trailer, part II

Scene selection - this is where we pick some of the most interesting scenes in the game. They may or not be important to moving the plot along, but they must capture the viewer's attention. There are a couple of ways to capture attention: 1) action 2) graphics. Notice these elements in the White Wolf of Icicle Creek trailer.
1) ACTION - snowmobile, explosion, snowball fight, avalanche, growling wolf
2) GRAPHICS - lodge interior, fireplace - these are ususally the prettiest and most impressive shots in the game

Of course, we never reveal the ending. Currently the scenes in the Legend of the Crystal Skull trailer include:
chattering teeth
one character
Bolet mansion
key
dummy
bones
iguana

These might change as we edit the trailer for pacing and flow. The music need to match the scenes to make the trailer more than just a slideshow set to music. More on that later!

Behind the Scenes

We've never shown you the top secret design documents that help everyone keep track of the game universe, but I think I found something that I can share. It's only a tiny part of a scene, but nonetheless, I thought it might be interesting to future game designers. Below is a description of the scene. You'll see that it's fairly descriptive and must include what happens every time the player clicks on the hotspot. It also needs define how the action affects the rest of the game.:

The first time that player clicks on a bar, it'll go in her inventory, which she will bring to R.
The second (and any subsequent) time that the player clicks on the bars, we'll see a CU of a bar and then a CU of the bar open (with sfx) and then a fade out to a shot of the bar gone (but wrapper still there) and various ND eating sounds. Then we'll return to the initial shot of all the bars.
Rinse and repeat!

ART - these are instructions to the artists for what they need to draw. You'd be suprised how many pieces of art the artists need to come up with for each stage of the animation.
Need CU of bar all wrapped up
Need CU of bar unwrapped
Need CU of bar unwrapped but bar gone (eaten)

Hehe - this sounds like fun! Can you figure out what it is?

Next time we'll go over other parts:
DEVELOPMENT
PRODUCTION
LOCAL
DESIGN
VO

trailer, part I

I'm working with one of the artists on creating a trailer for Legend of the Crystal Skull. It's kind of difficult because there's still so much missing from the game. The music in the background has trumpets blaring, remiscenet of jazz. It starts out creepy before transitioning to a more upbeat tempo. I can't really put my finger on the type of music it is, but I guess I'd compare it to some sort of jazzy ballroom dance. It's amazing how much the music sets the tone of the trailer and dictates the timing of the images.

Next up, scene selections!

Legends

Legends are curious stories - based on a minute sliver of truth and then spun with golden exaggerations into tales. They're passed down from generation to generation, but generally legends only hold power for those who believe them. But there is always some truth, and that's the piece that's important - the reason that the legends continue to be told, as a warning or revering memory.

One of my personal favorite legends is King Arther and the Knights of the Round table. Camelot was a world of romance, justice, and magic. Guenevere, Lancelot, and Arther were such interesting characters, probably because they were flawed. They had very human qualities and made HUGE mistakes. We all make mistakes so we can relate, but we're glad that most of them were not of legendary proportions. Their stories have been told time and time again, reiterating themes of justice and leadership.

[The Crystal Skulls: Fact or Fable?’ One of my best efforts. Sold like hotcakes smothered in a rich, tangy lemon sauce.]

Bookworm

I love reading - I always have, even when I was in elementary school. Late at night, I'd creep quietly next to my nightlight and read or hide in the closet with the lights on. So it's no wonder that I read everything I can get my hands on. The problem is, once I start reading, I can't bring myself to book the material down! Reading the Nancy Drew series consumed my entire 6th grade summer! My imagination ran wild as I devoured book after book, thirsting for more adventures, knowledge, and escape. Maybe some of you can relate?

Today I ran across the CRY script and my curiosity got the better of me. I had to read some of it! Just a few pages. But a 'few' morphed in 213 to be exact. It inspired me to write the next newsletter, which should be sent soon. Don't forget to sign up for the newsletter - we have a new service provider, so you may need to sign up again.

[They were all murdered]


[C’mon. You don’t believe that crystal skull stuff is true, do you?]

Taping

Today a film crew from SmartWomen came to interview Megan and some of our fans. They filmed scenes of the girls and their moms playing the game, artists rendering environments and modeling characters, people wandering the hallways. Everyone had a great time playing the game - some people had to drive over an hour to get here! They might have taped me explaining what games they were playing, but it was totally embarassing! I always get camera shy unless I have my "game face" on. Hopefully the segment turns out nicely and I'll post a link. Thanks to everyone that came to help out today!

Names

Toby
Orion
Argos
Doyle
Watson
Marlowe
Biscuit
Dodger
Cody
Comet
Java
Hudson
Jasper
Apollo

Blogging

Wow - there are 128 posts on this blog and we've been writing for nearly 1-1/2 years! We've had a lot of fun leaking clues, posting our experiences, and sharing our thoughts. Yet, we think that there's room for improvement on this blog. So here are a few things I think we might try implementing in the future:

1) posting more often - maybe 2-3 times a week instead of just once a week
2) allowing comments - they'll all need to be approved first
3) responding to comments - this could be interesting as our fans have a lot of feedback and could make for good discussion
4) RSS feeds through Feedburner, Google Reader, and Digg - for all you techies out there

It's kind of a scary thought, but we want to see our blog grow. Of course, we can't do that unless our fans find the blog interesting. What other things would you be interested in reading about?

Newsletter, part II

We had a few hiccups with the newsletter... The company that used to send our newsletters went out of business, so we had to switch to a new company. Unfortunately, we were only able to send the newsletter to a few people - they wanted to make sure that we weren't sending unwanted emails (SPAM). We'll probably need to update our newsletter list and everyone will need to sign up again. I hope that we'll have the issue resolved soon and will be able to send out newsletters again.

So, my apologizes (I seem to be doing that often these days) - here the newsletter. I'll also post it on the homepage shortly. Good luck with the contest!

JUNE newsletter