Sins Machinima?

from Sins Forums

(For those unfamiliar with what a machinima is, a machinima is a movie made within a video game, such as the popular Red VS Blue series made in Halo. )

I've been working on my own Sins machinima series lately. However, I seem to be one of the few people that have tried it. When I say the few, I mean less than ten people. No, I don't mean a gameplay video of you raiding a pirate base. There's nothing wrong with that, but that's not the type of video I'm talking about. I'm talking videos that are actually edited a bit, aren't random gameplay, have a storyline, characters, music other than that one overused LOTR song, etc. Out of the few people that actually meet those standards, I'm the only one (that I know of) that's bothered to attempt an entire series.

I'm no expert or anything, but its not hard to make a video in this game. I can easily do a pretty decent one in a single day if I wanted to rush one (but I'd rather take my time on it). Considering how easy it is to make a video in this game, it surprises me how little people have actually attempted to do so. I'm just wondering, how come nobody bothers using Sins to make a machinima? The game has been out for almost two years I believe, and barely anyone has done anything with it. Obviously directing a film isn't something everyone enjoys or is good at, but this game is pretty popular among space RTS fans, so it just seems odd that such a large fan base hasn't really taken advantage of the game for machinimas. If anyone suddenly likes the idea and wants to try it themselves, I can make a tutorial video if anyone would like me to.

If you would like to see my series, I posted about it here already: https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/378203 [/shameless advertising]

But really, this thread isn't about me. I'm just wondering why nobody has taken advantage of sins to make a machinima. Or if you have or know someone who has, please tell me, because my searches have barely found anything. Like I said, I could make a tutorial video if anyone would like one.

18,996 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

I don't know of any other Sins machinima, but the second video you made was quite good. More people don't make Sins machinima probably because you can't have visible characters.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

I have done a little bit with it, in fact if time allows I hope to upload a mod that contains unique features to help with machinima making. Probably once the more or less final version of diplomacy comes out so I don't have to update it.

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Wow. That was really good. The second one, I mean. You should definitely continue voice-overs, they really improved my viewing experience. Bailknight's mod didn't hurt either  :P  

All in all, waiting on more! There's some real talent here.

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Thanks for the comments on my series. If you like it, you should subscribe (or at least check my other thread every now and then, I'll post new episodes there).

GoaFan, what exactly are you going to have in your mod if everything works out? I'd be glad to try it out once its done.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting OmegaHunter24, reply 4
Thanks for the comments on my series. If you like it, you should subscribe (or at least check my other thread every now and then, I'll post new episodes there).

GoaFan, what exactly are you going to have in your mod if everything works out? I'd be glad to try it out once its done.
End of OmegaHunter24's quote

The exact feature list will depend on what I end up needing for my project, but it will basically do two things.

A. Increase the size of gravity wells, so you can more easily contain epic space battles, and makes Sins look more to scale. Will also likely contain Sins Plus planets and Graphics mods, as people would likely combine them anyways.

B. Create a series of "Machinima Cruisers" that have a veriety of abilities that help with getting ships to act in certain ways to help with your shots. For example, one ability will be like the Akkan's Armistice except it effects the entire gravity well, including strikecraft, and can just be toggled on and off like charged missiles. Another will constantly heal all ships (yours and your enemies) hull and shields so that the enemy fleets can fire at eachother all day and still never kill a single ship, among many others. Basically it will take as much of the guess work as possible out of the unit AI and hopefully avoid annoying restarts because a capital ship got destroyed to early and that kind of thing.

I am intending it to be used with the developer.exe, which obviously helps with spawning the ships you want (and the machinima cruisers), among other useful features that I won't be replicating, though I could set it up so that they are buildable as well if you don't like that method.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

Actually, I could just imagine narrating and creating a story around an epic multiplayer clash.  Use the replay as faw footage and capture the best sequences, stitch them together with a narrative, and see how it works.  Then you'd actually capture the in-game strategy as well as an outside story.

I think the difficult part is that Sins has no human faces in-game (aside from the still-frame portraits).  Also, unless you have a girl to voice Advent or a man dying of bubonic plague to voice the Vasari, you're stuck doing TEC...

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Goa, that mod sounds awesome. When you do think it might be done? I mean I'm not expecting it next week, but do you have a general release date, at least for a beta?

Darvin, I think you're having the same issue everyone else is having and I think that's the reason nobody else does this. You've got to think outside the box though. My series isn't even based on Sins. I'm just using all the Sins models and races and making them into my own. My plot has nothing to do with Sins at all actually. And the thing about the characters. Just do it like I do, and don't really bother with getting too in depth with the characters. Just make sure everyone knows what ship the main character(s) are in and make sure they know what voice goes with what ship, and you're set for your characters.

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting OmegaHunter24, reply 7
Goa, that mod sounds awesome. When you do think it might be done? I mean I'm not expecting it next week, but do you have a general release date, at least for a beta?
End of OmegaHunter24's quote

Not really, especially as I still need to figure out what version of Sins it is going to be for (the video I'm making it for is a group project so I don't want to start until we decide that. What version are you using?). After that, it should take a couple of weeks to get it into a presentable state. I'll PM you when its done, and perhaps make a thread in the mods section as well.

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

I don't mind join any Sins machinima, I was thinking of starting a star trek Sins one, but since I am busy IRL, I probably won't have time to write the script