Pilot Episode Released
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As you say, this is just a pilot and you will learn and improve in time, I don't expect perfection first time around. There's always ways to improve and grow and I am sure you will all do so as a group as this goes on.
I did get the impression about Ward that he was weak and cowardly, but I do still feel there needs to be an improvement on the acting. But I would still like to see more of the character!
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Overall I really liked it. I'm glad you managed to pull it off, and I look forward to watching a series (and maybe offering to take part: my housemates are all knightmare fans so we might make a good team.)
My main objection: the backgrounds were too dark. I was watching on my laptop, and granted it was a very sunny day at the time, but I had the brightness right up and still had to move from my desk to somewhere more away from the window. I could see the characters fine though, it was just the rooms themselves.
Regarding Ward, I think it might just be that he's so different form Treguard. Probably over a series I'd get used to him, and the actor would get used to the role. Perhaps you could give him some kind of pool (like Lord Fear's) to look into to see what was going on?
Regarding third person view, you said the advisors wouldn't get that view: is that because it's not technically possible, or is that a conscious decision? Letting the advisors see a third person overview might be quite nice.
Good things: I agree about the music being awesome, and the tech working really well. The premise was great too, and the acting was mostly very good (as I say, I'm sure the actors will get into the roles more and more as the series goes on: real Knightmare took a while to get going in that way too.) Above all, it's great that there's a new Knightmare-style game happening, and I can't wait to see more of it!
By the way, where are you guys based? Or is this a distributed internet effort? One of my housemates recognised one of your actors from Warwick LARPS.
Amorya
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Dark Backgrounds
This is a problem as people have their monitors calibrated differently (and more often not at all).
So from my perspective, if we made things any brighter, they'd look wrong.
Not quite sure how to address that except maybe to make the dungeon a bit brighter
Third Person View
It's a conscious decision. It makes the setup slightly easier (no need to align rooms, objects and NPCs so that the advisors can see everything) and adds an additional element of challenge - where to look.
Our Location
Completely distributed. I'm living in Edinburgh, Forester is in Loughborough. Ben is in London. I think Matt and Keith are south of London....
The filming itself was done in London, since it was easiest for everyone to get to and was fairly cheap to hire space.
I'm sure we'll have space for contestants soon
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Yes, well, sorry I couldn't do anything about the idiot playing Ward
More seriously, though, on the day of filming I found it a little hard to concentrate on the camera. My eyes dart around a little more than I'd like and I'll agree that this makes Ward a little less accessible than I'd originally planned! I promise, when we film Series 1 I'll keep looking straight ahead!
Oh, and he's not a coward, he's just too clever to wander off into the Dungeon with a blind stranger
Okay, some other points I'd like to make:
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The music is very good, although it stops halfway through the floor puzzle - helpfully, just before the Quester falls off the edge (or would have fallen). Maybe sticking two sequences of this music together may have worked,
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The first scene, in which the Quester explains the Dungeon can't be seen, was well done, I thought. The cut back to a close-up of Ward was unexpected (although we filmed it, I didn't expect Ward to actually be seen much) and it worked well to explain how the advisors came into being.
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Nak's scene was a good one all 'round. Good acting from Dave there and a nice interaction between Nak, Ward and the team. I also liked the way Nak didn't just stand still when they were discoursing - a well-edited scene, with plenty of movement. (And yes, it's a secret! Well done, all those who guessed that one.)
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It was somewhat difficult to tell who was speaking in voiceover. Matt, Alan, Keith and I all sound somewhat similar at points! I think icons in the top left, which glow when a certain person is speaking, so we can distinguish whether it's Advisor 1 or Advisor 2, would help.
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Speaking of which, the special effects were great. The portal effect was the best, especially when coupled with the SFX. Ward's viewing window and Maraki's teleportation were also good to look at. They didn't feel too forced or added-in, and that helps.
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Some of the dialogue felt a bit forced. But then again, this pilot was entirely scripted. So there's nothing we could have don about that, unfortunately.
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I like the title and ending music!
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The character we saw in the stinger - would you trust him? And who's that mysterious skeletal man hovering with a dagger just before him? Just so you have something to wonder about...
I wrote the original script for this pilot, so I'm glad it's been finished and watched. And thanks for everyone who's worked on it so far - especially Forester, Alan, Matt and all those who put in a large amount of effort. I hope more people enjoy it and we get enough interest to eventually film a Series 1.
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The use of icons would make it rather computer-gamey, no?
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Regarding Ward's character, I think that this could be a good direction to take. I'd say it was more the actual performance itself that didn't immediately sway me, but I think with time and practice this is something that can be improved upon. The best thing about Hugo as Tre wasn't necessarily the traits of the character itself, but it was the fact he WAS the character, completely and with total conviction. If Pooka can pull off the same, then we'll be on to a winner. Again, I'm sure that it's a case of practice and making the character his own.
Regarding the third person, my thinking is that for certain key actions - picking up something from a table, taking the final step in a causeway, a particular death, casting magic - it briefly cuts to the player doing this, maybe for about 5-6 seconds, then cuts back again. If you know your oldskool point and click games, the Tex Murphy FMV adventures are masters of this, Under a Killing Moon and The Pandora Directive in particular. This would be a post-production thing, mainly - I'm sure players wouldn't mind filming a few extra scenes of this nature after the actual "game" had been finished to make the released version more of a dramatic beast and show off particular Crowning Moments of Awesome.
Thanks for taking my blitherances on board, it's really interesting learning about the production side of all this, of which I will be the first to admit I know next to nothing.
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Sorry for double post, but I've submitted the pilot to the 32k strong SciFi subreddit (it said fantasy was welcome, so this should be kosher). A few upboats would not go amiss, I am sure.
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Hey all. What an awesome pilot! I'm sorry for lameness here, but because I spent such an irrationally long time writing an article about the pilot for my blog (which nobody will read), I'm going to save time and effort by linking here, and hoping it might attract a click or two. I even made a little promotional picture to go with it.
"Through My Eyes Only: Aegis Quest"
Admittedly, this is considerably more about than on the pilot. I think I largely agree with what has been said here. It looks intriguing and a clear challenge. It reminds me a lot of early S8, not only with the consistent aesthetics of the environment, but also when the first team perished quickly as a statement of intent. The characters come across great (as we knew they would), although I think the close-ups on Ward are awkward (I agree, Ben, that it seems a bit unexpected). Ward just doesn't have the presence for me, although I think the voiceovers are better.
But I'm also pleased that I'm not the only one that believes that, despite its clear and conscious efforts to be recognized as a separate project from KM, there are many positives to be garnered from recognizing the tropes of similarity. From a marketing point-of-view, I think one of the only ways to push views from the hundreds to the thousands is going to be to let it fall under the shade of a new KM, as opposed to something that is distinctly not-KM, even if only temporarily. I'm not a big RPG gamer outside the realm of Knightmare, and I think to myself this evening: there must be loads of RPG style projects going on out there that I have never yet come across, and probably never will. I do not go searching wide of Knightmare - that is very much my vogue. AQ fills a unique gap in the market as being able to go where KM always wanted to, and never could. I figure that 'to boldly go' is the way, because nobody wants a meek and empty retreat into the wilderness.
Want to join Pooka in thanks: to him for the creative, to Forester for amazing effects (and for making potentially awkward moments vanish), and to Alan for the project (and for letting me play Quester). There's nothing quite like playing a Guybrush Threepwood. If only I'd said to Maraki, "You fight like a cow!"
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Visually it's superb. I certainly wouldn't worry about the backgrounds being dark. It wouldn't be the Dungeon if it were any different.
The sound quality is not so good. The dungeoneer seems to be delivering his lines by telephone, while breathing on the mic a lot, and there's a very 'wooden' echo when the NPCs are speaking, which breaks the illusion of being in subterranean caverns.
Some of the dialogue could do with a redraft; it's colourless and humourless - not necessarily a problem as it has a pseudo-medieval quality that is quite appropriate - but also there seem to be some abrupt 21st Century words forcing their way in. For instance, Ward asking, "Are you okay?" is a bit of an Americanism. By the way, it's a bit rough of Ward to snap, "Come on, get up!" to a guy who's out cold on the cavern floor!
Is the answer to the riddle "A promise"?
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- The character we saw in the stinger - would you trust him? And who's that mysterious skeletal man hovering with a dagger just before him? Just so you have something to wonder about...
Where did you find this guy to play him? I don't normally get spooked easily, but good grief....
Overall, I glad that the pilot is finally here for everyone to watch, and I echo KaM's opinion that this will be a fantastic opportunity for people to actually have the feel of playing in a 3D enviroment of a quest that is of a nature similar to Knightmare.
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The website Kickstarter is about to launch in the UK. Have you considered using that to try and bolster support for Aegis Quest, Mystara?
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That's certainly worth knowing. Once I have some solid ideas as to costs, I'll see if I can go about putting a kick-starter up.
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Having just watched the pilot, I do like the way the riddle is actually a riddle rather than a general knowledge question like the riddles always were in Knightmare. Good acting throughout, although Ward's delivery felt a little stilted. This may be deliberate, and his performance certainly wouldn't put me off watching the show when you manage to get things up and running.
Indicating who's talking, if the advisors are on set, it might simply be a case of 'point a camera at them and occasionally cut to them talking/putting an in-vision view of them,' not sure how that would work with the lore you set up, unless Ward's magic connection to the advisors is done by creating magic realm where they can see what the dungeoneer would be able to see... And if that sort of thing doesn't fit with the lore, it might improve the overall product if you bent the lore until it did - It might even be solved simply by having the dungeoneer name the advisors so that Ward can establish a connection with them.
"I can establish a connection to two people from your world, but you have to visualise them in your mind, and name them," that sort of thing certainly helps for figuring out who's who in audio podcasts, and should also helps establish a connection between Dungeoneer and advisors, even if no such connection exists in reality, which I suspect will help the lore of the show. Otherwise it's a bit of a case of 'who are these people Ward's randomly put the life of this unfortunate person in their hands, and why would the dungeoneer trust them' as far as the show's internal logic is concerned - This will also help establish a connection between the advisors and the dungeoneer in the viewer's mind, even if no connection exists in reality. This helps the verisimilitude of the viewing experience, which for semi-fictional sorts of things is probably more neccessary to help us buy into the fiction by making it easy to suspend our disbelief than pure drama. (As for them sounding a bit similar - I hadn't even realised there were two until reading this thread)
For darkness of environment being different on different computers, this both can't be helped but you can easily help deal with it. There are brightness/contrast callibration guides online, I'm unsure which are good and which aren't, but if you callibrate according to one of those, design on the assumption that the viewer will be watching standardised to it, and then provide a link to the callibration, that at least allows viewers to know how they should be adjusting their monitor settings for best viewing experience, even if they choose not to, a bit like a test card, really. (And, yeah, some people's monitor's factory defaults aren't that hot, and if they decide to adjust for your show, it might improve their computer experience across the board)
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