The Matrix Online Producer Letter

**Shinryu** · 03/22/2008 01:02:48

Crossover wrote:

Cinematics...what can I say? I'm going to miss them because it gave the game multiple mediums to tell the story just like when they released the Movie Sequels, Enter the Matrix and the Animatrix. It allowed us to see the story in different ways and sadly it was the one thing that still felt 'Movie-like". It was literally one of the first things you saw in-game and was always the first thing I would check after an update. I hate that it's now going to the "I remember when MxO had..." category but I guess it was necessary. Still, there's some effects that a cinematic can the achieve that I think are irreplaceable. Things like seeing Morpheus jump in bullet time over an Assasin's shot, or seeing him crack the pavement after a Hyper Jump, or Seraph jumping through a window after Sati, or Sentinels tearing apart Old Zion, or even the Oracle at her front door welcoming me into the Matrix.

Perfectly said. While I am appreciative that the Sentinel will be returning in (hopefully) a better format than it had before, the cinematics had a special place of their own. They weren't just a means of telling the story or setting up the sub/chapter we were about to enter, they were a different way of being shown story material. They had aspects of art, motion and sound that expressed scenes better than even the "perfect" issue of the Sentinel could not because the Sentinel is bad, but because it's limited in it's format. As another example from the ones above, take the semi-recent cinematic where we were told the Truce had been called off. It wasn't even a scene with much motion or action, but just seeing and hearing it played out between Gray and The Architect was something that could never be duplicated in simple written/typed text. Even if it had been played out in a live event, it wouldn't have been the same.. and more so, if a new player comes along and asks what the heck is going on with this whole war thing even an associated live event recap post would never do the scene the same justice.

Danger_Frog1471

What causes my worry is the financial aspect... As i said i feel like taking away what cost alot of My hard earned cash, along with everyone else, and (apparently) having no plans to replace it.

I guess i'm going to have to wait and see how it play's out... Unfortunatly all we have to rely on now is you Rarebit. That puts alot of pressure on your back (and ofcourse LESIG) that i hope you can handle.

WE (as a devision of the company and community) got shafted by SOE once more. To the future eh? :S

**TheUnknownShadow** · 03/22/2008 06:42:12

Danger_Frog1471 wrote:

What causes my worry is the financial aspect... As i said i feel like taking away what cost alot of My hard earned cash, along with everyone else, and (apparently) having no plans to replace it.
I guess i'm going to have to wait and see how it play's out... Unfortunatly all we have to rely on now is you Rarebit. That puts alot of pressure on your back (and ofcourse LESIG) that i hope you can handle.
WE (as a devision of the company and community) got shafted by SOE once more. To the future eh? :S

In terms of our cash being sourced to other games, I really do doubt that's happening (I hope so anyway...) The budget for the game is realistically not that high. Just look at the main anniversary party last night. True that was a fair number of people but that was people from across all three servers. Admittedly, not everyone would have turned up but if we assume half of the game population did come to it, how much do you think our combined subscriptions make?

I don't think it's going to put any more pressure on Rarebit as such, the guy's been creating the critical missions and running live events himself for... how long is it anyway? True, the LESIG team create the basic setup for the events but everything goes through him on a practical basis in-game.

Whoever said it a page back or whatever it was, MxO hasn't had an in-house cinematics team as such for a while now. The images that were designed by Paul Chadwick would get out-sourced to another company to animate, then the audio gets applied by *someone I can't remember from them explaining about it on the podcast* which is internal to SOE.

I'm not sure if agree with saying we've been shafted but I think what is fair to say is that everyone's going to miss the cinematics. I guess we'll have to all wait to see what is created for the first few papers before we start really complaining " width="15" height="15">

**VSLL**

While I can say that I will miss the Cinematics (they were always nice), I am gald to see the return of our local newspaper! There isn't much that I can say, most of it being said already, but Mr. A**hole of the Year does have a point (I <3 you Generalista). The LESIG will have to beef it up now that more time will be spent with Rarebit and Co. If they can't, then they should be replaced. It's not fair that because one memeber of the LESIG is lagging behind, the whole community will suffer. Unless I misread (it's been a long time since I last saw something like this), Rarebit, you did say you have backup LESIG incase things start to slow down. I don't know how offen it's been used, but you may have to consider creating a backup group, as a percaution.

Just my 2 $info.

**Rarebit**

Anyone trying to apply pressure to my LESIG volunteers will be heartily ignored. Have a nice day.

**Aquilae**

/wants more ads to fill up the empty billboards.

**VSLL**

Rarebit wrote:

Anyone trying to apply pressure to my LESIG volunteers will be heartily ignored. Have a nice day.

Oh no! If this was directed at me, I have no intention of applying pressure to the current LESIG! Not at all! All I was saying that maybe precautions should be taken, incase the current LESIG begins to lag behind. I understand they have real lives as well and I can say that I really enjoy what they do! Please don't take what I said the wrong way, I was just offering a suggestion.

Danger_Frog1471

TheUnknownShadow wrote:

Danger_Frog1471 wrote:
What causes my worry is the financial aspect... As i said i feel like taking away what cost alot of My hard earned cash, along with everyone else, and (apparently) having no plans to replace it.
I guess i'm going to have to wait and see how it play's out... Unfortunatly all we have to rely on now is you Rarebit. That puts alot of pressure on your back (and ofcourse LESIG) that i hope you can handle.
WE (as a devision of the company and community) got shafted by SOE once more. To the future eh? :S
In terms of our cash being sourced to other games, I really do doubt that's happening (I hope so anyway...) The budget for the game is realistically not that high. Just look at the main anniversary party last night. True that was a fair number of people but that was people from across all three servers. Admittedly, not everyone would have turned up but if we assume half of the game population did come to it, how much do you think our combined subscriptions make?

I don't think it's going to put any more pressure on Rarebit as such, the guy's been creating the critical missions and running live events himself for... how long is it anyway? True, the LESIG team create the basic setup for the events but everything goes through him on a practical basis in-game.
Whoever said it a page back or whatever it was, MxO hasn't had an in-house cinematics team as such for a while now. The images that were designed by Paul Chadwick would get out-sourced to another company to animate, then the audio gets applied by *someone I can't remember from them explaining about it on the podcast* which is internal to SOE.
I'm not sure if agree with saying we've been shafted but I think what is fair to say is that everyone's going to miss the cinematics. I guess we'll have to all wait to see what is created for the first few papers before we start really complaining " width="15" height="15">

I never said it was being sourced for other games, atleast i didnt imply that when i said it. The money we pay hasnt changed, yet the things in this game that cost money have been taken away slowly but surely. Test server, animator, cinematics, Chadwick, countless devs the list goes on...

Through all of this we still pay £10 ($15) for it... I just feel like its not worth it anymore no matter how special the story is conveyed. I'd like to be proven otherwise but its tough...

**cloudwolf**

Well that sucks.

Especially if there's no positive budget change that comes from it. No animator, no test server, no professional story writer, no voice or drawing artists, this things going downhill year by year.

Seriously, patch notes and and cinematics were the highlights of my 6 week schedule. *sigh*

Not to mention, as it's been said, the cinematics were the only real way to express movements of the story that were outside the limitations of gameplay. Our connection with the real just got that much more detached. Which is not a good thing considering the direction of the story from the last few chapters. Tytanya will have a field day.

Heres hoping then, as well as AWESOME new sentinels we get some of the good old fashioned RP stories on DN1 like back in the WB days, maybe even with some nice LESIG artwork to go with. Instead of having these big events happen visually, have them happened descriptively instead. We retain our ability to progress the story in big ways come patch day as well as stay within the budget. What do ya think?

**odj**

Rarebit wrote:

As for getting player help to make cinematics, I know you guys can make awesome stuff, but there really is a ton of work that goes into these things--quality voice acting in particular is not something that can be taken lightly--and I just don't think we have the capability of coordinating a production of that scale with you guys. Also, it would require giving you, the relative public, intricate story details like...probably two or three entire chapters in advance, and the spoiler/leak potential there is a way higher than I feel comfortable with. Even LESIG got only a skeletal summary of the next cinematic, like, a week or two before it came out. I know you guys are dying to pitch in, but we are a commercial enterprise, using a heavily protected intellectual property, and there are very real limits on how much public outsourcing we can do. I hope you'll take the energy you're bringing here and put it into cinematic productions of your own, because we really do love seeing those around here...maybe nearly as much as you liked getting cinematics from us.

Ok lets go over these points I've highlighted...

Quality Voice acting: Granted I'll give you that getting clear crip voice acting is difficult but like ZaneZavin said there is talent around here.

Co-Ordination: Again I can understand this even when you are paying people for stuff they sometimes let you down so if your doing it for free what incentive is there for you to get it in on time? Well there's the fact that we love this game and to make cinematic for it would be a incredible privilege and I don't think anyone who would be on the team (if there was one) would take advantage of that.

Spoiler/Leak Potential: Again I totally get your point here there are leaks in LESIG even if people want to ignore them, people knew the truce was going to break days before it happened. But the idea I have would have no leak risk.

Energy: Well I cant speak for all the other video creators in the MxO community but I think my posts speak for themselves in this thread. I'm going to fight as hard as I can to keep some form of cinematics in this game.

The Idea:

Similar to LESIG get a group of video editors, audio mixers etc together, heck mix them with LESIG to increase extra's numbers for videos if you want. When chapter 10.1 comes out, no cinematic will be released. In the time between 10.1 and 10.2 the 'team' will work on cinematic 10.1 and when 10.2 is released a cinematic for 10.1 is released.

The only input you would need to do Rarebit would be to hop in game when we need disguises and give us the appropriate attire. Granted its not the most ideal situation but at least we get to keep the cinamatics, there is no potential spoiler release, co-ordination will not be a problem (refer to the "Energy" section above) so all that is needed to be worried about will be the voice acting...

Comments/Criticisms?

**SolidRevolver**

That is a good idea odj, but it is a lot of work for people who are paying to play the game, you'd expect that without an animator or even a test server we would be allowed to keep something like the Cinematics. The amount of people paying and working on the game would start out-numbering the people getting paid to work on the game. SMILEY

The Leo

odj wrote:

Rarebit wrote:
As for getting player help to make cinematics, I know you guys can make awesome stuff, but there really is a ton of work that goes into these things--quality voice acting in particular is not something that can be taken lightly--and I just don't think we have the capability of coordinating a production of that scale with you guys. Also, it would require giving you, the relative public, intricate story details like...probably two or three entire chapters in advance, and the spoiler/leak potential there is a way higher than I feel comfortable with. Even LESIG got only a skeletal summary of the next cinematic, like, a week or two before it came out. I know you guys are dying to pitch in, but we are a commercial enterprise, using a heavily protected intellectual property, and there are very real limits on how much public outsourcing we can do. I hope you'll take the energy you're bringing here and put it into cinematic productions of your own, because we really do love seeing those around here...maybe nearly as much as you liked getting cinematics from us.

Ok lets go over these points I've highlighted...

Quality Voice acting: Granted I'll give you that getting clear crip voice acting is difficult but like ZaneZavin said there is talent around here.

Co-Ordination: Again I can understand this even when you are paying people for stuff they sometimes let you down so if your doing it for free what incentive is there for you to get it in on time? Well there's the fact that we love this game and to make cinematic for it would be a incredible privilege and I don't think anyone who would be on the team (if there was one) would take advantage of that.

Spoiler/Leak Potential: Again I totally get your point here there are leaks in LESIG even if people want to ignore them, people knew the truce was going to break days before it happened. But the idea I have would have no leak risk.

Energy: Well I cant speak for all the other video creators in the MxO community but I think my posts speak for themselves in this thread. I'm going to fight as hard as I can to keep some form of cinematics in this game.

The Idea:

Similar to LESIG get a group of video editors, audio mixers etc together, heck mix them with LESIG to increase extra's numbers for videos if you want. When chapter 10.1 comes out, no cinematic will be released. In the time between 10.1 and 10.2 the 'team' will work on cinematic 10.1 and when 10.2 is released a cinematic for 10.1 is released.

The only input you would need to do Rarebit would be to hop in game when we need disguises and give us the appropriate attire. Granted its not the most ideal situation but at least we get to keep the cinamatics, there is no potential spoiler release, co-ordination will not be a problem (refer to the "Energy" section above) so all that is needed to be worried about will be the voice acting...

Comments/Criticisms?

This is an awesome idea considering the situation. It shouldn't require Rarebit's assistance too much so he can focus on his dev stuff and it doesn't include the spoilerish risk.

ThePigeonKing

I don't think players should do cinematics if it means potential story leakage. No sir.

**ZaneZavin**

Well, making cinematics for the previous chapter or the one we are currently in is a good idea. If this is the case, I don't think we would need to keep things private. We could create a public group and Rarebit could give us some tips. Even if the cinematics aren't placed in game the entire community can enjoy them, devs included. There is potential here.

**MotorZ**

The biggest thing we lose here is the "introduction" into each subchapter. I'm sure however that is handled will be interesting. Also, the Matrix's story has been primarily told through cinematic elements: the Movies, Animatrix, and now our cinematics. I'd say we should get LESIG to try to make a comic or something for the introduction, but I think most of us are tired of things being too much like comics. (Consistent arch-villains, no one can die...). Cinematics just seem to time consuming for LESIG and Rarebit to have to do.

And yeah, I'd noticed that too Rarebit. That sucks about how much approval you used to need. That's how we have stuff like Hovercraft battle ranks, no?

Oh and um...lol thought the same a couple pages ago as you, Cloud.

cloudwolf wrote:

Tytanya will have a field day.

MotorZ wrote:

I guess Tytanya can have more of a field day with the storyline now, eh?