Interactive Zombie Machinima - Sign Up/Character Creation

Dexta117 wrote:Name the game Outpost Echo because the ship was going to another world to set up an outpost and obviously the zombie thing has happened before on the planet they crashed so therefore this situation is an Echo of what happened previously (also this name does not immediately shout out "ZOMBIE MACHINIMA" so it can be more of a surprise to people who are not on the site and follow the story when the zombies are revealed)

Pwnisher James wrote:Oh btw, If you need someone for an action scene, don't be afraid to ask us for help!

Desert Sleepy wrote:
If I am fortunate enough to get to sleep, it is likely I will die from internal bleeding before I wake up. So, this is almost certainly goodbye, Undead Xbox. I enjoyed my time with you, but I am sure I will be dead before any of you read this.

Desert Sleepy wrote: @ DiLmYnStEr
I miraculously survived the night, THE MACHINIMA WILL CONTINUE.

gooseinthehoose wrote:Name:Warrant officer James Augustus
Occupation: Stranded soldier (last survivor of UNSC Rising Dawn)
Helmet: ODST
Shoulders: FJ/PARA
Chest: Tactical/recon
Color scheme: Primary - marron
secondary - gold
Emblem: Rose (red + green) and shield (white)
Backstory: - Started off from wealthy family and joined the UNSC as soon as he got out of school. Built up rank and reputation through engagements with Insurrectionists and various other rebel groups. During one such engagement the ships slipspace drive malfunctioned and sent it to this planet. The ship crash -landed here 15 years ago. He has managed to survive off scavanged supplies and the wild. slightly crazy.

Desert Sleepy wrote:

gooseinthehoose wrote:Name:Warrant officer James Augustus
Occupation: Stranded soldier (last survivor of UNSC Rising Dawn)
Helmet: ODST
Shoulders: FJ/PARA
Chest: Tactical/recon
Color scheme: Primary - marron
secondary - gold
Emblem: Rose (red + green) and shield (white)
Backstory: - Started off from wealthy family and joined the UNSC as soon as he got out of school. Built up rank and reputation through engagements with Insurrectionists and various other rebel groups. During one such engagement the ships slipspace drive malfunctioned and sent it to this planet. The ship crash -landed here 15 years ago. He has managed to survive off scavanged supplies and the wild. slightly crazy.

That's all fine, but two notes. Like the game thread states, there might be some time before I can introduce you into the game. Also, the planet hasn't been in it's current state for that long, so if you had crash-landed there any significant amount of time before the other group, there would have been people. Alternatively, you can just say you've been on the planet as part of it's garrison, and have been surviving since the infection started.

Or, if you want to play as soon as the game resumes, you can take an inactive player's character (the ones who haven't done anything in the game yet). Since they haven't started doing anything this late in the game, other people who want to play would take priority. Either way though, the game won't resume until I can get enough voice actors for the video (working on that now).

gooseinthehoose wrote:I am fine with that change to a survivor during the infection, but also maybe the ship could crash while trying to escape the planet? Also i'm fine with waiting (i like my character too much to not wait ). Also as i said in another post i am ok with doing any acting (maybe not voice) for the character if you need it.

allen0007 wrote:If you still need people i am available but I still need to figure out the character info I will. Get back to you later.

PeTer PIEwa69 wrote:invite me ill be there

Desert Sleepy wrote:This is exactly what the title says. Now that I've gotten enough volunteers (still plenty of room for more to join in!), I'm going to start the game soon.

To be part of the Interactive Zombie Machinima Forum Game, sign up by replying. In regards to character creation....


Character Creation:



www.youtube.com/watch?v=dixpz2hC98U (In case the embedding doesn't work)

Basically, follow the video. When you sign up, just say it like this:
"I'm in.
Name: Whatever
Occupation: Whatever
Helmet: Whichever
Shoulders: Whichever
Color Scheme: X Primary, X Secondary, X Emblem, X Background, X Emblem Color, X Emblem Background Color, X Detail
Backstory: Whatever"

I should mention that in addition to the ones shown in the video, you may also choose the default chestpiece or the chestpiece featuring the extra plating on the chest and the little grenade bandolier at the waist. Also, the HAZOP helmet will be available as well (it takes more credits than you start with to unlock the helmet, but with the amount of games I join with the profiles, they should have enough soon, so you may pick that helmet if you prefer).

There is no limit on what colors you choose, and don't think it's inconsiderate to fill in everything, including the emblem. It's all too easy. And though your character will have whatever armor you select indefinitely, if you grow tired of your color scheme eventually, I'll add in the chance for your character to repaint their armor (though I'd prefer to avoid this, as it could detract from realism and immersion).

Roster: (Only completed characters are listed on the roster)
Tophat 44
Dexta117
DiLmYnStEr
TMGx LoCkOn
CLOAKEY100
sgt zombie23
.ADestroyer360
STUNTMAN1TY
Pwnisher James
snowwolf1996
KGBOOM
FoundDa Kiwi
DJDemitri

Premise:
It's not important precisely what year it is, but it's in the future, long after space flight has been discovered.You happen to be aboard a spaceship owned by a private company on it's way to colonize a distant planet. On this spaceship are all manner of people: the ship's security forces, engineers, colonists, construction workers, architects, scientists, cooks, surveyors, naturalists, doctors, and pilots. To help pay for the trip, the ship has allowed hitchhikers to board as well for a reasonable price. There are civilians of various occupations hitching a ride to a vacation spot, mercenaries heading for more volatile turf, and many others.

On the ship there are many areas full of complicated mechanical things, things that, due to their complicated and important nature, you aren't allowed to touch. However, the ships engineers spend much of their day here, making sure the ship is running it's best. There is also a modestly sized dining hall for the passengers to eat in, plus the kitchen that supplies the food, plus the storeroom that supplies the kitchen. There is an extensive water reservoir and purification system to assure the ships sinks and showers stay clean and running, and to supply the ships sprinkler system. There are enough dormitories to house the ships crew, as well as many extras. There is also the armory, which is of course strictly off-limits to everyone except ship security. Then there's the luggage and cargo room, which carries all the food and supplies that will be needed on this mission (for the immediate future, until more ships arrive and drop off extra supplies). There isn't much to do on the ship recreation wise. There is no main hall to chat in, and the dining hall is reserved for people who are actually eating. There's no rec room, gym, computer lab, stadium, theater, indoor pool, anti-gravity room, ball-pit, not even an observation deck. Enough money has been invested paying for this ship and the supplies for the mission, damnit, the passengers can entertain themselves with books or something! Either you're an employee of the company, in which case you have no right to complain about boredom while on the job, or you're a hitchhiker getting a ride through space for one hell of a deal, in which case you have no right to complain. Maybe if you weren't such a cheap prick you could have bought a ticket on some pleasure cruise, you ever think of that?

Since there's so little to do on the ship, you spend much of your time in your dormitory (provided you're hitching a ride, if you're a ship staff member, you spend your days doing your job). You awoke one day to the sound of the ship's alarm blaring. You aren't entirely sure what's going on, if you're under attack, or if the ship is just having mechanical problems, or maybe some prankster even pulled a fire alarm. You don't know. So you sit in your dormitory and wait for instructions. Sure enough, the ship's pilot gets on the intercom system, and instructs everyone to buckle into their landing seat located in their dormitory, due to the ship making an emergency landing. You aren't that knowledgeable about interstellar travel, but you happen to know that the ship can't possibly have made it all the way to it's destination yet. You aren't scheduled to stop on a planet for another week. And making an "emergency landing" in a spaceship sounds incredibly dangerous. Oh shit. Oh shit! You're screwed! You're going to die! OH SHIT! SHIIIIIT!

But you push these thoughts out of your mind, and buckle into your dormitory's landing seat. The alarm system continues blaring, and you wait for further updates. Maybe you didn't have to land after all? Maybe everything's going to be okay? Suddenly, you feel a moderate amount of turbulence. The room starts shaking. You must have entered a planet's atmosphere. Oh fuck, you're really landing. You hold onto those little grip thingies extending from the chair, just like that instructional video would have told you to had you not slept through it, and brace for impact.

And then, some time later, you wake up. How cliched, you survived the crash landing but got knocked unconscious in the process. You aren't sure if you passed out due to the intensity of the G-Forces (or whatever the hell), were knocked out from the impact, or just fainted like a sissy. But, you're awake now, and after biting your tongue and feeling a bit of discomfort, you come to the conclusion that you're still alive. You can immediately tell you're on land. Thank God for that. Sweet, stable land, I'll never leave your safety again. You take a moment to think, and decide that whatever planet you're on must be fairly temperate, as your room still feels warm. Thinking all is well, you unbuckle yourself and stand up. You head out of your dormitory, and start walking down the hallway in the direction of the dining hall. Holy shit, the dining hall's gone. Better turn around and exit out the cargo hold.

After making your way to the cargo hold, you find that the cargo hold door is open, and it seems the rest of the surviving passengers and crew have made it here as well. They're all standing immediately outside the door, stretching, talking, and it looks like some of the crew members are moving supplies. Shit, did you actually crash? You reach the end of the cargo hold, and jump down a foot or two to the ground. You don't know what planet you're on, but it seems hospitable enough. Time to find out what the hell's going on.


Universe/Lore:
This isn't necessarily part of the Halo universe, but for simplicity, you can still refer to the military as the UNSC, and allude to wars fought in the past.

One of the functions of this section is so that you can know more about your situation and options. For example, the fact that an armory was mentioned in the premise tells you that there may be a room full of salvageable weapons somewhere near the crash site, unless of course it was just completely demolished. If you've read the premise, you'd also be able to work out that apparently the cargo hold is intact, so that tells you your group has some supplies to start with.I'm not going to give a third example, as it should be fairly obvious at this point.

There will also be "NPCs", characters whose actions will be controlled by me and are intended to move the story along, as well as point out obvious things if the group is too slow to pick it up (hopefully this won't be necessary).

Military Background: If your character has a military background, then you should know the basics of the universes military. This military still uses the basic rank system of today, i.e. Private, Sergeant, Lieutenant. To decrease the amount of unnecessary bureaucracy, there aren't branches of the military. The military is simply known as the military or the armed forces, though many still refer to old branches, for example, thinking of traditional soldiers on the ground as "the army" and soldiers operating ships as "the navy". The military's main purpose now is to protect ships from rebels. Though there are some planets controlled by rebels (which constitutes any group other than the government), most are fairly far away, and those that are discovered are quickly conquered. The military is a respected profession, but it is not allowed to grow very large, due to the fact that they aren't often needed, and the dangerous nature of it. Because they need so few recruits, the military has very high standards. Aside from exceptional skill with weapons and physical fitness, they must also undergo extensive psychological evaluation to assure they aren't overly violent, and don't hold views that are thought of as extreme or opposite of the views generally held by the government. Due to the dangerous nature of their work, only people who are completely dedicated to being there are desired. As such, anyone may quit at any time. However, much of the time those in the military are on leave, with the exception of when a rebel outpost needs to be suppressed. Even then, the military's superior training and technology results in virtually no casualties. Because of this, most who are able to get into the military's ground forces essentially have a high salary and the admiration of their peers, while not having to do much work (meaning no sensible person would quit). People who are fired from the military take a huge step down in life, and often have to get work as a mercenary or private security. Civilians often view people who have been fired from the military as shady, due to having done something worth firing them over.

Spaceships: Spaceships come in many shapes and sizes, and the ship you were aboard was among the biggest ships in use. Ships are typically powered by a large fusion generator in their interior, but also have solar panels attached to the exterior to gather power when passing close enough by stars. These solar panels help fill the ships auxiliary power, and take some of the strain of the ship's engineers. Only certain ships are allowed weaponry. Military ships are the most heavily armed, but some civilian ships are allowed to have weaponry as well, as long as they fit certain criteria. In this case, the ship you were aboard was equipped with enough weaponry to deter would be thieves from attempting to steal it's cargo, but not enough to take down a military ship. The ship's weapons were near the front of the ship, which has seemingly been destroyed in the crash.

More expansion to come.

GabrielWiese wrote:What is this?? LOL. Whatever it is I want in!!!!

thx, GabrielWiese