- Joined
- Mar 6, 2013
- Messages
- 7
Warcraft 3
Reforging Reforged
Reforging Reforged
Quick Overview [TLDR]
I'm Mark, an experienced game developer, and an avid Blizzard fan. I want to take the existing WC3 reforged campaign and "reshoot" all the in-game cinematics. I want to create a similar feeling to what was shown in the original Culling of Stratholm preview. I realize that the animations won't be as impressive but I still think it's possible to do a much better job just using what limited animations we have. I will be doing a complete rework of the cameras, as well as leveraging unit movements, sound effects, and animations to achieve this. IF I have piqued your interest please read on to see why I think I am qualified to do this, and what exactly I plan to do.
Who am I?
Personal Experience
My name is Mark. I'm a "Professional" Game Developer / Programmer/ Designer from Canada. Professional meaning I have a bachelor's degree in Game Design and I have worked in the industry for 3 years since. I work for a company called PixelNAUTS. During my time here we have worked on many different contract projects for developers like Alientrap, Ubisoft, Compulsion, and others. as well as our own games. We actually have a game called Lost Orbit: Terminal Velocity available on Steam, PS4, XboxOne, and Switch and are hard at work on several new original projects. I am the lead gameplay programmer at PixelNAUTS, however, being part of a small team affords me the freedom to jump around and dabble in many different aspects of development. All of this is to say I have the experience required to tackle the project. You can check me out on LinkedIn if you like.
[hint] Click Links to see stuff
Blizzard Editor Experience
My history with the editor is long but uneventful. I have used Blizzard's editors extensively for years (WC2, SC, WC3, SC2), since warcraft 2 when I was young. I have started many different projects but never released much. The one project I have released is a 15-minute machinima for SC2 that was created entirely in the editor. The project is pretty cringy to me now, I made it back in 2011 when I was a nub to game development. However, I think it will give you a good sense of what I could possibly accomplish with a Reforging of the in-game cinematics. Keep in mind this was made before I had any experience or education in Game Dev. Luckily there won't be any of the cringy voice acting or jokes from StarCrap in the Reforged Reforged Edition, as Blizzard already has all the WC3 dialogue recorded! You can check it out below.
The Project
Concept
The basic idea of WC3 Reforging Reforged is to simply recreate the feeling of Blizzard's Culling of Stratholm trailer, and extend that to every single in-game cinematic for both ROC and TFT. I will be tackling the project IN ORDER, in other words, I will be moving through the game in chronological order, reforging each cinema as I go. The eventual end goal is, of course, to release each campaign as it is completed as a CUSTOM CAMPAIGN. Obviously that fact hinges on Blizzard releasing a custom campaign option for WC3 Reforged. If that never comes to fruition I will look into releasing single maps.
Cameras
I personally think that the single biggest change I can make that will have the largest impact is the camera work. As you can see in Starcrap, injecting life into the scenes doesn't require highly animated models. I plan to rework ALL the in-game cinematic cameras "from the ground up" as Blizzard said they would. Sweeping shots, tighter camera angles on talkers. etc. I won't even really be considering the vanilla camera work in my decisions. I'm talking about doing real cinematics, with many different camera shots. I want to bring as much life and excitement as possible to each and every cinematic through dynamic camera work. You can expect something along the lines of what I did in Starcrap for reference, except with 9 more years of life experience and 7 years of game development experience under my belt.
Sound Effects
I will be using new and existing SFX to liven up the Cinemas where possible. I also want to note than I will be ensuring the effects come from the correct sources (something Blizz seems to have failed to do in Reforged) to make them feel more like they are coming from the appropriate characters. Sounds effects can add a lot to a dead feeling scene, even just to give the impression of action where it's absent. I will also strive to use lore-friendly SFX at all times.
Music
A massive missed opportunity in my view. Starcraft 2 had some great musical stingers and such that really livened up their cinemas. I will be using "new" and existing music where I feel appropriate to bring mood and emotion to each Cinema and scene. I will be using only lore-friendly tracks. Remixes of WC1 and 2 music is a great place to start. I will also use some WOW music, as well as the existing WC3 music. Keep in mind that these music changes will only affect Cinemas, not any gameplay segments.
Animations
What limited animations we already have weren't even used appropriately in my opinion. I realize that not every character can be highly animated or it will look silly, but some light animation additions coupled with all the other changes can work wonders. This will also extend to background characters in each shot where appropriate.
Movement
This is a smaller change, but where appropriate I think that unit movement can work well. Most Moveis and TV shows have characters mobile. Characters step away and look off when thinking, take a step away from a previous speaker when surprised by what they said, etc. Walking and talking is underrated. Not much more to say here. I will use it where and when it seems appropriate.
Effects
This one is also pretty self-explanatory. Some scenes could use some extra effects both in the background and foreground. I will use effects and lighting changes where and when they feel appropriate.
I need your feedback
Please let me know what you guys think. It's clear Blizz never intends to update the cinemas in this way, and I personally think it's one of the biggest, most glaring problems with the Reforged campaign. I will tackle this project solely based on interest from the community, so let me know if this is something you would like to see. I will be picking and reforging a cinematic I want to show off soon, probably the Culling of Stratholm one, to give an example of what the project could look like. So stay tuned for that.
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