Dark_Respite
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Posts
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Joined
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Quote:If you do, let us know what happens...Originally Posted by Kheldarn
I'm just about ready to call NCSoft and complain that the marketing department for City Of Heroes/Villains sucks...
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
You're welcome. Let me know if that works for getting vids embedded on Facebook.
Also, FYI, I've asked Ocho to pass the word along to whoever handles the Paragon Studios YouTube channel to please start uploading vids from the FTP site to there. That way, if there are ads you think are particularly well done (my personal fave is the CGI one for CITY OF VILLAINS, and the I-11 and I-12 ads), you can link/embed those.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Gratz on the Dev's Choice! *loud whistles and applause*
Now say that arc title ten times fast.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:Someone with Facebook will have to test this - go to the GR teaser, and directly beneath it, click SHARE.Originally Posted by Perfect_Pain
How do I smoosh one of your video for GR into my facebook thingy and have the little window just say play on it?
One of the options is Facebook. Click that, log in to Facebook, and you should be good to go.
*****
Alternately, if FB has an option to embed video or embed media, go to the GR teaser, and just beneath the description on the right are the URL link and the Embed Media codes.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:Hmmmmmmmmm...Originally Posted by TyrantMikey
Here's my idea for a new promo vid.
The music is Spybreak! by the Propellerheads. Those of you not familiar with the title will recognize it immediately if you've ever seen the Matrix. It's the music playing when Neo assaults the Federal Building. You can hear it here.
Since the piece starts with "Make him look bad!" I'd start it with a sped-up tour of the costume creator. Design a wicked-looking toon, and then run him through the city at high speed. All through the full four minutes of Spybreak, show this character whooping butt on heroes/villains as you see fit in as many different environments as possible. The idea is to emphasize the speed of both solo and team play.
Spybreak is a fast-moving piece of music, and it *really* suits the pace of combat in this game. I think it would make an awesome promo vid.
But that's just my opinion.
EDIT: I really need to learn how to do this video editing stuff.
*reads over the idea and starts her brain thinking about demoediting and video editing*
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:Yes, they should - but they're not. And as pathetic as may be, I don't want MY game shut down because of them not doing their jobs. I happen to like this game. So if that means I yell and cheer and promote the game any which way I can so I can keep playing it, then I do.Originally Posted by Slashman
Good grief!
Shouldn't Marketing be doing this stuff? Shouldn't they be the ones hurting their heads over how to get word of this game out to the masses?
I respect your right to NOT promote it - but for those who want the game to keep going, then I would ask them to step up and help.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
For that, G_A, I'd suggest dropping a line to customer support to make sure the credit got applied. Provide your login name, your friend's login name, his join date, your join date, and if you got any kind of confirmation email when s/he signed up, include that.
It may just be that it got lost in the shuffle.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:Thanks. Sister Johanna Sinclair came into the game as a time traveller (her energy/energy blaster powers are actually 'temporal disruption'), and was wandering the timestreams trying to figure out how to get back to her own timeline. Then when Issue 11 came out, the idea of Jo becoming a Mender was too good to pass up, so I created her again, this time ten years into her own future as an energy/mental manipulation blaster, and gave her the name Mender Anomaly.Originally Posted by Melancton
What a cool concept! Well done!Quote:Originally Posted by Dark_Respite
Two of my characters are the same person, separated by 10 years and one becoming a Mender.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite
As for me, several of my heroes have responded to a summons from my first hero, Melancton. Seems that the Circle of Thorns are another part of an organization that was suppressed after a war lasting a generation on Melancton's homeworld. The war has shifted fronts to Earth.
Another group are all aliens from the same system. They did not know each other before being pulled through a rift in space and time to Earth. I came up with an elaborate time conundrum for them in 2005, which was pretty neat until the Menders showed up and started introducing all manner of potential paradoxes in the time stream, not to mention making my cool plot-line suddenly seem derivative. *Heavy Sigh*
A third group are residents of Paragon City from Baumton. They have come to know each other as survivors of the May 23, 2002 massacre that devastated their neighborhoods and killed everyone else they knew.
As others have noted, any SG members will know each other that way, although unfortunately, they cannot act as a group together. Boy, if I could do a PUG with 8 of my own heroes, we could rock the house... but that is another topic, I suppose.
(They both show up in my Issue 11 trailer.)
But if you want to run with your own characters, create an MA arc where your allies are 'yourself' and just go with it.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Several of mine do, in one form or another.
The ones who are all in the same SG know each other as 'working together', while their counterparts in the villain group know them as 'their nemeses.'
Two of my characters are the same person, separated by 10 years and one becoming a Mender.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:I would totally support this were it not a horrible waste of food when too many other people in the world are starving. I have visions of that scene near the start of WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY where the girls are 'shelling chocolate bars' to find the Golden Ticket, and discarded TONS AND TONS of chocolate.Originally Posted by Aliana Blue
They should just put fully functional trial codes in cereal boxes.
Why yes Mr. Kellog, if you put this code in your box, we promote our game. On the other hand, thousands of cereal boxes will be bought by RMT Spammers to get the codes, we'll ban them within a day or two, at which point they'll go back and buy some more. I do believe we have a win/win deal right here.
Although the idea of RMTers being poured into fudge, blown up as blueberries, dropped down garbage chutes into furnaces, and miniaturized via WonkaVision does have a certain appeal...
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:Originally Posted by Westley
Extended Sister Psyche bathtub scene.Quote:Originally Posted by DarkEther
I'm willing to financially back this project!
Quote:Originally Posted by Twisted Toon
I am willing to watch the completed project.
No, no, no, and... no.Quote:Originally Posted by Westley
I'm willing to PARTICIPATE in the project....
*goes back to his science lab to discover a way to transfer himself into comics*
That's a bit more doable. I wonder if I can get Bob Carter to do BAB's voice for a commercial...Quote:Originally Posted by The_Killbot_5000
A Matrix-inspired promo video for City of Heroes with BAB's in the Laurence Fishburne role o' course!
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Yes, "viral" is the word you want. I haven't seen that idea mentioned before, but with so much stuff on the forums, it may have gotten lost in the shuffle (or erased during the forum transition).
Variants of the idea would be:
Arachnos recruitment posters (especially following Recluse's speech)
Arachnos REBELLION posters (villains who don't give a damn about Arachnos and have every intention of sweeping Recluse from the map so THEY can be in charge)
Longbow/Freedom Corps recruitment posters (a call to arms by Statesman and Ms Liberty)
FBSA recruitment posters (specializing in the 5 branches)
Vanguard recruitment posters (for heroes and villains - Earth for humans, defeat the Rikti, etc)
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
When I get these, my next step is to take a Carnie radio mission. That usually works just fine.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
For those who actually USE social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, etc, yes... those might be useful venues to use, so long as it's not consider spamming or harassment. After all, we don't want CoH to be seen with the same stigma as, say, 'a certain another annoying game with the most misleading ads on the planet.'
(Though as a side note, THAT was marketing - and they even ADMITTED it!)
I do think a LOT of the playerbase probably has told their family and friends about it, and many of them may have tried it already. If it's not their thing, it's not their thing... though I'd certainly suggest trying again once GR goes live with its graphics upgrade, as that might impress people.
But ways to get folks into the game, or spread the word?
1) If you've got a website, put a CoH banner on it - if you don't like the ones in the fankits, design your own, and make them available for other players.
2) Links in your MySpace, Facebook, etc pages.
3) Occasionally mention it in Twitter - if you're on Raptor or whatever, then you can set it to automatically add whenever you play such-and-such game. (Note - CO has the feature that 'so-and-so just beat such-and-such level or such-and-such baddie', and those were so repetitive and fastcoming that people starting blocking friends because of the annoyance factor... so don't take it too far.)
4) Hit your local gaming stores and mention to the owners that "hey, GOING ROGUE is going live hopefully by June - would you mind if a couple of us brought in our computers and gave a demo?"
5) Design your own ads and put them up on YouTube. And they don't have to be flashy CGI (although if you can do ads like the CITY OF VILLAINS ad and the Korean COH ad, please do it!), they can be live-action a la Captain Dynamic.
6) Do you actually know anyone famous? Think you can con them into doing an ad? Case in point... Vic Mignona did a hilarious ad for Wow - because his fans asked him to do it. Does he play? No idea. But it got the word out. Hey, you never know...
7) Design your own t-shirts and hit the 'con circuit. Phoenix Comicon will be here in May, and hubby, me, and as many of our friends as can make it will be there in CoH gear and wandering as a group to promote the game. Network, network, network.
8) Local meet-and-greets - we had one recently here in Arizona at Howie's, one of those places where you can rent computer rigs for massive LAN parties. The organizers contacted the mods and we got posters, mini-figures, etc, and with 20 or more of us yelling as we ran through TFs and SFs and the like, we were an event unto ourselves. I lost track of how many people came over to ask, "What are you guys playing? That's CoH? Tell me more."
*****
And no, I'm not a marketing student. I don't even play one on TV.
*****
EDIT: Also just found this absolutely fascinating article on Games Marketing. Check it out, plus the related articles at the bottom.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Further testing in this room indicates you can log into (and out of) this room. Also, if you are standing near one of the doors, when you log in, you come in through those doors (just like you do to get under the map in the first place). It is not a separate map, like instanced missions - the one under PI still uses the PI general map, and you can hear broadcast messages even inside the Matrix Room.
Now to decide what to use this room for in filming...
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:*shouts after Riley*Originally Posted by Riley_Delacroix
Hey, it worked in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying too! Two wins, what could go wrong?! *plots to haul desks to NCNC*
Hey, please don't put my desk near the break room... that gets kinda loud sometimes, even with headphones on!
Prem, I have over 20 different storyboards on my computer for CoH ads. Not issue trailers, just straight-up ads for CoH in general. With a bit of corporate direction (or player suggestions), I could probably come up with at least 20 more.Quote:Originally Posted by Premonitions
Or, you know, we could just chain you to a desk and make you churn out videos like a marketing slave.
:>
..........
What?
*****
My suggestion is, take advantage of what (little) Marketing has already done: hit ftp://ftp.coh.com/movies and start sharing them with others. Several of the older ads for the game are on there (including the CGI ones) - use them to spread the word. (I've already suggested to the mods that whoever handles Paragon Studios' YouTube channel should put ALL of these on there for easy YouTube relinking and embedding.)
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
I love stuff like this - anything that makes even veteran players pause and look at the game with fresh eyes going, "We have THAT in here?!"
And yes, add my voice to the chorus of "make this room available somehow" - arena map, AE map, whatever.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
What I think would be a neat idea would be to have a contest where the players submit ideas for advertising (since, as players, we know what might work to get us interested in the game), and the winner has their ad actually made.
Of course, you'd need rules on budget, special effects, content, and so on, but still...
Michelle
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THIS room should be the danger room.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:Darkanaville!Originally Posted by Memphis_Bill
Arcana_Respite? Darkaville? Dark Arcana?
Respiteville sounds like a bunch of insp vendors, though...
Or if she should go first, Arcanespite!
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
*looks at Arcanaville*
If you can help me come up with a way of doing that so that my brain doesn't melt, I will dedicate my next video to you.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
"An amateur photographer captured this picture atop the toboggan run in the Ski Chalet... police reports indicate that the two demonstrators were actually Serge of ICON fame and Arbiter Fabulous, protesting that such a poorly dressed instructor was actually a safety hazard to the heroes and villains using the toboggan run."
*****
If I am a winner, I permit NC Interactive, Inc. and NCsoft Europe Limited to use my name, likeness, photograph, hometown, and any comments that I may make about myself or this contest that I provide for advertising and promotional activities. I also certify that I am at least 13 years of age and am eligible to participate in this contest.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Yes, Aral's camera work is something I can never hope to match. He uses computer scripts or Excel macros or something to plot out camera courses (I still have his email somewhere). *I* would be the schmuck doing it in-game and then trying to smooth it out afterward.
Here, actually, are Aral's exact words about how he did his camera work:
Quote:I really wish I could find a 3-d calculating program that I can say, "Okay, here's point A, here's point B," and have it create a line, then drag it and arc it like you can in PhotoShop and then have it map out coordinates.The six parameters of the camera (the three positions coordinates, and the three rotation angles) can be controlled independently at any time (CAM POS and CAM PYR commands). If a change is made within 1 second to one of this six parameters, the CoH engine will do a linear interpolation between the two points. If the time between two camera commands is superior to one second, then the camera will just jump instantly from one position to another.
Sadly, there is nothing worst than a linear interpolation for a camera movement ; It can has its uses on some occasions to obtain specific results (I used this system on the very last few seconds of Night Prayers, for example), but generally it doesn't feel right or natural.
So to generate a smooth and natural camera movement, I control myself each single point of the camera with a granularity of 40 ms. By experience, if I try to use a larger interval the camera movement will feel jagged. So that's it, you just have to calculate 6 camera coordinates 25 times per second ... Easy enough, you just have to be a psychopath ... or write a piece of code to generate them for you (after much debating, i picked the second solution).
But the question remains .. how to generate the camera movements ? Many equations can be used, and it depends certainly on the style you want to give your video. For simplicity sake, on Dies Irae, I decided to use only simple translations, but not done in the referential of the POS command (Cartesian referential <-- the bad guy) but in the one of the PYR command instead (Spherical referential <-- the good guy). It gives more natural results, and better emulates the way a real camera operator will work.
In effect, I just put what I want to shoot in the center of a spherical referential, translate the cartesian coordinates into spherical coordinates, generate my camera movements using simple translation of the spherical coordinates ( i.e. Radius, Theta, Phi), then convert back my camera movements to cartesian coordinates for use in the demo file.
All needed equations for that are available here : http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SphericalCoordinates.html
After that, on the following 2 videos, I went further and added a "weight" to the camera to have more natural movement ... but that's another story and I'm sure I bored you to death already
Voilà, you now know about the secret behind my camera
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Quote:You're welcome.Originally Posted by Tigra_Swipe
Thank you!! That was exactly what I was looking for, and this time I finally found it
Yes, Aral does some seriously amazing work. As for how he does all his camera sweeps? He does all the math and codes all his vids from scratch. I only wish I were that good.Quote:Originally Posted by Sharker_Quint
that video was pretty frakin aweome.
Michelle
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Samuraiko/Dark_Respite -
Yes, it exists, and yes, it's under Peregrine Island. Someone had posted instructions on how to get to it, but you can actually see the room used in one of Aralcox's videos.
Gimme a bit to see if I can track down more info for you.
EDIT: And found this for you.
Quote:Originally Posted by Leandro
When you log out outside a door, you come out of that door when logging in. With that knowledge, you can find doors that are half-buried in the terrain in Peregrine Island / Monster Island and log off outside of them, then when you log back in you'll come out of them, and since they're half-buried, you'll be falling under the map.
Once you're there, just fly towards the arena. You'll see a giant blue cube under it. Fly directly below, and type /stuck. The game will think the closest "valid" location to put you in is inside the arena map, in the area behind the doors -- the "Matrix Room" pictured above.Quote:Originally Posted by Mr_Samoa
This does indeed work, but a warning - there's no way out of the room. I'd recommend not going in unless you have an O portal or someone who can TP you out (though I haven't tested TP, an O portal works.)MichelleQuote:Originally Posted by Mr_Samoa
Hopefully I won't get in trouble for this, but for all you Matrix-seekers:
-1630.5 1.3 -6497.3
That's the /loc for the door I used to get under the map. It's on Monkey (Cutlass) Isle in PI.
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite