test content
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc

The Case for (Short) Cinematics

SystemSystem Member, NoReporting Posts: 178,019 Arc User
Dstahl made a comment awhile back that true cinematics would take as long to develop as missions.

And for a long time, I was enamored of the kind of cinematic we saw with Warcraft's "Wrathgate" event, a five minute or so cinematic made with in-game art assets coupled with voiceover and lipsynch.

But I had some friends get me Cataclysm for Christmas and, playing through, I've found that they (pretty wisely) have made use of the shorter type of cinematic in WoW lately. It's typically just a five or ten second deal with a loadscreen on either end (typically, at least, and limited use of voiceover) but I think it really works in part due to brevity and in part because it looks less goofy for scripted events and NPC behavior to see intelligent use of camera to frame certain events.

It's not the end all be all of splashy cinematics. It's basically just the use of an event in-game with camera work to highlight a bit of action.

I know there's talk of letting us make this kind of thing in The Foundry eventually.

I think it could work very well in STO. And there are certain things that just wouldn't easily fit in-game any other way like rocking bridges with swaying crew and sparks flying from the consoles. Or more involved diplomatic missions. Things that are undeniably Trek but which rely on a quick dash of cinematic perspective.
Post edited by Unknown User on
«1

Comments

  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    I'm not sure what your point is, but if it's to ask that developer time be spent on developing cinematics I'd say the game is in nowhere nearly good enough state to take the devs off far more critical requirements.

    That said, if they can be produced by the players with the Foundry tools (and allow for an option on whether to download them or not when attempting missions), then I'd be all for that.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Signed for the fun of it. We need this.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Being able to generate custom cinematics in the Foundry that use each individuals characters and ships would hit the ball out of the park...

    With the existence of Demo Record already in-game I can see how this would function very well and take immersion to a whole new level... while it might take some time to generate the cinematics on each players machines for them after selecting a mission to play I don't see waiting a minute or two or 5 too much to wait if the result blew my doors off...

    Players with performance or bandwidth troubles could turn the feature off if needed.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Well, like I say, I think 3-4 minute cinematics would be a waste and might get old fast.

    But some spaced out 10-15 second ones, nothing fancy, would give the game context and a more "Trek" feel. Just one per episode, even if they just added it in the weekly "Remastered" episodes they've mentioned as a fill-in between Featured series.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Yes, I was thinking about very short segments used during map changes... maybe 15 seconds or so each maybe up to 3 or 4 in a long mission... it could be awesome if done well...

    Imagine a short cinematic with a bridge interior shot of explosions and chaos alla Kobiyashi Maru...

    Or pretty much anything an author could come up with, but they use the individual players assets inside the generated scene.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    I am sure I heard that there might be cinematics in the next feature series...?

    Or maybe it was something else. It seems like they keep saying that the next series will have amazing stuff. It might have been voiceovers... I can't remember.

    Did you notice they added a cinematic to the Tutorial? When you beam over to the Khitomer, they now do a flyover of the shuttle bay with crew fighting the Borg. That battle was always there, but you could only see it through the window.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    I agree, adding short 10 second cinimatics and even brief animations would spice things up.

    For instance, In time travel episodes they can have visualization of going through rifts.

    The Iconians making their appearance more "whoa".

    The encounter with the Borgified Mogai, it's decloaking.

    And even the encounter with the Doomsday Machine in giving it more of an ominous appearance than seeing it ahead of time like you do now.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Your short cinematic idea got me thinking. Why not spice up the loading screens with some animation? The captain entering the bridge or the ship traveling through Warp, for instance. It might make things a bit more immersive than what we currently have.

    And I agree about WoW's cinematics. Wrathgate was one of the biggest moments of WOTLK for me. I saw the end of ICC on Youtube and was blown away by that one, as well.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    This is something we are already implementing :)

    Short cutsceens have been something we have always wanted to do, but our tools were somewhat painful to use. The tools have been updated recently for other projects, making them much easier to use. We are taking advantage of the new tools and adding cutsceens in new content.

    At the moment we are also going back to older missions and "Remastering" them. You're going to be hearing more about "Remastered Episodes" in the very near future, but one of the things that gets added during the process is short cutsceens.

    Goz
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    You sir, are now diamonds.

    I've always loved the flare cinematic add and this is good news!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    I really like the new cinematic runabout flyby in the updated tutorial. I rolled a new character this last week, and noticed it. New to me, maybe in there since the Season 3 update?

    I can't wait for more!
    -Chris
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    At the moment we are also going back to older missions and "Remastering" them. You're going to be hearing more about "Remastered Episodes" in the very near future, but one of the things that gets added during the process is short cutsceens.

    The above quote is just pure win. It would make me want to replay through every single "Remastered Episode" once this goes live just to see the additional cutscenes.

    Now, about the animated load-screens...any word on if we might see something like that somewhere down the road?
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    This is something we are already implementing :)

    Short cutsceens have been something we have always wanted to do, but our tools were somewhat painful to use. The tools have been updated recently for other projects, making them much easier to use. We are taking advantage of the new tools and adding cutsceens in new content.

    At the moment we are also going back to older missions and "Remastering" them. You're going to be hearing more about "Remastered Episodes" in the very near future, but one of the things that gets added during the process is short cutsceens.

    Goz

    i love it. sounds cool. the cut scene in the tutorial is quite nice (although no sound?)

    so i support this idea.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    In before the "are they going to be remastered with a 3d version"?
    Please don't.
    Really good to hear otherwise.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Staran wrote: »
    In before the "are they going to be remastered with a 3d version"?
    Please don't.
    Really good to hear otherwise.

    Nah. They'll be given the Star Wars treatment. For those who don't know, look up Star Wars Special Edition. HAN SHOT FIRST!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Galactrix wrote: »
    I am sure I heard that there might be cinematics in the next feature series...?

    Or maybe it was something else. It seems like they keep saying that the next series will have amazing stuff. It might have been voiceovers... I can't remember.

    Did you notice they added a cinematic to the Tutorial? When you beam over to the Khitomer, they now do a flyover of the shuttle bay with crew fighting the Borg. That battle was always there, but you could only see it through the window.

    I totally forgot about this but I did see it and this is exactly what I'm talking about. You can get just a hare fancier with it but it's the sort of thing I do think adds polish. And for some reason, even a few NPC emotes and a close-up looks better than nothing.

    One thing I do like in WoW after seeing several times is either scripted failures (ie. you get sent to kill 5 enemies and the 5th one is unkillable) or events where you get surrounded.

    So, for example, we'd walk up to a console, our crew would draw phasers as we're surrounded by enemies in a circle. Lead enemy claims he has our ship surrounded and will spare them if we surrender. Cue blackout. We wake up in an enemy brig.

    Or we're surrounded by enemy ships and suddenly an ally decloaks, surrounding them. Cut to our bridge. Allied commander appears onscreen and invites us to dinner aboard his ship. We can run around our ship gathering intell or go straight to the transporter room and beam over to our ally's ship.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Your short cinematic idea got me thinking. Why not spice up the loading screens with some animation? The captain entering the bridge or the ship traveling through Warp, for instance. It might make things a bit more immersive than what we currently have.

    And I agree about WoW's cinematics. Wrathgate was one of the biggest moments of WOTLK for me. I saw the end of ICC on Youtube and was blown away by that one, as well.

    Y'Know, one thing that has oiccured to me before... Press U. Look at your crew. You get a quick pre-rendered shot of them in a stock pose.

    If not actual animations, I'd think the game could create a quick set of pre-rendered screens for loadscreens.

    Think of it this way: add some tech to the tailor window so that when you exit, about ten pre-rendered screenshots are generated of you and your crew in various stock poses against pre-rendered backdrops. Suddenly, the loadscreens are of you and your crew and are relevant to different kinds of activity.

    Or maybe the first time you login every day.

    It could even dump them into a folder on our computer for screenshots toi be used in loadscreens.

    Just stock poses, quality renders of characters against pre-rendered backgrounds with a stock STO border/watermarking added.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    This is something we are already implementing :)

    Short cutsceens have been something we have always wanted to do, but our tools were somewhat painful to use. The tools have been updated recently for other projects, making them much easier to use. We are taking advantage of the new tools and adding cutsceens in new content.

    At the moment we are also going back to older missions and "Remastering" them. You're going to be hearing more about "Remastered Episodes" in the very near future, but one of the things that gets added during the process is short cutsceens.

    Goz

    Very cool!!
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Staran wrote: »
    In before the "are they going to be remastered with a 3d version"?
    Please don't.
    Really good to hear otherwise.

    uhhh... why would people ask for something that's already a built-in feature supported by the engine?

    Anyways, i'm a big fan of cutscenes. Even just a quick fly over here and a nice pan there would be sweet in showcasing the beautiful worlds and it's inhabitants that Cryptic has created.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Y'Know, one thing that has oiccured to me before... Press U. Look at your crew. You get a quick pre-rendered shot of them in a stock pose.

    If not actual animations, I'd think the game could create a quick set of pre-rendered screens for loadscreens.

    Think of it this way: add some tech to the tailor window so that when you exit, about ten pre-rendered screenshots are generated of you and your crew in various stock poses against pre-rendered backdrops. Suddenly, the loadscreens are of you and your crew and are relevant to different kinds of activity.

    Or maybe the first time you login every day.

    It could even dump them into a folder on our computer for screenshots toi be used in loadscreens.

    Just stock poses, quality renders of characters against pre-rendered backgrounds with a stock STO border/watermarking added.

    That wouldn't be a bad idea. While not quite the animation that I had in mind, at least we would be a "personalization" of sorts when going from one instance to another.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    That wouldn't be a bad idea. While not quite the animation that I had in mind, at least we would be a "personalization" of sorts when going from one instance to another.

    Done well, I could see it being sortof like the TOS closing credits but a bit more relevant.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    This is something we are already implementing :)

    Short cutsceens have been something we have always wanted to do, but our tools were somewhat painful to use. The tools have been updated recently for other projects, making them much easier to use. We are taking advantage of the new tools and adding cutsceens in new content.

    At the moment we are also going back to older missions and "Remastering" them. You're going to be hearing more about "Remastered Episodes" in the very near future, but one of the things that gets added during the process is short cutsceens.

    Goz

    OOooooohhh heck yes!

    Does this meant he next series will have them? I hope so. :D
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Short cutscences are great and it brings me back to a classic game which played and i have a suggestion. FF7/8. Those games were masterpeices no argument there but one special thing that STO can take away is that neither of those games had voiceover cutscenes not until FF10 anyways. Yet the player could watch dialouge and select responses and such while still controlling the character. Just an idea
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    I've often said that I think the model for future MMOs should be things like Kingdom Hearts... Just avoid the levels that are 3/4ths cutscenes. KH is a stripped down and more arcade version of the classic FF games.

    Heck, I think if you made the ground combat a hare less spastic, it would be a great model for STO, particularly with making ground BOs more engaging. (And the idea of "guest star" BOs similar to KH's world specific helpers is something I've been advocating.)
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    also id take away some of the mobs that you have to kill, sometimes 6, 5 seriously why so many. that and space as well. When you combine the dailies together you have to spend about 3-4 hours gametime of doign the same thing which frankly some may have better things to do. On ground i just click a target and let my boffs do the work which is OK since they can kill a mob less than a minute usually. Basically shorter more engaging not 5-6 of the same thing
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    This is something we are already implementing :)

    Short cutsceens have been something we have always wanted to do, but our tools were somewhat painful to use. The tools have been updated recently for other projects, making them much easier to use. We are taking advantage of the new tools and adding cutsceens in new content.

    At the moment we are also going back to older missions and "Remastering" them. You're going to be hearing more about "Remastered Episodes" in the very near future, but one of the things that gets added during the process is short cutsceens.

    Goz

    Very Cool! I hope you guys make it similar to City of Heroes cutscenes where the scene will show you in it if you're in the right spot. Not to mention obligatory cutscene spamming! :D
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    One thing I don't want to see is a cutscene during combat. As a old time player of Starlancer, It got annoying when you lined up with a target, only to have a cutscene switch in and leave you disorientated so you lost your target. I know combat here is not as fast paced as Starlancer but it often takes several seconds to re-orientate afterwards.

    If cutscenes are implemented, I would like to see a toggle to enable players to switch them off if they wish. I personally find it annoying to see the same cutscene over and over, every time you perform a certain action, the minigame for anomolies is bad enough. Things like Picards "Make it so" in the series got a bit boring after the first twenty times, it made me wish he'd say something like "Punch it" or some other order instead of the same one all the time. I don't want to see the same boring quotes in this game every time you finish a mission or whatever.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    This is great news. It's sounds like the eventually want to put these camera tools on the foundry, which I think is one of the long term goals. It would be epic.
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    It would be great if the old content could get the new "Television Style" intro titles. It's one of the gaps between the old and new content that hits you like a brick. :)

    ---
  • Archived PostArchived Post Member Posts: 2,264,498 Arc User
    edited January 2011
    Nevermind, addressed in another thread.
Sign In or Register to comment.