unreal engine

S4 E103 Longest Walkable Distances (in a game) | UE: The Alchemist’s Confession (Nov 2023

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes November 16, 2023 Leave a reply

This week we present a critique of two very contrasting machinima productions – one took literally months to make and the other just a few days. In our first pick, the creator has asked: just how big are the maps in games these days? Well, vast actually – and quite frankly it blows our minds to think that so much effort has gone into answering the question. The film is called Longest Walkable Distances in a Video Game, by How Big is the Map. Our second film is a review of a creative experiment in Unreal Engine, called The Alchemist’s Confession by Cory Williams – it was inspired by a found marketplace asset and is experimental in a number of ways, not least in the five days it took to make it. Ricky highlights the weakness in the writing albeit the film is technically masterfully produced and acted, using mocap and LinkedIn (yep, you heard that correctly!). We also start this episode with some links we hope you enjoy and a discussion about the voice characterisation of G Man in the Half Life series.



YouTube Version of This Episode

Show Notes & Links

Longest Walkable Distances in a Video Game / Maps Size Comparison by How Big is the Map, released 2 Sept 2023

An Alchemist’s Confession by Cory Williams, released 27 September

and he’s also created a how to, Behind the Scenes

Fractal Pi video mentioned by Tracy, by Chirag Dudat –

All G Man’s speeches, by No Click –

S4 E100 SPECIAL: Machinima Reflections

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes October 25, 2023 Leave a reply

Celebrating our 100th episode on the CM podcast/YouTube show, we reflect on how far machinima has come and some of the recent trends we’ve observed in our film reviews.



YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes & Links

We list here a selection of the film review episodes we mention in our discussion during this episode.

Neo Stormwind by Duren Productions –

The MODDED Wacky West by BedBananas –

The Ghost by JP Ferre –

After War by RG Studios –

Patient Zero by The Parry God –

Secret Moon by Orencloud –

Interloper by Anomidae –

917 by Krad Productions –

S4 E97 Elden Ring: Monty Python (Oct 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes October 4, 2023 Leave a reply

Kicking off Season 4 of the podcast, we review a Monty Python inspired film, integrating one of their greatest films with Elden Ring – Holy Grail.  The film has been made by The Escapist in collaboration with eli_handle_b.wav and is a brilliantly edited and composited mashup.  It is also a very appropriate pick for this episode since Monty Python were the inspiration for this podcast in the first place, so we reflect in the show that we’ve now been working on this podcast longer than the original Star Trek series ran + another 20 years collaborating on top of that too!

We also discuss news items: the launch of Starfield; Nexus Mods; Unity’s faux pas with the community of creators; Ricky’s attempt to install an AMD 7800T graphics card; and, the Sims Machinima & Animation Convention.



YouTube Version of This Episode

Show Notes and Links

Monty Python & the Elden Ring | Multiverse by The Escapist, released 8 August 2023

The Escapist is a website by gamers, for gamers, about gamers, releasing new videos every day at its website: http://www.escapistmagazine.com

A ‘how to’ using AI with largely free tools including Adobe Express to remove the background of images and put anything generated by AI back into the image, by Guy Parsons – https://twitter.com/GuyP/status/1704886297649631324

Starfield promotion –

Unity blog posts –

Original news post

Retraction post

Interview by Jason Weimann with Marc Whitten, Unity’s general manager –

Sims Machinima & Animation Convention 2023 website here and event recordings here –

S3 E96 Unreal Engine: Backrooms medley (Sept 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes September 27, 2023 Leave a reply

In this week’s episode, we discuss the phenomenal Backrooms meme that has emerged ever since  @kanepixels  original film (and the much awaited Netflix version was announced). We review three examples of the works being created, variously using levels of the rapidly evolving game: Chaos in the Hub by  @BackroomsMerchant  is probably the most close to the original horror vibe; Endless Escalators by  @ReturnToRender  is an example of great comedic timing; and Crab Rave – Backrooms Edition by  @Madlykeanu  is just pure fun, and an example of a meme upon a meme. As Phil suggests, however, has it gone too far, a la Poltergeist and Alien, and what does this astonishing level of response to the original film mean for the success of the Netflex release? We have mixed views and yet geniusly, somehow, Ricky manages to invoke Kafka into the discussion!



YouTube Version of This Episode

Show Notes and Links

Film selection – Chaos in the Hub by Backrooms Merchant, released 1 August 2022 –

Endless Escalators, by Return to Render, released 24 October 2022 –

Crab Rave – Backrooms Edition by Madkeanu, released 2 June 2022 –

and here’s the meme this was based on too, Crab Rave by Noisestorm, 2015 –

And, our original review of The Backrooms, released on the channel in Feb –

S3 E95 UE: Terra & ED: Into Black (Sept 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes September 20, 2023 Leave a reply

This week Damien has picked two space exploration shorts for us to review: one is made in UE called Terra by  @j.thomaswilson3543  and the other is an ED film called Into Black by  @indigointoblack . The film sequencing of the craft in flight in Into Black shows the competence of the creator whereas the human element encapsulated by the robot in Terra is particularly engaging and adds a different dimension to the storytelling. We discuss the similarities and differences of these approaches to space operas in general, and also how it contrasts to the Pixar approach of building in cuteness and sentimentality. In the end, however, we agree (with the exception of Tracy’s perspective) that these are great cinematic examples of machinima… but maybe you settle on Tracy’s side of the discussion?



YouTube Version of This Episode

Show Notes & Links

Films – Terra, by J Thomas Wilson, released 10 July 2020, is made in Unreal Engine –

and Into Black, by Indigo, released 19 August 2023, is made in Elite Dangerous –

We also mention to the release of Starfield, launched on 6 September 2023 – find it here on Steam.