The Seal of Nehahra
Encyclopedia
The Seal of Nehahra is an American film
made in 2000, created by Mindcrime Productions as part of the Nehahra Project. Made using a modified version of id Software
's 1996 first-person shooter
computer game
Quake and released over the Internet
as a non-interactive game demo
package, the film was the longest released Quake movie — as Quake-based machinima
was known at the time. At a total length of three hours and fifty five minutes, it is the longest single-piece machinima production . The film received high reviews from the major Quake movie review sites of the time, Psyk's Popcorn Jungle and The Cineplex.
The film begins in late 2109. The first half of the film is centred around the Slipgate Development Lab, an American government project to develop teleportation
technology. After a successful test, the film jumps forward to early 2110. In January 2110, a malfunction during a routine transfer of supplies results in a creature from another dimension – an Ogre
– being transported back to the lab. A terrified soldier fires upon the Ogre, mortally wounding him and causing him to flee back through the Slipgate. This sets in motion a chain of events that results in an invasion by beings residing in the other dimension. One soldier goes on a personal mission to avenge the death of his friends and fellow soldiers.
and coding for the project. As the modified Quake demo format used in the DarkPlaces engine was not compatible with the Quake demo editing software of the time, most of the external editing was performed via a Hex editor
. Internally, the camera was mostly manually controlled by Skubis. A command was implemented into the game allowing a recording in progress to be paused and unpaused as needed. This required scenes to be performed with a single take; reshoots entailed re-recording the entire scene. Minor errors exist in some scenes due to Skubis' self-admitted lack of time or patience to reshoot some of the longer scenes.
Unlike those in conventional Quake movies, none of the characters were directly controlled by players. All characters and most of the dialogue was controlled by scripting
or artificial intelligence
; the latter was mainly used for combat scenes. This in itself provided problems, particularly during the scenes in which the character Phil battles through the maps of Quake; due to a bug, the character would frequently use a rocket launcher in close range combat instead of a nailgun. Skubis wrote of this "The suspension of disbelief suffered greatly when he gave a Fiend repeated hits at point blank near the end of the scene and didn't, well, die from his own splash damage
."
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
made in 2000, created by Mindcrime Productions as part of the Nehahra Project. Made using a modified version of id Software
Id Software
Id Software is an American video game development company with its headquarters in Richardson, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by four members of the computer company Softdisk: programmers John Carmack and John Romero, game designer Tom Hall, and artist Adrian Carmack...
's 1996 first-person shooter
First-person shooter
First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...
computer game
Computer and video games
A video game is an electronic game that involves human interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device, but following popularization of the term "video game", it now implies any type of...
Quake and released over the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
as a non-interactive game demo
Game demo
A game demo is a freely distributed demonstration or preview of an upcoming or recently released video game. Demos are typically released by the game's publisher to help consumers get a feel of the game before deciding whether to buy the full version....
package, the film was the longest released Quake movie — as Quake-based machinima
Machinima
Machinima is the use of real-time 3D computer graphics rendering engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation...
was known at the time. At a total length of three hours and fifty five minutes, it is the longest single-piece machinima production . The film received high reviews from the major Quake movie review sites of the time, Psyk's Popcorn Jungle and The Cineplex.
Synopsis
The film serves as a backstory to the Nehahra fan-made single-player game, released on August 18, 2000, which is set five years after the events of Quake. The film is also an unofficial backstory to that of Quake. In his review of The Seal of Nehahra for The Cineplex, Stephen Lum wrote, "Many people were very upset about the plot of Quake, reasonably so, because there wasn't one." Paul Coates wrote in his review of the film for Psyk's Popcorn Jungle, "Some could say that it is basically the Quake plot, but with a lot more detail, and a lot of characters to move it along". The writer, J. Thaddeus Skubis, stated in his director's notes that "[he] told the story that Id (Software) wouldn't".The film begins in late 2109. The first half of the film is centred around the Slipgate Development Lab, an American government project to develop teleportation
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
technology. After a successful test, the film jumps forward to early 2110. In January 2110, a malfunction during a routine transfer of supplies results in a creature from another dimension – an Ogre
Ogre
An ogre is a large, cruel, monstrous, and hideous humanoid monster, featured in mythology, folklore, and fiction. Ogres are often depicted in fairy tales and folklore as feeding on human beings, and have appeared in many classic works of literature...
– being transported back to the lab. A terrified soldier fires upon the Ogre, mortally wounding him and causing him to flee back through the Slipgate. This sets in motion a chain of events that results in an invasion by beings residing in the other dimension. One soldier goes on a personal mission to avenge the death of his friends and fellow soldiers.
Production
The project took a year and a half to develop. J. Thaddeus Skubis, also known as Mindcrime, was responsible for writing, recording and editing the film, as well as performing the voice work for all characters. Most of the rest of the team worked on mapsLevel (computer and video games)
A level, map, area, or world in a video game is the total space available to the player during the course of completing a discrete objective...
and coding for the project. As the modified Quake demo format used in the DarkPlaces engine was not compatible with the Quake demo editing software of the time, most of the external editing was performed via a Hex editor
Hex editor
A hex editor is a type of computer program that allows a user to manipulate the fundamental binary data that makes up computer files. Note that computer files can be very small to very large...
. Internally, the camera was mostly manually controlled by Skubis. A command was implemented into the game allowing a recording in progress to be paused and unpaused as needed. This required scenes to be performed with a single take; reshoots entailed re-recording the entire scene. Minor errors exist in some scenes due to Skubis' self-admitted lack of time or patience to reshoot some of the longer scenes.
Unlike those in conventional Quake movies, none of the characters were directly controlled by players. All characters and most of the dialogue was controlled by scripting
Scripting language
A scripting language, script language, or extension language is a programming language that allows control of one or more applications. "Scripts" are distinct from the core code of the application, as they are usually written in a different language and are often created or at least modified by the...
or artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
; the latter was mainly used for combat scenes. This in itself provided problems, particularly during the scenes in which the character Phil battles through the maps of Quake; due to a bug, the character would frequently use a rocket launcher in close range combat instead of a nailgun. Skubis wrote of this "The suspension of disbelief suffered greatly when he gave a Fiend repeated hits at point blank near the end of the scene and didn't, well, die from his own splash damage
Splash damage
Splash damage, also known as radius damage, is a term used in several types of games, most notably in first-person shooter and real-time strategy computer games, to refer to damage taken by players or objects in the area surrounding a point of weapon impact...
."