A shmup-centric web video idea I've had.

[AngelG No. 55]

There is this idea for a web video series that's been roaming around my mind for a long while now.

It can be best summarized as a combination of machinima and Let's Play. Or an LP with a plot. Anyhow, there's two players playing all sorts of shoot-em-ups (mainly arcade, but any others can fit the bill). Instead of "generic" LP narration, they comment on the game things in a more in-universe way, as they're actually two (really inept) pilots who have to save the Earth or destroy an enemy force on a regular basis, but because of their ineptitude they wreck a lot of machines they fly, causing bills to run through the roof and their mission control to frequently throw fits because of that. It's called Mook Pilots.

That's my idea in a nutshell. I liked it so much I'm trying to get it off the ground by discussing it with others. It's an idea that's even been compared to Freeman's Mind (if anyone happens to have watched it).

Sadly, I've been running into trouble finding other people to do voices (I'm not at all confident in my ability to do even one voice, much less two or three), plus I'm having a bit of difficulty finding someone to be P2 in the gameplay. A live P2 would have been preferred, but no one I know in person has much interest in this sort of game. Moreover, trying to play online instead - with say, MAMEHub - has its own set of issues, chief among them my inability to host games due to an ISP-side problem.

I'm very close to outright putting it on hold due to the lack of interested participants - you see, I don't really know where to look for interested parties after letting my idea be known in this thread in this forum.

[DJ Incompetent]

1. Write a script for your story thing.
2. Pilots talkin' between each other means radios. Experiment with a combination of voice changing equipment (walkie talkies, autotune, etc.) to distort your voice just enough to become a second voice. (example: credit feed gradius V)
3. Make your pilot episode about Raiden 3, 4, or DX. These games come with doubleplay options so you can control two ships simultaneously. Minimize or shut the BGM off.
4. Through magic of video editing, you just need to crop out most or all of the HUD and splice out any continue screens. If that runs too choppy for your narritive, record several credit feeds of your doubleplays (attempting to make similar movement patterns throughout), and take the time splicing the good parts of your 3-7 runs together to disguise your amateaur jump cuts to look more like laggy frameskips, which are passable.
5. Record your space opera over the final cut.

[near_miss]

You could try posting an ad to find volunteer actors on mandy.com, and have them do voice over demos based on a bit of dialogue and see who's best/most reliable. A lot of actors look for creative ways to build their portfolios, and as long as you are clear about your project, you might have some luck attracting some great talent. Leave no stone unturned

[mrsmiley381]

I'd suggest having different pilots for different games and gameplay videos. I think having a two-player Ikaruga play with tons of failures on each pilot's part would be funny, but it would also be funny to have a high-pitched woman speed-talking like she's on amphetamines over a MUSHA superplay. Just an idea.