Machinima for Dummies: Moviestorm is free, and comes with the book

Moviestorm is free, and comes with the book

Hugh "Nomad" Hancock — Thu, 10 May 2007 16:02:00 +0100

Yes, we have a price for Moviestorm, the awesome, dedicated, commercially-licensed Machinima toolset that Short Fuze have been working away at for years now, and about which we have blogged effusively.

It’s going to be… Zero pounds, zero pence.

No Yen.

Zilch.

Nothing.

Nada.

Zero.

Free.

Yes, it’s free to download. Totally, utterly free. Without cost.

FREEEEEEEEEEE!

Can you tell we’re a little excited about this?

You might be asking “how the hell will they survive off that?” Well, the answer, I understand, is add-on packs. MovieStorm’s add-on packs will cost a few pounds/dollars each, and will add tons of new content. And the Short Fuze guys reckon that, by making the initial program free to download, they can get a huge userbase installing subsequent packages.

It’s a brave move. I don’t know if it’ll work, although the Short Fuze management team have more experience than I do, and they reckon it will. But it’s darn fine news for Machinima creators anyway.

Oh, which brings us to point 2. Imagine if “Word for Dummies” came with a free copy of Microsoft Word.

That’s going to be the situation with Machinima for Dummies. It’ll come with a copy of Moviestorm right on the cover - everything you need to get started in Machinima, right there.

Rock and, as various people have said, roll.

" Moviestorm is free, and comes with the book" by Hugh "Nomad" Hancock

Wed, 16 May 2007 18:59:21 +0100

I agree. There’s no program that’s universally “The Best” for Machinima, and there’s unlikely to be - even after 30-odd years and billions of dollars, there’s no one program that’s the best in conventional CG either.

There are things that Moviestorm does well, and they’re different to the things that Medieval II: Total War does well, which are different to the things that The Sims 2 does well, which are… blah.

And thank you for the other comments!

" Moviestorm is free, and comes with the book" by Nova / India

Mon, 14 May 2007 17:03:38 +0100

That’s great news, Hugh… for both the book and for Moviestorm, I think.

I have a few reservations about Moviestorm as ‘the best’, but then I think a machinima creator should look at each project they undertake individually to decide what software is ‘the best’ for that particular project, just as you did with Bloodspell.

Congratulations on your continued success. No one deserves it more!

" Moviestorm is free, and comes with the book" by Hugh "Nomad" Hancock

Thu, 10 May 2007 18:52:00 +0100

Todd - Currently MovieStorm uses the Cal3D model format, which is Open-Source.

I can’t say what they’ll do in the future, but I think that given the time and effort required to sculpt top-quality models, they’re probably safe letting us import our own.

The other side of the coin is, of course, that if they decide to restrict model importing, people like you and I will get bored and wander off to use another engine! And the people who are producing custom content tend to also be the people who are producing the highest production value work, which in turn promotes MovieStorm.

I’d be surprised if Short Fuze tried to restrict users in this way. It just doesn’t fit with the company ethos.

" Moviestorm is free, and comes with the book" by todnyc

Thu, 10 May 2007 18:43:55 +0100

Well here is my concern.

Does exclusively relying on a micro transaction business model force Short Fuze into containing the ability of its users to remodel,skin, and share their own assets?

It’s a bold move for sure.

" Moviestorm is free, and comes with the book" by NM

Thu, 10 May 2007 18:10:54 +0100

Wow, I didn’t see that one coming! That’s awesome.

" Moviestorm is free, and comes with the book" by Johnnie Ingram

Thu, 10 May 2007 17:07:44 +0100

@1 - To a certain extent, Moviestorm *is* a tool for dummies. It’s so easy to use, I’m pretty confident I could teach my mum or my 85-year-old next door neighbour to make a movie in about an hour.

As Hugh said, only time will tell whether Moviestorm will sink or swim, but the Short Fuze guys certainly have the right attitude in my book, and Moviestorm as a product has got me very excited indeed.

" Moviestorm is free, and comes with the book" by 3dfilmmaker

Thu, 10 May 2007 16:36:34 +0100

WOW! Big kudo’s to the Short Fuze guys. That is a seriously cool thing, letting the risk be in their hands in creating a great tool, not in the consumers’ with having to purchase an app in the hopes it meets their creative needs.

Now lets just hope it isn’t mistaken as a tool for Dummies.

I kid. I kid.

Ken