands nearby the crash site.

14 - Phalanx troops emerge, in the midst of a little chaos as civilians are running away from aliens that are shooting at them.

[Crystan]

I really like that concept. I hoped that a earth from space view would be part of the intro.

[Destructavator]

I really like that concept. I hoped that a earth from space view would be part of the intro.

I've actually already got a 3D model somewhere on a drive for the planet Earth, as viewed from space.  Terragen 2 can also render fictitious planets in space or in a sky.

In the meantime, I just taught myself how to use the surface color shaders to add color to the mountains in a natural way, blended together.

[H-Hour]

It's be worth getting a tally of what resources you need that you don't currently have. My thoughts:

1. Hi-poly pilot model at least from chest up, animated to look down (maybe use Origin's hi-poly soldier models?).
2. Hi-poly interior of an interceptor cockpit.
3. Hi-poly dropship? (If dropship is shown from far away only, then no hi-poly model needed. Same with interceptor.)
4. Animations of soldier models (assuming it use sOrigin's hi-polys), animated hi-poly civilians, and animated hi-poly aliens that are shooting.

I think this last scene is probably the most resource-intense of the series. An alternative ending that may be more manageable would be the following:

13. Dropship shown flying en route (Herakles).

14. Cut to interior of Herakles, screen shaking from the flight, soldiers strapped in. Big rumble, then the screen settles and the doors start to open. We hear chaos outside but only see the brightness of the light coming through the opening doors. Camera is framed in such a way so that as soldiers exit they block the light, screen fades to black.

This way you would still need the animations of soldier models, you'd also need a hi-poly interior of the herakles, but you wouldn't need all the civilians and aliens, or the destruction outside or any of that. I think creating and animating a chaotic scene would be a lot of work.

[Destructavator]

It's be worth getting a tally of what resources you need that you don't currently have. My thoughts:

1. Hi-poly pilot model at least from chest up, animated to look down (maybe use Origin's hi-poly soldier models?).
2. Hi-poly interior of an interceptor cockpit.
3. Hi-poly dropship? (If dropship is shown from far away only, then no hi-poly model needed. Same with interceptor.)
4. Animations of soldier models (assuming it use sOrigin's hi-polys), animated hi-poly civilians, and animated hi-poly aliens that are shooting.

1 and 2 are for sure, definitely going to be needed, not just for this video but also for a lot of other in-game video clips I have in mind.  Some of 1 and 2 I'd be willing to tackle myself if no one else will.  For 3 I think most of what we already have is adequate, although I would need a good interior modeled, for showing what soldiers do inside.

I think this last scene is probably the most resource-intense of the series. An alternative ending that may be more manageable would be the following:

13. Dropship shown flying en route (Herakles).

14. Cut to interior of Herakles, screen shaking from the flight, soldiers strapped in. Big rumble, then the screen settles and the doors start to open. We hear chaos outside but only see the brightness of the light coming through the opening doors. Camera is framed in such a way so that as soldiers exit they block the light, screen fades to black.

This way you would still need the animations of soldier models, you'd also need a hi-poly interior of the herakles, but you wouldn't need all the civilians and aliens, or the destruction outside or any of that. I think creating and animating a chaotic scene would be a lot of work.

This sounds fairly good, I think I agree with this now that you've mentioned it.  The only part I don't agree with is the choice of dropship, I think that for an intro we should only use technology available at the start of the game, and not include something that should be researched and discovered by the player.  This would also avoid newcomer feedback along the lines of "Hey, why does the dropship I see at the start of the game not look like the one I use playing the game?"

For the same reasons, I think the Phalanx craft shown in the intro should likely be Saracens.

EDIT:  For later in-game clips, we could use different craft, of course.
 

[Crystan]

Thats a good idea H-Hour. I realy like the interior cockpit of the interceptor idea - so its also possible to do some airfight action from two perspectives - if it isnt to much work. Anyway i hope the interceptor using a minigun because i made a superb minigun sound that i want to use in that video at all cost. (ill send a demo sound file to Destructavator because i dont want to share the source file with public)

[Destructavator]

Thats a good idea H-Hour. I realy like the interior cockpit of the interceptor idea - so its also possible to do some airfight action from two perspectives - if it isnt to much work. Anyway i hope the interceptor using a minigun because i made a superb minigun sound that i want to use in that video at all cost. (ill send a demo sound file to Destructavator because i dont want to share the source file with public)

I just listened - Yeah, that's an impressive sound alright, something that certainly deserves to be used for something in at least one of the videos that gets put together.  I think it would be good for the interceptor's cannon, when it catches up to the UFO and starts fighting it.

Please commit it to the data source - I'd hate for this one to get lost.

Also, can you make good jet engine sounds, for the interceptor craft when they do maneuvers in parts of the video?  There will be a music soundtrack, so I wouldn't suggest constant noise from sound FX, but an occasional swoosh as an aircraft rockets by would be good.

[Crystan]

Well i thought i would edit/make the sound track? (the sound-track, not the music) Anyway i already have a constant jet sound as well as various jet flyby sounds. One is already located in the sound/seq/ dir. It is used in the credits sequence.

[Destructavator]

Well i thought i would edit/make the sound track? (the sound-track, not the music)

Whoops!  Sorry, I may have mis-communicated - I meant to imply that the final end-result product should have both music throughout the whole thing (custom-tailored to go along with what happens in the video), as well as some sound FX on top of the music.

I would definitely leave the sound effects up to you - you're really good at that.  As for the music, I'd like to at least try to put together a music track that would work when all the video (visual part) is together, although if you also want to do some music you could certainly propose your own, and we could let people vote on which music track they like better.

Is this acceptable?

Sorry for being unclear - (American) English is my first language, and I've known the word "soundtrack" to sometimes mean sound effects, sometimes mean music, and sometimes mean both put together all in one - I probably could have said things in my previous post a better way.