Episode 101 Commentary

[DanQ]

A commentary on the first episode of Age of Nations (AoN), "Dawn of Ages", was recorded by series Creator/Producer Daniel "DanQ" Quick and Director Stan "stankarp" Karpinski last month. They discuss the creation of this pilot by exploring the difficulties encountered along the way, the successes they met and future intentions. Quick also wrote the episode script.

AoN is the first Real-Time Strategy (RTS) machinima series, and the first Rise of Nations machinima endeavour that also blends some 'live-action' footage for good measure. AoN is produced and published by Apolyton Civilization Site, one of the oldest and premiere online computer strategy gaming fansites on the Internet.

The commentary runs 8m42s, the same length of the episode itself.

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Dan; Apolyton CS

[Zoid]

I don´t get this AoN stuff. Is it supposed to be funny or interesting? Maybe I´m not geeky enough?

[DanQ]

Originally posted by Dr Zoidberg
I don´t get this AoN stuff. Is it supposed to be funny or interesting?

Did you watch the episode itself?

Maybe I´m not geeky enough?

OK.



Seriously though, the first episode is only the beginning. On one front, "well duh Dan!" On another, it's going to take a bit to get into the 'comfort zone' with this both in the storytelling and in the production. This is notably true of the latter given that no machinima in Rise of Nations has been attempted or at least released before to the best of our knowledge. Poor Stan!

From what I have seen the blending of machinima and 'live action' has also been limited in prior production to date although, to be exact, the 'live action' aspect was not the plan from the outset from AoN. Rather, we were 'directed' towards it by not being able to zoom in on faces in the game -- but for something other than in an effort like this, why would you otherwise really.

As for the story itself, well, it's a quirky thing.

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Dan; Apolyton CS

[Zoid]

Yes, I watched the episode and I thought it was...lacking in certain departments... But maybe it grows on you if you watch a several episodes back to back?

[DanQ]

Originally posted by Dr Zoidberg
Yes, I watched the episode and I thought it was...lacking in certain departments... But maybe it grows on you if you watch a several episodes back to back?

Appreciate the measured attitude.

Indeed, the quality of the pilot from the writing to the audiovisual work is not where we expect or want the show to be at the end of the series' run or by the end of the current season for that matter. It's a learning process all around.

What did you think of the commentary itself?

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Dan; Apolyton CS