If you don't get an idea for a TV show from watching that, your lacking in immigination.
'Climbing for Dollars'? Comedy gold I tell you.
Watch that, Robocop (the Movie), and Bonzai! (the TV show, new episodes on Sunday evening).
Or read Idoru by William Gibson.
-Kevlar
Oh, yesh, and I've been reading Iduro now, and count zero. as soon as i finish iduro i'm moving to mona lisa overdrive. I think I now have all of Gibson's CP book, 7 is how many i count, there might be more. and I've read or am reading all but 2. Idoru's the one with Slitscan if my memory serves me. (hrm.. i konw i've seen that somewher ein my characters... hahaha)
latas
(Edited by Tool at 5:46 pm on Aug. 11, 2003)
But my idea for a good show would be a battle royale of sorts. Could also provide a good role for criminals instead of simply killing/banishing/freezing them. Have them in a maximum security prison, and face them off against wild animals, other criminals, rookie Judges hoping to make a name for themselves, whatever. Hell, maybe ever have a few corpies with weapons jump in. It'd make for some good TV.
Of course, I think clones for the criminal combatants would be optional.
Hell, wouldn't even necessarily have to involve criminals. Or even -real- fights. Could be matrix-oriented. Kinda like that terrorist game on GREEN.
I'm sure you guys could think of other scenarios it could work in... Maybe even open up that arena on RED. I think its on Knife Street, ain't it? Or hell, televise some of the Fight-Night events that everyone loves so much (but rarely happen anymore).
I was thinking about a Battle Zone for Sindome... where the criminals were thrown into an arena on life TV...
And I was thinking about the Arnold movie "The Running Man"...
And it occured to me there was another example of this which was ultimately very themely, even if it did cross the super-natural line. It's mearly a coincidence that what I'm thinking of is also called "Running Man".
Years ago, there was a very contriversial TV show on MTV called Liquid Television. It was usually a series of animation shorts, but on occasion they had live acting (DogBoy) shorts. This, BTW, is where Aeon Flux came from... a style of animation identical to 'Metriculated' from the Animatrix. It's also where Beavis and Butthead made their debut. The whole format of the show is best described as a 'Mind Fuck': They just threw anything at you to wierd you out.
One of the shorts was a very dark piece, about 10 minutes long as I remember, directed by Yoshiaku Kawajiri called "Running Man".
In it, the worlds most popular sport is "The Death Circus"; a racing game where the contestants pilot jet-powered vehicles around an oval track at simply amazing speeds... almost always to the death. I won't ruin the ending for you... but sufficent to say it's very themely for this topic.
A quick search on Google revealed that owners of 'Wet Shorts, the best of Liquid TV vol 1&2' were disapointed by the lack of this short... But that it's avalible in it's non-edited form on 'Neo Tokyo'. (do a search on ebay).
I also found what I believe to be in on EMule: neo-tokyo.1987.sbc.ac3_red.mania.avi although as best I can tell there's no ready sources for it (Disclaimer: Clicking on this link may cause your computer to aptempt to download illegal software, although this is unverified. The Sindome Group does not condone the use of any software for illegal means. If you like something, buy it... don't steal it).
Anyway, if your able, check it out. This is the type of thing that could go really far in the hands of the right person.
-Kevlar
Anwho,
Alright since i have to write a 30 minute script each week for my char's upcoming events i need some quick questions answered.
1) I need to use the $uses npc_centric_script thing right?
2) How do i puppet my character through the script?
3) Or do i just play my character out normally and answer 'loaded' questions persay. for example
the script says that earthworm jim will next say "Oh i love it down there, the gronud is no nice and soft."
should there be a line before it that makes my character ask him " SO hows the hole?"
or do i need to just make my character ask him "so how's the hole?" in a very timely manner. . .
if so i can already see some problems with this.. as in .. i dont get the question typed in tim and he answers the question by readinging my mind....
4) Where can i find a short list of names and places of work for the event(s)? We'll want people that are known through out withmore correct? and we want the show to attract a more corpie audiance although some measures will have to be made to keep the player base interested seeing as how most of it are mixers. so will the NPC's used be local business owner's who've made a difference in the city? or.. what? I'm no sure what kind of npc's are at my disrection so .. i'll patiently await a response.
;)
It's called 'As the hour glass turns.'
uses $play_script
actor "%jeff" is named "Jeff" and looks like "A stocky balding man, wearing a business suit."
actress "%Jillian" is named "Jillian" and looks like "A tall blonde woman with a healthy figure."
actor "%Tom" is named "Tom" and looks like "A young man the stands about five feet six inches tall, with short, closely cropped brown hair."
actor "%Billy" is named "Billy" and looks like "A young man that stands about five feet four inches tall, he has long, curly brown hair."
place %Juliet is "standing here, here face red, and her eyes wet."
announce_all %location "[The screen fades to black and an the camera pans right to an hour glass slowly rotating clockwise.]:- Last time, on \As the Hour Glass Turns\."
announce_all %location "[Scenes from the previous episode appear on the screen and a womens voice explains what happened on the previous episode]:- Jillian went to confront her mother Melody, about her feelings for Jeff. When she arrived, she found Jeff and her mother in bed together. Jeff tried to explain that Melody had blackmailed him, and threatened to tell Jillian a fabricated story about Jeff's 'vacation' in Vegas. The show ended with Jillian telling Jeff she never wanted to see him again. Will Jeff and Jillian work things out? Will Melody learn her lesson and let her daughter be? Will Tom and Billy get their adopation records released, so they can find out who their real father is? Find out today on \As the Hour Glass Turns\. -:[The last scene fades to black and the blackness is replaces by the soft sites and sounds of a beach."
enter %Jillian "Jillian arrives from the east, walking quickly, her face red, and eyes wet."
as %Jillian
say I can't belive my mother would do that to me... I loved Jeff.. He was everything to me. She just couldn't let me be happy. She always has to ruin everything for me.
emote sniffs a little as she continues to walk down the beach.
say Will I ever find the right guy? God, i'm so depressed.
announce_all %location "[The screen changes to another angle, and you see Jillian from behind, stumbling further down the beach."
exit %Jillian
announce_all %location "The screen fades away and is replaced by an office."
Enter %Billy "Billy walks in from an office door, his head bowed, quickly followed by Tom."
Enter %Tom
as %Tom
say I can't belive these people.
as %Billy
say They just keep giving us the run around. All we want is to know who our real father is...
as %Tom
Say Why can't they just tell us? Don't they ever wonder what it would be like for us?
as %Billy
say Did you see that computer he was using?
as %Tom
say Yeah.. What about it?
as %Billy I think the records are on it. I saw the guy enter a password.
as %Tom What good does that do us? We know where the info is, but we can't get too it.
as %Billy We /can/ get to it. If we try.
as %Tom
emote smiles and says, "You think we could do it? You remember the password?"
as %Billy I remember it.. But this needs planning.
as %Tom Planning? Hows this for a plan.
emote glances to his left, and then to his right, when he sees that no one is watching he grins and reaches over and pulls the fire alarm.
uses $play_script �//<=Makes the script a TV Show/AD/etc... script.
// Johnny Seinfeld a ripoff of Seinfeld <=To ease the process.
// EPISODE 1 - Act A <= If its a series the episode, act, part so you and whomever reads it doesn't get lost.
// featuring Johnny as Jerry Seinfeld, Kevlar as George Constanza, Iga as Kramer, Athena as Elaine
// Stonemonk as Morty (Jerry's dad), Divine as Helen (Jerry's Mom), Finn as Uncle Mac
// Jinkorei, Sable, Bixby, Patton (whacky guy!), Legba, Firestorm and Purity as other people as needed.
// ^= Just so you have a easy place to remember them. =^
// Actors and actress go here <= I prefer to create them up front so I don't lose them from act to act.
actor "%johnny" "Johnny" "A tall and thin man with black wavy hair. He has a teethy smile. He is wearing a jacket, with his shirt is tucked into his jeans throusers."
actor "%kev" "Kevlar" "A short bulky man, he is balding and wears thick framed glasses. He appears to wear clothes that are one number too small for him."
actor "%iga" "Iga" "A tall and boney man with a weird and fuzzy hairstile. He wears loose fitting clothing and appears to not take much time into dressing up."
actor "%stone" "Stonemonk" "An old man, gray hair, grampa belly and small reminescent of sideburns."
actress "%ath" "Athena" "A short and voluptuous girl with long curly hair."
actress "%div" "Divine" "A woman at abouth 50 years old, alwyas well dressed and with impecable hairdo."
actor "%finn" "Finn" "A male of about 45 years old, thin, bald and with big nose and ears."
// Supporting actors, background and other people that just appears on this act/part
actor "%rog" "Roger" "A male of about 30 years old, bown hair and wide shoulders."
actor "%art" "Artie" "A male of about 30 years old, black hair and skinny."
actress "%pam" "Pamela" "A tall blonde woman some two steps far from beutiful. She wears a pair of glasses."
actress "%van" "Vanessa" "A tall brunnete with a voluptous body and a pearly smile."
actress "%car" "Carol" "A blonde woman with wavey hair that falls at about chin high."
// Now you start your script, giving a look_place is a good thing
place %johnny is "standing on a stage, a spotlight on him and a michophone on a stand on his front."
// Set the ambience and give some camera moves/angles.
announceall %location "[The screen fades from black into a man standing on a stage from what looks to be a comedy club.] The crowd cheers and laughs as the cameras focus on him."
// add a pause so people can read the text
pause 10
// Put your actor in the scene, they are all created in some kind of $void for actors.
enter %johnny
// Select the actor you want to puppeteer.
as %johnny
// say works just like the say command you use in game.
say "So, I'm on line at the supermarket. Two women in front of me. One of them, her total was eight dollars, the other three dollars. They both of course choose to pay by the use of the..."
pause 10
// emote the good old '.'
emote "pauses and gestures to audience for response."
pause 3
//Some actors and emotes that involve several actors can be easily done with the announceall
announceall %location "The audience says toguether CHEQUE."
// (...)
// here comes another actor
enter %ath
//select the actor and puppet him
as %johnny
say "What's that one?"
pause 5
//select the other actor and puppet her
as %ath
// to works mostly like the to <player/npc> but it uses the variable instead of the name.
to %johnny "Coccoon II: The Return. I guess they didn't like it up there."
pause 5
// (...)
// Here's an announceall emoting for a non-existing actor, as she only has one line I didn't create her
announceall %location "The clerk says, as they leave 'When you're dead, you're dead. That's it. You're not goin' anywhere...'"
pause 7
//Scene transition
announceall %location "The scene fades to the interior of a bar as Johnny and Athena enter."
pause 5
//Getting the actors from their $actorvoid and bringing them into the scene quietly
enter %van
enter %pam
enter %rog
//(...)
as %johnny
to %pam "Hi, happy birthday."
pause 3
as %pam
to %johnny "Thanks, ah, everybody, this is Athena and Johnny."
pause 5
// announceall to show the various people reactions
announceall %location "The various other people sitted around one big table say hi to the newcomers"
//(...)
// Another multi-pose announceall
announceall %location "Johnny and Athena sit next to each other at a table. Across from Jerry is a strikingly beautiful woman, Vanessa. The piano is playing awful dinner music."
//(...)
// Taking the actors out of the scene quietly
exit %van
exit %pam
exit %rog
// Making an actor enter with a description
enter %van "Vanessa exits the elevator, chatting with a couple of co-workers."
// Another example. The same way you can make them exit with a pose.
enter %iga "The door to the hallway opens suddenly and as if attached to it comes Iga."
(Edited by Xeethot at 11:50 am on June 11, 2004)
The judges could go out of there way to capture some wanted PC criminal.. or even an NPC from time to time... And maybe have like a hovercam that follows the player around.. Maybe they just have to survive for an hour... or maybe there is a 50k bounty on the head of the runner that anyone can collect..
Some of it could be scripted.. Comericals, intro, outtro, maybe crowd ambiance, or some interviews. I would love to work on something like this. It would be a hell of a lot of fun to see it IC.
Enjoy.