DIGIPENDENCE - declare yours!

Thanks to Matt Kelland for pointing me towards this film and telling me that it was a “superb introduction to machinima”…

Half-Life is a popular video game series from Valve. A science fiction first-person shooter, it consists of two full games, two episodic games, and three third-party made expansions, as well as a number of demos featuring exclusive content. Dr. Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist and employee of the Black Mesa Research Facility, is the main protagonist.

According to Wikipedia:

The series has been ongoing since 1998. Most games and expansions in the series were developed by Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Studios, although some expansions were produced by Gearbox Software. Electronic Arts also took over distribution of the games in the series from Sierra from 2005 onwards. The series was initially released for the PC, but console ports of most installments have also been released. All expansion packs for the original game feature playable characters other than Freeman.

Ross Scott of Accused Films has created an on-going machinima series in Half-Life called Freeman’s Mind:

Freeman’s Mind is a science-fiction comedy series that follows the thoughts of Dr. Gordon Freeman, a 27 year old physicist and protagonist of the game Half-Life. The setting starts off in Black Mesa, a government research facility in New Mexico. In the game Half-Life, Freeman is entirely silent and has no actual personality. In Freeman’s Mind, he is a highly vocal and neurotic individual with paranoid and delusional tendencies. All episodes are filmed in a first-person perspective as he gives a monologue of his thoughts. Episodes are sequential and should be watched in order to make the most sense of the series.

Episode 15: Freeman braves radioactive waste, finds a new route, and encounters something much bigger than him.

Director’s Note: Due to an error in processing, the Youtube version is much darker than it should be. I recommend watching one of the other versions for best viewing.

Xan has a titillating first conversation with his secret admirer. Written, Directed and Scored by Phil “Overman” Rice. An Official Selection for the 2009 Animatu Festival. Created with ZenCub3d. Movie downloads (various formats).

A passing mention in the digipendence twitter feed lead me to this gorgeous-looking ‘proof of concept’ machinima video filmed entirely in Blue Mars (currently in closed beta testing) by Skribe Productions.

Now, what is Blue Mars?

Blue Mars is a free to play massively multiplayer virtual world featuring stunning graphics, realistic characters, and endless social bonding activities. The Blue Mars virtual world is made up of an expanding set of independently operated cities that feature unique themes, activities, and attractions such as shopping, avatar customization, unique personal spaces, and games like dancing, racing, and golf. Cites on Blue Mars are tied together with a unified login system, persistent global Avatar ID, and platform wide participation based reward system that encourages users to explore, play, and make new friends.

Here is a Blue Mars preview by Skribe Productions:

Also from Skribe Productions is this tutorial on the interface and some of the features of Blue Mars:

Moviestorm has just released two long anticipated packs: Female and Male Hairstyles. Back when Creative Director Matt Kelland first asked Stormers what sort of hair they’d like to see, the conversation was lively indeed. As it turns out, people have strong feelings about hair; many pictures were uploaded to the forum and people begged and lobbied shamelessly for their favourite cuts.

Each pack is available for a very reasonable £7.99 and Moviestorm wouldn’t be Moviestorm if there wasn’t a bundle deal. If bought together, the bundle price is a cool £11.99 which represents a 25% savings. For those not purchasing in pounds, that’s roughly U$20 (the correct amount will be displayed in the shopping cart before purchase). Additionally, the new hairstyles packs have been added to the 2009 Moviestorm Compilation (£79.00) and the Complete Moviestorm Compilation (£169.00).

Female Hairstyles

Content:

• Seven customisable hairstyles, each in 14 different colours:
  • Blunt cut (7 morphs)
  • Boy crop (2 morphs)
  • Cornrows
  • Spikes (morphable)
  • Pixie cut
  • Emo (4 morphs)
  • Scene (4 morphs plus hair adornments)
• 4 Stock Characters

Details:
File size: 10.2 MB
Release date: August 18, 2009
Price: £7.99

Male Hairstyles

Content:

• Seven customisable hairstyles, each in 14 different colours:
  • Shaved patterns (14 variants)
  • Fauxhican (3 morphs)
  • Emo (2 morphs)
  • Spikes (morphable)
  • Scene (morphable)
  • Short tufts (4 morphs)
  • Cornrows
• 4 Stock Characters

Details:
File size: 10.4 MB
Release date: August 18, 2009
Price: £7.99