Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

Merchandise. Who would be willing to pay good money for an SE4 t-shirt?

How about a black t-shirt, with the Phong racial portrait on the front and the words "Beware of strange warp points" underneath.

Maybe one showing the ship design screen showing some really cool warship on it.

------------------
SE4 Code:
L GdY $ Fr- C- Sd T!+ Sf-- Tcp-- A% M>M+ MpD! RV Pw Fq+ Nd- Rp+ G-
/SE4 Code
Work out your code at http://www.sandman43.fsnet.co.uk/se4main.htm

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

I dunno about you all, but I'd pay for a Shaderni, er, Xiati Cruiser or Battlecruiser or something on a nice stellar background, just looking menacing or firing on something. Or maybe a significantly large fleet of such ships bearing down on a planet with some text on the front and the back (the back showing the standard scortched earth + burning hulks of the enemy fleet).

Front text: "The Final Frontier for some..."
Back text: "...The Final Resting Place for others."

"Space Empires IV"

-Hotfoot
"I'm open to suggestion, of course."

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hotfoot:
Front text: "The Final Frontier for some..."
Back text: "...The Final Resting Place for others."
"Space Empires IV"
"<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

!applause!

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

That's a cool tagline

[ June 15, 2003, 06:32: Message edited by: General Talashar ]

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

QUOTE:
"Only if others had listened to me when I suggested this...."
/QUOTE

...sorry...,

QUOTE:
cartoon series (I recommend www.mainframe.ca)
/QUOTE

Wow... imagine SEIV, the series... You'd want all the political space opera elments of Bab5 but I reckon you'd need a wicked sense of humour, along the lines of Hitch-Hikers' Guide or Terry Pratchett.

------------------
SE4 Code:
L GdY $ Fr- C- Sd T!+ Sf-- Tcp-- A% M&gt;M+ MpD! RV Pw Fq+ Nd- Rp+ G-
/SE4 Code
Work out your code at http://www.sandman43.fsnet.co.uk/se4main.htm

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

Umm, I am not sure.

From what I understand of the demographics of SEIV players, we tend to be a fair bit older than your average computer gamer. I have a feeling we are the ones who buy the strategy guides, while our 15 year old sons and daughters buy the Diablo II figurenes. I could be wrong, but I would suggest a bit of market research before choosing which products to create.

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

I like to think we are a bit more childish then the 15 year olds, however.

After all, how many 15 year olds plot petty revenege on an AI?

[ June 15, 2003, 06:33: Message edited by: General Talashar ]

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

Ya, a t-shirt would be ok, but a mouse pad would be better. http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/images/icons/icon7.gif

[This message has been edited by Atrocities (edited 31 August 2001).]

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

QUOTE:
I figure the only way a SE4 based TV series could work is if it was done like a star trek.
/QUOTE

Screw Star Trek (sorry Trekkies). SEIV is far more suited to a Bab5 clone, which was far better than Trek anyway. (*Dogscoff dons asbestos anti-flame suit) Bab5 was all about politics, and Trek is all about people. Which do you think would be better for SEIV? SEIV would be a brilliant TV series, unfortunately most viewers (even sciffies) would be too damn stupid to appreciate it.

=====
This post is subject to Dogscoff's usual "been down the pub on a Friday afternoon" disclaimer.
=====

------------------
SE4 Code:
L GdY $ Fr- C- Sd T!+ Sf-- Tcp-- A% M&gt;M+ MpD! RV Pw Fq+ Nd- Rp+ G-
/SE4 Code
Work out your code at http://www.sandman43.fsnet.co.uk/se4main.htm

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

A TV series would be great, with the comp tech of today the special effects could be awesome let alone the space battles over planets and worm holes. Who would you pick to be the main stars to play the different characters, (they could change each week). I also vote to the T-shirt and mouse pad.... Aaron and Richard could even be the in house Tech advisers to the studio...

just some ideas Mac

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

SEIV T-shirt? SEIV coffee mug? I'd buy them as long as they didn't look goofy enough to appeal to my 10 yr old niece....

------------------
"Gentlemen, we have nearly a thousand ships waiting to be thrown into the fight at the proper moment to seize control of the Foundation. I say we should change that. I say, throw those thousand onto the board now--against the Mule."
-- Randu of Haven, from "Foundation and Empire," by Isaac Asimov

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

A TV series/movie based on a video game, huh? Um. Oh dear. As a science fiction writer, I dare say it won't work to good effect. Video game plots are pretty thin to begin with, but SE4 doesn't even have a plot to start from. What are you going to base the series/movie on? A series of space battles? That'd be worse than Star Trek. Political intrigue? And you'd relate that to the game how?

As a rule, the initial medium in which entertainment appears is the best medium, and rarely does anything else do justice. Hitchhiker's Guide is one of two exception I can think of, in which the books were as good as and later extended the plot of the radio series. (The second exception is the movie "Contact". In both cases production of the latter form was done by the same person as the original form.) But:

Star Trek books, as a rule, suck. Star Wars books, too. Don't get me started on bad science fiction "written" by Star Trek actors who believe that because Shatner can have books ghost-written for him by hacks, they can as well;

How many video game movies have actually done well? (Pokemon doesn't count; it was, I suspect, a two-hour long FMV sequence).

Have you ever read a novelization of a movie? (Or, worse, take Great Expectations. The movie was a bad enough adaptation of the original book; then they novelized the movie. You read that right. They didn't republish Dickens's book. Someone wrote a new book based on the movie. Ugh.)

OK, sorry... enough venting. Nothing against Malfador, but I would really suggest it's not the way to go.

LL

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Have you ever read a novelization of a movie? (Or, worse, take Great Expectations. The movie was a bad enough adaptation of the original book; then they novelized the movie. You read that right. They didn't republish Dickens's book. Someone wrote a new book based on the movie. Ugh.)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>That happens quite a lot. Ian Fleming's original James Bond books are harder to find than the novelizations of the films, and Fleming's books often have little in common with the films besides Bond and the titles.


------------------
Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

Most tv/movie plots are weak to begin with, there are the exceptions don't get me wrong. But why couldn't you say pick 1 or 2 of the races and base it on their traits, the plot of SE4 is to conquor the universe, I'm sure a good plot could be generated with good writers/advisors, Book movies always deviate from the original book, the good one would be where the deviation is minor or made to set up the movie or series. Good example of movie not like the book is Battlefield Earth, movie definitly not like the book or story line.

just some ideas Mac

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

I blame the decline in television on the Writer's Guild. They are so lazy now, they don't even try to write good scripts. With the exception of a handful, of course.

[ June 15, 2003, 06:35: Message edited by: General Talashar ]

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hadrian Aventine:
Plus, each race has tons of background info that isn't exploited in SE.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

what, you mean like about a paragraph or three? sure thats more than most sci fi tv shows and movies have, but i would not go so far as to call it 'tons'

------------------
"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by LazarusLong42:
As a rule, the initial medium in which entertainment appears is the best medium, and rarely does anything else do justice.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
As a rule, yes. But there are lots of exceptions. The old movie Version of "Little Women" is as good as the book. The recent (Last 10 years) movies based on Jane Austen novels have been pretty good. A friend told me that the movie Version of "The Princess Bride" is much better than the book. And who has actually read "Gone With the Wind" or "The Maltese Falcon?" Even on TV, one can find gems among the refuse, such as "Little House on the Prairie" and "Roots." The problem with adaptations isn't the change of medium; it's the (usual) lack of skill on the part of the adapters.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by LazarusLong42:
How many video game movies have actually done well?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Tomb Raider comes to mind. Also (to a lesser extent) Final Fantasy, and that stupid Kung Fu killing game (name escapes me).

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by LazarusLong42:
Have you ever read a novelization of a movie?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yeah, totally agree there! Although, didn't Arthur C. Clarke do the movie Version of 2001 before he did the book? But even if true, that's the same author for both. Can anyone think of a GOOD novelization of a movie, one that would stand on its own?

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

If not a movie or TV series, and you want to aim at the younger generations as well, how about something like Animate (I think thats how it is spelled), like those Japanese action cartoon like movie stories. In those modes you could even have better animation and graphics. My own kids (out of high school) watch these and even buy some of them from Japan. These are supposedly a very big hit and have very large followings in Asia...

just some ideas.. mac

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

They'd need to sell stuff on a small scale. Television production costs are incredibly high not to mention the fact that a tv program needs to be syndicated or picked up by a network. Unless they have some wierd connections and Aaron has a rich uncle, anything more than a local cable access show is impossible.

Small-scale merch like t-shirts, mugs, hats, mouse pads, etc. are much cheaper both money and time-wise to produce and will probably make more money. Plus those things double as advertising. I know of several webmasters who sell this kind of stuff to help support the cost of their website.

I wouldn't mind wearing a shirt with some cool SE4 phrase or something on it, or springing for some Dickies with the SE4 or MM logo embroidered on them. It helps MM & it makes me feel cool.

-What I really need are some pants.
-Everyone sells shirts, but no pants.

Re: Easy money for Shrapnel and Malfador.
 

I agree, the TV and Movie ideas are a long way off, but good ideas for a few years down the road.

As for the few paragraphs of info, there is much more that didn't get into the game plus the little provided can be easily expanded without changing much. Like the Eee-Drushocka conflict. Hell, base the TV series of 50 turns of SE.

As for everything else, I think Shrapnel and MM should contact Ertl and see if they want to do a model kit line on some of the SE4 races. Also releasing a clothing line would work. www.cafepress.com

[ June 15, 2003, 06:36: Message edited by: General Talashar ]