Fed to the ninjas

One of the great things about working in Cambridge is that there are a lot of really creative companies here, and we regularly meet up at events such as Games Eden. However, it does mean that the place is full of enticements for developers and artists, and sometimes they're just too good to turn down.

So, sadly, it turns out that Ninja Theory, creators of the PS3 hit Heavenly Sword, made three of the Moviestorm team an offer they couldn't refuse. Art Director Mitch Phillips, who worked on the cut scenes for Heavenly Sword, is rejoining Ninja to work on a new super-secret project, and Dave Pajak (head of QA) and Dave Thatcher (tester) are going too.

Splitters!
Left to right: Dave P, Mitch, Dave T

Mitch leaves us at the end of this month, and the two Davids follow at the end of March. They've been great to work with, and we wish them all the very best at Ninja, who are one of the most exciting and cutting edge games companies around.

And if you can hear a strange chanting in the background, it's Dave Lloyd, the First Dave, intoning "There can be only one!"

Tough times at Moviestorm Towers

It's a hard life making Moviestorm, you know. I specifically asked for a purple umbrella in my daiquiri, but did I get one?

The real Dave

OK, maybe it was a bit cruel of us to post caricatures of Dave last week.

We should redress the balance by posting a real photograph of him instead.

Dave "Bruiser" Lloyd, undefeated bare-knuckle Java champion of England

Hey, Dave, welcome to Flickr!

Something new to look at

Notice anything different?

It's been a while since we added any new pictures to the start-up screen, and since then we've done, what, half a dozen content packs, and we've got three more due out imminently. So here you go. A new slideshow, coming your way in version 1.1.4.

Walkin' out the door

Demo film by Ben Sanders

"So what?" you might ask. "It's a guy walking out of a house. Gee." Well, this is something you haven't been able to do before in Moviestorm. Look carefully about 5 seconds in. See the fireplace through the window? See the picture through the door?

This is the first composite set, which includes an interior piece and an exterior building model. The lower central portion is a standard Moviestorm set, built and dressed as normal. Then around and above it, we placed some of the new modular customisable buildings, and matched the wall textures, doors, and window styles, so that the set is now located within a larger building.

So now your characters can walk seamlessly out of the set and onto the street, without the need for clever editing or camera angles to make it look as if the interior and exterior sets are actually joined together. It may not look like a big deal, but it completely changes the way you can film many different types of scene.

Mmmm, tracking shots... watching people through the window... doing that whole Citizen Kane number... all this will soon be yours!