In this episode, we discuss an account of an historic battle, which is commemorated annually on the 17th of Ramadan across all Muslim countries: the Battle of Badr 624AD. The film has been created by the Bellum et Historia channel, released on 16 November 2024, and made in Total War Atilla and other games, using various mods. These are, however, a little hazy because the creator has chosen not to reveal the creative process, making full attribution of assets used quite a challenge to fully appreciate, not least how the game technology was used in the creative process. Nonetheless, we talk about the film's methods of creative expression, the role of the tools and the ways in which these game environments can be especially useful for this kind of storytelling.

0:40 Introduction by Phil
8:22 Damien's evaluation of the tools
16:33 Tracy's observations on the tools used and creative processes, the role of games in understanding historic events

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

Our monthly roundup of all things we enjoy about this crazy world of machinima.

Key discussion items -
Machinima and virtual production updates
AI-generated content and tools
Video game trailers and announcements
Character creation software developments
AI music generation and legal considerations
Creative video game content creation techniques

0:01:21 - AFK Season Three Star Wars parody discussion ⁨@EpicallyCasual⁩
0:04:36 - GTA VI trailer speculation ⁨@RockstarGames⁩ ⁨@RickyGrove⁩
0:11:33 - Character Creator 5 announcement ⁨@reallusion⁩
0:22:10 - Star Wars video game with machinima potential ⁨@EAStarWars⁩
0:34:24 - Phil's AI music generation experiment with Suno ⁨@SunoAi7⁩
0:43:56 - Minecraft speedrunner Dream's April Fool's joke ⁨@dreamxd7779⁩
0:47:05 - Closing remarks

Show notes & links: https://completelymachinima.com/s5-e182-machinima-news-omnibus-may-2025/

Credits - Speakers: Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine ⁨@DarthAngelus⁩
Producer/Editor: Phil Rice ⁨@zsOverman⁩
Music: Animo Domini Beats/Suno/Phil Rice

This week's machinima is made in Skyrim, and whilst its a little older, it shows off beautifully the quality of the game, characters and lip sync capability. The film, by Wanderersofthedas was released in 2015, and was made using lines drawn only from the game's NPCs. It makes for an oddly familial campfire conversation, notwithstanding the numerous references to in game lore. Do you and add your comments on our channels, as usual.

0:31 Introduction by Damien, using NPCs in a single player game

4:12 Schizophrenia!

6:37 The role of the campfire, and familial dysfunctional conversations

8:05 Attention to detail, nah. Do you need acting to convey a story??? In the days of ElevenLabs, would this kind of thing ever be acceptable. Would following a main character have enabled a story to be told?

11:09 The narrative arc is missing, but its dysfunctionality is its central charm

14:09 Discussing a creative strategy: choosing the lines for NPCs and the lip sync, identifying the modding tools

Credits -
Speakers: Damien Valentine, Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

This week's ep focusses on the 2024 Crowbar Productions Machinima Mayhem contest winner: Fragile Harmony, made in Garry's Mod by Logan and released on 9 Sept 2024. Logan sent this in for us to take a look at, and we're sure glad he did. Yes there are a few things we could be critical about, but storytelling isn't one of them. Check out our review and leave your comments in the usual way.

1:14 Introduction by Phil, a classic Philip K Dick sci fi, storytelling and production values: deer in the headlights

9:16 Emotional reactions, lip sync and the aesthetic quality of machinima, the introduction of zombie behaviour

13:30 Pacing and its impact on first reactions to the film

19:40 The background to the film

22:30 Setting up the story – the monotony is critical

26:35 Editing and lip sync

27:09 Sound design is immersive contrasting with the monotony of the first part of the story

29:06 Confusion from the mundane, the change in pacing and tempo, the silence - what is the real horror story here?

33: 51 A few tips, our discussion: what we loved and what we miss in the editing

Credits -
Speakers: Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice

This week we discuss a machinima form we've not really talked about before - anime. Whilst its one of Ricky's favourite creative forms, for the rest of us its a little out of our comfort zone! We take a look at two films, both made in Final Fantasy 14 (FFXIV), Frieren: Beyond Journey's End by Wheat Tea (released 2 Feb 2025) and Arcadion by Magitek Productions (released 1 Jan 2025). Check out our discussion and reviews, and do add your comments.

1:24 What is anime machinima?

3:44 Studio Ghibli: “An insult to life itself”

4:20 About FFXIV for machinima

7:14 Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End

10:18 Arcadion

15:14 The untold story of anime and machinima

17:15 Origins of a humble person becoming a world saviour: LOTR

28:06 Convergence mod for Elden Ring (v 2.2)

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

In this week's episode, we discuss the month's news items we've found most interesting and relevant to making machinima, including more great projects to be inspired by, genAIs we've spotted, Steam's rip off, inZOI's challenge to Sims and the phenomenon known as the 'Minecraft Movie'. Check out our discussion and do add comments on our YT or blog posts.

1:18 Projects: a zombie film in GTA5, Trillo’s Cuco, NeuralViz’ Tigg Talk – an alternative perspective on tariffs

3:33 The speed of a creative and production process – efficiencies and pivoting to topical content a la South Park!

6:25 Anomidae’s game explainer, Platinum WoW’s documentary about early days of World of Warcraft, GTA6 mAIchinima

9:00 GenAI updates: Sesame, ElevenLabs Actor Mode, Runway’s gen 4, ChatGPT’s image generator, Studio Ghibli’s backlash, DSO physical generator, Recammaster tool, Phil’s examples of how the tools can be used, volumetric capture, vtubing WarpTuber, Animes and Facerig,

26:28 Reallusion and Apple Arts Studio’s Animation Shopee

28:00 Steam’s share of revenue and algorithmic bias

29:41 Nintendo’s Switch 2

31:09 Mocap studio at a comicon – who were they?

32:45 John Robertson’s show The Dark Room

35:40 InZOI release – more photorealistic than the Sims, and an intriguing looking engine – what will happen to Sims now?

45:30 The Minecraft movie – a renewed interest in machinima (or not!) and the Rocky Horror Picture Show

Credits -
Speakers: Damien Valentine, Phil Rice, Tracy Harwood
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

This week is another pick from the Archives, a short by Thuyen Nguyen aka @evaneon and @collectivenounfilmworksdev4297 . The film was released in 2007 - it is a love letter to games and gamers at a time when seemingly the whole world was filled with haters. Catch up with our comments and reflections and do add your own below.

1:13 About the Archive - How They Got Game, a Stanford University project

3:30 The Most Powerful Person in the World by Thuyen Nguyen

7:17 I am omnipotent!

9:12 The historical context – and the ‘hot coffee mod’

12:50 Games are just not that bad

13:20 An Unfair War, impacts and influences and the role of machinima

21:30 Why do a ‘personal essay’ style of machinima?

Credits -
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Tracy Harwood, Damien Valentine
Producer: Damien Valentine
Editor: Phil Rice
Music: Animo Domini Beats

Alongside S5 E176 Red Faction Guerilla: Optimism Bias (Apr 2025), Tracy spoke to Andrew about his machinima series, his creative practice and the problems he encountered when attempting to distribute the work. They also discuss his upcoming works and aspirations for his future career. Check out the interview (also on YouTube).

Credits -
Speakers: Andrew Knight, Tracy Harwood
Editor: Phil Rice