Chapter 36: Blue Star Meeting Part One
Alex POV.
May 10th 1988 Alex set at his desk in a small office room inside Fire Foxx Production, station where he went through some of the actor candidate's for Mortal Kombat. There were only two things Alex was looking for, firstly their ability to perform in front of a camera.
Second was their ability to follow directions when instructed to carry out the moves set, they would be instructed to do.There wasn't really any need for great acting ability as one could barely see their faces clearly during gameplay.
The only other thing Alex could think of was voice acting, which would be very minimal- like the sounds Lui Kungs and the other characters made when they through punches or got hit.
There appearance matted little to Alex, however for most people visual appearance matted a lot. Especially for gamers with female character's, unless the characters was always designed to be unattractive from the beginning.
Any changes to their design to something less pleasing to the eye, would evidently lead to outrage.
Alex recalled the huge outcry of gamers to the changes made to characters like Chun-li form street fighter and Tanya from Mortal Kombat in the reboot. Alex wasn't too concerned about these things right now, as he didn't plan to keep the realistic design of Mortal Kombat for long either.
Just like the original Mortal Kombat trilogy, he would also to move to a 3D design later on. He wasn't too sure about how long to keep the realistic design yet, since he had decided not too stick to a certain plan and to make changes when necessary.
He couldn't predict how the future would change because of his actions. Alex had already decided on the actors for Mortal Kombat, except for the actress who played played Sonya Blade in the third Mortal Kombat game Kerri Hoskins.
James Wan as Liu Kang. Nicklas Phillips as Johnny Cage. Brian Ross as Raiden. Kerri Hoskins as Sonya blade. Shawn Banks as Kano. Lee Feng as Sub-Zero. Bai Song as Scorpion. Harrison Hills as Jax Briggs. This were all the chosen actors and were some of the best from the audition.
Alex was going through their files and watching some of the tapes from the audition room they had taken. The rest of his team that were in the room with him were working on the reconfiguring of his Unreal Engine.
Alex wanted each the three teams to have a good grasp of the game engine, which could help them come up with own game engines for future game projects. The Unreal Engine wouldn't be used for all their later games like Grand Theft Auto, which required its own specified game engine.
As well as modifying his own Unreal Engine for different game titles. Licensing his game engine to other game studio and publisher would be a huge source of income.
For Blue Star Interactive, Alex wouldn't be able to keep modifying it all by himself. They would need a dedicated team in the future to keep improving it, as game development becomes more complicated.
As Alex finalized the actor candidate's, he would also walk around their temporary gaming studio office space to see how his team were doing.
Alex would only be working on the soundtrack and directing the actor on camera, with the help of a cameraman and sound engineer. His main goal now was on advising his team skills in game development.
He also planed to make time to visit the other three teams back home in Brooklyn when he goes to visit his family.
As Alex was helping his team a knock came from the entrance of the room. Most of the twelve men team agnored the knocking as they were all extremely focused on their work.
Hearing the knocking coming from the front door, Alex spoke in a loud and clear voice, while still keeping his eyes on Lucas screen.
" You may enter."
After Alex spoke those words Robert opened the room door still standing outside the door way. Not wanting to interrupt the people in the room, he quickly stepped aside to reveal Tom. Blue Star Interactive lawyer who came to visit Alex, for a meeting that they had planned for the day.
Alex noticing Tom arrival gestured with his hand to give him five more minutes, to the two standing outside the door way. Seeing this Tom nodded silently with his head and stepped back before Robert, Alex caretaker who held the door open.
Slowly closed the door after Tom stepped aside, Alex than turned his attention back onto Lucas as he continued instructing him. Lucas was currently working on editing the realistic background details for Mortal Kombat.
The editing processes involved taking the captured images they had taken and using the mouse pad to move the images into place. They would then use their colour editing software to make the images meld into the background of the game.
Alex allowed the team to come up with their own design of the level backgrounds for Mortal Kombat. All he did was tell the team about the game settings and allow them to come up with their own designs for the games background.
After three minutes, Alex informed Fred his second about his departure for the day living him in charge for the time being. Before walking out of the room, exiting the room Alex found Robert and Tom waiting outside. With Tom leaning against the the wall of the building while Robert stood near the door his arms crossed.
" I apologize for keeping the two of you waiting. " Turning toward Robert he gestured for him to take them to their meeting with his eyes.
Alex entered the backseat of the black Mercedes with Tom entering the vehicle from the other side. Robert entered the driver's seat and started the car driving off.
In the backseat Alex and Tom began having a casual conversation with each other. " So where are we having our meeting? " Asked Alex as he sat next to Tom in the backseat.
" It's a diner, I like to eat at before I go to work, the others are already waiting for us their. It's only a couple blocks away from here, I think you'll all the food there." Said Tom with a confident smile.
" So do you live quite close here." Asked Alex
" Not really, I usually pass through here on my drive to work. My uncle actually runs the place so I come here a lot for breakfast and to pick up some food for dinner. On my way back home from work. " Explained Tom.
As they talked in the car the three of them finally arrived after ten minutes. Alex and Tom quickly opened their doors and left the car. When Alex first met with Robert, he would insisted on opening the car door for Alex when entering and exiting the car.
Alex wasn't used to it so he simply instructed Robert not to do that and that he could that by himself. Exiting the vehicle Alex looked at the diner in front of him, the outside of the diner had a metallic appearance.
With blue straps off lines going across the edges of the diner, with a tall sign with the words Jimmie 50s Diner on top of the building.
" Come on everyone's waiting for us inside. " Said Tom getting out of the vehicle before walking next to Alex. Placing his left hand over, Alex right shoulder smiling. The two of them began to walk towards the diner as Robert followed behind them.
Entering into the diner which like name suggested had an old fifties vibe to it. Checkerboard floor, bright red long seating booths with white table tops. Alex looked around and quickly noticed Nathan, Mark and Michael seating together at one of the booth at the left end side of the diner.
" Welcome to Jimmie fifties diner. " Said a waitress greeting three of them who just entered the diner.
" Hey, Rosa this is my client and his caretaker. " Said Tom patting Alex shoulder.
" So this is the kid you've been bragging about, well it's nice to finally meet you. I'm Rosa one of the owners of this diner and I hope you'll all enjoy our services here." Spoke Rosa with a warm smile before leaving to attend to other guest.
" Is she your aunt that you were talking about in the car?" Asked Alex turning to look at Tom who nodded his head in conformation.
" I think we've kept the others waiting for long enough. Let's go meet up and have our meeting as we eat." Reminded Tom as he began to lead the way, Alex following behind him.
Many people in the diner especially young ladies quickly noticed Alex, and began whispering about his stunning looks. " Hey, look at that guy isn't he even more handsome than the blonde setting at the end of the diner with his two friends." Said a teenage girl to her friends.
" I know right, and don't forget about the the guy with the dark brown hair seating right next to him. He not that bad for a looker. " Said another girl.
Alex didn't pay attention to what others around him where saying. He had long gotten used to it and wasn't border by it. Due too his high of 5 foot 8 he was now the average height of an average adult.
Finally they arrived where the others were seated however, upon seeing Michael and Mark, Alex suddenly felt a little under dressed for the occasion.
Both Mark and Michael stared at Alex casual appearance, wearing a short white shirt with black shorts and white Air Force Ones.
Alex stared back to the both of them Michael was wearing a long sleeve white button t-shirt with a blue tie with black and gold stripes. Finally silm fitting black pants with a brown belt and brown leather shoes.
Mark was no slouch either wearing a dark brown long sleeve button shirt that was unbuttoned at the top collar. Ending it of with light grey long pants with a black belt. Obviously both Nathan and Tom where dressed in black suit with black and brown pants respectively.
Tom just continued to smile at this scenario amused by Alex unpreparedness for this meeting, noticing Tom smiling expression, Alex frowning a little before moving to take his seat.
Alex Seat on the side facing the entrance of the diner which was right next to where Nathan was seated. The seat where long enough to accommodate four persons on either end.
As they were split into two long sofas on both that ends. Mark and Michael shared one right next to the window, while Tom moved to sit alongside the two of them. Robert quickly moved to sit at the counter where he began make his order.
" Alright, than I would first like to thank you all for coming here today for our informal meeting." Spoke Alex emphasizing the informal part. Michael and Mark smiled at Alex words.
" Hey, shouldn't we eat first before we begin the meeting? " Asked Mark who was a little hungry at the moment.
" It's an informal meeting so we can eat as talk hence why we're having it in a diner." Explained Tom to the two seated on his right. Both Mark and Michael realized why Alex had previously emphasized the informal in his words.
Alex just shook his head lightly at the clueless two however, it was good to see that the both of them were taking this seriously. Raising his hand Tom called for one of the waitress ready to make his order. Nathan, Mark and Michael who had already been here for quite some time now had already picked what they would order.
Alex on the other hand grabbed the manue and quickly picked what he would be having. " Yes, are all you young men all ready to order now. " Asked a waitress.
Tom Ordered a number 3 with extra bacon with a large Coke. Mark ordered number 4 with extra cheese on his burger with a large Coke. Michael order a number 4 with a side of fires with a Sprite.
Nathan ordered a number 6 with three more extra slices of pancakes on top with a cup of coffee. Finally Alex ordered a number ten a California Burger with a glass of water.
" Alright, who wants to start of with there reports." Asked Alex as he crossed his arms together leaning back in his seat.
" I would like to start off. " Said Tom taking out a file from his bag, a document which he headed it over to Alex, who stretched out his hand to take it. Opening it and looking through the contents, it was the contract document for the Mortal Kombat actors.
" I hope it's too your liking, and made sure to stick to what we discussed last time. Regarding the actors contract for your next up coming game. Alex read through it quickly before handing to Mark seating opposite to Nathan, so that he can go through the contract with Michael.
Using real actors and stunt doubles would become a normal occurrence in just a the next couple of years in nearly every video games.
And it could be done in different ways in the video game industry. Actors could be split into three groups, the voice actors who would create the voices for the characters. Than their where the face or body model whose appearance would be used as the game character, in game appearance.
Which would require a face model to have a certain level of acting skills to capture all the characters different facial expressions. And would also provide other things such as how the character in game would move and react in the game.
The voice and face model could be one in the same person at times. Like if the voice actors facial appearance matches what they were looking for, to base the characters appearance off. Hence why the need for a face model actor.
Second was the stunt double who would be mainly responsible for doing, all the difficult stunts done by the character in game.
Right now Mortal Kombat would become the first game to use facial model of real people and not pixels. Alex had also tested and informed the actors already during the audition that they would also be looking for voice actors.
To provide the voices for the characters which were basically just the sounds the made when fighting. There was very little need to hire new people to provide voices beside the announcer and Scorpion iconic 'Get Over Here.' Which could basically done by anyone.
Alex just wanted to let the actor know that voice acting is an option for most of them, as they all likely wanted to become big Hollywood movie stars. Mark and Michael read through the contract as Tom began explaining the details as while.
" The basic outline of the contract is simple really and isn't complicated, Blue Star Interactive, will after the contract is signed. Own the images rights to the to the characters in the game and have the rights to use the actors likeness in other media such as toys. As long as their depicted as their in game characters, they will also receive royalties from the game." Explained Tom
" I can honestly say that I'm very pleased with the contract. " Alex remarked with a smile, this was just the beginning of Blue Star Interactive raise, in the video games industry.
Pioneering the evolution of the video game industry as they would eventually dominate the whole gaming market.
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