In every multiplayer match of ScreenPlay, you represent a movie director and compete with another director while making the same movie. However, both players have their own unique vision for the movie’s story, lead characters, tropes, and the type of crew required to produce the movie. The goal of each player is to regain complete control of that vision from the other player.
This can be achieved in a variety of ways: For instance, different genres have their own way of storytelling, with different playstyles and archetypes that appeal to different kinds of players - so we wanted to provide players with visually different avatars exuding distinct personalities to represent their own unique style.
Now, let’s be clear, real-life directors are quite boring to look at. As an experiment, we tried incorporating horror elements into the design of a horror-themed movie director character. This is how Ben Bones was born, or perhaps un-born.
“An undead skeleton, known primarily for creating commercials for the undead (whether it is an advertisement for possession by spirits, a hotline for summoning demons or cigarettes). However, he desperately tries to break free from being type-casted and prove himself as a horror movie-making virtuoso.”
Once our artist Kevin brought this idea to life, we were 100% sold on the direction for player avatars.
Another issue we encountered was that each director should be holding a movie camera and in a pose that portrays the character filming a movie. However, using the same camera for each director would be repetitive and boring. So, we decided to switch up the design of the cameras and make them fit the genre.
This approach led to some very funny ideas. For example, Goblin Del Falso is a goblin mechanic and a clever tinkerer with a neurotic passion for cinema representing the Fantasy genre. So, his camera is self-designed, more steampunk, and operated by overworked magical fairies. Though his inventions may sometimes break or explode, his obsession for making movie magic never falters.
While Sly, a plush panda toy, is a mystery director so has a spy camera hidden in his nose, perfect for hidden spy camera footage. A former spy now rehabilitated, he now capitalizes on his former investigative and espionage skills to make the best films in the mystery and noir genre.
In terms of art direction, it is easy to find common archetypes for most genres. However, we did have to burn a lot of neurons to find the best representation for the drama genre. Luckily, we found our savior in the highly-dramatic world of telenovelas.
Meet Lord Telenovela - A demon who makes the most dramatic telenovelas (soap opera tv shows) that make hell look reasonable. With a megaphone in his hand and an overdramatic and overemotional script in his hand, Lord Telenovela bosses his cast around to create the most convoluted plot twists and scenes ever seen on a screen. Not to mention, he makes them work overtime under harsh conditions.
Seriously, if you have never heard of telenovelas, we have just opened Pandora’s Box for you.
Lastly, to bring your director truly to life, you can unlock animations for the avatars and use them to emote during a match.
Alice Alea (aka Adventure Alice or DangerDame) is a wildlife filmmaker, zookeeper, and archaeological documentarian. Her films are mostly about her real-life adventures. There are nine director avatars to choose from in the game so far. Here are some other ones from the list:
Sergeant Ares
Action Ares is a military veteran who became a movie director and is known for creating successful action movies, primarily war movies. Despite his cinematic accolades, he is notoriously famous for being the most intimidating movie maker.
Syph-I
Syph-I is a Sci-Fi movie director. An extremely curious futuristic robot that can capture an event and generate movies in all forms of format (holographic, virtual, augmented, etc.).
Rémi Trixville
A goofy stunt performer and comedian known for his whacky funniest home videos and over-the-top pranks all recorded with simple handheld pocket camcorders.
Q-Pid
Q-Pid, aka the modern god of love, likes to channel his passion for match-making by creating romantic movies. He is a charming, vulnerable, witty romantic lead both on and off-screen. If that’s not enough, he is also a rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, creator of the famous Q-Pid dating app, and an international phenomenon in the K-Pop scene.
However, we fully intend to provide additional avatars that players can unlock and customize to better represent themselves in ScreenPlay.
Which is your favourite director? Let us know in the comments!