Why not real video briefings?

[Drages]

To be honest, I would like to see some old school real movies as briefings rather then full CGI ones for a game like this. I mean green screen with CGI background would be awesome..

I even would like to see Kane returns.. It's a fact that, Kane is always the star of C&C games. And he does not age so, why not?

[BadLuck]

Yeah, why?
Hiring a person to sit infront of a camera costs more than (poorly) animated CGI? I would much prefer a cheesy FMV cutscene than a boring briefing with a Bethesda NPC

[MachineZenic]

How about we compromise, we get Joe Kucan to play a guy called Bane, he'll big a big guy, but he won't actually show up on screen, maybe we have a sub plot where he makes some cia agent look dumb.

[Silvertongued Devil]

So, basically, I think it comes down to this:
To make CG briefings you just need to use the engine you're already doing, using personnel you've already got, using voice actors you've probably already hired to do other voices - who don't need to be anywhere near you to send the dialogue you need. They can do so mostly on their own time, too - no real scheduling conflicts, just a deadline.

To make a cheesy FMV you need a stage, proper sound and filming equipment (none of this is cheap, even to rent): you need props, you need to hire more people to handle the film making side of things, and you need to hire people who are likely in the area (of your film making crew), you need someone to do the costumes, to dress the sets - and you need to pay these people enough that they can take a week or month out of their schedule to do this. Even if all your actors are developers and you're muddling through it on your own, it's still going to cost a fair bit extra.

Game development, including seemingly small aspects of it, is a lot more involved than people realise.

Now, getting Joe to voice a character? They could probably pull that, though I imagine he still wants a decent paycheck - but it's also important to remember that despite the quality this isn't some huge well-established studio drowning in money we're talking about. They're developers arguably working on their first RTS game as a team, and only their first (or... fourth? Depending on the involvement of the studios) game overall. It's probably not a great time to get overly ambitious. Best to make sure you can release a quality product - then in the sequel you get ambitious.

[JasonB]

Originally posted by BadLuck:

Yeah, why?
Hiring a person to sit infront of a camera costs more than (poorly) animated CGI? I would much prefer a cheesy FMV cutscene than a boring briefing with a Bethesda NPC

Honestly, yes, it probably would cost more. Remember, C&C did have actual actors in their FMVs. And as cheesy and low budget as they were, there's still a lot of production involved to make that stuff happen. Plus the C&C tradition is to have a few actual semi-famous actors.

Animating a 3D guy talking to you and paying someone for some voice work is comparatively VERY cheap.

I don't really mind, my real concerns playing the preview were how the camera would stick and stutter moving around the battlefield.

[CoOp]

I didn't see "Command and Conquer" in the title of this game, why would Kane be in it?

[Briggs]

The programmers and janitorial staff are camera shy.

[Lotor13]

Originally posted by JasonB:

Originally posted by BadLuck:

Yeah, why?
Hiring a person to sit infront of a camera costs more than (poorly) animated CGI? I would much prefer a cheesy FMV cutscene than a boring briefing with a Bethesda NPC

Honestly, yes, it probably would cost more. Remember, C&C did have actual actors in their FMVs. And as cheesy and low budget as they were, there's still a lot of production involved to make that stuff happen. Plus the C&C tradition is to have a few actual semi-famous actors.

I like these live scenes in Tiberian Sun and RA 2,
But in Tiberian Wars and RA 3, it was meh.. I do not need that in TR

Originally posted by CoOp:

I didn't see "Command and Conquer" in the title of this game, why would Kane be in it?

Right point

[Briggs]

Originally posted by Lotor13:

Originally posted by JasonB:

Honestly, yes, it probably would cost more. Remember, C&C did have actual actors in their FMVs. And as cheesy and low budget as they were, there's still a lot of production involved to make that stuff happen. Plus the C&C tradition is to have a few actual semi-famous actors.

I like these live scenes in Tiberian Sun and RA 2,
But in Tiberian Wars and RA 3, it was meh.. I do not need that in TR

Originally posted by CoOp:

I didn't see "Command and Conquer" in the title of this game, why would Kane be in it?

Right point

from C&C3 onward, they used real actors. I think it worked better when they used the dev team. Though I must admit the "...one place uncorrupted by capitalism" was great, but not due to it's professionalism. Rather, that one scene was exceptional precisely because Tim Curry was struggling to maintain character.

[Psyclops]

The CGI briefings look pretty cheesy...real actors would have been far better. :/

[Gio]

Not really a big issue, would much rather the game be completed first.

[Silvertongued Devil]

Originally posted by Psyclops:

The CGI briefings look pretty cheesy...real actors would have been far better. :/

If you check my post (3rd from the top) it goes into why real actors aren't a particularly good option even though they may have wanted to have them. It is, unfortunately, not a simple choice of picking one or the other - there is a huge difference in the resources expended.

[Tremere]

Originally posted by Drages:

I even would like to see Kane returns.. It's a fact that, Kane is always the star of C&C games. And he does not age so, why not?

You do realize this is not actually a Command and Conquer game, right?

[NatEff3ct]

Originally posted by Tremere:

Originally posted by Drages:

I even would like to see Kane returns.. It's a fact that, Kane is always the star of C&C games. And he does not age so, why not?

You do realize this is not actually a Command and Conquer game, right?

I have been scratching my head on that as well with all these comments its like we have people running around talking without brains, kinda creepy.

[Cat]

Originally posted by Drages:

I even would like to see Kane returns.. It's a fact that, Kane is always the star of C&C games. And he does not age so, why not?

Maybe because this isn't a C&C game

[AlLiOSc]

I would love to see live videos for briefings even if they were the developers themselves pulling out some B grade costume with a makeshift greenscreen haha. I loved watching all the special bts footage from C&C and also from the filming of the original mortal kombats when they were filming the actors kicking etc.