88 replies to this topic

[Koniving]

Heh. Well actually they got a little (Highlander truly got zero love).

But... *Whoosh!* Gotta cram in some college assignments. (Never wait to get into college; I'm truly wishing I got into it right after highschool. Going on 28 and in college, I hate it.)

(Btw: Noticed something from Podcast #78, the reason the FPS counter was removed is that something about it the way it gave enemy and ally coordinate information in the X, Y, Z, to the client (in terms of what isn't seen by the eyes) allowed auto-aiming [aimbot] to be possible.)

Edited by Koniving, 04 July 2013 - 09:48 AM.

[Koniving]

Alright. The voice over work is done. I'll be getting it tomorrow, but tomorrow will be very busy in terms of college. It'll be up by Monday evening when you all leave from work to hop on MWO and kill stuff. In the meantime I'll try to get some additional footage asap as I realized I have x amount of sound time, and my footage cuts short a minute before the sound does! O_O!

[Koniving]

I see someone found this. I wound up unhappy with the results of the voice work. Really sitting and listening to it, unlike some personality test performances the person doing it lost her flare for it with recent events. It, uh, read like a monotone lecture which was disheartening. So that's what happened to it. Also in listening to it I found a few flaws mainly with a rather erratic order. Manufacturers, then how to use it, then what it comes with off the assembly line, and yeah it was a bit jumbled.

For those interested...



Since then I just haven't had much time. College has had me drawing like crazy. So I've been doing stuff like Walter White from Breaking Bad, a replica of the classic Beheading and now Roman/Greek Furniture.

But since I've been reminded I've popped open the dialogue and I'm tweaking it now.

[Koniving]

For those interested... The rewrite is complete. This is the snippet of it most likely to be part of the episode. Since I now know more tough sounding chicks, I have several women working on this. One of them's gonna get picked, and then me and a bunch of players new and experienced are gonna pack in our hunchbacks and get a good amount of up to date footage.

The snippet of rewrite is here. Approximate reading time is 5 minutes, which is the goal of the video's length.

Spoiler

(Deep breath. You're about to be speaking to a room of over 50 people who now have your undivided attention but it's still a large room. You begin confidently at first, then get stunted by difficult pronunciation of something unexpected and lose your raised tone. The pronunciation is of a Capellan Confederation Rank temporarily assigned to you as of earlier in the day, which to you is ludicrous because you work for a company that supplies rentable soldiers, not the military backing it. Why should you have to say the rank in their language?)

Recruits, I am Yi-Si-Be--you can't be serious. (Pause for a sec.) Sergeant they aren't serious about this are they? May as well call me Captain Sum-Ting-Wong. Screw it. I'm using English, I can't speak this Capellan crap.
(Deep breath again. Loud. Confident.)

I am Force Leader (Name), of the Zhi-zhu Mercenary Corporation. Before this post I was a Staff Sergeant for the Lyran Commonwealth. You are the latest recruits whose backgrounds-- (pause in thought) well to be honest I couldn't give two ***** about you. If you don't listen to me you'll be dead within a week. That's all there is to it. In the upcoming month you will each be asked to decide what your first Battlemech will be. Today we will go over option number 1.
(Zhi is pronounced as Gee, Zhu is pronounced Chew)

(Continue to be loud. You need to be heard.)

This Battlemech Assessment briefing will introduce the Komiyaba Type VIII (8) BattleMech Chassis.
The Type VIII (8) is best recognized by the oversized, enclosed weapon housing on the right shoulder which creates its unmistakable profile, thusly earning the fitting military moniker… "Hunchback."

The Komiyaba Type VIII, or "Hunchback", is registered in most targeting software as the "HBK-4" series which is now found on nearly every battlefront. It features a number of variants to suit the many needs of warfare. Each concludes the readout pattern HBK-4 with a single letter. The common variants are the HBK-4G for AutoCannon lovers, the 4H for a cannon with more lasers, 4J for long range missile seasoning, 4P (dubbed the swayback) for those who love the pew, and finally the periphery modified 4SP which removes the lopsided weakness in exchange for more scatter-shot missiles. We will go into more depth on them individually in upcoming briefings between your training sessions and the simulators. For now I will be providing you with only a general overview.

It is currently manufactured in part by the following companies: (slight pause to look at paper.) Komiyaba/Nissan General Industries, Coventry Metal Works, Kali-Yama Weapons Industries, Incorporated, and finally Norse-Storm BattleMechs.

The Hunchback is a medium-class BattleMech with a maximum carrying capacity of fifty tons. All of its variants come from the factory powered by a 200-rated Nissan Standard Nuclear Fusion Reaction Engine. Straight from the assembly line it moves up to 64.8 KPH, which is pretty standard among BattleMechs. In the hands of a Master any Hunchback can easily go in excess of 92 kilometers per hour. Overall the design is sturdy under fire, cheap to build, and generally flexible, making this ‘Mech ideal for novice pilots.

Even at factory specs the Type VIII keeps perfect pace with most assault BattleMechs--solidifying its role as supporting firepower. Since escort objectives assigned to them are almost always assault mechs, it is common practice for the Hunchback to use their charge as a shield against long range attacks whenever they are in the open field. Every weapon system on the Hunchback is designed to make it devastating at close range as it weaves between large buildings or larger 'Mechs to eliminate its targets. This comes at the cost of speed and lack of jump jets.

The standard firepower of any Hunchback is arranged for swift destruction of its targets with an exclusion zone of 270 meters. The one exception is the 4J, which trades the cannon for long-range missiles in a supporting role. The Hunchback's armor is sturdy and almost always front-heavy in its home turf of urban environments. However, even the best armor alone is not enough and caution should always be at the forefront of the pilots mind.

Good pilots are those that kill the enemy and stay alive. Killing the enemy means making precision strikes when the opportunities arise. Staying alive is making use of cover to disappear from sight until your next chance. A Hunchback exposed in the open field is a walking coffin awaiting burial. Remember that. When piloting a Type VIII you should never traverse clearings because all it takes are a few powerful strikes from a sniper to your right shoulder to become useless.

The Hunchback series has proven itself to be a very effective design in every conflict large and small since its introduction during the Reunification War over 500 years ago. Even today the Type VIII is still seen in every combat theater of the Inner Sphere often with only little modification. At some point in your lives you will likely pilot one, and several times over you will face them down in combat. Joke all you like about how easy it is to neuter an inexperienced Hunchback, but the true pilots know how to reinforce that weapons mount to make it last.

On a related subject, there are rumors of a new and upgraded HBK-5 series at the front lines of the Inner Sphere conflict. These began in 3046 with word of an HBK-5M model. However we have not seen these on the Periphery of the Capellan Confederation nor do we expect to see them so far from the Inner Sphere's front lines any time soon. Still, expect to be briefed on them when and if we ever begin to see them in our backyards.

That's it for now. Cadets, Ah-ten-HUHN! Be here, tomorrow, 0500 GST. Now get out of my sight.

Except for you. What’s your name? Koniving, (Conniving) huh? (Over your shoulder) Sergeant, I’d like you to get this cadet a toothbrush. (To the mic again, strong, sharp tone but 'just between me and you' closely spoken) I've heard rumors that you might be responsible for the prank involving the women’s latrines. I think it should be fitting that you use this brush to clean that mess and it better be clean by 13:30 or you'll be using that brush to scrub your entrails off the walls.

I've come a bit of a way with the Centurion with its core information, as promised. Awesomes are actually long since done but they are third according to the votes, then the rest as described on the first post.

Edited by Koniving, 09 August 2013 - 08:20 PM.

[Johnny Marek Summers]

Hey Kon,

Why don't you have the woman you choose read it over Skype or TS3 or whatever you use so you can direct her in the way you want this to be read?

This way you get what you want, and it can be faster too. You can also give them an actress to aspire to or even avoid. "More Eileen Brennan in Private Benjamin, less Geena Davis in Cutthroat Island." or something like that.

Edited by Johnny Marek Summers, 16 August 2013 - 05:50 PM.

[Koniving]

Johnny Marek Summers, on 16 August 2013 - 05:33 PM, said:

Hey Kon,

Why don't you have the woman you choose read it over Skype or TS3 or whatever you use so you can direct her in the way you want this to be read?

This way you get what you want, and it can be faster too. You can also give them an actress to aspire to or even avoid. "More Eileen Brennan in Private Benjamin, less Geena Davis in Cutthroat Island." or something like that.

That's actually a fantastic idea. Truth be told I originally had people I knew from yahoo do it, where we never really had voice communication before.

However recent stuff has given me access to people who actively use voice.

I confess part of the issue had been I was shooting too high. I literally had a goal of using a 3D animation program to literally put you -- as the viewer -- in the scene as a character. Enter the room, get scolded for being late. A female soldier with the mechanical arm and a 4-fingered grip that'd make you gulp in fear, wearing a uniform and covered in healed scars is here to tell you -- You -- about the Battlemechs you're soon to be using and the ones you'll be facing in the field.

It's a very lofty goal and I have no doubt it would have achieved my goals of youtube stardom. But the whole thing is time consuming, and though I have made a lot of progress to that end I'm still at the point where it'd take another 3 months to complete if I went with the animations and the scene and all.

By then I'll be too late for launch.

Also to expedite things I'll be having multiple people that I can assign voice roles to. Some male, some female. That way I can have the voice parts done faster. With your advice, I'll be setting up a day with them to sit down and do exactly that; gauge their performances and direct them. Thank you. That would definitely be considerably more efficient.

[Johnny Marek Summers]

Hey Kon,

No problem, I like to help where I can.

It's kind of weird, in Japan the animated scene is finished before so that the voice actors do their lines while watching the scene. Disney tends to do things the other way around, usually taking visual cues off the actors themselves when they are doing the lines.

Another thing you might want to take into consideration is where there should be pauses for emphasis or something else to break up those huge blocks of exposition. I know the whole thing is exposition, but I think that was the other problem that your original actress had (well besides the rl things she had to deal with).

[Koniving]

Johnny Marek Summers, on 16 August 2013 - 08:23 PM, said:

Another thing you might want to take into consideration is where there should be pauses for emphasis or something else to break up those huge blocks of exposition. I know the whole thing is exposition, but I think that was the other problem that your original actress had (well besides the rl things she had to deal with).

She actually recorded them in like 40 different "files." I kinda threw them all together like that. The pauses could have been done with a bit of work on my end rather easily. But it left no room for interaction as she can't react to the other person's voice. But yeah, I sort of gave up on the long scene in favor of other much more tangible animation projects inspired by this.



These guys populate Zhizhu/Lordred's perfect screenshot thread every time there's images and are more than eager to help with any projects I do churn out. After all with shots like this, who wouldn't?

Mech piloted by Wolfmech. Shot by Lordred.

The following is an excerpt from a scene I am planning to do with 3D animations outside of MWO, using MWO models. I figure these are much more worth the time invested, and won't delay my chassis introductions as these aren't required to be finished to send those out.

Spoiler

The Commando and the Raven are pushing through the open streets in a mad dash from their far superior pursuers. Around them the buildings are shredding from heavy weapons fire.

The Raven's pilot sees something in the corner of his eye that the Commando cannot, and he pushes his MASC to accelerate and slam into the back of his Commando comrade in an effort to shove it out of the way of the incoming blast. The Commando unexpectedly finds herself thrown forward, barely catching herself and reducing the damage as she slides across the asphalt.

Meanwhile the incoming AC/20 slug hits the Raven 2x in the shield arm and literally crushes it as the impact itself spirals the Raven into a complete 360 tumble through the air. All time slows down. The view through the dented transparent steel cockpit viewport shows the entire world upside down as arms dangle haplessly. Vision blurs.

Abruptly time resumes as the Raven slams into the side of a building, concaving the structure. The Raven's left leg tremors due to some feedback. It isn't getting up.

Meanwhile that Commando which the Raven saved is back on her feet. The same shot would have killed her instantly.

The building itself is likely to collapse at any moment. Back in the Raven's cockpit, the pilot has lost consciousness. A monitor displays the female Commando pilot trying to get his attention. "The hell did you do something stupid like that for!? Get up! C'mon get on your feet damn it! We can't dally around here. They're coming! Oh f--"

A rehashing of a certain part of a larger cinematic scene I'm working on involving light-hunting fast assault-class mechs, and the tragic tale of the lights running from them.

[CasedIn]

Still. Super. Excited. Its gonna be AAAAAWSome