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wyoproducer

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  1. After some nine months and over 1000 hours of effort, Tales of Virtual Combat - Episode #2 is finally available for viewing. It is comprised of 20 "bite-size" segments with a total story duration of 362-minutes (6 hrs 2 min). However, this particular program is based on the CMSF engine this time around, not CMBN. Note: This is NOT gameplay, nor does it portend to be so. As with Episode #1, it is pure storytelling that happens to use the CMx2 simulation software to achieve its end. It is heavily detailed in backstory, cut-scenes and scenario development -- not to mention, the combat action reports typical of such a mockumentary-style format. Therefore, I don't recommend this product to those individuals whom are more interested in the "gaming" aspect of the product over the intrinsic entertaiment value for which Tales of Virtual Combat has been created and developed. For those of you who dare to venture into this collosal feature-length narrative, I hope the overall story and its numerous plot points manage to hold your interest so that you can view it in its entirety and enjoy the experience. Here is the link to my HSI channel: www.youtube.com\user\wyoproducer Again, thanks for your interest in my experiment. PTW
  2. I'm afraid the TIMETABLE mentioned in the Episode #2 Promotional Teaser was a bit optimistic. Should production of the entire story come to fruition, the release date won't be any sooner than sometime this summer now. At this point in time, I am only about half way through the post-production process (i.e. - script correlation, editing, narration, music, format rendering, etc) = roughly 10 segments "in-the-can" [2 hours 20 minutes]. To give you an idea of the monumental size of this particular mockumentary (which was unintentional at its inception), I anticipate the final product to be somewhere in the neighborhood of having 50% more segments than the first episode. In other words, the story will far exceed the 200-minutes of its predecessor. It will, most likely, come in at well over 4 hours in duration. If you find that to be a notion that's hard to wrap your head around, you're not alone. I can't fathom it myself, but it's true. The project is fairly involved in scope and detail and, therein, time-consuming by its very nature. However, I AM making every effort to include it into my personal activities. As I've mentioned before, when/if the project is complete, I will assess its overall presentational value and determine whether its worthy of public display at that time. Sorry. No promises. As a side note, I'm toying with the idea of making the series "Subscription Only" access. The reason being: I'd like to know just how many actual people are finding this offering on the Internet and serious enough to attempt to watch the episodes in their entirety. I would make such a move simply to determine whether or not all the time and effort dedicated to ToVC (now and possibly again in the future) is worth the cumulative bother and expense. It's just an idea, but I'm seriously considering doing something of this nature since there is no real percentage (or tangible personal gain) in my creating these videos otherwise. BTW, you wouldn't have to have a YouTube account in order to subscribe. It's not required. You would simply receive a private email of the newly posted material. Viewing the videos would be as simple as plugging in the playlist URL address. Best of all, ToVC will still be free-of-charge entertainment. If anyone has any concerns regarding such a format, please share them with me. I'm open to suggestions. Should there be any other notable information regarding the status of the second episode (or ToVC in general), I will endeavor to keep everyone posted. Also, bare in-mind that I don't visit the forums all that much, so responding to queries may be random, at best. Thanks again for your interest in my personal project (ToVC). PTW
  3. Yes! The same. That was many, many years ago. I had actually completed scenario design and testing on a third campaign in the Contiguous Campaign Series, which was never released. IIRC, all that was left to do was to write the storyline scripts for each side in the various missions. However, 911 occurred about that time, which sidetracked my focus. Needless to say, I never returned to the project -- or for that matter CM in general. Until last May (when I acquired CMBN & the CMSF collection in order to delve into the possibilities of the ToVC program concept), I hadn't really engaged CM at all during the interim period. Thanks for remembering though! PTW
  4. With regards to a possible Episode #2 of Tales of Virtual Combat, the mammoth tasks of story development, battle and cut-scene design/creation and, of course, principle photography are now complete...Phew! I've taken the time to create a 2-minute promotional teaser and posted it on my youtube account -- His Story Internet(ional) -- for those of you who might be interested. Project status information is included with the video, which is a suggested read. Once again, I reiterate, there are no promises or guarantees of completion or even public display of a final product, but at least the raw footage is all "in-the-can" now. BTW, the project is, indeed, another CMx2-based offering with a tad bit of help (i.e. - air assets) from another battle simulation program [ARMA] that was brought to my attention by a subscriber in Canada (thanks Tim). For those of you who don't get virtual cable television or simulated satellite service, here is the location of my mockumentary channel. www.youtube.com/user/wyoproducer Signing off for now. PTW
  5. Nevermind!!! Please disregard the previous post. The donations site has been eliminated from existence. It was a dismal failure, to say the least. :eek: FYI, in an effort to satisfy my own curiosity, I have indeed begun work on Episode #2 of Tales of Virtual Combat. The story centers around an entirely different premise than that of the first episode, yet will be produced in a similar mockumentary-style format. The preliminary script is complete. The main scenario as well as its cut-scenes have all be constructed (terrain, units, AI, etc) and principle photography has commenced. There is still MUCH work to be done in the way of production and post-production. If and when this project is complete, it will not be available until sometime well into 2012 -- and ONLY if I deem it worthy of public consumption. Please keep in mind that this whole ToVC thing is strictly a personal experiment. Based upon the feedback and personal inquiries that I've received regarding the current release, it's quite obvious that a large percentage of people are curious as to why it takes so much time in order to create a product of this nature. The answer is pretty simple. 1) I'm a one-man-band and 2) as with Episode #1, this is a "scripted" product. Despite what some might believe, ToVC is not merely running footage taken from generic gameplay nor from a stock scenario/map. On the contrary, it's a STORY in the truest sense of the term, which requires that most (if not all) of the ingredients be built "to order" and that all of the various scenes play out in a specific way in an effort to fulfill the concept. Programming the AI of a simulator to "behave itself" does not always work. After all, a machine cinema utilizes an unpredictable game engine to achieve the intended results that are more suited to a user-controlled CGI platform. As such, it is extremely time intensive in order to acquire the moviola-style footage needed to "fit" the storyboard. If this is not possible, then great effort must be taken to re-tool the script to fit those few instances where the game engine provides unanticipated and/or irreversible results. This is the overriding task at-hand that must be accomplished so that the final product is not only as entertaining as possible but, more importantly, so that it is "believable" within the context of real-world combat. This is what defines a cinematic, story-driven production. Lastly, I just want to point out that this post is not a promise of things to come -- simply an update. I certainly appreciate the interest that has been expressed by so many in the cyber community towards the whole ToVC concept and its underlying tribute to those individuals (past and present) who have risked so much in real world conflicts for the freedom and liberty of others. So long for now. PTW
  6. Gentlemen, At the suggestion of multiple members of the heretofore worldwide viewing audience, I am establishing a Donation Fund relative to the animated machine cinema series "Tales of Virtual Combat". As you may already know, a tremendous amount of time, effort and resources goes into the development and production of each original story and its accompanying episode. ALL at personal expense. Since I've elected NOT to clutter the individual segments with distracting (and utterly useless) advertisements, personal contributions will have to be the exclusive source of any revenue generated by these otherwise "public domain" offerings. If you enjoy the concept behind these rather unique presentations, a donation would most certainly be welcome and greatly appreciated. However, this is strictly a voluntary action. The future of the series is not dependant upon the public response in this regard. Likewise, the amount of any monetary gift is left soley to your own discretion. In an effort to be completely forthcoming, it is important to note that any contributions are relevant to pre-existing productions that have already been made available for public viewing. A donation, in and of itself, is not a guarantee that future episodes in the series are inevitable. However, production activities are already underway for the next installment in the series (#2), which when/if debuted, will be several months down the road. As was the case with Episode #1, each scenario (i.e. - setting, cut-scenes, etc) is custom-built from scratch and needs to be thoroughly tested in order to match the screenplay as closely as possible prior to the equally laborious tasks of principle photography and post-production. Unfortunately, this takes time. Here is the link to the donation site: www.wepay.com/donate/ToVC Thank you for considering a personal offering. PTW
  7. I just want to take this opportunity to thank Martin and all the people of Battlefront.com for their incredible enthusiasm and support over the course of this past week -- relative to the release of my previously clandestine (and grueling) 6-month "experiment" (Tales of Virtual Combat) and also for creating such an outstanding battle simulation in CM:BN, which made it all possible. I also want to thank all of the people on this forum, from around the world, for the inspiring response to the program. You are most certainly welcome! I'm sincerely grateful and glad that my creation was, to some small degree, worthy of a whopping 200-minutes out of each of your personal lives. It definitely vindicates my decision not only to persue the project in the first place, but to make it public upon completion. Wow! Nearly 11,000 veiws in its initial week of release. THIS, I did not anticipate. Now, if there was only a truly efficient way in which to bring the video to the fore of the full spectrum of history buffs at-large! With it being in its infancy, I'm afraid that the His Story Internet(ional) channel is not, as yet, influencial enough to reach a mass market of that size. Thanks again for all the positive feedback. PTW
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