20 replies to this topic

[yngvef]

I don't know if this has been suggested before, but I would really like a series of faction trailers. A lot of people on this forum are worried that many players will become lone wolves, and with good reason.

As soon as the game is released, a lot of players will hopefully pick it up. The problem is that a lot of those players haven't read any BT lore and don't know the difference between the factions. They don't know why they should choose house Kurita or the Free Rasahague Republic.. or a merc corps.




What do I mean?
Make some videos that explains and summarizes the different factions in a good way. Explain what languages and cultures that normally belong to a faction. Is is a democracy or a dictatorship, or something in between. Who are the leaders? How powerful are they? How militaristic is the culture? Are they only defending themselves or are they aggressive imperialists?

The videos should show some cool mech action, preferably with mechs that are normally used by that faction. It should also contain a map that shows where in the galaxy they are etc.




Why?
Yes, I realize there are some written information about the factions here on mwomercs, but I think videos would be a much more effective recruiting tool. All videos should imply that THIS faction is "the best". (in other words, they should be totally biased in favor of the faction it introduces)

It would be best to get these faction introductions before the game is released, so people can start forming their allegiances before they start firing their PPCs.

I have chosen to use the FRR emblem because I live in Norway, but I have no idea if the faction is "cool". I never played table top or read any battletech fiction. My knowledge comes from browsing these forums, sarna.net and playing MW4:Mercs when it was released for free by mektek... And that's all!

Some of you Battletech experts are quite intimidating because you can always quote some obscure action from the "lore". For us rookies, the "universe" has quite a steep learning curve.




Bottom line:
Introduction videos to ALL the different factions would cause many more players to join factions or merc bands. Considering dev blog 1 about community warfare, I would think that both developers and gamers should hope for most people to play factions instead of lone wolf. If everyone are lone wolves, then every battle becomes just a team deathmatch slugfest without any "point".

PS: If the devs can't do this, I hope some BT-experts in the community would.
PPS: If anything like this already exists, please provide links because it would be awesome

[Kaemon]

I think it would be fun to see some 'faction trailers' but it does take quite a bit of time on the dev's side to do. If it came down to gameplay dev time or trailer dev time, I think I'd pick the former.

But for the new TL:DR crowd, it might make picking factions much more efficient.

Plus I'd love to see the Merc Corp. trailer.

Maybe Ephisus can whip something up.

[yngvef]

Yes, I realize it could be too time-consuming for the devs... but I believe it would be worth it if more people not just play the game, but also play the "story" to some degree. Also, it would become more interesting if "your" faction made progress and won battles... If would be THAT more annoying when the clans come and screw up your worlds. (Also, if the clans arrive as playable factions, I would love to see similar introductions to them)

It's just like watching a football game (or soccer or whatever): If you don't know any of the teams, the game quickly gets boring. If you are rooting for one of the teams it is ten times more fun.

[Adridos]

I already suggested a Liao trailer in our section, but there is a problem.

There is not enough computer made videos to make an adequate footage.

So that leaves us with devs making them, but they have really tight schedule and I do not think they can do them right now.

[Felicitatem Parco]

... this reminds me of the Team Fortress 2 charcater introduction videos...



"Meet: The Steiner"

(insert Heavy Weapons Guy Trailer here)

[Ray Mason]

Ideally I’d like to see some really corny actor in front of an obvious green screen giving you the talk, like in the old days. Embrace the B movie style! Other than that, anything would do, as a post-launch advertisement or something .

Examples:

[Orzorn]

Like most things, Mechwarrior 2 hit the nail on the head:



They always give me shivers. The atmosphere they create is perfect.

[FireNova]

Yeah faction intro videos would be very awesome. I can only imagine how a Smoke Jaguar intro would be like let alone a Liao one.

An intro vid something similar like this to put an example:



or



Either way a faction intro vid would summarize a faction choice in an interesting way and make the player feel as if he/she made the right choice choosing said faction.

[yngvef]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who would like this.

[Gremlich Johns]

Make some videos that explains and summarizes the different factions in a good way. Explain what
languages and cultures that normally belong to a faction. Is is a democracy or a dictatorship, or something
in between. Who are the leaders? How powerful are they? How militaristic is the culture? Are they only
defending themselves or are they aggressive imperialists?

Why only in a good way? If it is propaganda you are seeking, then the video would be from that Faction's POV. How about a video being "created" by ComStar, that way, it is in a matter of fact way (you know what I mean). If a faction has patriotic videos, then you would expect them to also have examples placing their competitors in a light consistent with their relationship.

Take your idea further, have a Faction centric video with the ComStar POV as a counter-point view. Lots of work, I am thinking. Player developed is the best we can go beyond a dev produced faction-propaganda vid.

Edited by Gremlich Johns, 04 March 2012 - 11:06 AM.

[Exilyth]

Although lots of work, I think this idea is great. of course not for beta or shortly after, but in the long run.

Doing the videos Mechcommander 2 style might be feasible: They had just one or more actors in front of a rendered backdrop, dressed in what would be typical for the faction portrayed. Minimum of people and props needed.

I think having someone from the faction do their recruitment propaganda, then at the end a comstar accolyte telling you the 'truth' would be nice.

Mhh... Having a (maybe stylized) map of the sphere, where you can hover over the different realms to get some statistics/short description might be good too, with the option to 'learn more about this faction' (which would play the introduction vid of that faction).

[Halfinax]

Ultimately if PGI chooses to make faction intro videos I'd like to see them done in a propaganda style. Tell us the basics of what that faction stands for and their general outlook, but gussy it up into faction jingoism.

[Silent]

Honestly surprised no one has made a thread to make fan made propaganda posters and other media for the various factions.

At the very least.

[Halfinax]

Silent, on 05 March 2012 - 01:44 PM, said:

Honestly surprised no one has made a thread to make fan made propaganda posters and other media for the various factions.

At the very least.

Sounds like someone is volunteering to me!

[Maverick Howell]

This would just be fantastic to see. A very indepth look into the clans that you are going to be joining.

[Hador]

In order to get some vids done in a decent way you need to dedicate manpower for that task...


So imho such vids really are a nice addition, but as resources are usually limited, I hope they'll be put (mainly) into the gameplay/game development.

[MaddMaxx]

Propaganda like this you mean?

[Sinitron]

This would probably be a good addition. It doesn't have to be very complex either - just a voice-over, some faction imagery and a few clips of faction-specific 'mechs tearing into something, explaining a little bit about the ideologies and history of each faction, but not delving too deep into it.

For example, House Steiner's video could go along the lines of 'welcome to the LCAF, cadet' while showing a Commando marching out from a hangar and into an open training area, followed up by a few lines about Steiner superiority and exploding Jenners, possibly even an Atlas punching something, and finally ending with a row of Atlasses with a crowd in front outside a palace while mentioning the peoples dedication to their archon.

A fairly short clip with very little fluff, but just enough to get someone interested/intrigued without boring everyone else would be pretty ideal.

[Project_Mercy]

I guess I had assumed something like this would be happening (like the person MW2 link), but if not, I think it's a great idea. I was hoping they would also have faction-specific releases either on the web or in-game, that told you your own factional news as the game progressed.

[Damocles]

This would be great to have, maybe some enterprising House Loyalists will DiY (Do it yourself!) an intro video.

....I wish I had the video editing skill and time to put in.