An Argument for Theatre Mode

[@VandergriftMoefies]

Driv3r (or Driver 3) back in the day had a great, but also pretty limited theatre mode that allowed you to make short films. I pretty much did that non stop because I was always interested in filmmaking. but because I was just a little kid back than, I did not have access to fulfill all the things I wanted to make. So that theatre mode allowed me to experiment with so much. From how to frame a shot, to how to keep the the pace going. Today, I'm a filmmaker/Animator and I have made many many short films, did films school, have worked on multiple productions, thought myself how to use after effects and premier back in 2010 and much more. I really owe a lot to Driv3r. It may not be a great game, but for having a theatre mode, it will always be one of the most important games in my life. So yes, I think more games need Theatre Mode, it may inspire more kids or just people in general to be a filmmaker.

[@LHudson]

I remember Driver 2 having the same feature (ish)

[@lrgogo1517]

"Hancock tragically died of a heart attack this year. He was 40 years old. "So!! How is everyone finding COD: Black Ops 4?"

[@TheJohnApocalypse]

Bungie made a game mode that is named after a character in RedVsBlue

[@ohamatchhams]

It's been along time since I heard edgeworks channels from his HMV vids, this is a very good video on the subject

[@Bizargh]

I've long lauded the value of a robust Theatre Mode in just about any game that can support the third-dimension, from Gears of War to Burnout Paradise, Hitman to Ace Combat & more. I've been witness to a great wealth of creations ever since I was introduced to this art of "Hey, we can use this to make movies" back when Red vs. Blue was wrapping up it's third season, from Jamie98s/Kokobear's 'The Unlucky Elite' & many other short films ('2' was a personal favourite), Edgework Entertainment's 'The Codex' & 'The Heretic' (Even got me their soundtrack CDs a couple years back, shocked they still even provided them), KBS Production's 'Bill et John' (Their site's still up even today!), Digital Warriors' 'Sands of Fire' (That one took over six years to finish, but it was a tearful joy to see it's mere accomplishment of completion), and many more developed utilising Halo 3 & Reach, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Grand Theft Auto IV, Battlefield 2-4 and Minecraft just to name a common few (Gears of War 2 & 3, The Sims, Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls IV & V are certainly others), let-alone the sheer volume produced from the Source engine/games from Ross Scott's 'Civil Protection' & 'Freeman's Mind' and Smooth Few Films' 'The Leet World' along with old gold from Quake's tech like 'Hardly Workin''. And that's not counting what delights I encountered from Replays from games such as DiRT 2 or the occasional Ace Combat 6, particularly from BenBuja's Stunt Videos. I myself yearned for years to give it a try for myself, and then when I did perhaps five years later, I not only eventually ended up with two or three results I ended up being proud of, but contributed to others from joining a work-education colleague in his silly ideas (They were a great laugh to make, but never would I ask anyone to watch them), pitching in as a puppeteer in others' projects (Everyone coined it "body-acting", but I always likened player-controlled projects such as those made with Halo to puppets-on-strings akin to Thunderbirds or Captain Scarlet & The Mysterons I watched in my childhood, where-as SFM took things to "Home-made Pixar" if you knew your stuff, which plenty do!), and meeting my closest friend through merely being a fan of his own work! I never joined Machinima (I got partner offers from Stoner Films, NewScapePro & I-think-it's-spelled Markkoh Productions, but kindly declining the former two & wisely avoiding the latter seems to have proven wise) nor got directly involved in any 'teams' at the time (Although a "Machinima Revive" rather liked what I submitted to them, and I enjoyed a lengthy-time in Machininations forums before it's closure in 2017), it was still some very fun times for myself I look back on fondly. And such a joy it has been to see such success stories as Black Plasma Studio going from "We can use Halo to make movies" to "We can use Minecraft assets to make very successful movies", Lit Fuse Films' crew going on to work with numerous developers & see successes of their own, James McVinnie going from making Source videos to an officially-recognised community short for Team Fortress 2 & the trailers for Black Mesa even today, MaxofS2D going from making vids in Source to taking top-spots at numerous Valve film-contests & providing animation for numerous games freelance, Ezequiel Guerisoli cancelling their 'Mastermind' series on the first episode as they got hired by Rockstar North shortly after releasing it, just to name a few (Including numerous voice actors I've heard from such projects going on to providing voice for video games & animation, Dust: An Elysian Tail one such example I can name). I guess more importantly for developers, I've discovered a great many games just through the art of "Hey, we can use this to make movies" (I'd have never learned about Kill.Switch when I did if it weren't for Jamie98s/Kokobear's short on it, I got first made aware of F.E.A.R through Rooster Teeth's P.A.N.I.C.S, Painkiller through Ross Scott's use of it's music in Civil Protection, and that's just naming a small number), the staying power such a feature can provide can be very high, and developers can find themselves new talent from such projects much like fan-artwork has lead to artists getting jobs from working on Sonic Mania to Spyro Reignited. Plus, it's just plain fun seeing Robert Stoneman give ARMA 3 or PlanetSide 2's sillier side some creative flair, seeing replays in more user-directed/edited perspectives, or just some peep with a 'camera' & a silly idea that may end up working somehow. I've tended to say that usually just a HUD-disable, Viewmodel Disable/Weapon Holster & Spectator Cam is enough to do great wonders with, but what dedicated tools such as Theatre for Halo & Black Ops, Director for Grand Theft Auto or more advanced Replays as that for Forza Motorsport provide can make those wonders ever-so greater, especially for those on console or those unfamiliar with how to get a game's mods or engine to work in your favour (The stuff I see get pulled off with Garry's Mod even today still blows my mind!) P.S. I definitely recognise me a couple of your old projects shown in this video ('Hacker' definitely). Boy, that takes me back!

[@egoborder3203]

love this topic! Will you ever talk about level editors/map making tools? I had so much fun with features like that back in the day

[@Fredebade]

Didn't Red vs Blue also start out (or still use I havn't seen much of it besides a few early episodes) theater mode?

[@LHudson]

If I recall correctly, they simply used a player POV in freecam or something. It's why the old episodes have letterbox and a target at the centre of the screen.

[@Fredebade]

@@LHudson ah that explains the target I saw all the time

[@Bizargh]

They pretty much just used the Pistol (Sentinel Beam, then the No-Weapon glitch shortly after in Halo 2 until Season 5), then cropped out the HUD elements with letter-boxing. It was pretty much everyone's technique for those games back in the day (Unless they got the PC versions working in their favour, but this was not as commonly seen at the time).

[@facepalmvideos1]

Someone watched Superbunnyhop, i see)