Why no more Full Motion Video games?

[Zap!]

I readily admit that I am not knowledgeable about the specifics of the moviemaking business, but no, I am quite certain that neither of those things comes anywhere near the astronomical costs of hiring actors and a camera crew to actually shoot something. I kind of suspect that as soon as someone actually appears on screen there are ginormous Screen Actor's Guild fees to be paid, too.

There's no Screen Actor's Guild for video games. While it may be expensive to make a FMV for car chases with explosions, it's not expensive to hire actors for cut-scenes. In fact it's far cheaper than paying CGI experts to put something in. Remember, we're not talking about hiring Tom Cruise here. They can hire anyone off the street, or better yet, current employees. Let's say you were 22, making $11 per hour, and was the paperwork guy at Konami. You would be more than happy to take a couple of hundred bucks for a few hours shoot on an upcoming game. I know I would at lease. FMV always had terrible actors, and I personally found a certain coolness about that.

No "camera crew" is required either. You hire one college kid (who's taking photography ) with his own $700 camera, throw him $300, and call it a day.

[Gameguy]

Oh, and Plumbers Don't Wear Ties. A horrible "game" (really a visual novel IMHO), but absolutely hilarious in its shameless, good-natured incompetence and utter half-assed-ness. "You pea-brained preppy! You vain, Volvo-driving vulva!"

That "game" has become literally playable through youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjMAG5IDnek

There's no Screen Actor's Guild for video games. While it may be expensive to make a FMV for car chases with explosions, it's not expensive to hire actors for cut-scenes. In fact it's far cheaper than paying CGI experts to put something in. Remember, we're not talking about hiring Tom Cruise here. They can hire anyone off the street, or better yet, current employees. Let's say you were 22, making $11 per hour, and was the paperwork guy at Konami. You would be more than happy to take a couple of hundred bucks for a few hours shoot on an upcoming game. I know I would at lease. FMV always had terrible actors, and I personally found a certain coolness about that.

No "camera crew" is required either. You hire one college kid (who's taking photography ) with his own $700 camera, throw him $300, and call it a day.

Maybe he should have been more specific about making good FMV video games. If all you want is another generic shitty FMV game then anyone can follow your plan.

For a good FMV game, look into Toonstruck which stars Christopher Lloyd. There are full FMV sequences but most of the game consists of a digitized sprite of Christopher Lloyd interacting with an animated background. Plenty of actual known actors in this one. Of course if a game used full FMV all the time, then you would need to built sets for backgrounds or rent locations to use for filming which would add to the cost.

It still would be even cheaper to make a non-FMV game. Just use freeware CGI software and design your own video game in your spare time, it would literally cost you nothing to do this and plenty of people already do this for freeware games, which are mostly shitty.

With modern games using CGI characters modeled after real actors, this keeps the gameplay to be more interactive and controllable than pure FMV. Rather than switch between CGI during gameplay and live action during cut scenes, they just render everything in CGI to keep it consistent. Having actual digitized actors worked great in 2D, but for 3D games they had to switch to CGI. I would prefer 2D games just fine but that doesn't seem to be what studios are producing now, I guess they want to make a reason for people to justify having such powerful current consoles.

[goldenband]

That one's also on the PC (and numerous other platforms).

Only the PC and PlayStation, AFAIK, and from what I've read the PlayStation version had some content cut.

Be careful not to confuse the US Psychic Detective with the multivolume Japanese series by Data West (e.g. "Psychic Detective Series Vol. 1: Invitation") that was indeed on a bunch of platforms and consoles (FM Towns, Mega CD, PC Engine CD, etc.). It's confusing, for sure -- or at least it confused me -- but the 3DO game is its own thing.

That "game" has become literally playable through youtube.

Indeed, though IIRC a few of the funnier sound clips are missing. If you messed up at one point, one of the voices on the selection screen would say something to the effect of "Do you really want to keep playing this thing?", and I seem to remember that's not on the YouTube sequence. Still a great service, though, and obviously wiser than spending $$$ on a real copy.

[celerystalker]

I readily admit that I am not knowledgeable about the specifics of the moviemaking business, but no, I am quite certain that neither of those things comes anywhere near the astronomical costs of hiring actors and a camera crew to actually shoot something. I kind of suspect that as soon as someone actually appears on screen there are ginormous Screen Actor's Guild fees to be paid, too.

You get what you pay for.

That one's also on the PC (and numerous other platforms).

I cite the 3DO version of Psychic Detective because it is, as mentioned, the least censored version

You don't incur additional SAG fees that you wouldn't by 3D modeling an actor. You also need very expensive scanning and modeling tools to do what developers do these days. You don't need A-list talent to make a good FMV game, though. There are great independent films made every year that cost a fraction of what it costs to make a modern game. The point is, cost is not the preventative barrier. It's an overall lack of interest. Even as I mention loving these games and how I'd love to play more, I know there's no profit there. It's a pipe dream. It's just nice to think about in a "what if" scenario. Nobody is seriously going to produce an A-list entry in an evolutionary dead end. At best there might be some indie games that tread this vestigial ground.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I don't think FMV games will ever make a comeback. We have things called cut scenes now that are just infinitely superior. I did just get a stack of Sega CD games I gotta try, maybe that'll be my night.

[Jorpho]

You also need very expensive scanning and modeling tools to do what developers do these days.

What makes you think it's expensive?

There are great independent films made every year that cost a fraction of what it costs to make a modern game.

There are considerably more atrociously mediocre independent films made every year.

[celerystalker]

What makes you think it's expensive?

There are considerably more atrociously mediocre independent films made every year.

A couple of articles I read regarding the facial scanning and muscle structure animation in regard to the uncanny valley phenomenon called it cutting edge enough that only a few developers such as EA and Activision had access to it at the time. That's why I think it's expensive.

Yes, there are crummy independent films. There are also lousy blockbuster studio films. There are tons of lousy video games in FMV, 3D, and 2D. That doesn't negate the possibility of quality on a budget. Like I said, it's irrelevant, because it wouldn't be profitable anyway. When FMV games were new, the hope was that they were the next big thing, and as such, developers weren't afraid to spend the money to shoot footage and even hire legitimate acting talent. Clearly, they weren't successful, and any game made of that type now is for a niche audience. Making a sequel to Night Trap is the sort of thing that gets a couple thousand people riled up and excited enough to talk about it and even donate to kickstarters, but the other 5,999,998,000 people on the planet don't care. These days it'd be a passion project or nothing at all, and yes, that likely means its quality would be a crap shoot. It's not wrong for fans to hope for the best, though.