Our game dev group recently decided to write our game from scratch, instead of going the way of a Quake3 mod. We''ve been running through the checklist on the design document, and I went all wacko when we hit cutscenes. I *HATE* cutscenes from the PSX onward. Too much "Look, I can do cool 3d effects that take up half of my game''s footprint, thereby reducing the amount of actual game" and not enough storytelling. So I proposed that we do the cutscenes as manga instead. Only, it would be manga that was alive... characters would hop over frame borders, etc. When I have the right tools, I''m a pretty okay mangaka, so, barring pathetic art skills, does this sound like a good approach? -- Aikido? Here we call it oribito

Do you mean like a anime cartoon?

I think he means like the old ComixZone game for the MeagDrive/Genesis.

Actually, I mean more like Furikuri, if you''ve ever seen that series... The actual game wouldn''t play like that... I just really like the idea of using manga as cutscenes.

-- Aikido? Here we call it oribito

I was thinking of using manga drawings for my adventure game. It''s for the PocketPC, so the footprint would have to be very small. I want them to look like anime stills, but I could put in some frames for mouths talking etc.

They do that in Jet Grind Radio for the DreamCast. FLKL rulez. have you seen His and Her Circumstances also by gainax(sp)

There isnt anything wrong with 2D stills, just look at Homeworld ! How cool were those cutscenes !
Maybe you could do a sort of 3D realtime fading to a 2D black and white nad back to 3D real time ? (the 3D real time being your game itself. If your game is not 3D then just fade to whatever your game looks like; does that make any sense ?)



Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

rlb, that is the same idea we have for our game, except we don''t have the footprint problem since we aren''t aiming for PocketPC. There are two ways we have found on how to do something like this.

1. Use Adobe Premiere or any other video editor and make a true avi.

2. Script it. Build up timings and transitions to have it move around the screen.

This is a really cool idea, and I haven''t seen it much. Good Luck.

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kevin@mayday-anime.com
http://games.mayday-anime.com

ahw: I was thinking more 2d "stills" coming to life.

neonoblivion: yes, I''ve seen hhc. pretty neat.

grasshopa55: I''m not aiming for the PocketPC either (I don''t have the patience for Windoze, let alone Wince). I''m just sick and tired of games that require 1.5 gigs worth of space to install, all dedicated to eye-candy. Almost always they lack a real plot... Nobody seems interested in making a game of FF6 caliber, they just want beautiful backdrops.

-- Aikido? Here we call it oribito