As mentioned in the last post, I’m currently working on a custom video with a deadline. I’m scrambling to try and get all the animation done hopefully by the end of the month, leaving a little bit of time afterwards for sound and music. I have some great people helping me right now, but if one of them were to disappear (which is VERY possible), then I may have problems. On that note, I’d rather play things cautiously and want to ask for some additional help just in case more is needed. Here are the positions I’m looking for:

3RD PARTY SOFTWARE ANIMATOR - There are two areas to help here. One is doing some custom character animation for a Valve skeleton, you can use any software you want for this, as long as you can export to .SMD or .DMX format. The other will involve altering a model and creating some simple animations for it. For this you will either need to decompile a Source model or else import a Softimage scene file into whichever software you use.

SOURCE FILMMAKER ANIMATOR - Depending on your skill level, may involve facial expression animation, movement of simple objects, patching together some scenes, car animation, maybe some lighting, could be several different minor things.

HAMMER HELPER - Someone to do misc. touch-up work to maps in Hammer. This will involve placing additional props, testing light settings, replacing and rotating a lot of textures, simple stuff like that. You do not need to be a skilled map maker for this (already have great people on that), but you do need to be familiar with Hammer for Source SDK.

If you’re interested in helping with any of this, please contact me at [email protected], thanks.

This is just a news post to let people know I’m not dead, again. I’ve successfully moved and my computer didn’t suffer any casualties in the process. Since then I’ve been working almost exclusively on the mystery video discussed in the last post since that one has a deadline. I’ll have to be done with it one way or another by early November, I sincerely hope it will be before then. Without revealing too much, it will be a short video, not part of an existing series kind of a surreal and slightly creepy comedy. I’ll be filming it in Source Filmmaker, even though I still plan to transition to UDK in the long term. While I don’t know if I’ll be able to start the “month of Freeman” on November 1st, I promise I’ll focus on outputting a spree of Freeman’s Mind episodes as soon as I’m done with this side project. Also I haven’t forgotten about the downloadable copies of the last episodes, I just need to organize a bunch of my files before processing everything.

ADHD version: Ross is working on a mystery video, he’ll make a bunch of FM episodes afterwards.

Youtube

Downloadable copy will be up after I move

Here’s the next exciting cliffhanger episode to Freeman’s Mind. If you think the laser in this episode acts strange, you can blame that on Source’s amazing demo recording code. It will be a while before the next episode comes out since I’m going to be moving very soon, but I still plan to have a spree of episodes done at some point, hopefully in November. I’m mostly going to be working on one of the mystery video projects between now and then.

This episode uses my new microphone setup, which I’m pretty happy with and will likely be the standard for videos I voice for several years. This episode also has a new sound editor for Freeman’s Mind, Max Petrosky, who does the additional sound effects work that you hear in the game and will likely help with a lot of future FM episodes. The old editor, Otto Beumelburg, will still be helping me with other video projects however.

And in case you missed the post before this, I will not be switching to the Black Mesa mod for Freeman’s Mind.

I was going to wait and mention this when the next Freeman’s Mind episode came out (hopefully this week), but since I’ve already received 5 emails on it, I can see it can’t wait. The mod Black Mesa is coming out and will be partially finished. I’ve had people ask me if I plan to switch Freeman’s Mind over to the new game. No, I don’t. I think the graphical difference would be somewhat disruptive / distracting to the series, especially if I get to Xen before the BM team does. I originally considered switching over after Freeman blacked out since that would be a smoother transition, but I passed that point, so I’m just going

Well it’s about that time where some people are wondering if I’m dead or not again, so I thought I should give an update. I’ve been busy with lots of different things, here’s what I’m involved with at the moment:

FREEMAN’S MIND:
The next episode is underway and will be a longer one. The one after that (45) will unfortunately be delayed more because what I have planned for it presents some unique challenges. To make up for the delays, I’ll have to see how busy I am and what my situation is, but I am considering making November “the month of Freeman” where ALL I work on is Freeman’s Mind and no other projects and see how many episodes get done during that time. Also I plan on getting the downloadable copy for #43 up soon.

MYSTERY VIDEO PROJECT #1:
While I was originally planning to have the movie project be the only animated thing I was going to work on for the foreseeable future, some interesting developments came up where I will be working on an original short that will be going up sometime early December (won’t be Christmas related). It’s still uncertain whether this will be filmed using the Unreal 3 engine or in Source. If you have mapping experience in either, feel free to contact me at [email protected]. Be sure to send me samples or screenshots of your previous work. Who gets picked will be determined by previous map visual quality + how much free time the person will have. Right now I may be leaning towards the Source engine for this particular project. It will involve a forested area and will be in a contemporary setting.

MYSTERY VIDEO PROJECT #2:
In another set of interesting circumstances, I’ve agreed to help with a video project that may become a series. I won’t be directing or animating it, but I am doing the writing for it and voice acting for one of the characters. More details will be revealed later.

MOVING:
My past has caught up with me and I am moving to a mysterious location once again. I’ll be leaving in about 2 weeks, I may not have internet or a place to record for a little while afterwards, but I’ll get on track ASAP. I’ll get the next FM video uploaded before I leave.

T-SHIRTS:
Work is slowly progressing to set up an online store so that people will be able to buy Freeman’s Mind and Civil Protection t-shirts (with more stuff later). I’m hoping this will become fully operational in a month or two with more shirt designs rolling out later on.

ADHD version: Ross is working on stuff! More videos coming!