Good evening everyone.
With Halo bullshittery out the door, I'm going to take a few days to chill. Also there's a whole bunch of IRL chores I've been putting off. Plumbers, electrician repairs, etc. I really need to get some things organised.
But looking to the future, I need to consider which project to work on next. And since Halo was my selection, here are six potential choices to vote for.
I'll combine it with the Twitch subscriber poll, which I'll pop below in the comments. Please remember that you can vote for multiple choices.
Thank you all. Does anything below take your fancy?
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1.) Climbey
Climbey is a VR obstacle course game. Featuring virtual climbing through challenging environments.
A small number of livestreams from 2019 ish. Often played alongside Poker or Pavlov, as a party-esk style game. Usually about 5-6 people. Some ZF, some regulars, mods, etc.
Gameplay consists of lots of cooperation and sabotage. As players are able to smack each other off ledges, forcing them to start again. This results in quite a few giggles and finger-pointing.
There's absolutely no master file for this, so scrubbing would need to be total. Expect some pre-production time.
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2.) Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is a class based multiplayer shooter from Valve.
With TF2 bullshittery part 1 complete, the opportunity for a part 2 exists. There's so much great footage from years worth of weekly games.
The master project file has already been created, so lots of clips waiting in the wings. So pre-production work would probably be limited.
Expect the inclusion of additional Source Filmmaker cutaway gags as before. Should be fun.
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3.) Divinity 2: Original Sin
Divinity 2 is a cooperative RPG adventure from Larian studios
With part 4 released about a year ago, I'm eager to continue the story with part 5.
Our extremely dysfunctional group of adventurers - myself, Digby, Quebec and Messy - are about to enter act III of the story. And things start to heat up.
Expect a narrative style edit, compared to your typical bullshittery. As we walkthrough the story beats as they unfold.
Lot of murder hobo'ing and moments self reflective 'are we the baddies?' as Rivellon gets on the business-end of our greed.
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4.) Valheim
Valheim is an open-world adventure/building game with a Viking flavour.
We've had a couple of playthrough of Valheim now. First in a village that we called Knobheim. And then later in a port town we called Knobgard.
I was a little reluctant to include Valheim again in the poll, for the third time in a row. But a quick vibe check in the Twitch chat revealed that people were eager.
As Valheim features quite a lot of quiet exploration, there were many opportunities for comedic banter between the 8-10 people playing.
No project file exists as no part one has been created. Expect some preproduction work.
It might also be wise to keep Knobheim and Knobgard entirely separate for the sake of easy continuity.
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5.) PHOGS
PHOGS is a cooperative physics game, in which two people play as a weird sausage dog thing, having to work together to solve puzzles.
In 2022 I had a full playthrough with fellow British knobjockey Alasdair. No, I was not the butthole end. He was. Shut up.
Expect lots of bickering as we worked to navigate the various colourful puzzles.
No master project file exists, so scrubbing would need to be total.
It might also be wise to make this longer than usual, in order to show the full game plot. As I'd imagine continuity between puzzle environment is better preserved than ignored.
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6.) Ready or Not/SWAT 4
Ready or Not and SWAT 4 are cooperative multiplayer games where the team play as a police unit, aiming to arrest rather than kill.
Bit of a curveball with this one. It could be the first combi-bullshittery. Consisting of more than one game.
My rational here is that the gameplay is essentially identical. And with the extreme infrequency of SWAT 4, I worry many jokes may never see the light of day now, with Ready or Not as a 'new' version.
Pre-production would need to be total for both. As SWAT 4 pre-dates my use of Adobe Premiere. And Ready or Not has never been touched.
Expect lots of unauthorised use or lethal force. And piss taking police officers.
Once again, please remember that you can vote for multiple options. And thank you.