(Justice) "Muckraker" [SHOWSTOPPED, NOT DONE :( ]

[Radiatoryang]

Okay, we "finished" a "build", removed a lot of cool mechanics and narrative bits that made it somewhat relevant to this pageant... now, in its gutted form, it's kinda just a (very weird and buggy) Thief remake in Unity. We'll take this as a lesson to never build anything so complicated again. ENJOY!

the goal of "Muckraker" is to FIND "THE SPHERE" AND TOUCH IT




did I mention it's really buggy?
and the hastily assembled ending makes NO SENSE but I like it a little

======
EDIT: okay, we can't figure out this web player graphical corruption / texture memory corruption bug, seems to have something to do with render textures (?) and depth of field (?) in Unity 3.4, even if we deploy to Win or Mac standalone... it's so weird, it works just fine in the editor, and we just assumed Unity would build it out to be exactly the same. Agh. I guess you should count us out :(

in the meantime, if you want to witness some PURE CRAZY, check out our 6.5 mb web player build: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/19887116/muckra ... layer.html

me and eddie are pretty disappointed with how unplayable our efforts have been, I guess it's a wake-up call to keep our projects small and not attempt anymore epics

[Radiatoryang]

New direction: documentary filmmaking.

Two phases --

1) you go out into the field and record clips of various types: establishing shots, talking heads, people walking, etc. Maybe you can also order stock footage or something?

2) you edit the clips together to make some sort of film, with an interface metaphor we're still working on

[SoManyNinjaRobotMen]

like pokemon snap meets final cut?

i like it

[Stephen L (inactive)]

oooh like the idea....

[mcc]

For comparison

Michigan: Report from Hell, released as Michigan in Japan, is a survival horror game developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Spike. Directed by Akira Ueda, and planned by Goichi Suda the game focuses on a news crew for the fictional Zaka TV, dedicated to covering strange phenomena. The game is unique in the sense that it is played almost entirely though the viewfinder of a camera; and the game is lost if the player runs out of film before solving the mysteries in a mission.

[Eddie Cameron]

So both filming and editing a doco may be getting a tad complex. But we'll prototype and see if we can hammer something out? Or just give up and make a 2d platformer where your character looks like a policeman.

[mikewest]

Or just give up and make a 2d platformer where your character looks like a policeman.

hahaha, spot on.

But more seriously, I think the idea of a game taking place behind a camera is intriguing. You could combine your riots idea with the camera - someone capturing evidence of the destruction on a mobile phone or the like. Though I'd then expect a cameo from that vancouver couple?

[Eddie Cameron]

From that fake photo? That's kinda what we want to explore, a little doctoring can twist a story, or at least blind people with emotional imagery.

[Jack Sanders]

I'm imagining a COD-Like here, and your video camera is your gun. Sure, hip-firing may "hit your target", but when you scope in(aka look down the viewfinder) you've got much better aim. ;D
It almost feels like a parody when you consider it that way!

And from a design perspective, the actual editing seems a bit complex and unnecessary.(for the time left in this pageant) Difficult to program and such. Maybe you should just have the player focus on getting the raw footage? Core aspects gogo!

[Eddie Cameron]

Well I'm kinda thinking the same about the editor, but Robert convinced me we need something of the ilk. It'll be simple I assure you, I'm the one coding that part.

[Radiatoryang]

BACK TO WORK, CAMERON!

Isn't the whole premise of "distrusting journalism" based on how they edit and distort the "real" footage they got? YOU have to "create" the story. The film editing part is crucial, even if it's kind of diminished and like a Match3 thing.

Maybe when you edit your stuff into a show, you only have control over 2 things: order of the clips (they're automatically trimmed to what's relevant?) and a "filter." You can add an "Invert" filter, a "Ken Burns effect" filter, etc. and you get bonuses or something...?

[shouldice]

Or just give up and make a 2d platformer where your character looks like a policeman.

~ EXCELLENCE IN INNOVATION ~

[Radiatoryang]

Tech update:
- Eddie's getting the clip recording / playback stuff done
- Going to do an A* lite thing next

Design update:
- now it's a stealth game where you sneak into places to get footage, then edit the footage afterwards

- STEALTH: hide in shadows, don't get caught. get great footage.
- set "white point" by pointing your video camera at something and re-calibrating
- use your video camera to set "white balance" for the entire level; if you set high white point, you can get great footage but the guards will see you. if you set low white point, your footage will be super noisy and awful but you can hide better... thinking of more trade-offs too.
- use your video camera to adjust "color temperature" for the entire level; "cold" will slow down guards and freeze water and fog everything, but "warm" will speed up guards and liquify water but further sight lines and no fog

- EDITING: re-arrange clip order, add filters and music to them
- trying to think of some mechanic for this


Art update:
- going for Thief 2-era art, set in medieval times with television news stations

[Radiatoryang]

[Digitalistic]

- use your video camera to set "white balance" for the entire level; if you set high white point, you can get great footage but the guards will see you. if you set low white point, your footage will be super noisy and awful but you can hide better... thinking of more trade-offs too.
- use your video camera to adjust "color temperature" for the entire level; "cold" will slow down guards and freeze water and fog everything, but "warm" will speed up guards and liquify water but further sight lines and no fog

...medieval times with television news stations

This whole thing sounds quite amazing.

That's also a nice looking environment you've made.