Featured on Game Labs Super-Channel:
'Today the FULL trailer for a new immersive movie came out across the Gridscape and.. wow... It looks amazing...!
I don't watch many movies anymore. I hardly get time, as most of it I spend on gaming; immersed on the island. Or in The Spiral. It's one or the other these days isn't, eh?
But I still love watching trailers. They include most of the movie anyway and I can get a good sense of what's in store... and what I'm gonna take away from it. And in many cases I just feel: Been there, done that, got that... you know?!
But of course I'm just gonna have to see this one, as it's a movie about that 'game' I play... and it's just called 'The Nature of the Game Fountellion'.
So... yeah, it contains many of the elements that dominate my life at this time. It's about me, I guess... and about many of you guys who love games too, and who 'know' me in the Village and in the Source... and who faithfully tune in to my logs.
At the very least, I hope it'll prove to be something worthwhile or inspiring... something that celebrates our game; leads others into its changing, knotted fabric.
Even if written really well then I just know it could be about so much more...
But it looks set to be about the story of our 'Green Garden': its creation... its influence...
Anyway, strap in and here we go guys... Let's take a look...'
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Based on the visionary super-game of nature 'Fountellion'...
[Scene: Dimly-lit cafe or diner. A boy + girl, dressed normally are talking...]
Boy: "There seem to be more and more of these Dis places..."
[We see clip of two pale, scruffy regulars looking over, sunken eyes. They turn back to their drinks.]
Girl: "Yeah... I guess they've seen... too much... but.. (looking at boy)....what did you see...?"
[Fade out. Music starts...'In Dreams' spidery music by Ben Howard.]
[Cuts to elderly man... he's putting some old map away into a box, closing it firmly. One of his hands shakes slightly. But he pulls open two heavy, wooden barn doors... They open onto an amazing property with fields, well-maintained garden. He takes his glasses off and squints towards the setting sun. A breeze blows across this rustic scene...
Just then a train passes... it's high-tech and fast and we see it headed for a mega-city that had previously not been quite in the frame...]
[Close-up of his eyes again. Expression of concern.]
[Cut back to cafe:
Boy is raising his coffee cup to his mouth. He takes a sip. He closes his eyes...}
[Music starts: 'Green Garden' by Laura Mvula.]
[Next we see cutscenes. Fragments of the extraordinary world of Fountellion. Only it's more overgrown; wilder...
Boy touches down after some kind of flight within a garden-scape similar to the elderly man's place, only it's vibrantly enhanced. Wild. Seeds likes magic fill the air. The boy gets up and looks around, fearfully. He's out of breath. And dodges a dragonfly that swoops down, forcing him to duck.]
Boy: "Wonders... " {His eyes open] "But... [brow furrows] ...it's... changed..."
[He puts his cup down again as his hand is shaking a little.]
A different voice. A black female: "You might find it's... wilder than before. More... overgrown. And... harder."
ADVANCED TEXT (?): It was the Ultimate game..
Boy: "How come?"
[Scene: sitting at a crowded event following a virtual games competition.]
Firecube 'Agent' – Syla Rooker: "Well, it's been abandoned, but left... persistent. So now... it's evolved..."
ADVANCED TEXT: A Game... That Engrossed a World....
Boy: "I was given... this key..."
[Scene: A piece of ordinary, creased paper with a detailed drawing of a key on it. It has an eight and a fork rune in the middle. The boy scans it into an interesting machine.]
[Scene: He's now holding it in his hand in the virtual. It looks worn and heavy and old. A garden key. The boy now wears a cloak and a satchel. So it has become a virtual key...]
Girl: "How did they find you?"
[Scene: A different game. Fighting an impressive dragon with other players. Boy wins, but also gets kicked over having saved a team-mate. He lands on the ground as the beast dies and applause starts. The players assemble before collecting their prize. He's out of breath. But there's someone watching in the arcade. Syla Rooker. In a black-clothed avatar. She steps forward and helps him up.]
Rooker: "High score?
Boy: "Not my best actually."
Rooker: "We know. But we've got a new game for you.."
Boy: "New?"
Rooker: "Well.. it's not new.... you've played it before..."
"It's the fabric.. it needs to be cured... of something... invasive..."
[Boy is accepting some award and crowds are cheering.]
Boy: "Ok, what's invaded..."
Rooker: "Us." [Boy watches cheering crowd which begins to slow...]
[Boy reaches to jack out and rip the interface away. The game dissolves. But it's now the face of the Girl gamer.]
Girl [taking off an advanced Spiral interface as boy sits in background]: "I see what you mean... (out of breath)... It's like it's stuck... in Hard Survival Mode."
The girl's voice: "The Spiral... it's getting out of control... people are dying..."
[Scene: we see image of someone jumping off a building in slow motion.]
Boy: "I know... I've seen... things... myself..."
[Scene: a scene of hell inside Bedlam4]
[Scene: Firecube meeting of agents] "So... the time has come. Agreed?"
Rooker: "Agreed."
Boy: "Fountellion... They want me to complete it again."
Girl: "Why?"
Boy: "I don't know. To fix it or something. It has to be completed."
Girl: "Who were they? These guys..."
Boy: "Firecube..."
Girl: "The Firecube? What the Fuck?"
Boy: "But... not just me... so...are you coming?"
[He puts something on the table. It's a payment of some kind.]
Girl: "(Nods quickly; decisively)...Ok, I'm in."
Music starts (darker): 'Black Flies' by Ben Howard
[Cutscenes: OF FALL-OUTS. ADDICTION TO OTHER SPIRAL WORLDS]
Girl: "But there's no time...
We're losing people...."
[Scene: At Firecube Academy virtual HQ]
Rooker: "What's this?"
Boy: "It's a page. I'm collecting them in the game... but I don't know what they mean..."
Rooker: "How many do you have? You know you need five, right?"
(Pause. Kid looks down).
Rooker: "You've got some already haven't you?"
Boy: "Yeah... four..."
Rooker: "Then you can take them to Leaven."
Boy: "Leaven the designer..? He's still going? But no one knows where he is..
(there's a beep sound on his personal device/watch).... That's his address isn't it?
Rooker: "Yep."
[Scene: Two people are standing outside Leaven's workshop. They're surrounded by his wild garden in reality. One of the barn doors slide open]
Boy: "John Leaven?"
Leaven: "I can't take too much light. Hurts my eyes...
[Leaning on one of the doors] "So... they told you where I live? It must be... time...?"
[Boy holds up a logo with a Firecube.]
Leaven: "Should I be glad you've come. That's the question..."
[Boy and Girl exchange a pressured look].
Girl: "Sir... people need your world again."
Leaven: (Long pause as he reaches for map box). "Tell me about it, young lady. Trouble is... It needs... re-setting..."
[Scene: unfolding the map. They all gather round.]
Leaven: "So... you've been there?"
Boy: "Yep." (Leaven then looks at girl).
Girl: "Yeah. It's pretty... badass."
Leaven: "So it's not all good? Hmmm.... But what is, really, eh? Ha!"
(Leaven turns towards them) And... What level? Are you mages?"
Boy: "Yes... Up to Progression Five."
Leaven: (He nods and looks away. Pauses). "Ok... you've now got a chance..."
[Sitting in old farmhouse under a dim light...]
Leaven: "Actually... it's his Source book... if you get the book, it will tell us how to stop the AI, restore the world... And... more..."
[Boy] "What do you mean...?"
[Leaven] "We'll find out..."
[Scene of an in-game death. The girl runs out of energy and falls. She starts again. Washed up onto the shore, the sand catching bright sunshine.]
Leaven: [helping her to her feet] "If you die again... we lose more time...."
[Scene. Back in farmhouse or barn.]
Boy: "Ok, so, let me get this straight... First... we've got to play the game... find the pages... so we can find another book ...in the Source... So we can win the game... And fix it..."
Leaven: "I think he's got it.."
Girl: "I can tell by his face he's got it..."
Boy: "Fine... I'm just not sure I want it..."
Girl: "Of course you do..."
Boy: "Why..."
Girl: "Because everyone needs it... They're counting on you..."
[Looking for the Fifth Insight. IMAGES OF ACTION. ANIMALS CHANGING.]
Girl: "What happened?"
Boy: "I got... beaten.... this time..."
Leaven: "You're not thinking about the ecosystem...
...You can't let a few ants get in the way."
Boy: A few? (loudly): "It's a bloody army!"
Leaven: "We're gonna need more help.... we need the Guardian..."
Boy: "Where is he now?"
Leaven: "Where he's always been... in the Village... He's not allowed to influence gameplay. So he's probably just..hiding...
But... I suggest you speak to Embertime....first..."
Girl: "Who?"
Leaven: "Not a person. NPC. He's the village chief. He's...very... chief-like..."
[Scene: we see a villager being thrown – tossed easily – out of the village.]
[Scene: they see a villager smoke a huge pipe and pass out.]
Girl: "So it's a side quest. We have to find this herb and drug him."
[Scene: Village chief is nearly passing out in a room thick with smoke.]
Boy: "So... we're looking for Greenwise..."
Chief: "Sorry, you'll just have to wait... for the next attack..."
Boy with Girl: (concerned look) "What attack?"
Chief: "Stokers... always attacking..." (slumps over onto the floor).
[Scenes of villagers running and scattering. Shouts of "Stoker attack!" Defences being made. Fires being lit.]
[Scene: Greenwise saving villagers from long lances. He helps save them from attack too.]
Guardian: "Don't tell me you need more help...?"
Girl: "But you're not supposed to be fighting..."
Guardian: "You don't think the Professor would have locked me up without some new teeth, surely?"
[Scene: In village tavern. Wearing cloaks.]
Girl: "But... why was it locked by the... Professor?"
Guardian: "People weren't ready. They weren't seeing..."
Boy with Girl: "Seeing what?"
Guardian: "The true nature of the game. They were getting lost before the last insight. So expect there to be.. .modifications."
[Scene: The boy immersed. Seeing the last insight. A green eye opening and everything filling with sparkling green fire and light...]
Guardian: "And it's the only way a player can defeat... Bleakmuse..."
Boy: "Is he the Boss here?"
Guardian: "He controls the Stokers. I guess he's a big boss. But you might find he's a little... more... than that..."
[Cutscenes: ACTION SCENES]
Boy: "I'm trying..."
Girl: "We've got to get up there... into the Spire..."
[More scenes. Shout of "Override!"]
Boy: "You can't keep all this... for yourself...."
Girl: "It's... unravelling..."
[They grip hands...].
[Scene of mega-city in the distance again....]
[Leaven] "You know... it was our dream....to heal the world....
To lead players... back out... more... aware...
It can still be... that's what we needed...a cure...
To save the world... from ourselves..."
[Scene. SLOW-MOTION ACTION IN THE GAME]
[Boy and girl change into wolves...]
[A dark figure appears in the game...]
Dark figure in black: "But you know...you could be....like me..."
[His arms begin to spread upwards...]
[Brief scene of everything breaking apart....]
[Fade to black.]
Boy: "Yeah but none of this is real..."
Leaven: "Of course it's real.... for here you'll see more clearly....the nature of what is real..."
Music starts: 'Green Garden' by Laura Mvula
[Camera ascends trunks of swaying trees and we see the island spread out...the view above the trees... A glittering fountain just above some tree-tops in the foreground. Mountains and a vague tower with a spire in the distance.]
[Fade to black (with tiny specks of burning green sparks summoning the letters...)]
[ADVANCED TEXT:]
"Find out the nature of a game...
You're already playing...
Our lives ... within... all life..."
[vines crawling up through the letters]
'THE N A T U R E OF THE GAME'
[brief image of old key and old door opening....]
Unlocked soon...
[fade to black]
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'Ahhhhhhh... wow!..... Hey, folks... I – for one – just can't wait. How about you? Let me know your comments! It looks like they've actually modelled some of the island scenes from the original game. Plus: they use the same tagline that was first used in the early game release trailers... I love that...
Ok well that just nails it for me... It seems to include some interesting background details that most of us are still completely in the dark about. It's a must-see...
Stay tuned... for the full movie review... and new, fresh gameplay avalogs from the island...'