NamelessPlayer on 26/11/2009 at 18:53
Quote Posted by demagogue
I have to think about what game I'd like to moviefy. Maybe
Anachronox, since I loved all the characters, situations, and settings in that game.
Funny you mention that, since seeing it in machinima form really, REALLY makes me want to play the game. I mean, the cutscenes alone are just comedy gold. (Too bad the obvious sequel hook at the end never really got fulfilled.)
Anyway, I'd have to agree that translating a video game to the movie theater is quite a difficult task, especially since the one thing that sets video games apart is the interactivity aspect. If it was a very plot-centric game, it could work, but those that get more of their "art" status through gameplay obviously wouldn't work.
addone on 26/11/2009 at 22:37
OH! I recommend watching the "Doomsday Arcade" series on The Escapist website. It's every two weeks on a Thursday. INCREDIBLY entertaining, might help you. (
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/)
NamelessPlayer on 28/11/2009 at 16:02
I just had an epiphany moment a while ago.
What if The Movie Of The Game took a different character's perspective-one that wasn't the player character, since we already know what (s)he did in the game already?
It might actually add something and flesh out the setting that way rather than just shoehorn something into a different medium.
Thirith on 28/11/2009 at 17:52
Quote Posted by NamelessPlayer
I just had an epiphany moment a while ago.
What if The Movie Of The Game took a different character's perspective-one that wasn't the player character, since we already know what (s)he did in the game already?
It might actually add something and flesh out the setting that way rather than just shoehorn something into a different medium.
Could work if done well. However, in practice it would tend to have one of the following two problems:
1) The other character's story is essential to the overall storyline, which would mean that all the people who just play the game or just watch the film only get part of the story. Audiences don't particularly like the feeling of having missed essential bits. "You didn't get who that guy is who turns up in scene X of the film and saves the protagonist? Well, you need to play the game!" hasn't really elicited good reactions in the past. Requiring the film's audience to have knowledge of the game and vice versa isn't a very good business move, it would seem.
2) The other character's story is a nice extra but not necessary for the overall storyline, in which case most people's reaction is a distinct "So what?" It renders the game's story irrelevant to most of the audience. At worst it seems like a cheapo cash-in.
june gloom on 28/11/2009 at 19:53
I dunno. It depends on the game, definitely, but how about this- take a relatively minor character and flesh out his story?
To elaborate, say you have a game with a particularly rich world, like Deus Ex or Half-Life. HL2's creepy 1984/War of the Worlds in the crapsack remains of Ruritania has been pretty well fleshed out, given what we know of the real world plus what we've seen in the games. There's a lot more to it than what we see with Gordon, and the whole Resistance bit would be an excellent jumping off point. So, take the existing setting and center it around a Resistance member- or, just for the added twist, a Combine trooper doing a heel face turn (with a little help.)
And just to make it super fucking subversive, no Gordon whatsoever :sly:
NamelessPlayer on 29/11/2009 at 15:31
Quote Posted by dethtoll
I dunno. It depends on the game, definitely, but how about this- take a relatively minor character and flesh out
his story?
To elaborate, say you have a game with a particularly rich world, like Deus Ex or Half-Life. HL2's creepy 1984/War of the Worlds in the crapsack remains of Ruritania has been pretty well fleshed out, given what we know of the
real world plus what we've seen in the games. There's a lot more to it than what we see with Gordon, and the whole Resistance bit would be an
excellent jumping off point. So, take the existing setting and center it around a Resistance member- or, just for the added twist, a Combine trooper doing a heel face turn (with a little help.)
And just to make it super fucking subversive, no Gordon whatsoever :sly:
That's exactly what I was thinking, only with my own game concepts.
The only issue I had was deciding how the player character from the related game would tie in. I can't just throw him in there so he has a presence on the screen, but at the same time, his presence in the setting does shape a lot of events, only more indirectly in this perspective. (It's a vast place and the movie protagonists would likely be far apart from the game protagonist, perhaps with a few chance meetings here and there.)
henke on 30/11/2009 at 10:20
Quote Posted by Wormrat
What? Other than the occasional explosion or high fall, the stunt work in John Woo's movies is not particularly dangerous.
Alright, comparing em to Jackie Chan movies isn't fair. But my point still stands, not even John Woo can do John Woo movies anymore so it aint easy.
Tenkahubu on 30/11/2009 at 22:51
Guillermo del Toro could do a mini-series of Planescape:Torment?
The story's all there, just needs the visuals.
A film of Dead Rising would pretty much write itself too, there's 10x the material in the game than in the lacklustre 'Zombieland'. Of course it wouldn't exactly be an art film.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R would be difficult because the Tarkovsky film is nothing like the game, but it would be really hard to add freaky mutants to the mix without appearing tacky and dumb in comparison. It might be cool to make the film a slightly surreal and disjointed collection of the marked one's memories and dreams that are not necessarily in chronological order.
Vague glimpses of the horrors in the dark would capture the feeling you get when you first meet the various mutants (rather than the relative security that you have once you've learned their weaknesses). The whole fear of the unknown thing. I'm thinking Blair Witch but much better.
Some of the NPCs would need their personalities fleshed out a bit for the story. Perhaps during flashbacks of their time in Strelok's posse
I don't know if Clear Sky gives any more back story as I haven't played it.
june gloom on 30/11/2009 at 23:05
There really is no point in making a movie out of Stalker. I've always considered the Stalker games to be part of a larger "Stalker meme" that encompasses Roadside Picnic, the 1979 film, the people who still work in the Chernobyl zone, Robert Rich and Lustmord's dark ambient album Stalker, and so on. With that in mind, and with the possibility of a new Roadside Picnic movie with John Travolta (which seems to have gone into development hell where it belongs) do we really need a movie version of the game?
Tenkahubu on 1/12/2009 at 08:01
Probably not needed, but if film makers cottoned on to the current post-apocalypse trend STALKER would probably be near the top of their list of things to ruin.
Apart from the game - they did remake solaris, so I'd say it's possible.
It would be nice if it was in tune with the stuff you mentioned rather than an average action movie.
