A different type of BSG fan fiction series in the works...

[CB2001]

Hello,

My name is CB2001, aka codebreaker2001 or just Code Breaker if you like.  I'm posting here to let you guys know about a BSG fan fiction series I am trying to work on.  Now, before you begin, you're probably thinking, "Oh great, some stupid text-based fan wet dream that has impossible storylines like Adama and Roslin getting married or the group coming across the aliens from "Aliens" or some other thing like that."  Or at least something along those lines, right?  Well, I'm about to cut you off at the knees with what I am doing.

Have you ever heard of machinima?  The art of making one form of media through the use of a video game or a real-time 3-D graphics engine?  Yeah, like how "Red vs. Blue" uses "Halo" and "Halo 2".  Well, did you know that before "Red vs. Blue" people used "The Sims" to make sort of comic-bookish stories?

Well, thanks to video games like "The Sims 2" (with its expansion packs) and "The Movies", and programs like Planetwide Game's Comic Book Creator, I am developing a new style of fan fiction stories that people may have forgotten about.  And my series will be told in this way, a machinima comic book fan fiction series.

The series is currently titled "Battlestar Galactica: Born to Run" (working title of course).  The premise involves a small group of survivors on the planet of Picon, all of them starting out as prisoners of war because the Cylons believe they have knowledge that may be useful to them.  They may have started out as strangers and prisoners, but they end up becoming a team and escaping from their captors.  The whole series deals with not just capture and escape of the group, but the problems and potential threats they face while trying to keep on the move (yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Cylons aren't the only problems this group will have to face).  

The series will be using Sims based off of real actors and actresses, and a lot of custom-made content for "The Sims 2" and may also feature other video games and simulators in order to create the stories for the series.  Below are some test shots I've made with the use of "The Sims 2" and "The Movies".

Below is a test shot of a city model from "The Movies" with it's "Stunts and Effects" expansion pack.  This picture is an attempt to make the "nuked out atmosphere yellow" hue that have been seen throughout Seasons 1 and 2 on the actual show.  I altered this picture with Photoshop Elements to see if I could closely match the appearance (and I'm still trying to find the right adjustments)


Below are some shots of the "cast" of characters.  Note, there are currently eight characters, but I have left one out depending on if I decide to use him or not.  This character may be excluded from the whole series because he has no past and no future to me (he's a complete enigma, even to me).  So, the Seven sims you see WILL be the series.

The scorned (John Coba, modeled after Jake Gyllenhaal, left) and the lover (Kate, modeled after Grace Park, right).


The husband (Rollin Phoebus, modeled after Vincent Cassel, left) and the wife (Dr. Selena Phoebus, modeled after Monica Bellucci, right).


The leader (Dr. Fred Cryas, modeled after Kiefer Sutherland, left), the Battlestar engineer (Renta Norme, modeled after Don Cheadle, right) and the soldier (Capt. Elle "Sheba" Malfi, modeled after Sandrine Holt, center)



Right now, I am working on a test comic called "All We Left Behind" which uses screencaps from the actual show, as well as in-game captures featuring the sims.  The story follows Laura Roslin a week before the discovery of New Caprica and her ties to one of the characters in the fanfic series (this story may be excluded from the fan fic series, depending on the outcome of the question "Who are the remaining five Cylons?").  The comic will be available in PDF format and is meant to only be a test run of the program itself.

If anyone has any questions or comments, by all means I am willing to hear them and respond.  I thank you for your time.  Have a nice day.

[Unknown Target]

Seems interesting, although those characters and the city look way too modern day city folk. They need to be roughed up a bit with scratches, torn clothing,etc Also, the city doesn't look anything like Caprica (which from what we've seen doesn't seem to have very many square buildings).

[StarSlayer]

You mean it doesn't look like Canada?

[Imperator]

Seems interesting, although those characters and the city look way too modern day city folk. They need to be roughed up a bit with scratches, torn clothing,etc Also, the city doesn't look anything like Caprica (which from what we've seen doesn't seem to have very many square buildings).

It isn't Caprica it's Picon!:p I quite like you're idea there CB, I'm looking forward to seeing Centurions in sims 2!

[CB2001]

Seems interesting, although those characters and the city look way too modern day city folk. They need to be roughed up a bit with scratches, torn clothing,etc Also, the city doesn't look anything like Caprica (which from what we've seen doesn't seem to have very many square buildings).

I know that it may look like its too clean and whatnot, but these test shots and the story's timeline do have factors that leads to them.  The characters, in first few stories, are captured and moved into a prison (or as the Cylons call it in the story, "the containment area").  The clothes that the characters have on in the test shots may come up later on, after their escape from the containment area and their trek to get out of the city (the only outfit throughout the cast that appears before their escape is the tracksuit that the character of Selena is wearing in the test shot.  She had finished her morning run three minutes prior to the attacks).  But their clothing may eventually show some wear and tear throughout the series run (and may even change quite a lot too, seeing that they'd have plenty of stores with clothing).

As for the city, it is not meant to be on Caprica.  It's on the planet of Picon.  The name of the city is Providence, and is meant to be 200 miles east of Picon City.  Certain shots will be looking like the modern city while several others will include "futuristic" buildings (these shots will be made in "The Sims 2", seeing that I have found several neighborhood building objects that give off the sci-fi "futuristic" appearance that you were talking about).  But the way the series will present the town will go with how Caprica City appears throughout Season 1 and 2, where there are certain places that look like a normal modern city {i.e. the place where Helo perches himself as a hideout during "Litmus"} while other spots appear rather futuristic).  There are limitations I have to work with provided in both games, but I do hope to get by with what I can.

There is a design in mind for the cities and planets that will be featured (i.e. Picon being modeled a bit after metropolis settings, such as Los Angeles, New York and Washington.  Tauron, which may or may not be featured, will appear a rural, farmland, country-side like setting).

[CB2001]

It isn't Caprica it's Picon!:p I quite like you're idea there CB, I'm looking forward to seeing Centurions in sims 2!

Thank you.  I must warn you about the Centurions.  They're not going to be the ones from the old show or the newer ones featured in the revised series.  Due to what I could find for custom objects in "The Sims 2" with the "University" and "NightLife" expansion packs, I am making Centurions that can fall under the variations (think about it, Six did state in the mini-series that the previous models still had their uses.  And there was a 40 year time frame between the last time the humans saw the Cylon to the beginnning of the mini-seires.  It's possible that there were various "year-model" Centurions made in between the old ones to the current version).  I figured I'd point this out, so that you know that the Centurions aren't the old or new ones.

Of course, the human variety will be featured throughout the series as well.  

And there are also details I've been trying to get feedback on in relation to several things that are continuity details between the fic series and the real show (stuff like, "Does Roslin seem like the kind of woman who would be a sarrogate mother for her sister's child?" and "Does the idea of Cylons being able to create and use biomechanical implants seem like something that is possible or does that whole idea seem too "science fiction" for the show?") as well as stuff pretaining to what will be in the series ("Though we've seen how the show deals with nudity and sexuality, should the series follow the same procedure or should it go further and show such things to where it goes from PG-13 to M rating?").  A lot of things are going about when it comes to the fic series' design.

[Unknown Target]

Why not just make a model of a Centurion and import it into the games?

[Turambar]

use Half Life 2

if there ever was a perfect machinima engine, that's it.

you could easily get the proper feel of BSG using the Source engine.

[Unknown Target]

Half Life 2...ugh I hate that horrific piece of trash.

Still, if you can manage to figure out how to work with it, it does have some nice features, such as lip-synching.

[CB2001]

Unknown Target- That's an excellent question and I'm glad you asked it.  Right from the start of developing the series, I had put a request on various Sims 2 boards and sites, to people who turn meshes from various sources into objects and clothing in "The Sims 2".  The problem is that from all the places I've posted for a request of making a Centurion mesh into something for the game, one person suggested I request the Centurion as an object.  The problem with that is rather simple: I need Centurions to move around and convey certain actions other than standing around.  So, I needed the Centurions to be playable Sim characters.  I did find a clothing mesh which changes a characters body into thin-limbed machine-like body (similar in the shape of a Centurion), but the shape and body texture doesn't match exactly like that of the Centurions seen on the show.  And then the thought popped into my head that came as a solution to the problem: "Those models are still around.  They have their uses." -Six, the miniseries.  I came to the conclusion that, due to the lack of materials to either recreate the Centurions from the old show or the Centurions on the new show exactly, that making variations of Centurions seen on both the old and new shows would be the solution.  A user over at ModTheSims2.com has put up clothing mesh so that users can create both male and female "mech" characters (basically, the clothing looks like something from various anime, but it is still useful enough to create a variation of Centurion).  I have to make due with what's available to me.  That is one of the difficulties with the use of "The Sims 2" with both the "University" and "NightLife" mod.  But then again, it would serve as a good breath of fresh air, even more so because we've grown accustomed to seeing the newer Centurions and we have yet to see any of the older ones in action again.  It'd be a good change up to see the various Centurions made throughout the 40 year gap that they had been missing in, to show how busy they've been.

Turambar- I'm afraid that I do not have the skill to create models and I lack programming skills as well.  That is what is required for "Half-Life 2".  One of the reasons for using "The Sims 2" is due to the simplistic nature of gameplay and interaction features provided.  Even with the use of game mods to help further accessing in-game animations and whatnot, it's a simple nature of pointing and clicking that makes the game an easy source to create any form of machinima (seriously.  Look at all the "Sims 2" machinima at machinima.com).  Everything is easier.  Easy to create your Sim, your set, easy to set up your shots and easy to execute and record the characters' actions.  The same with "The Movies" (which I'm using mainly for certain shots).  I do plan on using various other games in creating the series and have considered others (such as "Need for Speed: High Stakes", "Celestra", "Sim City 4" and "Orbiter") to help in creating the stories, but the idea is the concept of easy to use in order to create it.  Even machinima made with "Halo" and "Halo 2" fall into the category of easy to use.

Limitations are present in all type of games and simulators used in creating machinima.  I have toyed around with the idea of the survivors from the fic series coming across the Rag-Tag Fleet, but I realized that the problem with following such a storyline would be recreating the sets for various interiors for Galactica and Colonial One (I don't even know if creating the A-shaped hallways of Galactica is even possible) as well as creating the RTF's exterior shots (which with Battlestar Galactica: Beyond the Red Line may have brought a remedy to such a problem).  But still, every machinima maker understands one thing: If you plan on using a certain game engine, understand its limits and find a way to work within them.  And I plan to do my best at creating the series with the limited amount of material I have to work with in both "The Sims 2" and "The Movies".

I hope that these answers are satisfying for you.  By all means, if there are any more questions, feel free to ask.  

[CB2001]

Here are some questions I've posted about on various BBoards that pretains to the series.  Note: These ideas may or maynot be used in the series.  Some of them that may not be used may be the result of the outcome of the fic series' interaction with the actual show and some of the idea may be impossible to pull off due to the limitations of the games, simulators and programs I have to work with for the overall run.  Never the less, feel free to answer these if you like.

1. When it comes to the actual show, sexuality isn't a problem. With available mods and downloadable skins for "The Sims 2" that allow certain actions and correct visuals like that in real life, should the series follow the same format of showing nudity/sex as it is seen on the actual show or should it go a little further (basically taking the fic series from a PG-13 rating to M rating)?

2. It is suggested that the other five Cylons might be the "Guardians of Light" that were featured in the original series. I myself would like to feature the Guardians of Light in the fic series and I already have an explanation that would explain how come the "five not spoken of" are considered Cylons should it be presented and proven that the five not spoken of are classified as Cylons. My question is this: Would featuring them be okay or would they fall under "alien life," to which the series clearly avoids featuring?

3. So far, for the influences of the series, I have looked at films involving post-apocalyptic environments or somewhat degraded environment and society. Amongst these include "Escape from New York", "28 Days Later...", "The Last Man on Earth", "The Omega Man" (note, the previous two mentioned films are both based off the novel "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson) "The Stand" (the miniseries based off the Stephen King novel) and "The Day After." Out of all the previous fictional narratives dealing with a post-apocalyptic environment, which one do you suggest that I should draw heavily from?

4. Could you see the following people in the roles of trainees for a Navy SEALS-like group? If there are any that do not seem like they would be training for apart of such a group, don't be afraid to suggest an actor/actress who you think would. (Also, if you are unfamiliar with certain names, feel free to use the Internet Movie Database): Jessica Alba, Cillian Murphy, Emile Hirsch, Natalie Jackson Mendoza, Josh Lucas and Jonny Lee Miller.

5. What type of ending would you like to see for such a fan fiction series?

6. In your opinion, does Laura Roslin seem like the kind of woman who would be a surrogate mother? Originally, I had toyed with the idea that one of the characters was actually Laura Roslin's son, whom she had out of wed-lock and gave to her sister to raise due to becoming a member of the political party (but the idea was scrapped because certain people felt that it would be out of character for Roslin and that it seemed too "soap operary"). Now, I'm toying of making her a surrogate mother and that she carried her sister's second son, John Coba.

7. Seeing different models of Cylon Centurions other than the ones featured on the show. I had the idea that the Cylons created other versions of the Centurions (let's face it. The newer ones seem a far off distant relative to the original Centurions as seen in the mini-series). I thought of the Centurions sort of like the Ford Mustang: there have been many different variations of the model since the humans had last seen them before the attacks. And seeing that I cannot find anyone who could creature a Centurion that looks exactly like the one from the show as a Sim for the game, would it be okay to fans to see Centurions that are not the big hulking ones from the new series? Is that a good idea or bad idea?

8. One of my ideas features a twisted variation of the Sharon/Helo relationship, where the Model 8 Cylon with the human characters had been kidnapped and replaced with an imposter Model 8, who eventually had a change of heart like Sharon (Athena) after falling in love. Unfortunately, when the group discovers she is not the same Model 8 that had been helping them from the start, she is shot dead (even had considered on having the situation where she is pregnant when she is killed) and comes back later more emotionally unstable, obsessive and physically abusive towards the person who shot her. This idea was highly recommended to be avoided by my partner in crime, Adama3 (whom I used to bounce ideas off of and is now no longer involved in the project at his request), who said it also seemed "soap operary". What do you think of the idea? Good? Bad? Should it be used or avoided?

9. One of the themes of the series involves cause and effect. Basically, actions made by the characters in the fic series have end results that turn up in the actual show. So far, I've got two done (one of them possibly being nixed. Basically, its the computer virus the Cylons use in "Scattered", "Valley of Darkness" and "Flight of the Phoenix". Originally, it was going to be where we discover that the virus was made by a couple of the characters in the fic series to use for their escape and the Cylons revamped the virus to be used against the Galatica, however I am reworking this detail to where one character had no choice but to make it, but included a warning about the virus' use and explains how Sharon {Athena} was able to use it against the attacking force and it affect them very quickly). Are there any other details that are open that you wonder "How did the Cylons do/know that?" or situations that occured or things that turn up that make you wonder how they came to be that can be used as an "end result" in the series?

10. I have considered having part of the series leave Picon and end up on Tauron for one point. I have considered making Tauron sort of like the Kansas of the 12 Colony planets (basically, more rural and country than urban and metropolis) and explain that Tauron is less occupied by the Cylons than the other planets due to the amount of humans that had once lived there. Would that be okay or does that sound lame?

11. Having the survivors of Picon finding the RTF: Good idea or bad idea?

12. The Cylon Homeworld, good idea or bad idea featuring it?

13. Biomechanical implants: One idea I had involved one of the characters being recaptured, having all the muscle of his/her arm (between his wrist and elbow) removed and replaced with the same type of muscle material used in the bodies of the human Cylons, allowing him/her to access computer systems the same way as the Cylons are (be it through a cable like Sharon {Athena} during "Flight of the Phoenix" or the interface of the Basestars, as seen in episodes featuring Baltar inside the Basestar). Does it seem likely that the Cylons would be able to do something like that? Or does that seem too sci-fi to feature?

14. If I create a website for the fic series, what kind of stuff should be included (FAQs, character profiles, downloadable wallpaper, etc)?

15. Finally: Should I try to make the images for the comic appear to be comic book-ize or should I just leave it at normal?  I have attempted this before, but I am using Adobe Photoshop Elements, which does not allow me to use preloaded actions settings like normal Photoshop.  I am still attempting to try and create the comic book-ized images but haven't succeeded thus far.


Additional Note: I may also feature more modernized versions of characters from the old show.  Seeing that I have a modern Sheba in the cast, I have toyed around lately with having a Cassiopeia that may appear later on.  Unlike the older version, she will be a virgin priestess, but for what god or goddess (or religion for that matter) will be something I'll have to come up with later on.

[Scotchy]

...that horrific piece of trash...

THAT'S a spanking!

[ngtm1r]

Why not just make a model of a Centurion and import it into the games?

Actually there are already good Centurion models existant. And have been since sometime about a year and a half ago. It shouldn't be that hard to find one.

[CB2001]

Actually there are already good Centurion models existant. And have been since sometime about a year and a half ago. It shouldn't be that hard to find one.

I did find that model at a Sci-Fi 3-D site, which has a lot of various 3-D models based on various sci-fi films and shows.  When I made the request for turning it into a Sim, that was when one person suggested I request it as an object.

[CB2001]

Here's a couple of pictures of Sims that will hopefully appear in the test comic "All We've Left Behind".  Though the story is mainly told through screencaps from episodes of the show, there are a couple of sequences (possibly a third) that use captures made with "The Sims 2" and "The Movies".  The first is a dream sequence that features the Laura Roslin Sim, while the other is a flashback scene that has Dualla break up with John Coba (there is another possible flashback that may occur where we see Roslin with John, either before he was born or maybe before he leaves Tauron to go to Picon, and before she neglects to keep in contact with her family, like she neglects her health, for five years.  But this detail is still being considered).

Anyways, here's the pictures of the Sims that will be featured in the test story.