Zach from Lit Fuse Films tipped me to this film yesterday with the following line: “prepare yourself, for the flooring of a lifetime.” Being that Zach has himself floored me a number of times, I strapped on my crash helmet and headed over to the FacePunch Studios forums to the thread he indicated.

What I found was The Monad, described by its creator as “a paranoid vision of our future in the face of The Network.” It’s a very timely social commentary wrapped in an intriguing - if at times a little confusing - story and setting, and told via some astonishingly good Faceposer work with good VO performances to back it up. I’m not ready to gush and say it’s the Best Faceposer Movie Evar!!!, because it’s not without its weaknesses (sound mix in particular). But where it’s good, it’s mighty darn good and certainly raises the bar of character expression in machinima. The lipsync is flawless, the facial expressions are magnificent… but where this film really shines is in use of body language. Some amazing moments in that regard.

(If you hear of any other download / streaming mirrors becoming available, let me know and I’ll link to them here.)

The director of Civil Protection recently recovered from a computer crash which has put his Half-Life 2 comedy series on hold, and to tide over his fans while he regroups, he recently shared some production screencaps from his use of the Source SDK tools. All those little shapes and icons… each of those works together in Hammer (the Half-Life 2 map editor) to coordinate elements of a scene, including scripted Faceposer sequences, lights and more. A testament to the Source SDK’s power to intimidate the uninitiated. You can see more of these (and in better resolution) at his blog.

Related: Valve Software’s Source SDK Wiki

1. Text, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll - An insightful analysis of interactive storytelling, how it is most in tune with who we are as beings and what we expect from life.
2. Free Pixel - What makes a machinima film ‘good’? See the comments, too!
3. mPATHx - I’ve been following development on this piece of hardware for a few years; I’m told it is now very close to hitting market. Could be tremendously valuable for anyone who deals with a lot of onboard gear for either music or even machinima and home entertainment setups.
4. FILM: A GMan Story (Take 2) - It’s rough. It’s downright amateurish. And it’s a JOY to watch. (particularly for fans of the Half-Life series of games, like me)
5. Paul Lewis’ iClone Character Creation Video Tutorials - A master iClone character designer, and a great teacher.
6. iClone 2.5 Video Tutorials by James Martin - Ready your pause button, these tutorials are traveling at the Speed Of James. Phenomenal stuff.
7. Video Tutorials on Google Sketchup from the author of Google SketchUp for Dummies
8. Torley Linden’s Guide to High Quality Second Life Photography - Very useful info for those wanting to capture a good image in this virtual world.

See also:

• OverByte #2
• OverByte #1

Every Wednesday, Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw releases a review of a new game at The Escapist in his inimitable style. A few weeks ago, he reviewed Valve’s The Orange Box.

His hyperactive delivery speed combined with simple, clever visuals (heaped with puns galore) and his scathing British wit make for some of the funniest and most entertaining reviews you’ll ever see.

Obligatory Warning: Yahtzee has zero qualms about using adult language to convey his thoughts, so please be advised.

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