AE:Trailer

General information

Soundtrack

HERE (MP3)

• First 50 seconds of Ambient Suite (the part that sounds redundant) for the mini-overview of Oni.
• No One Left To Trust for the actual Edition trailer.
• A few more seconds of Ambient Suite at the end (actually Ambient Suite was just muted throughout NOLTT)

geyser's draft

HERE (WMV, 640x480)

This draft (made primarily in Windows Movie Maker) will be updated with directions, placeholders and "final" scenes, focusing on timing and scene dynamics. Eventually this will become a placeholder for a higher-quality trailer, or it can be released on its own. For all the featured scenes I will provide either the footage or the binary "ingredients" used. Feel free to re-record and re-edit this at higher quality.

geyser 00:48, 28 July 2008 (CEST)

I can do video, but I still don't know if it will be good for something (who's making trailer? Is my (sucky) wmv quality good enough or not?) --Loser 11:19, 5 August 2008 (CEST)

The WMV format is good enough at least for the placeholder trailer I have in mind: I'll be piecing stuff together in WMM, with a focus on timing and scene dynamics; eventually, either the trailer will provide a guideline for a better-quality trailer, or it can be released on its own as a last resort: of course WMM's text and video effects suck, but its straightforward workflow sorta meets my needs. So, go ahead and upload footage in 640x480 WMV, it will be put to good use - if it's awesome enough ^_^ --geyser 19:57, 5 August 2008 (CEST)

There might be a problem with the FRAPS watermark. I encourage you to use Taksi to record the AVI (this implies further losses, but some codecs offer a decent compromise; see, e.g., Tracker's recommendations on the settings he used to record Oni On Time - which I later used in Serious Konoko). --geyser 19:57, 5 August 2008 (CEST)

Basic idea for the footage

Two sections: original Oni footage and Edition footage. There should be more than enough footage for the original Oni (e.g., ZDLO's Fighting School and stealth tactics, grenade jumping, parkouring, maybe snippets from Resurrection or a few anthological screenshots).

As for the Edition part, the basic idea is a sequence of feature highlights à la 1999 trailer, each highlight rather short, announced by similar-looking full-screen titles. Before and after the systematic highlights, there can be intense mixed-bag sections.

General advice

Nice-looking and varied locations are a plus (e.g., if you want to show new AI skills, don't do it all in the Warehouse).

Content doesn't necessary have to be in-game Oni (can be an external render or an editor view), as long as it looks good.

Animated video is not a must (e.g., an ultra-quick slideshow is fine). Varied viewing angles and camera effects welcome.

A very nice setting for fights are the foggy rooms in CHAPTER 11 . DREAM DIVER: the characters disturb the fog as they move, which is a feast for the eyes; plus, the rooms themselves have nice colors and shapes

An example...

...of the kind of dynamics and creativity I expect from the action sequences. HERE

A very nice example, geyser. Can I have that footage without the text, by the way? It's more than an example, it's actual video I can use.

I think you and I are on the same page as to how to make the trailer exciting, geyser. As long as our video-capturing helpers keep mixing things up and recording dynamic kinds of footage, we can have a great trailer. (If possible, I will record some things too, but for now I am focusing on putting out a draft using what I've got on hand.) --Iritscen 17:30, 12 August 2008 (CEST)

The video is nothing more than an example. It was recorded in lousy quality with the lousy example WMV in mind, keeping in mind that the car's texture is nowhere near final anyway, and that we might want to add headlight and taillight particles to the object as well. So it's nothing but a placeholder, and if a placeholder is all you need, heck, use the one with the text. The ingredients of the sequence are those I released on the DeLorean page; additionally, the camera was aligned to face 315° (with chr_facetoflag 0 63) and upwards, then placed on the sidewalk and moved forwards+right in manual camera mode 1 (no mouse control). The speed of the camera was set to gs_input_accel=1.5 --geyser 19:01, 12 August 2008 (CEST)

---

Intro

The intro sequence was done with this script, and an act-of-god to kill everybody at the start of the boss battle. The camera was turned slightly to the right so as to better capture the dead bodies. Recording was done with Taksi (Microsoft Video 1, rate of time compression at 1.0, compression level at 75), using Rossy's DLL for better hooking. Time inversion was done with Video Time Reversal. The text effects in WMM are rather primitive. Other notable problems are lag while recording (the open environment as well as the dish and Daodan particles make Oni use more CPU than usual) and the low detail of the dish particles.

geyser 00:48, 28 July 2008 (CEST)

---

Oni highlights

I have retrieved high-quality footage for THESE TWO YouTube videos: they cover pretty much all we want to show about Oni's original gameplay in 20 seconds. I'd only add a grenade jump to a watchtower in Chapter 14 and some parkour (either in Loser's warehouse - truck to crates to crane - or Storming-The-Rooftops style). Both nicicles (parkour and grenade jumping), however, would have to be recorded anew. As for the two aforementioned YT videos, they can be downloaded here: http://geyser.oni2.net/edition/trailer/oni

---

Upbeat part

This is for the NOLTT part, dedicated to Edition footage. Unmodded Oni footage goes in a separate section.

Mixed-bag

(spanning first "verse" and "chorus" of NOLTT, and maybe the last chorus as well)

massive OTA gameplay

(early on, to make people wonder: "multiplayer?")

I should have more than enough footage for this, assuming there are no technical issues with EdT's video when I get to it. So if someone's looking to help, move on, nothing to see here :-) but we do need help with the other items listed here. --Iritscen 00:02, 15 August 2008 (CEST)

jetpacking as Barabas

(don't forget to add the particle to the TRAM)

See: http://loser.oni2.net/Videos/Barabus_jetpack.wmv ;--EdT

That's OK, I guess... except for the boring camera angle all the way through. Maybe shoot some extra sequences where a flying-shooting Barabas is seen from a static point below, or with an orbiting camera... Also, are the required binary resources available anywhere? --geyser 13:11, 4 August 2008 (CEST)

Well, we do need the binary resources. Personally, I think that the few seconds where Barabus flies while shooting at the Striker is useable and if we're going to show half the stuff in this list, we only have a few seconds for each feature, so more footage is not needed. My concern is more a matter of video quality, because that footage is not going to cut it. So if I get the resources, I will record something myself at high quality. --Iritscen 14:45, 4 August 2008 (CEST)

HERE is alpha stage of jetpacking Barabus. Use at own risk (seriously, I don't know what it will do on your machine). Included also my version of Barabus's regeneration particles.

The compression is OK, and I totally encourage you (Loser) to provide further footage in this format: apart from Iritscen, no one will notice ^_^ As for quality over quantity - "that's what I'm talking about!" ... "A few seconds" are enough for two or three different cuts, but there's nothing awesome to pick from in this video: because of the aforementioned lack of camera variety, and also because the skyline of that location is rather dull (why is it cool to fly around some stupid-a$$ boxes? ). I'll try and suggest a better setting, complete with camera angles, after a quick look at your binaries (thanks). --geyser 16:42, 4 August 2008 (CEST)

A couple of place holding Jet packing videos: http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/Barabus_Jet.mov and http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/Barabus_Jet2.mov

sniper scope

(shooting remote targets from crouching or prone poses)

• videos and ingredients
• related talk

parkour and beyond

kangaroo and marypoppins cheats, dev mode teleportation and cam fun

alternative single-player

playing against the TCTF as Mukade or a comguy-ninja (Kojiro)...

Isn't this an original Oni feature, though? I think that a viewer will not understand what the trailer is saying if he sees this in the "Edition footage" section of the trailer. Plus, I've already put three or so "altenative single-player" clips into that original Oni footage section, so let's focus on recording video of the really, truly new stuff. --Iritscen 23:10, 14 August 2008 (CEST)

delocalized characters

(characters appearing where they don't belong: globalization, chr_location, etc)

Konoko on the rooftops: http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/KonokoRoof.mov EdT 04:49, 16 August 2008 (CEST)

Hm, the outfit is ugly and the camera going through the building is a no-no, but other than that it has promise ^_^ and a smooth-moving manual camera is definitely an improvement over "invisible midget Konoko running around". The rooftop you chose is somehow not very impressive; sometimes an ugly rooftop set against a good-looking background can be much better, see the ending frame HERE for example. Maybe you can set up a big brawl (Last Man Standing?) in some improbable place? Not this place, probably ^_^... not quite sure which one... maybe those Take Me Down sites - as long as the AI don't have too much space, they'll fight each other even without a pathfinding grid. I think it would look great if you fly into/over/by such a brawl, which would be visible from far away (unlike Konoko) because of the melee flashes. Note: you can make the camera fly faster by increasing gs_input_accel --geyser 05:43, 16 August 2008 (CEST)

This was more of a concept idea, I was hoping the background TV screen would be more visible. Since I can't use chr_location, I can't setup the brawl, maybe Paradox can do that. I just used the jetpack hack to get up on the roof. Will try to think of some more locations. EdT 05:58, 16 August 2008 (CEST)

Perhaps another placeholder with geyser's griffin: http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/griffin_out.mov

animated consoles

(those are easy to do, but easily overlooked by the viewer unless there's a lot of them side by side, which doesn't happen at all)

fighting doppelgänger Mukades

HERE is rar which contains scripts&files for doppelganger fight. Apply, then play rooftops, last savepoint. Good luck, take some footage and then try to defeat him, if you can ^_^. --Loser 11:19, 5 August 2008 (CEST)

Thanks for the doppelgänger stuff (please don't delete anything from your account unless alloc or I tell you to; broken links suck ^_^) --geyser 19:57, 5 August 2008 (CEST)

The WMV format is good enough at least for the placeholder trailer I have in mind: I'll be piecing stuff together in WMM, with a focus on timing and scene dynamics; eventually, either the trailer will provide a guideline for a better-quality trailer, or it can be released on its own as a last resort: of course WMM's text and video effects suck, but its straightforward workflow sorta meets my needs. So, go ahead and upload footage in 640x480 WMV, it will be put to good use if it's awesome enough (e.g., for Mukade, try and record a few seconds from a fixed camera). --geyser 19:57, 5 August 2008 (CEST)

There might be a problem with the FRAPS watermark. I encourage you to use Taksi to record the AVI (this implies further losses, but some codecs offer a decent compromise; see, e.g., Tracker's recommendations as for recording Oni On Time). --geyser 19:57, 5 August 2008 (CEST)

HERE is video of Doppelganger Mukade fight, I tried to make it so you can see him cloning+lots of teleportations. Surprisingly Mukade behaves quite as if he actually KNEW he has clones. After cloning process, he often cloaks himself and then he stays in range and only observes. Bastard ^_^. And fuel for funny scenes - HERE is what actually happened on its own, I was not "helping them" to kick my @$$, they did on their own with joy and I just stared in awe ^_^. --Loser 16:53, 9 August 2008 (CEST)

Erm, whatever happened to the video quality? "When we said sucky, we didn't mean that sucky..." Seriously, parkour.wmv looked much better than that. And why the fraps do the Mukades have some whitish texture without reflectivity? Is this supposed to look cool? Huh. The teleportations and pwnage will make nice placeholders though, thanks ^_^ While you're at it (covering Mukade), maybe you can show off some teleportation techniques (dev mode) playing as him. And don't forget the Mukade chasing you along (it actually looks good enough in the warehouse, for once, so just upload the footage you used for THIS video) --geyser 16:33, 12 August 2008 (CEST)

I tried to apply the mod and record it myself, but Mukade isn't cloning himself. He has the fast teleport now, but no clones. And I would really like whatever mod you applied, Loser, to get Mukade to follow you in the Warehouse, so I can record that at high-quality and without the watermark. --Iritscen 23:47, 14 August 2008 (CEST)

modded parkouring

See: http://loser.oni2.net/Videos/parkour.wmv --EdT

priceless moments

Konoko pointing the gun at the secretary in One Small Mistake

The entire cutscene: http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/TinyMistake.mov

ultra-quick "slideshows"

showing off all available character classes (since it's anecdotal you can also show Motoko and whoever), preferably in some nice place(s), with an orbiting camera

Is this what you had in mind? http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/AllChar.mov --EdT 02:42, 9 August 2008 (CEST)

It takes longer than I thought it would... We must take it down to 4 seconds or so by showing one ONCC for each ONCV: a red Fury with red hair, a blue one with a headband, etc. Another trick would be to show characters 3 by 3 (standing in a triangle, with their backs to the invisible player). Obviously, in both cases, you'd have to use scripts with chr_set_class (and in your case that means emulating the beta or the PC build). As yet another trick, random body sizes should be ruled out. Oh, and the location is rather dull, don't you think? There's not much for a scenery except for those (very) distant cars... That's a no-no. --geyser 03:12, 12 August 2008 (CEST)

Here's an alternative (5 seconds): (xvid compressed: 2 MB); (fraps raw: 56 MB)

If you tell where to find the white BGI guys I can record a new vid. Found it.

Is the location okay? Or should I place them into the glass hall? --Paradox-01 12:15, 12 August 2008 (CEST)

Yes, Dox, that's already much better: consider yourself in charge of this "hasta la victoria" ^_^ As for the locations, the lab is nicer than most levels because of the warm sunset colors, but there's much more to the world than the lab. The glass hall would probably have looked better, but there are a few nicer places in CHAPTER 07 . A FRIEND IN NEED, CHAPTER 11 . DREAM DIVER, etc; ideally, you'd avoid empty rectangular areas completely. Oh, and I don't know what's up with the white Spartans: who made them? they probably don't even have reflectivity? "my" BGI troops are black and that's it.

As for the ONCC lineup, your "random" succession actually looks just as good as systematic switching would (3 Strikers, then 3 Furies, etc), if not better, and the random character size is not much of a problem in that case. Maybe mix up the ONCCs even more, so that TCTF guys and "thugs" are not grouped together, but scattered among Strikers and Elites and Ninjas etc. I also recommend placing the 3 characters in a triangle and orbiting the empty space between them (just place the player below the ground, and use chr_nocollision and cm_height). If that's too much work (trigonometry...), you can use 4 characters arranged in a square.

If you're courageous, you can also try the following, more in line with my previous suggestion. Set all the random body sizes to 1 (in the ONCC) and use 3 characters: one for females, another for Comguy-like skeletons, and another for the taller Striker-like characters. Then time the ONCC changes so that each of the 3 characters explores its range of ONCC in 4 seconds or so. The advantage of this is that you can actually play animations seamlessly on the characters (walking, taunting, whatever), and since their body size is continuous, it will really look like they're "shapeshifting": like one character morphing from one appearance into the other, not characters replacing each other. See if you're interested in having it look that way.

geyser 16:03, 12 August 2008 (CEST)

No idea about the story behind the white (+ not reflective) BGI guys. Better ask Ed (they are on his oni name space).

empty rectangular areas I can only think about the dream diver's last room then. You have to remind me in more detail if you want other rooms. ^_^

set all random body sizes to 1 Done.

play animations seamlessly on the characters I haven't a detailed idea how they will be animated nor in what formation (triangle, sure?) they will be then but I will try to show you tomorrow new footage.

Paradox-01 19:12, 12 August 2008 (CEST)

"triangle, sure?" - not sure, see above. Square or line are easier to set up than an equilateral triangle, so stick with those if it looks nice already.

"if you want other rooms" - places with any environment particles or furniture close to where the characters are... + Omega Bunker + end of Chapter 7...

geyser 01:47, 13 August 2008 (CEST)

Sorry, it took longer than expected and omega bunker and power failed. The cam hits obstacles/walls because the animated characters needed a bigger cam radius. That means no particle and lab as location again. There I tried the triangle thing (cam rotates in centre) with a more randomized order. glasshall (fraps raw 64 MB)

Paradox-01 15:13, 14 August 2008 (CEST)

1) the URL is very wrong (but I was able to find the video anyway); 2) I don't have FRAPS installed right now (did you actually buy it, BTW?), so I can't view raw FRAPS footage; 3) I have no plans to install FRAPS right now, unless I decide it's worth buying, so maybe upload a compressed version, please, thanks. --geyser 16:43, 14 August 2008 (CEST)

Erm, and I don't buy the "camera hitting obstacles" excuse... maybe I don't know what the animated characters are about (for all I care combat stances or taunts were already OK, but maybe you've come up with something more awesome), but there are a lot of camera parameters you can tweak (cm_height and cm_canter_unarmed, but also gs_fov_set(whatever)). As for obstacles, you can usually shoot them down ^_^ --geyser 16:48, 14 August 2008 (CEST)

compressed vids -- scrap: omega; scrap: power room; simple and nice: glass hall

shooting the rooms My player soul tells me that it would look horrible wrong in the vid. Omega has a taste of it, and there still the not fading bullet cases... The movements begin nicely but ends asymmetric. So there was more than one reason to cancel this. There are still a lot other vids that need to be done, right? I don't wanted to waste time with experimenting.

About fraps: someone else bought it for me.. --Paradox-01 19:38, 14 August 2008 (CEST)

I can't view raw FRAPS footage. Hmm, I would really think there was a solution for that on the PC. Heck, I'm supposed to be able to play raw FRAPS on my Mac with free software (Perian + QT). It doesn't work only because of a bug in an underlying library. Oh well. I know 'dox was trying to help me out by providing extra high quality video, so I appreciate it. The link for the raw vid no longer works, btw, but I d/led the 3 compressed vids and I like glasshall the most, but the others are interesting too. The obstacles that flash past allow the characters to change "magically" while they are out of sight. That wasn't intentional on your part? Anyway, the quality is high enough to work with, so thanks. If only the footage I was working with last night was that good.

P.S.: What are you using in place of FRAPS, geyser? Taksi? --Iritscen 19:12, 14 August 2008 (CEST)

Yes, I've removed the raws. (Geyser and you can't use it, why keep it then?) --Paradox-01 19:38, 14 August 2008 (CEST)

Iritscen, the FRAPS codec is free, but also proprietary, so on PC you typically get it bundled with the FRAPS application. I don't know how your free Mac software is supposed to play it back. Yes, I use Taksi as a sensible substitute and no, I'm not quite happy with the results right now. The FRAPS recorder is very HDD-efficient, and for Taksi to perform nearly as well I need to find a good alternative codec first. I haven't yet tried to record FRAPS-like footage as a series of screenshots: the disk usage will be about the same (maybe even better than FRAPS once you ZIP the BMPs together or make a GIF), and lag will in theory be totally absent from the captured video, but if it lags too much, interactivity during the recording phase may be frustrating. I need to free up some disk space and do a test. --geyser 19:21, 16 August 2008 (CEST)

Well, there's no legal reason why some Program X can't read the file format of some Program Y, so I don't know why you are surprised that there's a solution for the Mac (we're the multimedia people, remember?). Apparently FRAPS ('FPS1' is the four-cc) is an mpeg implementation, so a Unix library called ffmpeg can (supposedly) play it, and so, of course, can programs that implement ffmpeg, like VLC and Perian (a QT plug-in). However, it seems that newer FRAPS videos catch a bug in ffmpeg, which may or may not be fixed soon. --Iritscen 23:03, 16 August 2008 (CEST)

Dox, you shouldn't use an invisible midget in plain sight: use a few extra commands to place the (non-clipping) player character below the floor, and compensate by increasing the height of the camera target. Also, I would place the characters much closer to each other (not back-to-back-to-back, but almost: as if they were part of a tight circle of six) - then you can bring the camera closer to them and avoid some obstacles and walls (right now, even in the "glass hall" there's a console streaking across the foreground at some point, which is not good). Also, don't forget to adjust cm_canter_unarmed in parallel with cm_height and the FOV: you actually have total control of how the characters are framed and what gets in the way of the camera. In the case of the power room, for example, note that the four pillars are actually pairs of "stalactites" and "stalagmites", with large gaps in between, intermittently filled by the "power" particles. You can obviously take advantage of this by making the camera orbit higher, looking down at the characters through those gaps: that way, there will never be anything solid hiding the characters and the only thing in the foreground will be some cool-looking particles that will add to the "magical" effect. If you want to push this "magical" idea to the limit, you can place the shapeshifting characters in the gaps (maybe orbit about only one then), on the scanning bed in Kerr's lab, in Shinatama's chair, in place of Zombie Shinatama, etc... You can also give up the idea of orbiting around a static point, and instead do an orbiting close-up on a single character that shapeshifts as it runs down a corridor, performs a cutscene animation or a Trinity Kick or whatever. The possibilities are limitless. Back to the Omega Bunker, you've obviously picked the wrong center (half of the time you're showing Griffin's very dull office, and the walls are narrow so the camera indeed runs into them very easily) - obviously the characters need to be placed at the center of the bunker, with Shinatama's pod lowered (it can be rising during the take, to add some dynamics), but with the hologram particles active. The symmetry of the room suggests to use 4 characters rather than 3, and as for the animations, in this case it's better if the characters don't move around too much: taunts or "idle specials" (yawning) are fine; you can bring the camera much closer that way. You can, of course, make the shapeshifting characters travel in some direction, but then it's better if they stay grouped, e.g., if they're running together down a corridor/catwalk/bridge. --geyser 19:21, 16 August 2008 (CEST)

I actually enjoyed the "magic" shapeshifting in the Omega Vault as one set of characters goes behind something and another set appears on the other side (it's less interesting to see the characters abruptly change out in the open). It wouldn't take Paradox much more effort, if he starts from the script he used in the Vault, to time it to do that magic trick consistently. The timing's almost there already. --Iritscen 23:03, 16 August 2008 (CEST)

So we are doing this record again? Now I get serious doubts that the trailer will be ready for 20/21th of august if I have to redo also Mukade's Doppelgänger and delocated Kononko. --Paradox-01 00:31, 17 August 2008 (CEST)

"I personally will have big-time real-life priorities during the next week or two, so I highly doubt we'll meet the deadline now. So, no hurry" -- geyser, from this page's Talk page

So that's not really our deadline now. In lieu of a fixed deadline, I consider the deadline to be ASAP. but not to the point that we kill ourselves with stress (or hurt ourselves with stress either ^_^). --Iritscen 01:18, 17 August 2008 (CEST)

Developer mode

• various debugging visuals (panels, lines, messages... the more, the better)
• runtime scripting in fast-motion (spawning AI, issuing weapons, etc)
• act of god (F6), shapeshifter, gunshifter (F7)
• manual camera in single step mode, e.g., orbiting a jumping character
• "teleportation": End, man-cam+End, Ctrl+Shift+U, and anim-freeze key
• ...

Weapons

• ultra quick slideshow of all available weapons (since it's anecdotal you can show Halo rips and swords and whatever), preferably in varied locations, with varied characters holding the guns, and of course camera angles that show the weapons advantageously... for example, you can record a full cm_orbit turn for every weapon/location and then those turns can be combined into a morphing series with the camera/body orientation of the body evolving seamlessly between scenes. As for the characters, maybe start with the 7 Konokos and then move on to different, possibly odd characters (possibility of comic relief)
• WMC Lite (grenade then ray, all while doing acrobatics)
• Telekinetic bracelet (dragging enemy around, blasting him away, preferably with some body movement, duh)
• Chaingun (in the hands of an enemy, please; otherwise it's boring; Ed's "too hard Oni" is actually quite good)
• microwave chaingun, bazooka, flame thrower... pending
• Chaingun Too: mini-cutscene with BGI troopers (Black Halo Spartans) mowing down Strikers and civilians

like this? http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/spartans1.mov EdT 02:06, 13 August 2008 (CEST)

Sorta. Could have looked better with civilians panicking and running for their lives, but the final moments of this one are fine. --geyser 02:24, 13 August 2008 (CEST)

Maybe take advantage of the aftermath of such scenes and shoot orbiting views of victorious Spartans standing over fallen foes. --geyser 02:24, 13 August 2008 (CEST)

Congratulations on the shotgun mesh, BTW. Do you like it better as a chaingun than the "silenced" one? Maybe try and use both? --geyser 02:24, 13 August 2008 (CEST)

Couple more spartan clips: Chain guns http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/spartans2.mov Plasma rifle: http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/spartans3.mov The silenced machine gun seems a bit small for the spartans. EdT 02:56, 15 August 2008 (CEST)

Thanks! Wow, I kinda feel bad for the Syndicate for once. You know what other existing weapon I'd really like to see video of? The telekinetic bracelet. That's working, right? If we had that footage, I think that this section, "Weapons", would be done enough for the trailer, although certainly as long as we have time before finishing the trailer we can see what can be done about bazookas, swords, etc. For now I am only thinking about the mods that are done and can be filmed, though. Ooh, and what about some footage of Konoko firing away at enemies with a shotgun? By all means, you can pass me what files you may have and I will help capture footage. I seem to be one of, oh, three people or so that can record video sans watermarks. --Iritscen 04:08, 15 August 2008 (CEST)

Here's all the weapons in a level plugin form. http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/NewWeapons.zip The telekinetic bracelet is already part of AE. Just scroll through the weapons and you'll find it. OniRULES Plasma Rifle is just too brutal, but it should make the Trailer look interesting! EdT 04:21, 15 August 2008 (CEST)

Yeah, we'll have to balance the weapons for gameplay at some point, but I have to say, the plasma rifle is a beautiful thing to behold. Look forward to trying these out soon. --Iritscen 04:30, 15 August 2008 (CEST)

The plasma rifle is not a beautiful thing to behold, because it's ripped from Halo and not even textured right. Badass Spartans are OK (but they'll definitely have to be portrayed fighting badass melee as a complement), but I have a feeling that we'll wear out our welcome with pretty much everybody if we show them wielding crappy weapons or, god forbid, further Halo rips. With some creativity, however, you can make it all right again in no time, and solve all of the major or minor concerns listed above. First, you can say goodbye to the Halo-ripped plasma rifle mesh, but you can keep the particle. It is brutal, yes, but no more than the chaingun (it's actually halfway between the microwave chaingun I had in mind and the laser Gumby has been working on), and definitely fits the death-squad profile of the BGI troops. As a mesh, you can use the Pallet (we'll just call this one a cameo, OK?), or you can use THIS ONE (a bit too high-poly, would need trimming), or you can use the silenced chaingun, aptly retextured so that the silencer becomes some sort of meta-magnetron generating this... I guess you won't call the chaingun mesh too small if it packs such a devastating power. As for the shotgun, I don't think much of it so far, but it's just futuristic enough so it's OK, and I guess it could be "onified" by adding some contrast and color to the texture... I suppose it will do fine as a placeholder for the time of the trailer anyway. Oh, and of course it looks more naturally as a shotgun than as a chaingun ^_^ Now, as for the "weapons" section being "done enough" - objection! let's see some actual camera work, first, not an invisible midget Konoko running around... or let's see the Spartans mow down some civilians or TCTF, with different weapons, in different places, preferably in epic numbers (One Small Mistake, anyone?)... I mean, has no one noticed the Russian video down there? that's how it's done. And as for "the time we have before finishing the trailer" - let's face it, we'll be lucky if we wrap it up by Christmas... but just having the potential to make a great trailer (by Christmas) is no little thing. So let's keep it up, it's looking good... nowhere near the real thing, but promising. --geyser 06:49, 16 August 2008 (CEST)

When I said it was "beautiful", I actually meant the particles more than anything, since I hadn't gotten much of a look at the weapon in use. But I totally agree that we need to move away from Halo rips and have mentioned this on the forum.

I also agree that we have a long way to do with the trailer. There are some things even in what's done so far that I don't like (the whole "original Oni" section needs to be reworked with some more variety in the footage, for instance). Hopefully this isn't a case of "Do Not Open 'Til Xmas", though, as I can see it getting done before that. Well, we'll see. --Iritscen 14:16, 16 August 2008 (CEST)

A demo with the assault-rifle-hugo weapon. I had to reduce the polygons a bit, it started with 2234 polygons and 1250 Vertices and its down to 1326 polygons and 796 Vertices. Even at this level, it causes Oni to crash from time to time. http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/w27_arh.mov EdT 06:33, 18 August 2008 (CEST)

Just a raw sample. It needs to be edited. There are 3 weapons, camera rotating around Konoko holding weapon and firing weapon. If this style is ok, I'll make more. http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/weapon1_3.mov

Another version, cycling through the weapons, again raw footage. http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/Allweapons1.mov

Thanks for the all-character shapeshifting movie above, Ed, it's quite useful. As far as the weapons movies are concerned, I think geyser and I wanted to see them being used in combat, by Konoko or even by the enemy. We'll only have a few moments to make an impression with each new weapon, so we want those moments to be exciting. geyser made some suggestions in this section, as to how to use the weapons, that maybe you can try, if you have the time. Thanks for all your work so far! --Iritscen 23:27, 11 August 2008 (CEST)

Here Ed was primarily responding to the weapon-kaleidoscope idea (those lengthy orbits would be smashed into one, lasting about 1 second for every 4 weapons), but regrettably the locations for the orbiting views of the first 2 guns are drop-dead dull. As for showing off the exact operating mode of the weapons: 1) the weapon must be shown from anywhere but back or 3/4 back view - either head-on or in profile or in 3/4 front; 2) only the new weapons need to be shown (unless we're highlighting dodging and such); 3) this should take place in the nicest locations we can find; 4) possibly the guns should be wielded by new characters (e.g., BGI handguns would be operated by BGI execs, machineguns and WMC Lites - by Spartans, etc); 5) all that should ideally be staged as small cutscenes from scratch, or (if you're lazy) by giving new guns to some AI in the original logic and trying to play through those parts. A trailer is supposed to show ingame action, dammit. Otherwise we will come across as, well, lazy and uncreative; and that's about the last thing we want to come across as. Oh well, I guess I'll have to offer more ingredients and guidance... --geyser 03:37, 12 August 2008 (CEST)

An example of the kind of action scenes that could showcase new characters and weapons (go HERE and click on the nice button center-top that says "скачать"). Picking fragments from such scenes (a second here, another there) can also make fine contributions to the "mixed bag" section. --geyser 01:55, 13 August 2008 (CEST)

Collision effects

• wall collision? maybe... nice comic relief with the pillar in the TCTF HQ parking lot; one scene is enough
• combos and throws breaking glass? definitely; one of each, please, with varied locations and player characters
• lass shards dealing damage - not sure how dramatic the effect can be; beef up the damage, kill a whole crowd?
  • probably not characters sliding down stairs or through windows, unless it accidentally looks good ^_^
• ...

Combat logic

• brutal Striker (possibly with other ONCC) pwning Konoko (e.g., tackling her, back-kicking her as she's preparing for a backbreaker, etc)
• brutal Konoko (possibly with other ONCC) pwning the player (e.g., block-circle-backbreak, but ***pleeeeeeease***, not in the Warehouse!)
• dodging fire spreads and projectiles (preferably in a realistic-looking situation, e.g., CHAPTER 05 . HOT PURSUIT SP1)
• dodging grenades or Screamers: e.g., in the atrium of CHAPTER 09 . TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES for best results (the closer to the origin, the better)
• ...

Alarm logic

(I'm not sure this can be visually stunning and NOLTT-friendly... depends a lot on the setting)

• "butt-touching sensor" ***pleeeeeeease***, not in the Warehouse!

Don't worry, as this won't be in trailer (my opinion). REASON: You can't recognize it, in video it looks like you made some noise, not like you touched enemy. Leave this for in-game experience ^_^ --Loser

This could still look "OK" as a short cut in series with other alarm stuff. In side view, for example, the contact will be more obvious (see? varied camera angles are your friends...) --geyser 16:42, 4 August 2008 (CEST)

I agree, a side angle will show the butt-touching better. In fact, because it can be shown in only a couple or a few seconds, this is more trailer-compatible than the calling-for-backup feature, which takes a little while longer to show (a simple edit or two, though, will help get the concept across in only a few seconds). So, yeah, a simple shot of Konoko touching a guy and alerting him would be good. The best possible shot (this falls under the category of "If you have the time to set up something complicated") is one where Konoko alerts a guy out in an open area, and there's another enemy in the distance in that side-angle shot pacing away so that he can't see Konoko. When the alerted guy starts fighting Konoko, the farther guy (who can't be too far away) hears the fight, turns around and heads towards them. But ultimately, that's just icing on the cake, anything is fine for now. --Iritscen 17:22, 12 August 2008 (CEST)

• "dead comrade" please make the patrol discover the corpse around a corner (for a more credible "surprise"), preferably showing the player on-screen (hidden from the patrol, but visible to the camera) for a better effect

HERE is what I gave to Iritscen, OUP format. Scene is in TCTF building, copfem discovers guy you killed in room behind doors near her patrol path (you have to kill him manually ^_-), she observes for a while then calls backup.

I've read that but haven't tested it yet. "Observes for a while" doesn't sound good. The trailer is upbeat, so the fewer pauses, the better. If there are two patrolmen, one can scan the surroundings while the other runs/calls for backup right away (see below). And what's that crap with having to kill guys manually? ^_^ --geyser 16:42, 4 August 2008 (CEST)

VIDEO of my dead comrade alarm scene --Loser 16:53, 9 August 2008 (CEST)

• "dead comrade too" make one of the patrol guys run away (call for backup, sound alarm, whatever) while the other one guards the dead body
• AI stopping to fight off the player shortly before reaching an alarm console, then resuming the run once the player is stunned (the bastard has a VDG, of course)
• group of AI noticing you after you engage one of its members (even if they can't see each other; again the camera work is essential)
• large group of ninja (supposedly alerted) surrounding and overwhelming the player

I'm going to go ahead and say that the only video we need now is of someone feeling Konoko behind them as she sneaks up. I have Loser's dead-comrade-alarm vid and have incorporated it into the trailer draft, and the rest here is not going to add a lot more substantive value to the trailer, aside from the afore-mentioned feature. Better to focus on other AE features first, at least, then look at this section's list again. --Iritscen 00:06, 15 August 2008 (CEST)

Modding tools

• OniBrowser and AE Tools capture (show texture/geometry preview for OniBrowser)
• View of levels, characters and weapons in XSI/Cheetah/Blender (for characters and weapons, show a texture editor panel)
• View of new weapons, vehicles and level parts in those editors (keep the view panning or rotating while you capture)
• ...

New content

• DeLorean (ideally a moving shot: be creative and use the OBAN available at the airport or at the TCTF HQ)

A few clips from Lab, Airport, and TCTF: http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/delorean.mov --EdT

Cool, thanks Ed! This is another video I was going to have a hard time recording. Anyway, I was only going to have a quick shot of the DeLorean (especially because geyser is talking about the texture not being final), so I am sure I will be able to use one of the shots you provided. --Iritscen 18:32, 15 August 2008 (CEST)

My "drive-by" example is actually the optimal way to "reveal" the DeLorean: "new content" driving out of the lab, in our face, and away - that's more of a surprise than if we can see the car all along. Also note that smooth camera movement (linear motion of manual camera, or cm_orbiting around a well-concealed player) looks way cooler than a "hand-held camera"... I think. Like I said on the DeLorean page, we probably shouldn't use the TCTF HQ scene with the DeLorean (except maybe the start of it, which Ed didn't record). That's where I wanted to use the Steambo below. The DeLorean is not owned by the kind of people who'd drive it across the sidewalk and ram it into a glass wall. BTW, I suppose I ought to release those people at some point: probably they can/will be used in a scene together with the DeLorean.

• "Carmaggeddonish" SteamBo (basically a replacement for the van that breaks into the TCTF HQ's lobby.

Did you save the Steambo model? I noticed that its not on Turbosquid anymore. EdT 06:52, 16 August 2008 (CEST)

I do have a backup, but I'm pretty sure you can still get it on TS: http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/271119 --geyser 07:00, 16 August 2008 (CEST)

Sorry, I did a search on steambo and then camageddon and nothing came up. EdT 15:57, 16 August 2008 (CEST)

Crashing steambo: http://edt.oni2.net/AE_Files/steambo.mov EdT 01:13, 17 August 2008 (CEST)

Oh, awesome! Thanks, Ed, I love it. --Iritscen 01:20, 17 August 2008 (CEST)

It wasn't hard, I took the OBAN geyser made for the delorean, put them in level8 folder, imported the steambo to level8, edited the cutscene to show only the steambo. But it only works for that brief scene. The van re-appears with the strikers right after that scene EdT 06:53, 17 August 2008 (CEST)

As far as I can see, you didn't use the animated wheels (admittedly, the glass makes this hard to notice, and then the car heads towards the camera). Considering the "caliber" of the damage, maybe the car needs to be made bigger (it will be bigger anyway if you match the spacing of the wheel OBANs), and in any case the blades at the front should be replaced with something more consistent with the damage, like a huge plough/ram. Another thing to change is the color (I'd rotate the color map to make it blue or green or whatever; however, you'll have to make clever use of masks to avoid messing up the rust). Maybe an even more creative retexturing will be needed so that it looks less like a battered Countach and more like a Countach-inspired tank (think Tumbler). And also, of course, the "Soviet Russian" steam engine needs to be adapted as a fuel/nitro reservoir, rocket or bomb. A rocket would have unignorable particle trails and would also justify the impressive damage. Just as a FYI, I intended to have the Countach explode, so as to let the van with the troops drive through the breach, leaving the static level geometry unchanged: I am not yet sure what form this would eventually take, but for the trailer it won't matter. Maybe we could tape explosives (à la mad bomber) all over the car's body, to make it clearly identifiable as a suicide car - but in that case why wouldn't it explode on impact? Tricky dilemma. Maybe the rocket+ram is the best solution for the trailer. --geyser 13:13, 18 August 2008 (CEST)

Dilemma? --Dox

Yeah. The problem is that if the Countach explodes without a trace (except for some decals and debris, maybe), then there's no clear reason why any part of the curtain wall should remain standing, or at least why it should remain twisted inwards. If the car travels far inside the lobby before exploding, that could look OK, but eventually I think the only decent-looking way will be to keep the car, as a burning wreck. Sadly, this would need some good modeling/texturing/animating work, so that's not about to happen. This doesn't change the trailer scene anyway: the Countach should be larger, meaner, and with some kind of ramming device instead of the blades... Hmmmmmmmm... Maybe the Countach could be pushing the van around? too weird? I hope that doesn't mean I'm running out of inspiration... ^_^ --geyser 03:54, 19 August 2008 (CEST)

• weapons again
• HD Griffin (e.g. in a CHAPTER 14 . DAWN OF THE CHRYSALIS, with a manual cam closeup on his arrival in the helicopter)
• textures (coool's Konoko texture will do fine here, but only as comic relief, admittedly)

Hrm, I think coool's Mukade-outfit for Konoko is quite remarkable, as is Muro's Mukade outfit... --Iritscen 00:08, 15 August 2008 (CEST)

I haven't seen those, hrm, outfits (avoiding OCF, remember?). Or maybe I HAVE? O_o --geyser 06:03, 16 August 2008 (CEST)

• level part candidates (turbosquid and Daz3D stuff that I haven't been talking about much)
• ...

Consolidated plot

• black Strikers (aka Muro's pets): a good spot is at the end of CHAPTER 07 . A FRIEND IN NEED
• Comguy ninja (maybe just a few of those in a combat stance), Kojiro facing Mai...
• Casey (challenging Konoko in the training course, or fighting alongside her; the CHAPTER 02 . ENGINES OF EVIL intro is a good setting to introduce him)
• BGI troopers (black Halo Spartans with phase cloaks, heavy weaponry and electric melee)
• BGI executives (men in black; trivially retextured male scientists; weird eyes optional)
• DeLorean again? ^_^ (I even have a BGI HQ building... maybe worth an editor shot of two)
• a horde of Screamers homing in on Mai (e.g., in Hasegawa's room)
• Iron Demon (the best we can do is editor shots of either model, preferably the Walker)
• ...