ScottishGames.biz

Hey Kid - You Wanna Make A Movie?

News just in from the strange frontier of the games world which is Machinima.  Hugh Hancock, one of the pioneers of the technology is releasing a book with instructions, tips, tricks and hints for those who are interested in making their own Machinima films.

It's part of the '[subject] For Dummies' series of books.  Here's a quick summary:

Written by Hugh Hancock (one of the two people who coined the word "Machinima") and Johnnie Ingram (former site editor of Machinima.com), it's a complete guide to making films in game engines or other real-time 3D packages, covering everything from filmmaking theory, sound and storytelling to the specifics of making films in World of Warcraft, The Sims 2, Medieval Total War 2 and Moviestorm, as well as discussion of many other game engines.

It's available from Amazon from the 5th of September!

Bloodspell - New Machinima From Strange Company

Strange Company, the Edinburgh based machinima company has released episode 2 of their new feature length movie 'Bloodspell'.

It's apparently being created using the Neverwinter Nights engine.

It's also being released under a Creative Commons licence, so it can be modified and passed around freely.

Here's the background from the website:

It is a story of a world where men and women carry magic in their blood, and spilling it can unleash terrible power.

Where these "Blooded" hide in fetid slums from the Church of the Angels, commanded by their divine masters to "cleanse" the Blood Magic.

Where choices are fraught, alliances rarely safe, and blood is all.

A young monk named Jered flees the Church when his own Blood Magic is released. Now he must survive the pursuit of the Church, the gladiatorial pits of the Blooded underground, and the hidden truths of the ancient struggle. The choices he makes will tip the balance of the war between Church and Blooded, and change his world forever.

The episodes and more information can be found on the Bloodspell website.