We love AFK! This week's ep covers another of AFK's ambitious world building attempts to round out the Star Wars universe... and of course it works. What do you imagine the worst jobs to be for the most hapless Stormtroopers? These totally make sense to us! Check out our comments, our overview of AFK's background and other projects, and what we really think of this short. 1:39 Intro to film 3:14 Humor and world building 6:12 The most clever way to integrate sponsorship? 10:26 Memories of adverti...
Aug 14, 2025•27 min•Season 5Ep. 194
This week's pick is the complete contrast to the Happy Wheels gag-fest, Ep 191: the film is called They Were Once Here by Werlias and it has everything you would expect from a Project Zomboid machinima, plus some things you wouldn't. Its a dark and sad tale, beautifully told, and delivers a real emotional punch. It makes excellent use of Zach Beever's classic composition for the game, and harnesses a bunch of mods to achieve the outcome. Catch our review and reflections on this one. For those of...
Aug 07, 2025•42 min•Season 5Ep. 193
This week, we cover a lot of things this month, as usual, but start with a tribute to a machinima pioneer who has sadly crossed the bridge into an unknown world - Tutsy NAvArAthnA. We then go through some more fascinating projects that we want to share, more about genAI and machinima, a bunch of new tools and techniques, some wise words from some great artists, latest games and relevant updates. All links on our show notes link below. 1:39 Tribute to Tutsy 3:45 Projects 5:50 Conversations 7:40 g...
Jul 31, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Season 5Ep. 192
In days of yore, when Machinima ruled the digiwaves, they commissioned stuff like this week's pick... we have a rather more heated discussion than usual about the pros and cons of the choice and the commissioning strategy. Check out our thoughts and let us know what you think. Maybe you were caught up in this mess, we certainly hope not... or at least, we hope the lesson was well learned. Ricky tells it from his experience, as part of the Hollywood set - seen it all before. Enjoy the show! 1:28 ...
Jul 24, 2025•49 min•Season 5Ep. 191
To think this film's creator knew nothing about animation prior to making this short is absolutely astonishing. Of course, as we discuss, many crossed this path as a consequence of the pandemic, but there are few gems we've found like this. The film, Rally, draws heavily on Santiago Menghini's experience as a live action director and producer. What's fascinating, in our analysis, is our evaluation of ambiguity and how its clever use makes up for the animation and limitations. Watch the movie, ch...
Jul 17, 2025•34 min•Season 5Ep. 190
"Courage is not the absence of fear, it is acting in spite of it." Yep, never a truer few words than said in jest. This week, we discuss a cutscene extravanza of Arthur's life story in the game, apparently endorsed by Roger Clark himself. Its a story told in three acts, supported by some great musical choices, even if we don't completely agree on that. What we do agree on is that Charles Liu has done a superb job of selecting just the right shots to portray the character. Check out our review, w...
Jul 10, 2025•24 min•Season 5Ep. 189
This brings back so many memories for us, the 1980s and 90s, Frank Drebin's utter incompetence and Leslie Neilsen's brilliance. Hat Loving Gamer has excelled himself with this interpretation, taking in a bunch of retro games - everything from PacMan to Mario and then adding in a bit of Halo and GTA for good measure. Our selection of this film also has absolutely nothing to do with the launch of NS2 or the announcement of a new NG movie... Enjoy the discussion. Credits - Speakers: Ricky Grove, Ph...
Jul 03, 2025•20 min•Season 5Ep. 188
Projects, mods, demos, Mickey Mouse, not machinima and genAIs... all in the mix this week. We also talk about new tools, game news and Predator: Killer of Killers, the first full length BIG budget machinima. Check out the discussion, links on our show notes, and add comments as usual. Credits - Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Valentine, Tracy Harwood Producer/Editor: Phil Rice Music: Phil Rice & SunoAI
Jun 26, 2025•57 min•Season 5Ep. 187
Our latest deep dive into machinima history, and this month we focus on Baron Soosdon, a Finnish creator whose work is legendary among us. The film pick, I'm So Sick, is an excellent example of the type of work he produced during his machinima career (circa 2006-2011) which, shockingly, never actually won an award - it was however runner up at Bitfilm Festival. The film is a WoW fan fiction and a cultural mashup of its era, including subtle references to some of the key happenings in niche enter...
Jun 19, 2025•37 min•Season 5Ep. 186
Yup, there's nothing to do in Starfield, except this kind of thing! Seriously, we love how this teases a potential mod by the creator, @StarfieldCinematics , and we reflect on the portrayal of the characters, the juxtaposition of the narrator voices and the pacing in what is essentially just a teaser. One thing we all agree on is just how stunning this game world is. 1:57 Analysis of Starfield machinima 8:12 Comments on the trailer's content and style 12:29 Technical and narrative observations...
Jun 05, 2025•27 min•Season 5Ep. 185
Ever wondered what it might be like to experience GTA as an NPC - or an animal? Well check out our pick this week! An hilarious let's play by @PuttherUncut "I Pretended to be a RAT NPV in GTA RP and Trolled the ENTIRE SERVER | DonDada RP", released 5 June 2022. Shades of Robin Hood in the approach - 2:37 Putther Uncut's Rat NPC trolling... 5:10 Details of the rat's actions 8:24 Damien's reaction and analysis 11:53 Phil's perspective and technical insights Credits - Speakers: Phil Rice, Damien Va...
May 29, 2025•22 min•Season 5Ep. 184
In this episode, we discuss an account of an historic battle, which is commemorated annually on the 17th of Ramadan across all Muslim countries: the Battle of Badr 624AD. The film has been created by the Bellum et Historia channel, released on 16 November 2024, and made in Total War Atilla and other games, using various mods. These are, however, a little hazy because the creator has chosen not to reveal the creative process, making full attribution of assets used quite a challenge to fully appre...
May 22, 2025•37 min•Season 5Ep. 183
Our monthly roundup of all things we enjoy about this crazy world of machinima. Key discussion items - Machinima and virtual production updates AI-generated content and tools Video game trailers and announcements Character creation software developments AI music generation and legal considerations Creative video game content creation techniques 0:01:21 - AFK Season Three Star Wars parody discussion @EpicallyCasual 0:04:36 - GTA VI trailer speculation @RockstarGames @RickyGrove 0:11:33 - Ch...
May 15, 2025•47 min•Season 5Ep. 182
This week's machinima is made in Skyrim, and whilst its a little older, it shows off beautifully the quality of the game, characters and lip sync capability. The film, by Wanderersofthedas was released in 2015, and was made using lines drawn only from the game's NPCs. It makes for an oddly familial campfire conversation, notwithstanding the numerous references to in game lore. Do you and add your comments on our channels, as usual. 0:31 Introduction by Damien, using NPCs in a single player game ...
May 08, 2025•28 min•Season 5Ep. 181
This week's ep focusses on the 2024 Crowbar Productions Machinima Mayhem contest winner: Fragile Harmony, made in Garry's Mod by Logan and released on 9 Sept 2024. Logan sent this in for us to take a look at, and we're sure glad he did. Yes there are a few things we could be critical about, but storytelling isn't one of them. Check out our review and leave your comments in the usual way. 1:14 Introduction by Phil, a classic Philip K Dick sci fi, storytelling and production values: deer in the he...
May 01, 2025•45 min•Season 5Ep. 180
This week we discuss a machinima form we've not really talked about before - anime. Whilst its one of Ricky's favourite creative forms, for the rest of us its a little out of our comfort zone! We take a look at two films, both made in Final Fantasy 14 (FFXIV), Frieren: Beyond Journey's End by Wheat Tea (released 2 Feb 2025) and Arcadion by Magitek Productions (released 1 Jan 2025). Check out our discussion and reviews, and do add your comments. 1:24 What is anime machinima? 3:44 Studio Ghibli: “...
Apr 24, 2025•30 min•Season 5Ep. 179
In this week's episode, we discuss the month's news items we've found most interesting and relevant to making machinima, including more great projects to be inspired by, genAIs we've spotted, Steam's rip off, inZOI's challenge to Sims and the phenomenon known as the 'Minecraft Movie'. Check out our discussion and do add comments on our YT or blog posts. 1:18 Projects: a zombie film in GTA5, Trillo’s Cuco, NeuralViz’ Tigg Talk – an alternative perspective on tariffs 3:33 The speed of a creative a...
Apr 17, 2025•55 min•Season 5Ep. 178
This week is another pick from the Archives, a short by Thuyen Nguyen aka @evaneon and @collectivenounfilmworksdev4297 . The film was released in 2007 - it is a love letter to games and gamers at a time when seemingly the whole world was filled with haters. Catch up with our comments and reflections and do add your own below. 1:13 About the Archive - How They Got Game, a Stanford University project 3:30 The Most Powerful Person in the World by Thuyen Nguyen 7:17 I am omnipotent! 9:12 The histori...
Apr 10, 2025•24 min•Season 5Ep. 177
Alongside S5 E176 Red Faction Guerilla: Optimism Bias (Apr 2025), Tracy spoke to Andrew about his machinima series, his creative practice and the problems he encountered when attempting to distribute the work. They also discuss his upcoming works and aspirations for his future career. Check out the interview (also on YouTube). Credits - Speakers: Andrew Knight, Tracy Harwood Editor: Phil Rice
Apr 03, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 5Ep. 1
A viewer nominated series, this week's ep is another great example of brilliant writing. Optimism Bias was directed by @AndrewGoodKnight and originally released in 2013 having been showcased at the Melbourne International Animation Festival @melbourneinternationalanim3991 - its Australian comedy, deeply rooted in game lore, at its very best. Tracy also grabbed an interview with Andrew which you can check out in our season specials, released alongside this ep. 1:17 Introduction to the film and it...
Apr 03, 2025•32 min•Season 5Ep. 176
It's lovely to hear a fellow machinima fan discuss their passion for the creative works that have inspired them. This week's ep is a documentary by one such person, Angelikatosh, who reminisces about the 'golden age' of classic World of Warcraft films. We highlight a few films from our own and possibly slightly older archives that she's not managed to cover too. 1:19 Introduction to this week’s pick – a documentary about the ‘golden age’ of WOW machinima 4:55 What Ben’s tome says! 8:00 Why has W...
Mar 27, 2025•29 min•Season 5Ep. 175
One of the most extraordinary picks we've made, probably ever, on the show! This week, we review an emergent absurdist talk show, focussing on the life of the Glurons - a post-human race of critters set in a future world, but most creatively uses generative AI tools. Its outstanding quality is, however, the writing. Check out our review and pick up the links mentioned on our show notes blog post on the Completely Machinima website (link below). 1:27 A first for a machinima show: Unanswered Oddit...
Mar 20, 2025•34 min•Season 5Ep. 174
This is our regular monthly news update on things relevant to the world of machinima. 1:19 Projects: Isoterica’s latest release, DisUtopia; Hamilton in Animal Crossing by GK Animations; EvilDrPorkChop’s No Man’s Sky cinematic 4:28 Phil’s Chuck Norris vs 50K Cavemen – a true scientific experiment 11:20 ElevenLabs vs a cast – choices and rationale 15:30 The Remarkable Life of Ibelin – shortlisted for the Oscars (sadly, didn’t win) >>> but Flow, made in Blender did WIN!!! Congratulations t...
Mar 13, 2025•1 hr 8 min•Season 5Ep. 173
This week we review a 'golden age' machinima, starring none other than Ricky Grove playing 'Bogart', and Ingrid Moon playing err, 'Ingrid', with Phil having created the score and Ricky having produced the sound design. Its a short by German-American creator, Andre Pesch, called The Days After, made in GTA San Andreas. Its a story that pre-2020 probably we'd have all said, simply, yep that was great, without any real appreciation for what is actually being portrayed in this 2006 film. However, th...
Mar 06, 2025•47 min•Season 5Ep. 172
A once in a lifetime event in Elite Dangerous? Yup, that's what fascinated us all too. This week we review a series of machinimas that approach the destruction of a Thargoid ship attacking planet Earth in different ways - a strange and unusual phenomenon in a game world that we reflect on, only possible in open world sims. 1:30 Elite Dangerous: an historic event – Thargoids heading for Earth 3:30 The ship’s problems, community action, the countdown and the consequences – a once in a lifetime eve...
Feb 27, 2025•22 min•Season 5Ep. 171
A packed news episode, with Tracy's analysis of the AI art copyright ruling decision and a discussion with Damien about his hit fan series, Heir to the Empire - the Star Wars story that everyone always wanted to see made. Do comment on the discussion (on the YouTube channel or the Blog post). The links are available in the show notes. 0:45 Tracy is the first woman on Mars!!! 2:38 RunwayML’s third annual film festival – call for submissions now open 4:20 Second Life evolves [again] 7:00 Bloomsbur...
Feb 20, 2025•54 min•Season 5Ep. 170
This ep, we take a walk down memory lane to the first major peak of #machinima with a documentary produced by @ProducerStuartBrown , released in 2003. The film is a fly on the wall documentary of the creative practice of the legendary Hugh Hancock (founder of #Machinima.com) and his @strangecompany 0:39 Introduction to the film; shock and awe: Hugh’s bravado, character, energy and enthusiasm shines through 3:09 Foundations of Machinima.com, the Strange Company, the ILL Clan and others – the firs...
Feb 13, 2025•33 min•Season 5Ep. 169
This week's pick is nostalgic for a time before machinima... its a rare look back at the demoscene era that informed and influenced the evolution of machinima all those years ago. The film selection is called We Are Demo, made in 2016 by Fairlight, Noice, Offence, and it was originally shared on X by the Commodore Computer Museum. Check out our review and thoughts, and do add your comments on our YouTube channel. Phil introduces the film We Are Demo, which was made in 2016 using technology from ...
Feb 06, 2025•29 min•Season 5Ep. 168
This week's pick is a machinima run through of the female V character in Cyberpunk 2077, by Charles Liu, edited to a Johnny Cash classic, Hurt. Sound design in this is everything, and we especially like how the fade is used to emphasise the game footage vs the words of the song at different points in the film. Check out our views - 1:14 Intro to film, music video, a perfect complement to I’m Still Seeing Breen (S5 E163)? 3:37 Music storytelling vs film storytelling – interplay and aesthetic choi...
Jan 30, 2025•27 min•Season 5Ep. 167
The Little Limpet is an Elite Dangerous animation by CMDR Nickweb85, released in July 2024. It has shades of Disney X David Attenborough X Busby Barkley. You could say it has something for everyone then... well, assuming you enjoy a good space opera/ballet (which of course we do). Check out our comments - 0:44 Intro to film, Elite Dangerous, Pixar-like, composited game footage using Blender 4:17 Story, Tom Cook’s music and anthropomorphic animations 6:45 Experimental work, testing emotional repr...
Jan 23, 2025•23 min•Season 5Ep. 166
