People Made From People

WHO AM I?

Hi I am Nick I used to make films I won some awards, played some big festivals and films in high street shops.

These days I make FMV Games and for the most part I use footage and films from my 15 years as an indie film maker and convert those into games. I do this under the Banner LET’S GO TO THE GRINDHOUSE.

WHATS THIS ALL ABOUT?

This Particular title is my Entry to the Blackthornprod Game Jam #3 And the theme was LESS IS MORE.

So I created PEOPLE MADE FROM PEOPLE a SCI-FI FMV game with 4 endings and hidden secrets.

2Gether is a company that offers a service taking 4 people unhappy with life and turning them into 1 happy perfect citizen. However all might not be what it seems as you navigate through the interactive induction presentation, A mysterious figure is interfering with the program.

HOW TO PLAY

 The game is set out like an interactive induction presentation you would view moments before you go through the process of becoming a new person.

You navigate through holographic testimonials of previous participants in the scheme.

Watch out for Glitches and a mysterious figure catching these will lead you to alternative endings 4 in total Rank D being the most Basic to Rank A the full True ending to the game which explains everything.

Each play through should take around 10 to 15 minutes.  

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

As I was a Film Maker for 15 years I have a huge archive of films and footage some finished and some unfinished, I have so much to play with

However I noticed in the jam rules video it stated No Pre Existing Assets everything had to be made within the 7 days of the Jam I was horrified as I was not going to be able to shoot new footage in the middle of a national lockdown and I don’t really class RAW footage as a Pre Existing Asset as I have to edit it and add effects etc.  it’s a similar process to creating art for a game but rules are rules.

 I then went to the Discord Server and got clarification and was informed I could still use footage from my archives as long as I stated it so that made me super happy as I had the perfect footage for this project.

Several years ago I took part in a 48 hour film competition much like a game jam and our entry was a Fake infomercial with a fairly similar theme to what I was aiming for here we shot hours of Interview footage which never made it to the final short (which was only 3 minutes long) for years I sat on this footage hoping one day I could use it for something as it was good stuff.

So I began the long process of watching through all the old footage and trying to carve something together with the new story I had for the game.

This took me most of the weekend I then had to cut all the clips that would work and then chromo key them and add stylized holographic looks and other effects in total it was just over 50 individual video clips that needed to be edited and have effects applied to then individually rendered out and then converted to a format compatible with the game engine.

I also needed to shoot some additional footage and as stated before we are in a Lockdown and I couldn’t get a cast together so at 2am on Monday night I was wandering around the house with my infant sons Halloween mask on filming myself haha.

I was up late every night this week plugging away at it that finally by Wednesday I could start putting it all together in the engine.

For this I used Tyranobuilder a Visual Novel engine which is surprisingly good for FMV I have already made many games with it so I am very familiar with it but I think I have now done all I can with it and for my next project time to bite the bullet and jump to Unity.

At just gone midnight Weds Night / Thurs Morning I exported the finished game with a couple of days spare of the Jam Deadline.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This game is very different to all my previous releases which are generally Horror/Exploitation and very weird so it was nice to make something in a different Genre that’s still a little quirky.

It was also nice finally getting a chance to use some golden footage that I had on my hard drive and might not have ever been seen by anyone else.

It’s always fun repurposing stuff to tell a story and the fact I managed to carve this into a story that literally fits the Jam’s Theme is great.

I really enjoyed making this one and taking part in this Jam.

Enjoy!

 Please check out my other titles here on Itch.io my latest is Flesh Eating Geriatric Internet Predator (Also Available on Steam) which is particularly bonkers and Sinister Vibrations which was banned from Steam.

I put out games monthly on Itch and Steam please consider joining my Patreon for monthly keys and exclusive games only available to Patreon members as they feature Live Action Violence, Nudity, and Sex sometimes.

Twitter: @NickFmvDev

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/letsgotothegrindhouse 

Itch.io: https://lets-go-to-the-grindhouse.itch.io/ 

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38977034 

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/letsgotothegrindhouse

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/dislexsicknik