Memo to self:

[camwyn]

Terry Pratchett said this about the first Tomb Raider movie:

"After watching this, in mounting aghastment, I've now realized why it's so bad. It's because it's good. Unfortunately, what it's good at is being a movie of a computer game. If you've played your way through the TR games you'll realize that. The atmosphere of the locations, the way Lara runs and fires, the traps ... someone sat through all the games, taking notes. It's truer to the feel of the games than most novel-based movies are to the original novel. Time and care was spent on that. Then, since the games have no characterization, or any plot much above the level of "get all the bits", they pasted together an inconsistent load of old garbage in twenty minutes and hoped the SFX would carry it. They don't."

If people with a movie studio budget cannot simultaneously tell an excellent, developing story and give the audience an immersive video game experience, neither can you. When writing gamefic- of whatever kind- you are doing a translation. Part of that translation is making it meet the expectations of the target genre. No matter how much fun you had playing the video game, even the parts where you sat there screaming about how the space aliens from another dimension had greater OSHA compliance in their factories than the humans did, what makes for good gameplay doesn't necessarily make for good story. Cut the gameplay, cut it hard- but make sure the story elements remain, and that they work.

Remember Tomb Raider. Don't be the Tomb Raider production crew.

thenk yew.

Comments

[charliesmum.livejournal.com]

Where is that Pratchett quote from?

Aptly put - both him and you. I remember when Charlie was into this Nintendo 64 game called Banjo Kazooie, I actually found fanfiction on it, and it was just horrible, because it really, really just doesn't translate well.

[camwyn]

I found it in the tvtropes entry Video Game Movies Suck. I'm keeping it in front of my eyes as I write for Gordon Freeman at Milliways; there are huge chunks of Half-Life that are there to entertain the player for long stretches, but that just wouldn't work at all in story format.

[lienne.livejournal.com]

As a reader who's never played the game, I have to say a) I'm enjoying his OOMs immensely so far and b) I also got a hell of a lot out of your game writeup posts. So if you take a good look at those when you're composing the appropriate OOMs-- and I have no doubt that you will-- you should be pretty much set.

[blackswanevent.livejournal.com]

Terry Prachett, you are missed.

Brilliant, and true. But maintaining that balance is difficult. Silent Hill solved the problem (IMHO) but for every silent hill there are three RESIDENT EVIL MOVIES.

which I have no objection to as FILMS but they could have done well as stand alone zombie FILMS and not GAME FILMS since the ONLY THING the characters shared in COMMON WITH THE GAME was THEIR NAMES.

but I'm not bitter. Of course.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

Point of information: he's not dead.

[valles-uf.livejournal.com]

I just had a thought for a song that might fit in very well with your use of lyrics in acts_of_gord's canon posts. (and, btw, yay Zevon!)

Lyle Lovett - Lungs

Well won't you lend your lungs to me
Mine are collapsing
Plant my feet and bitterly breathe
Up the time that's passing
And breath I'll take and breath I'll give
And pray the day's not poison
Stand among the ones that live
In lonely indecision

Fingers walk the darkness down
Mind is on the midnight
Gather up the gold you've found
You fool it's only moonlight
And if you try to take it home
Your hands will turn to butter
You better leave this dream alone
Try to find another

Salvation sat and crossed herself
Called the devil partner
Wisdom burned upon a shelf
Who'll kill the raging cancer
Seal the river at its mouth
Take the water prisoner
Fill the sky with screams and cries
Bathe in fiery answers

Jesus was an only son
And love his only concept
Strangers cry in foreign tongues
And dirty up the doorstep
And I for one and you for two
Ain't got the time for outside
Just keep your injured looks to you
We'll tell the world that we tried

...the last couple of verses put me very much in mind of your post about Gordon's state of mind circa the Reactor Core bit. Sample and mp3 purchase option are possible via the magic of Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Step-Inside-This-House/dp/B000VZ5SBA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1209697932&sr=8-1)

[camwyn]

Ooooh. Nice one. I'll have to download that and play it a couple of times, see how I like it and if I can work it in.

I'm thinking the next OOM is going to be somewhere in We've Got Hostiles, BTW. With some flashbacks to the dialogue in the Office Complex level, to establish expectations about the incoming military- and to include a G-man sighting or two- but overall I think the next really important part is going to be We've Got Hostiles. The lyrics there are probably going to be from "You Know My Name", because if ever there was a moment in this game for arm yourself because no one else here will save you, the first soldier encounter is it.

[valles-uf.livejournal.com]

Another brainstorm about a long-standing favorite of mine that my Dad used to sing... It's not near as pretty a song, but played right I think it would be a very visceral 'ow' moment.

Nihilanth is supposed to be a massively powerful psion, right? To be intelligent.

Wouldn't a being like that try to talk a sensible, rational opponent (like, say, our own beloved Doctor Freeman) around to its point of view?

And what would having to turn that down do to Gordon's peace of mind?

I been thinkin' lately 'bout the people I meet
The carwash on the corner and the hole in the street
The way my ankles hurt and the shoes on my feet
And I'm wonderin' if I'm gonna see tomorrow

Father, forgive us, for what we must do
You forgive us and we'll forgive you
We'll all forgive each other 'till we both turn blue
Whistle and go fishin' in Heaven
Fish and whistle, whistle and fish
Gonna eat everything that they put on your dish
And when we get through, we'll make a big wish
That we never have to do this again...

[camwyn]

My best guess is that the growly incomprehensible stuff you hear at the start of different areas of Xen is being projected by the Nihilanth and is meant to influence Gordon's mind, rather like the god Torak was projecting all kinds of images and half-heard promises to Garion towards the tail end of the Eddings book Enchanter's End Game in an effort to get Garion not to show up and kill him. I've seen the transcripts of the things it's saying. I've been considering trying to do something like that when I get around to writing up Interloper. Because, really, if it could do that, it would.

(And part of me wonders just what some of the dead Lambda Team members actually died of. They're lying there with health packs and batteries around them. Unless it was a broken neck, I sort of wonder if they didn't get psychically talked into giving up- or at least distracted for long enough for one of the Nihilanth's slaves to kill them before they could use anything.)

[ymfaery]

I wonder if this would apply to the Dungeon Siege movie? Because quite honestly, when I heard about it, my reaction was "...how the HELL can you make a movie out of DUNGEON SIEGE!?!?" (Disclaimer: haven't seen it yet, and really feel no urge to.)

[camwyn]

First, be Uwe Boll. Second, live in a country where there are tax shelters for movies that do horribly.

... I don't know that I need to go any further than that.

[ymfaery]

First, DO NOT WANT. D:

Second, huh, I didn't realize tax shelters like that exist. Interesting concept, Germany. But I thought I read somewhere that particular tax shelter is no longer available? Not in time to stop the Dungeon Siege movie, obviously, but still.