July 2023 - Which project would you prefer I focus on next?

Greetings folks. And to the new Patrons joining since the Holdfast bullshittery, welcome. With that last project complete, I need to start thinking about the next one. And getting your thoughts on what I should focus on.

Traditionally I like to alternate between audience polls and my selection. And since Holdfast was one of mine, it's collectively your turn.

Therefore please have a look at the poll beneath this post. (Also please know that I'll combine both the poll here and the one for the Twitch subscribers on Discord. To give a tally from all of the crowd funders collectively.)

So a few things I need you to be aware of:

• Whilst these polls are running I'd like to take a few days off. I'll go fishing with my brother, reformat my main editing PC. And generally try to relax a bit before things get busy.
• I don't think any of the choices below a mechanically simple. So please just vote for what you'd like to see. I expect there's going to be sizeable preproduction for each, as I go through and assess what's available to edit.
• The next project after this has been preselected. And will be Divinity II. As I really want to get that series moving forward.

What are you in the mood for? Remember that you can vote for multiple options. And thank you for being here.

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Arma 3:

Arma 3 is a military sim game that essentially reinvents itself with each mod pack. Becoming a large scale shooter, a small scale campaign, WW2 shooter, insurgency simulator, survival game, etc.

• I'm not entirely certain what the status of Arma 3 is. For whilst I think I've scraped the bottom of the barrel for the traditional "Zeus" game comedy, we have played more of those games since - notably Cold War scenarios - potentially refilling the bucket?
• And there's a fairly large number of "Prairie Fire" (Vietnam war) streams saved. But those too are divided into categories - the MACV S.O.G campaign with 8-10 people and Mike Force (a sort of reverse Antistasi) with 40 people.
• A really deep-dive would be needed to determine precisely what I have available before any decisions are made concerning what's to be edited.

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Halo:

Halo: The Master Chief Collection is the PC release of the four Halo games (at the time). Allowing combined access to all of the multiplayer competitive maps and cooperative campaign.

We played each of the Halo games in sequence. Building up a wealth of comedic highlights in a group of about 15. As we threw plasma grenades and took the piss out of each other.

• Master project file has yet to be built. So there would be substantial pre-production time I'm afraid. A good couple of weeks to chop through it.
• Notes seem very good. So I'm anticipating no major problems in locating the comedic moments.
• Involves lots of the custom game modes, such as obstacle courses, hide and seek, etc. Along with the normal shooting maps.

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Untitled Goose Game:

Untitled Goose Game is a single player puzzle game where you play as a mischievous waterfowl, annoying the residence of a local village. Solving simple puzzles and performing situational comedy.

A full playthrough was made in which I gleefully stole sandwiches, pecked model villages, and generally harassed the local NPC's whilst repeating the words "I'm a goose".

• Single player only. Mostly linear cut of amusing moments of mischief and observational humour.
• My gut tells me that it could be quite a lengthy bullshittery. As it's probably not the sort of game one should chop into multiple episodes. I expect it's probably going to be a 30 minute long affair of little quips and silliness.

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Minecraft:

Minecraft is a sandbox, block-based building game. Often with various enhancement mods or complete overhauls.

Many ZF clan servers have been setup over the years. And as a result, lots of highlights have steadily built up. Mostly involving trolling, setting traps and generally winding each other up as we build things.

• The notes seem pretty extensive and well tracked. It shouldn't be too difficult to assemble the gags together.
• I doubt the length will be out of my control. But the clips will certainly span a great many years of content. Don't expect a consistent through-line. 
• There was even a VR session played, before it was determined that VR Minecraft is vomit-inducing. It might be wise to folds those highlights into the main project  as a gimmick.

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Rust:

Rust is an open world survival game that sits in a similar category to 7 Days to Die or DayZ Epoch. Randomly starting survivors have to fortify their bases. Then they start stockpiling valuable materials, to keep themselves alive from both the environment and the players in it.

Numerous ZF clan servers have gone up over the years. Though there exists a fair division of taste between those who enjoy the PvP, to those who prefer to build novel things for the funsies. With a mixture of highlights from both.

• Weirdly, I think the prior Rust bullshittery predates the switchover to Adobe Premiere (Feb 2017). Meaning no master project file exists and will need to be built entirely.
• The notes look pretty well tracked though. To the initial cutting stage should be quite smooth.
• There also seems to be quite a lot of highlights. MUCH more than I expected. It appears to be multiple bullshitteries, quietly building up in the background.

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CSGO:

CSGO is a competitive shooter between two teams that heavily prioritises manoeuvring and extremely short firefights. 

• Content typically involves absurdist banter between clan mates.
• I know that I have roughly enough clips for one CSGO bullshittery. BUT we have played a few games in the last couple of years. So there may be more.
• I need to have a proper dive to determine what's there.

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Half Life Alyx - "Jeff" only:

Half Life Alyx is a high quality VR game set in the Half Life universe.

Whilst a full playthrough was fun, there was a particularly interesting segment involving a monster in a Vodka factory. Resulting in something that Alien: Isolation fans would recognise - a panicked attempt to sneak around an intimidating creature though in a richly detailed VR environment. A chapter that was very distinct and memorable.

I'm pretty hesitant to start editing the entire playthrough of Alyx, with big project like Divinity still incomplete. But I suspect this horror segment alone would be quite popular?

• Clips are horror focused. With plenty of intense puzzle solving, panic and palm sweating close calls with "Jeff", the monster.
• Single player only. No other ZF members are present.
• Extremely similar (if not outright identical) to Alien: Isolation editing. So not a traditional bullshittery of non-linear gags. But an extremely linear run of highlights through one single level.

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Valheim:

Valheim is a Viking-themed survival game set in an otherworldly dimension.

This was a relatively recent playthrough, in which a small group of us revisited the game cooperatively. Building a small Viking village and naming it "Knobheim". And then we had a hell of a good time.

• Cooperative highlights involve inquisitive exploration of the survival environment. Playing with the idea that Valheim is a place where "average Vikings" go. And our inept misadventures quickly confirm we were very average vikings.
• Even the well planned adventures into the wilderness quickly devolved into absurd humour.
• Expect another fairly large bullshittery. As the story of the rise of Knobheim might be quite fun. Our village got huge by the end of it.

Please cast your vote below. And remember that you can vote for multiple options.