About cutscenes, and how you can help

[ffordesoon]

I'd like to see an intro that sets up the tone, then a slideshow of still photographs with a narrator explaining the world. Yes, like Fallout, but only because that game's intro is still one of the five best game introductions in history.

I'll have to mull this over for a bit. Might have some ideas later.

[J1811]

How about a music video, which mixes in some 80s VHS-style live video footage?

I wish I could remember the name, but I remember a video from high school geography which the teacher would play every year. It was set to "What a wonderful world", and showed various events from WW2 to 1990. It included the civil rights movement, atom bomb testing, the Bono concert, and the general industrialization of society and the environmental movement in response. It included a seal-clubbing scene for a few seconds which would always freak the class out.

Done right and it will show the history of wasteland without even needing text or a voiceover. You'd just need to blend in real footage with the created stuff so it feels like wasteland events naturally followed from real events.

I also suggest including minor side footage such as the effect of famine or crazy cultists. These small things are often even more memorable to people than atom bomb blasts, especially since the person who sliced together the video is likely to have random source material.

[sparkee666]

...

It seems a little too criptic for me. The history and prologue should be transparent to the player. It also would be really hard to find a timeless song from the 80's as well.

[sirchet]

well you guys are already doing something with radios so here's my idea.

open with a group of wasteland survivors huddled around a beat up radio, a ranger with a gravely voice gives a speech over it. the ranger on the radio talks about hope for the future, but mentions the trials and tribulations the rangers have faced. (giving a brief history of their formation and the events leading up to wasteland 2)

as he is giving his speech, the camera pans out from the survivors and fades to pictures of different areas from wastelands history (such as the destruction of base concise)

end with a group of enemies listening in on the broadcast, they should be largely concealed by shadows. one, probably the leader smashes his radio in anger. -end

the speech should sound a bit like a recruitment ad but mostly like it was meant to let locals know the rangers are here to help.

This is a GREAT idea!

[sparkee666]

No live footage, no special cutscene engine, nothing like that. Visuals staged in Unity, with "sets" built the same way as actual game levels ... though the camera work can be different, and visual filters can be added if you want to do "scrapbook" or "VCR recording" type effects.

Why? Because you can never start too early with consistency of style, and because the Wasteland 1 intro graphics looked the same as the game art, so I'd like the sequel to do the same.

This can make adding animation to the cut scenes alot easier instead of doing a Falloutesque slide-show with only stills.

[Ryan Keokuk]

I think all cutscenes should be done using ragged Crank Yanker style puppets, narrated by a weeping mother telling the story.

Then when you cut to the mother at the end, its a robot (m night shyamalan)

Honestly though, I think a narrator could be an interesting thing to manipulate to create a back story to the sequences. Maybe a couple different characters narrating a sort of animated slide show thing like they've done in other lower budget games.

That radio suggestion sounds pretty boss though, I'd go with that.

[J1811]

I wish this was obvious enough that I didn't have to ask--but please have the video as high resolution as possible. I'm getting a bit peeved loading a modern game on a powerful pc just to see a 640x480 video play at the start. I don't know why this is. I suppose they do it for consoles and can't be bothered changing it.

[Tets]

the intro should tell the gamer what awaits him in the game and why s/he should play it. And the intro should also introduce the gamer to the world s/hes entering and the adventures s/hes facing.

My main point is: This game is a party-based game. Maybe there shouldnt be a typical narrator in the intro, instead a group of people talking in a critical situation, representing the party approach of the game and showing the gamers the world there facing. a dialog like in a quentin tarantino movie would be great. ^^ tarantino is a master in creating tension only trough dialogue. At the end it can make boom, but its the dialogue between characters before the action, which makes these scenes and fims so great. Its also a common problem in movies and games, that their characters arent interessting and the story is flat. So this would definitly not be the typical intro, simply due to the artistic value. A study of some of the most thrilling dialogues in tarantions oevre would be a good orientation point (see for example the starting sequence and the pub sequence in inglorious basterds).

[izombie]

A couple of people mentioned Thief for the visual style, and I'm jumping on the bandwagon! I personally prefer Thief2's cutscenes though..

A nice use of live-action silhouettes and 2D artwork (SPOILERS)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXXCXVtNjW0

End cinematic
http://youtu.be/o5SpLH5oDEs

[Sxerks]

Just to add to those links:
Thief TDP Briefings, Thief Gold Briefings
Thief Cutscenes
Thief 2 Briefings
Thief 2 Cutscenes

The hand drawn and stylized scenes in the briefings give more atmosphere than most cg I've seen in modern games.

[Balls Out 3]

I love Thief and it's cutscenes. Truly masterful work.

[Zombra]

I love the Thief series and its cutscenes as well ... but the atmosphere, the art style, the pacing ... all completely, utterly wrong for the Wasteland franchise. One zebra's opinion.

[ArseFace]

I think all cutscenes should be done using ragged Crank Yanker style puppets, narrated by a weeping mother telling the story.

Then when you cut to the mother at the end, its a robot (m night shyamalan)

This.

[Ronin73]

I think all cutscenes should be done using ragged Crank Yanker style puppets, narrated by a weeping mother telling the story.

Then when you cut to the mother at the end, its a robot (m night shyamalan)

This.

Obvious troll is obvious.

I find it a little concerning that more than a few people on the Wasteland 2 Facebook page are asking for the cutscenes to be very similar to Fallout 1&2 and even asking for Ron Perlman in some cases.

When this game is finally released. I wonder how many "This is nothing like Fallout!" posts I am going to see on these boards?

[fade_]

I've always been a fan of the Max Payne graphic novel type approach. That way you can have highly stylized low budget animated cutscenes. You can even make them interactive like Metal Gear Solid did with Peacemaker on the PSP.

Here's an example

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpBQVKnI-oI

[Hawkeye]

I realy liked the Homeworld intro. Simple, black & white cutscene but very stylish.

The style would be very fitting IMO, if you wanted to tell the history of the rangers and what has happend since
WL-1

For those who are unfamiliar with it (hard to believe there are such people ):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrW4jkQdmjI

[Drool]

When this game is finally released. I wonder how many "This is nothing like Fallout!" posts I am going to see on these boards?

Remember the single protagonist vs party wars?

Yeah.

[tiki36]

I think the Borderlands story intros are great. They are really only concept art scenes with a narrator telling the story with minor animated transitions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dwqVdr ... ata_player

[J1811]

Avoid any artsy rubbish with silhouettes, but use of detailed concept art like the current trailer would be fine.

I'd rather focus on a few good pieces then see rapid pencil doodling.

[Crosmando]

On that note, please avoid anything like those comic-book-style thingys in the new "Enhanced Edition" of Baldur's Gate.