Projects, mods, demos, Mickey Mouse, not machinima and genAIs... all in the mix this week. We also talk about new tools, game news and Predator: Killer of Killers, the first full length BIG budget machinima. Check out the discussion, links on our show notes, and add comments as usual.

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Phil Rice & SunoAI

Our latest deep dive into machinima history, and this month we focus on Baron Soosdon, a Finnish creator whose work is legendary among us. The film pick, I'm So Sick, is an excellent example of the type of work he produced during his machinima career (circa 2006-2011) which, shockingly, never actually won an award - it was however runner up at Bitfilm Festival. The film is a WoW fan fiction and a cultural mashup of its era, including subtle references to some of the key happenings in niche entertainment at the time: release of Edge of Remorse by Jason Choi (machinima), Ergo Proxy's classic anime series, appearances by the WoW legendary band L70ETC, the BlackWingLair level play-throughs and Lacey Sturm's incredible primal scream and the Flyleaf music video, song of the same title. Enjoy the discussion.

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Ricky Grove
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Phil Rice

Yup, there's nothing to do in Starfield, except this kind of thing! Seriously, we love how this teases a potential mod by the creator, ⁨@StarfieldCinematics⁩, and we reflect on the portrayal of the characters, the juxtaposition of the narrator voices and the pacing in what is essentially just a teaser. One thing we all agree on is just how stunning this game world is.

1:57 Analysis of Starfield machinima
8:12 Comments on the trailer's content and style
12:29 Technical and narrative observations
25:31 Audience engagement and future prospects

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

Ever wondered what it might be like to experience GTA as an NPC - or an animal? Well check out our pick this week! An hilarious let's play by @PuttherUncut "I Pretended to be a RAT NPV in GTA RP and Trolled the ENTIRE SERVER | DonDada RP", released 5 June 2022. Shades of Robin Hood in the approach -

2:37 Putther Uncut's Rat NPC trolling...
5:10 Details of the rat's actions
8:24 Damien's reaction and analysis
11:53 Phil's perspective and technical insights

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

In this episode, we discuss an account of an historic battle, which is commemorated annually on the 17th of Ramadan across all Muslim countries: the Battle of Badr 624AD. The film has been created by the Bellum et Historia channel, released on 16 November 2024, and made in Total War Atilla and other games, using various mods. These are, however, a little hazy because the creator has chosen not to reveal the creative process, making full attribution of assets used quite a challenge to fully appreciate, not least how the game technology was used in the creative process. Nonetheless, we talk about the film's methods of creative expression, the role of the tools and the ways in which these game environments can be especially useful for this kind of storytelling.

0:40 Introduction by Phil
8:22 Damien's evaluation of the tools
16:33 Tracy's observations on the tools used and creative processes, the role of games in understanding historic events

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

Our monthly roundup of all things we enjoy about this crazy world of machinima.

Key discussion items -
Machinima and virtual production updates
AI-generated content and tools
Video game trailers and announcements
Character creation software developments
AI music generation and legal considerations
Creative video game content creation techniques

0:01:21 - AFK Season Three Star Wars parody discussion ⁨@EpicallyCasual⁩
0:04:36 - GTA VI trailer speculation ⁨@RockstarGames⁩ ⁨@RickyGrove⁩
0:11:33 - Character Creator 5 announcement ⁨@reallusion⁩
0:22:10 - Star Wars video game with machinima potential ⁨@EAStarWars⁩
0:34:24 - Phil's AI music generation experiment with Suno ⁨@SunoAi7⁩
0:43:56 - Minecraft speedrunner Dream's April Fool's joke ⁨@dreamxd7779⁩
0:47:05 - Closing remarks

Show notes & links: https://completelymachinima.com/s5-e182-machinima-news-omnibus-may-2025/

Credits - Speakers: Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine ⁨@DarthAngelus⁩
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice ⁨@zsOverman⁩
Music: Animo Domini Beats/Suno/Phil Rice

This week's machinima is made in Skyrim, and whilst its a little older, it shows off beautifully the quality of the game, characters and lip sync capability. The film, by Wanderersofthedas was released in 2015, and was made using lines drawn only from the game's NPCs. It makes for an oddly familial campfire conversation, notwithstanding the numerous references to in game lore. Do you and add your comments on our channels, as usual.

0:31 Introduction by Damien, using NPCs in a single player game

4:12 Schizophrenia!

6:37 The role of the campfire, and familial dysfunctional conversations

8:05 Attention to detail, nah. Do you need acting to convey a story??? In the days of ElevenLabs, would this kind of thing ever be acceptable. Would following a main character have enabled a story to be told?

11:09 The narrative arc is missing, but its dysfunctionality is its central charm

14:09 Discussing a creative strategy: choosing the lines for NPCs and the lip sync, identifying the modding tools

Credits -
Speakers: Damien Valentine, Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

This week's ep focusses on the 2024 Crowbar Productions Machinima Mayhem contest winner: Fragile Harmony, made in Garry's Mod by Logan and released on 9 Sept 2024. Logan sent this in for us to take a look at, and we're sure glad he did. Yes there are a few things we could be critical about, but storytelling isn't one of them. Check out our review and leave your comments in the usual way.

1:14 Introduction by Phil, a classic Philip K Dick sci fi, storytelling and production values: deer in the headlights

9:16 Emotional reactions, lip sync and the aesthetic quality of machinima, the introduction of zombie behaviour

13:30 Pacing and its impact on first reactions to the film

19:40 The background to the film

22:30 Setting up the story – the monotony is critical

26:35 Editing and lip sync

27:09 Sound design is immersive contrasting with the monotony of the first part of the story

29:06 Confusion from the mundane, the change in pacing and tempo, the silence - what is the real horror story here?

33: 51 A few tips, our discussion: what we loved and what we miss in the editing

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice