Source Filmmaker Initial Reaction

Just like everyone else I got Source Filmmaker the other day. I can safely say I have no idea what I am doing.

I jumped in the air when I saw SFM in my steam list. I have been waiting for the beta invite for a while now. Once I downloaded everything and installed I quickly realized after watching some tutorials that all my “amazing” ideas were going to be hard to make.

When you first open SFM, everything seems fairly simple. You have the Work screen, where you can move your camera and explore your game world, the timeline, which pretty much explains itself and the box on the left side where all your assets are held. SFM is set up like most programs so you won’t be too surprised by everything at first.

Making a scene: Without any help I did not have a clue what I was doing, I just flew around the map until I got bored and exited out. I did not realize that extent you had to go through to make even a simple scene. I learned that you had to go into the game, F11, set up your character, switch back into the editor, hit record, run around and then hit esc to finish your scene.  If you want you can make any character or object move anyway you want it to without acting it out in game. It will just take much longer to create.

I haven’t got into too much editing and film making to give a proper review, but the different videos I have seen make the possibilities of SFM endless.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Battle Operation

Recently a new mobile suit game was released on the Japanese PSN, Its a f2p game and the Play Station 3 is region free, this means as long as you make an account with your locale set to japan you'll have access to the Japanese PSN. The game itself is in mostly Japanese with a few menus being in English, however even for people with no knowledge of Japanese should be able to easily find their way around, if not there are translations of the main menu on game spot, and other places no doubt. The game is free to play, but you have limited energy, one match costs you one energy. To get more energy you can win a match, or level up this will get you one more games worth of energy. You can also buy energy, but only if you have yen in your psn wallet, the game cant use money from your non Japanese account. You can however play on any account you like once the game has been downloaded.
I found what i have played of the game to be pretty fun, I'm about 6 games in and level 7, you only start with one mobile suit for each faction, and unlock more through playing along with weapons and other various upgrades. Its a little difficult to figure out what most upgrades do, but the weapons are pretty straightforward. The game also allows you to exit your MS and play on foot, which allows you to repair your mech, enter other vehicles, (Ive seen a bike and a tank) capture points that allow your team to spawn around the map, and set bombs on your enemy's base. Mobile suits can be re colored ,I dont know how to re color them but im sure its a paid /unlocked aspect of the game. Since you can buy new mobile suits and weapons with in game cash the paid aspect isn't so bad aside from limited playtime.
The controls are rough at first but become pretty natural with time, and they can be easily figured out by testing them in game, on foot the game will prompt you when you can capture points and enter/exit vehicles. Weapons seem to do little damage alone, so its best to stay with a buddy and seek out lone players attempting to capture points since its not team death match and more of a take and hold game, its best to concentrate on keeping points under control. There are currently only 2 maps available, but I would guess they will add more if the game is successful. Im also not aware of how many different types of MS you can unlock, but i have seen at least 4 for each faction.

Here is the trailer for the game.