Battle Data - "G" Q&A

Continuing on with my original run, I've decided to make a third (and at the time final) Battle Data video on the Resident Evil franchise: Battle Data - “G”. I've been asked multiple questions regarding this little video's creation, some technical, some personal, so I thought I'd share my questions and answers on this Blogger post

So what is Battle Data - “G”?

Battle Data - “G” is an info video that focuses on the G-Virus malformations of Dr. William Birkin from Resident Evil 2 and of each form's attributes. It can be seen here on YouTube in fabulous HD.

Does the “G” stand for anything specific?

I think it was meant to be ambiguous *laughs*. The “G” was speculated to stand for Gene or Genome or even God since the G-Virus vaccine in Resident Evil 2 was named DEVIL, but nothing official to my knowledge has been confirmed by CAPCOM.

Intended lineup for Series 1 of Lunar Indie Studios' Battle Data videos.

Does Battle Data - “G” focus on all the “G” incarnations throughout the Resident Evil series or just Birkin?

Just Birkin. At the time, I was first getting my feet wet with the whole Battle Data series, and to me I wanted to focus on a singular subject, so I did William Birkin's five malformations in this video. Curtis Miller from Resident Evil – Damnation will be featured in a future Battle Data video, and the incompatible “G” creatures will be featured in the upcoming video, Battle Data - Parasitic.

What was your biggest challenge with Battle Data - “G”?

Editing the creature artwork for the five “G” transformations. I remember some of them were of better quality than others, so I had to use some filters to smooth out the pixelation and other faults that images had when viewed at 720p. Birkin's G-IV form I remember I had the biggest issue with, I think I had to redo that damn thing three times before I got it right!

William Birkin's five malformations from Darkside Chronicles adaptation of Resident Evil 2

What was your biggest accomplishment with Battle Data - “G”?

I was proud that I found a way to properly transition different background music to “G”. A friend of mine told me that his gripe with B.O.W. Battle Data - Tyrant was that the background music was looped and after a few minutes it would get annoying. Since the OST for Resident Evil 2 has been acclaimed and each malformation had a different theme, I wanted to incorporate each theme to make the video better, and in a way to evolve the Battle Data videos as they progressed. This method helped me out quite a bit with my future videos.

You released a “Reveal Trailer” on your YouTube channel that promoted Battle Data - “G” after the release of Zombie Evolution; did you think it helped promote your upcoming videos?

I'd like to think so! It was fun making these quick 30-second trailers, but it was a lot of work for something that would be up for about a month, and I didn't want the taglines for the Reveal Trailers and the actual ending taglines to become repetitious, so I ended them with Los Illuminados and decided to work on a Channel Trailer that would promote the year's planned Battle Data videos. That way those who look around will know what to expect, and newcomers will be surprised with the next one. 

Will you be doing another video on William Birkin since CAPCOM has plans on doing a remake on Resident Evil 2?

I'm satisfied with what I have with Battle Data - “G”. Unless there are any significant changes with Birkin with the remake, I have no intention of redoing Battle Data - “G” when there's other content just waiting to be uncovered!

Elza Walker, Sherry Birkin and John Kendo from Resident Evil 1.5

Is there anything you're looking forward to with the upcoming RE2 remake, or anything that you hope would be added?

I was very impressed with hope CAPCOM drastically improved the first RE game with a remake back in 2001. If they did wonders with a game with unnecessarily laughable moments like RE, imagine what they can do with RE2. As for the addition, I hope to see the return of Elza Walker -the female character that Claire Redfield would eventually replace from the scrapped beta of RE2- I know it's unlikely she'll be a main character, but maybe she could be a supporting character or even an Easter Egg like what they did with the zombified Brad Vickers.

You can check out Battle Data - "G" and other great videos from the Lunar Indie Studios official YouTube channel.

Lunar Indie Studios is a creative smorgasbord that focuses on art, literature and video. 

You can visit Lunar Indie Studios on their official website site, Facebook or Twitter 

for updates on their latest projects.

B.O.W. Battle Data - Zombie Evolution Q&A

After getting the hang on video production, I've decided to make a second Battle Data video on the Resident Evil franchise: B.O.W. Battle Data - Zombie Evolution. I've been asked multiple questions regarding this little video's creation, some technical, some personal, so I thought I'd share my questions and answers on this Blogger post. 

So what is B.O.W. Battle Data - Zombie Evolution? 

B.O.W. Battle Data - Zombie Evolution is an info video (much like its predecessor: B.O.W. Battle Data - Tyrant) that focuses on T-Virus Zombies from the earlier Resident Evil games, and their progressive mutations through the process of V-ACT (Virus-Activation). It can be seen here on YouTube in fabulous HD. 

Zombies that mutate? 

Yup. Depending on the strain of the T-Virus, human infectees can either progressively mutate into Lickers as the virus ravages their system, or if they're incapacitated, are later revitalized by the T-Virus and made stronger, faster and harder to killer. Those are Crimson Heads (like the infected from 28 Days Later).

The two possible mutations of the T-Virus zombie via V-ACT: Crimson Head and Licker

What was your biggest challenge with B.O.W. Battle Data - Zombie Evolution? 

Despite it being much shorter than the previous B.O.W. Battle Data, I wanted to take a different approach to introducing the video. So I opened up with the viewer looking through a File from the GameCube version of the Resident Evil remake that briefly describes V-ACT. 

You mentioned that you were going to work on “G” as the final B.O.W. Battle Data, are you still going to have that be the last one? 

I actually have a lot of fun making these videos. There is an original video that I plan on working on first, then after that I have Lisa Trevor and the Cleaners from Resident Evil: Survivor next in terms of B.O.W. Battle Data videos. As long as I can find high quality images to place for each creature, I think I can cover a lot of the baddies in the Resident Evil franchise. Right now I want to focus on the classic baddies that I sort of grew up with (Resident Evil to Resident Evil - Code: Veronica).

Next B.O.W. Battle Data: The G mutations of Resident Evil 2's William Birkin

Are there any creatures you want to work on but can't because of the limited access of high quality images? 

I'd really like to make one on the Hunters! There's so many variations like the Tyrants, but about half of them aren't presentable. Another would be of Albert Wesker (despite him not being a B.O.W.) I want to do him as his S.T.A.R.S. incarnation, then his Mr. Smith incarnation and finally his Uroboros incarnation. Unfortunately all they have are scanned images of his Uroboros form, and you can definitely tell they're scanned. Sooner or later I'd like to start a Battle Data collection for characters that aren't B.O.W.s like Pyramid Head from the Silent Hill series, Raziel from the Legacy of Kain series, or even Gex from the GEX games. 

Anything you'd like to tell the fans of your B.O.W. Battle Data videos? 

Yeah, stay tuned! I'm curious to see how far I can go with making these things #projectw #losilluminados #leeches #nyx #hinthinthint

You can check out B.O.W. Battle Data - Zombie Evolution and other great videos from the Lunar Indie Studios official YouTube channel.

Lunar Indie Studios is a creative smorgasbord that focuses on art, literature and video. 

You can visit Lunar Indie Studios on their official website site, Facebook or Twitter 

for updates on their latest projects.

Lands of Lore - Guardians of Destiny [Cutscenes & Speaking Stones] Q&A

After working on B.O.W. Battle Data - Tyrant, I wanted to try out some more videos now that I was more experienced with video production. While on break, I had some more B.O.W. Battle Data videos that I wanted to bring to life; but to dust off my now dormant skills, I first made a full fledged compilation for the Westwood Studios classic, Lands of Lore - Guardians of Destiny. During the video's creation, I've been asked multiple questions regarding little video's creation, some technical, some personal, so I thought I'd share my questions and answers on this Blogger post.

 So what is Lands of Lore - Guardians of Destiny [Cutscenes & Speaking Stones]? 

Lands of Lore - Guardians of Destiny [Cutscenes & Speaking Stones] is a compilation of the game’s FMVs and descriptions of those scenes, including the multiple endings that made this game quite replayable.

The Lands of Lore series by Westwood Studios, as well as some of their other hits.

 What are Speaking Stones? 

Speaking Stones are recording devices used to capture unaltered footage from the Lands of Lore world. The player can find these devices throughout the game and they’re used to help explain the backstory to many of the things that happened that leads up to Guardians of Destiny.

What was your motivation behind making a compilation? 

I first bought Lands of Lore - Guardians of Destiny many years ago after seeing the preview trailer that was featured in Westwood Studios’ Command and Conquer - Red Alert. It was the visuals in the game what won me over. The gameplay, however, was quite difficult (especially at the Dracoid Cemetery) and I ended up stuffing it in a closet for the past decade. Then I came across this detailed playthrough on the game by a YouTuber named Siaynoq8 and it helped me beat Guardians of Destiny. His commentary on the game’s mythology was quite fascinating and it inspired me to make a video with the cutscenes.

One of the more action packed cutscenes in Lands of Lore - Guardians of Destiny

What makes your video different compared to the dozens of other cutscene videos out there? 

This video contains all of the significant cutscenes that make up Lands of Lore - Guardians of Destiny. A lot of the videos on YouTube contain most of the multiple endings or a handful of scenes that deemed essential or interesting to the story, mine contains all of that in one single video. I excluded the variants of several scenes in the game and cutscenes of Luther dying that aren’t in the Bad Endings, but nevertheless have the definitive collection in a otherwise nearly-forgotten game. 

Were there any difficulties you ran into while making Lands of Lore - Guardians of Destiny [Cutscenes & Speaking Stones]? 

Making sure my little add-ons weren’t out of place, that and the extensive research to make sure the descriptions were accurate. The game was made in 1997 and even at 720p, I wanted my logo and the Description text to look like it was a part of the game itself. So I found a way to pixelate the logo and the description text just enough so it would be legible and match the graphics of the game. 

Is there any way for us to play Lands of Lore – Guardians of Destiny with computers today? 

There are some online retailers like GOG and Origin that sell digital copies of Guardians of Destiny. That would be the best way if you have Windows 7 and up, that and you can bundle all three games for real low cheap! Windows XP and below you can still play it through the original discs or through DOSBox. I think Guardians of Destiny is available for PC only, so Mac users will have to be a little crafty if they want to play it on their computer.

You can check out Lands of Lore - Guardians of Destiny [Cutscenes & Speaking Stones] and other great videos from the Lunar Indie Studios official YouTube channel.

Lunar Indie Studios is a creative smorgasbord that focuses on art, literature and video. 

You can visit Lunar Indie Studios on their official website site, Facebook or Twitter 

for updates on their latest projects.

B.O.W. Battle Data - Tyrant Q&A

So after nearly two months of working on this, I finally finished my video project, B.O.W. Battle Data - Tyrant. It is a video that I am very proud of, since it hasn't been done at this level by video savvy fans of the Resident Evil series before today. During the video's creation, I've been asked multiple questions regarding little video's creation, some technical, some personal, so I thought I'd share my questions and answers on this Blogger post. (Originally posted in June, 2015)

So what is B.O.W. Battle Data - Tyrant? 

B.O.W. Battle Data - Tyrant is an info video dedicated to the Tyrant-type B.O.W.s created by the Umbrella Corporation in CAPCOM's Resident Evil game series. It can be seen here on YouTube in fabulous high definition *laughs*.

The T-103, also known as Mr. X in both Prima's RE 2 strategy guide and S.D. Perry's novel adaptation of the game.

What made you want to make B.O.W. Battle Data – Tyrant?

I’ve always been a huge fan of the Resident Evil franchise. The Tyrants have always made a terrifying presence in the first half of the RE game series. A lot of the fan videos I’ve seen on YouTube that focused on the Tyrants were either slideshows of concept art or tribute music videos with spliced clips. After seeing the Heroes Mode Trailer from Resident Evil - Operation Raccoon City, I wanted to make something in the same style as that trailer, but focused more on the Tyrant-type B.O.W.s rather than the heroes and villains of the earlier RE games. Elements from ScrewAttack’s Death Battle videos and the ending character bios from Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins also helped me with this.

What program(s) did you use make B.O.W. Battle Data - Tyrant?

I used Adobe After Effects for the animation, Photoshop for the Tyrant stills and the text graphics and WavePad for the video’s sounds and BGM.

What was the toughest part about making B.O.W. Battle Data - Tyrant?

Learning how to use After Effects. I’ve never used AE before, having to rely on Macromedia Flash 101 from high school, and other Adobe graphic design programs to start off with. Thankfully there wasn’t anything too complicated, and the wonderful tutorials on YouTube helped me learn how to use motion tweaks, that command prompt effect, the flash transitions, etc.

Since this is a Tyrant video, I noticed that the T-092, the Parasite Super Tyrant and the Tyrants from Damnation weren’t included in B.O.W. Battle Data. Any reason why they didn’t make the cut?

There were a lot of Tyrants that I wanted to use, but finding pics that were presentable for 720p was tough to find. That and the video would’ve been much longer than it already is, so I restricted it to including the Tyrants that were intentionally made by Umbrella. The T-092 from Dead Aim was born out of desperation and circumstance after Morpheus D. Duvall was gravely wounded by Fong Ling, while the Parasite Super Tyrant was considered a mutation since the NE-β Type parasite grafted itself onto a T-103, transforming it into a hybrid creature. The Tyrants from Damnation were likely created after Umbrella’s downfall, as their size and power limiter design were quiet different compared to the T-103s we all know and love.

Will there be any more B.O.W. Battle Data videos like the one with the Tyrants?

I’ll be taking the summer off from video production, but when fall comes I plan on working on B.O.W. Battle Data – Zombie Evolution. That one will focus the V-ACT transformations that the T-Virus zombies go through as either Crimson Heads or Lickers. After that, I have no plans on making other B.O.W. Battle Data videos.

Coming this fall, B.O.W. Battle Data - Zombie Evolution. Zombie > Licker or Crimson Head

Why not work on a Battle Data video on the more modern enemies in the Resident Evil world like Haos, Las Plagas or the Majini?

No interest *laughs*. As much as I like the monsters from those games, the ones from the earlier games had a greater impact on me. Maybe my videos will inspire others to make videos like that just like how the Heroes Mode Trailer inspired me to make B.O.W. Battle Data - Tyrant.

Any words of advice to those inspiring in video production.

Don’t let your lack of knowledge limit your creativity in making things. If you don’t know how to do something, look it up! Google and YouTube had great resources in helping me make B.O.W. Battle Data – Tyrant be more than just an idea. And if something doesn’t quite work out, improvise!

You can check out B.O.W. Battle Data - Tyrant and other great videos from the Lunar Indie Studios official YouTube channel.

Lunar Indie Studios is a creative smorgasbord that focuses on art, literature and video. 

You can visit Lunar Indie Studios on their official website site, Facebook or Twitter 

for updates on their latest projects.

[Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko] Quotes Q&A

Before I could tackle on a video project as complex as B.O.W. Battle Data - Tyrant, I worked on another audio-related video from Crystal Dynamic's 1999 classic, Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko. During the video's creation, I've been asked multiple questions regarding little video's creation, some technical, some personal, so I thought I'd share my questions and answers on this Blogger post.

 So what is [Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko] Quotes?

[Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko] Quotes is a compendium of quotes from the anthropomorphic gecko, Gex in the American version of Deep Cover Gecko as voiced by Dana Gould.

Dana Gould: the voice actor and quip writer for the American version of the Gex series.

 Why work on a compilation?

No one had done it before for Gex 3. I absolutely love the quote compilation for the first Gex by MNH Studios, and it wasn’t hard to unlock the debug menu for Deep Cover Gecko and record the quotes one quip and a time, so I did it.

What was the most difficult part of making [Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko] Quotes?

Making the rest between quotes short and consistent. With [Gex] Quotes, the quotes were rapid fire one after another, I had to make the rests less than ten milliseconds apart. Considering that I had hundreds of quotes to do that with, it was rather time consuming, but rewarding in the end.

Cover art for the Playstation version of Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko with model Marliece Andrada

 I take it you’re a fan of the Gex series?

I am, the first game is my favorite. Gex was one of the first Playstation games I’ve played when my friend rented the system and a few games from Blockbuster. I love sidescrollers and the quotes are still fresh and funny to me even from a Generation-X character. With Deep Cover Gecko, now I felt that Gould’s script for Gex seems stale and rather corny (he milked the Austin Powers thing to death). Then again, you can say the same about the first or second game, I’ll always treasure the first one.

Any interest in making a quote compilation for Enter the Gecko?

Doubtful. I tried doing that right after I finished this video, but I ran into some technical issues with the recording from that particular game and eventually gave up. I’m sure someone will take on that task for Enter the Gecko just as I did for Deep Cover Gecko.

You can check out [Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko] Quotes and other great videos from the Lunar Indie Studios official YouTube channel.

Lunar Indie Studios is a creative smorgasbord that focuses on art, literature and video. 

You can visit Lunar Indie Studios on their official website site, Facebook or Twitter 

for updates on their latest projects.

Silence of a Silhouette - Goodbye Sunshine (Lyrics) Q&A

So on my quest to learn Adobe After Effects, I produced and uploaded my first video project, Silence of a Silhouette - Goodbye Sunshine (Lyrics). This is considered my firstborn in video production, and something I am very proud of since making lyrics videos properly is more difficult than I expected. During the video's creation, I've been asked multiple questions regarding little video's creation, some technical, some personal, so I thought I'd share my questions and answers on this Blogger post. 

So what is Silence of a Silhouette – Goodbye Sunshine (Lyrics)? 

It's a lyric video of the song Goodbye Sunshine by the Cleveland rock band, Silence of a Silhouette. The song plays, I have the words on screen fade in out in sync to what’s heard to a studio recording... that’s it really *laughs*. It can be seen here on YouTube in fabulous high definition.

Silence of a Silhouette members (l to r) Justin Sobota (bass), Jeff Hourmouzis (rhythm guitar, keyboard, backup vocals), Danny Smith (lead vocals), Andy Puch (lead guitar), Jeffrah Koteles (drums)

What made you want to work on a lyrics video? 

I thought it was a great video to start on before I can tackle the more complex projects. What got me into video production was my desire to make an info video on the Tyrants from CAPCOM’s Resident Evil game series. A friend recommended Adobe After Effects as the program to use to make it, and of course I’ve never used it before. I had to start slow with simpler videos before I could make B.O.W. Battle Data - Tyrant, so I took on two video projects to work on that no one had done before. So I did a lyric video on one of my favorite songs and a quote compilation on Gex 3 - Enter the Gecko. 

Why that particular song? 

At the time, YouTube only had live recordings of Goodbye Sunshine from shows. The recordings didn’t do that song justice, so I decided to make a lyrics video of it from a studio recording, and now viewers can enjoy the song from a better format.

Cover art for Silence of a Silhouette's 2008 album, Escaping Reality

Have you ever met Silence of a Silhouette before or had ever seen them live? 

I wish… I first heard them on a college radio station about a year or so after they broke up. 

Any idea where you can get their music? 

Their digital album Escaping Reality can be sold on Amazon here.

You can check out Silence of a Silhouette - Goodbye Sunshine (Lyrics) and other great videos from the Lunar Indie Studios official YouTube channel.

Lunar Indie Studios is a creative smorgasbord that focuses on art, literature and video. 

You can visit Lunar Indie Studios on their official website site, Facebook or Twitter 

for updates on their latest projects.

Blog Entry 1/4: Through the Timestream

Welcome to part one of four of the official author’s blog of the dystopic novel, Tombstone Philosophy. The reason for these blogs is so that you, the reader, can get the opportunity to peek inside the author’s mind with the thought process and chronicling of this novel’s creation.

For those of you not familiar with Tombstone Philosophy, it is an eBook written by Bryan Miller about a world where the United States is being governed by a twisted incarnation of the Catholic Church, and of a group of freedom fighters whose goal is the return of separation of church and state by any means necessary.

The reason why I wrote a book on such a sensitive subject, is because I wanted to explore the dangers of church and state with a worst-case dystopic scenario, similar to George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four with his exploring the dangers of communism and the scenario of an utter takeover in Britain’s fictional Oceania. There aren’t too many medium that dare play on the topic of religion, but to me, the writer, a story’s a story, no matter what its content consists of.

Tombstone Philosophy is a book that depicts the corruption of even the most reputable of religion organizations, and of its corruption (and the reader’s view of that corruption) going as far as I dare through the depths of my imagination. It’s a book where the reader can have different interpretations on its plot elements, whether you’re in favor of the anarchist Crusaders and their mission to free the country from the Church’s grip on it, or the Catholic Church, whose actions saved the country from itself and ushered it into a new era of order created by its new leader, Pope Alexander IX.

While there are works of fiction that describe the lower echelons of the Catholic Church of their wickedness, with Tombstone Philosophy I wanted to go straight for the source and make the Holy Father himself be the main antagonist of our story.

Keep in mind that I, the author of Tombstone Philosophy, have an absolute respect towards all religions that respect life and that of others. In Tombstone Philosophy, it can be viewed that the Catholic Church is a tool, and that all its resources and influence have been taken over by a man with a twisted belief on what is just, and how he can save the whole sinful world from damnation.

Tombstone Philosophy is not an anti-Catholic novel, nor is its intent to make offense of Catholic doctrine. Tombstone Philosophy is a work of fiction, a product of my imagination.

All I ask, reader, is that you keep an open mind.

Cover for PDF Three-Chapter Preview

Tombstone Philosophy is now available through Amazon Kindle