This week’s film review is The Gateway by Ritualin Films, made with Unreal Engine and released in May 2020. It is a mix of some well-known alien life sci-fis we all love, the pacing is nicely done and there are some interesting effects that we comment on although we’re not quite sure what the ending is all about.
YouTube Version of this Episode
Show Notes & Links
Film –
VFX breakdown of the film –
Ricky’s sci-fi film recommendation, JUNG_E directed by Yeon Sang-ho. Here’s the trailer –
This week we review the winner of the 2022 Kitbash3D moving image challenge contest, based on their free Mission to Minerva asset pack. The film is called Secret Moon by Orencloud, and what a visually stunning and ethereal representation of Minerva this is, with a clear trajectory between this piece and Orencloud’s portfolio. We discuss some of the ways in which the film works and works less well for us, and note that at least one of us missed the ending!
YouTube Version of this Episode
Show Notes and Links
Secret Moon, by Orencloud, released 1 December 2022, film link –
Ricky’s pick for the month is Let’s Play Nomad X by Kristian Andrews, uploaded to Vimeo on 11 Mar 2013. The film is a ‘slice of life’ comedy with intriguing mix of playing a 90s style space game, Nomad X, and reflecting on losing the love of your life – a perfect antidote for those Valentine’s week shenanigans!
YouTube Version of the Episode
Show Notes and Links
Let’s Play Nomad X by Kristian Andrews, released 11 March 2013 –
Link to Director’s Notes interview about the film here
One of the director’s favour films, Frontier Fundamentals, Ep 1, @JimPlaysGames –
Game mentioned in the discussion, Barbara-Ian, available on Steam here
This week’s episode reviews a film by Fandom Games called Half Life 3: Honest Game Trailers, released 31 March 2015. The film is a throwback style of satire and even if you’ve not been following Valve’s Half Life developments, you’ll enjoy this. For those less in the know, HL3 is a game that never made it beyond the hype, despite its avid fan base waiting patiently (or impatiently) to play it for 20 years! We reflect on Fandom Games origins in Jimmy Wale’s Wiki technology. We also discuss our approach to ‘healthy criticism’ on the podcast.
Starting Feb 2023 off with a meme, Tracy selects a machinima that has been released as part of a massively co-created story involving numerous creators since it kicked off in mid 2019, The Backrooms. This short is called The Backrooms – Reunion by @kanepixels, released 8 Dec 2022. Is this really machinima, yep it certainly is – but we’re all blown away with the realism of the actors’ performance in this, and of course, the whole Backrooms Creepypasta phenomenon is just something else to behold too. We give you a bit of the background, just in case you’ve not come across it in your travels across the internet.
YouTube Version of this Episode
Show Notes & Links
The Backrooms – Reunion by Kane Pixels, released 8 December 2022
The Backrooms (Found Footage), released 7 Jan 2022
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