Editing cutscenes to make movies

[STIntergalactic]

Has anyone ever taken a game with cutscenes and edited them together with game play footage to make a story someone could just watch without having to play the game? And I don't mean machinma (sp?) or creating a whole new story out of a game, just streamlining the one that exists already.

Does that make sense?

 

[Borjis]

Has anyone ever taken a game with cutscenes and edited them together with game play footage to make a story someone could just watch without having to play the game? And I don't mean machinma (sp?) or creating a whole new story out of a game, just streamlining the one that exists already.

Does that make sense?

I did that with LucasArts Rebel Assault II. turned out pretty good.

I had began to do the same with Star Trek 25th Anniversary & TNG A Final Unity but it was
very difficult to do and the scan converter I had to use was pretty
awful so I gave up on it.

 

[SpeedRacer]

A fan of Wing Commander has posted his work over at the Wing Commander CIC (www.wcnews.com). He's made a movie out of Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (including some edits of his movies), and I think he is/was working on one of Wing Commander IV: Price of Freedom. They combine some gameplay footage with various cutscenes. I started watching the WC3 one; I liked what I saw.

 

[AdmiralGarak]

The next Futurama movie will have the cutscenes of the Futurama video game edited together as an episode (complete with a commentary track) in its special features. There are some cutscene-based movies over on Youtube, too. I know KotOR has gotten this treatment, for example.

Needless to say, we'd all love to see this happen with "The Secret of Vulcan Fury".

 

[Unicron]

I suppose it would depend on the game too. Some cutscenes are designed around specific missions, and so it'd be difficult to include them in a broad set because the context would be missing, or at least unclear.

 

[Jim Steele]

Someone did this with Anachronox, if I recall correctly.

Which game did you have in mind?

 

[STIntergalactic]

Well, I was hoping something could be done with star trek games to form somewhat mock episodes.

A james bond one would be cool too.

 

[daedalus5]

I think Starfleet Academy could be cobbled together to make a decent TV type movie and Borg has been - someone posted the links in the Trek BBS a few months back and it was VERY good!

 

[Captain_Koloth]

They've done it with Metal Gear Solid, which is just awesome even in that form.

Frankly most Trek games don't have that strong of a story, IMO, except for the some of the adventure-type games like Judgment Rites, 25th anniversary, and A Final Unity. And those are probably best played anyway.

I think editing scenes together into a story from a video game works best for games that are both very linear and have a strong story. If you're into video games you might think Metal Gear Solid, or Resident Evil if you're into those stories, but most Star Trek games simply don't fit both of those criteria.

 

[Kadratis]

I think Starfleet Academy could be cobbled together to make a decent TV type movie and Borg has been - someone posted the links in the Trek BBS a few months back and it was VERY good!

Yup. YouTube ended up closing my account because a complaint was filed by Viacom over a silly SpikeTV ad. I'm in the process of re-adding them though!

 

[RookieBatman]

I bet if somebody put some thought into it, they could make a really neat video out of Elite Force. I always felt that that game felt like an episode (albeit a lower decks episode) with character arcs and tension and so forth. But it would work better if the person didn't just capture the gameplay but edited it to where it isn't just "walk into a room, shoot bad guys, repeat x5," but kind of cut it down more to what it might be like on a show or movie (maybe even get artistic and do some montage sequences). There's even a cheat where you can show Alex in third person. I think if somebody did that, it would be pretty freakin' cool (though, still not as cool as just playing the game, of course).