MacroManJr

Hey, guys.

Phew, boy, did I have a heck of a 6 months since I last been here!  Didn't mean to be away this long!  Anyways, just came here to say that Operation Moogle is still active.  I've been very busy with the woes of self-sufficient adulthood (if you don't have to pay rent yet, cherish it), but the Operation is still in effect.  (By the way, I got a new apartment since January, as some of you know that I was almost facing homelessness last time I was here due to strange circumstances!)  I didn't mean to be gone this long, but one thing lead to another and pretty soon, it's 6 months later!

On my business side of life, I've been working on an important project.  This is what caused me to slack a bit here on Operation Moogle, as I've had to take the opportunity I've been given, because it's a temporary and small window of opportunity.  So naturally, I had to put it as a high priority and thus having less time spent on Operation Moogle (and even on playing video games in general!).  But I think I can get back into some Operation Moogle sometimes during the start of summer.  It's still worth the effort.  I just merely paused my work on this effort, not ended it.

On the flip side, though, if all goes well this year for me, I'll be soon a topic to talk about concerning the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U as an official developer hopefully next year.  Let's hope so!  It takes quite a good deal to become an approved official developer for Nintendo, so I've got a lot of hard work to do towards it.  But my chances are good, thanks to this rare opportunity I've been given, and thanks to Nintendo aiming to keep their dev kits at an affordable costs so that developing for these platforms are attainable for indie developers, so I certainly hope you guys understand why I had to take my little break here.

And I hope you believe me when I say that Operation Moogle is still alive.  Especially in light of the success of the very operation that inspired this one, Operation Rainfall.  It WORKED!  And since Square Enix didn't really give us a time limit here, and these games have been out for many years, and we're looking at the Wii U being the only eighth-generation console available for at least one whole year, we still stand plenty good chance to be heard.  So, don't give up on this, enjoy your last months in school (those of you still in school), and hopefully I'll see you guy again this summer!

~Brian L., a.k.a. the son of Macro Man, Macro Man Jr.

P.S. - I got a new computer, by the way.  My older computer was another thing that was holding me back last year.

Spoiler

Sounds good!! I hope that everything will go well for you (in finding a place to live, getting a new computer, and the modelling). Sorry about sounding impatient.

So, are you doing both regular Zidane and trance Zidane or just one of them? I'll help with the page and everything as much as I can. Thanks for everything!

Thanks, dude!  And you didn't sound impatient to me!  I just feel like telling what's been going on with me, to give some idea of how the animation production's going.  And to gladly answer your question: Yep, I'm doing both regular Zidane and trance Zidane--he enters Trance in this animated fight sequence.

By the way, check the Operation Moogle blog site--I've made you an Editor, dude.  It allows you to publish and manage posts and pages to the blog site, as well as being able to manage other users' posts.  Now you can help with the page from behind-the-scenes whenever you want!  There's no editorial pressures or expectations or anything--you just post something you want to post about Operation Moogle or Operation Moogle-related news.

If anyone else is interested in being a contributor to the blog site or Facebook page, just let me know!

Okay, guys, I'm back from a busy round of trying to find a new apartment and some other stuff.  Unfortunately, I lost yet another apartment (this is crazy), so I'm taking a break from it and getting back to this.  I've got to find a new place by the end of this month, but I'm letting my sister help me find a place.  I've also got to look for a new car.  It's crazy--I actually have the money available, but can't seem to find jack in the nick of time!  Oh well, something will come up soon, I'm sure.

In the meanwhile, I haven't gotten very much done on the video, but I did get two things done.  I rendered a basic test animation of a power-up special effect, and I'm currently working on more particles system test animation now, which will be the sparkly and glowing magic stuff with some of the characters' attacks (you know the glowing special effects you see with special attacks and whatnot).

Here's a link to it:

special effect test render 01

And also, I just got a new addon for Blender called Bsurfaces which will increase my productivity like threefold (especially with the characters).  I was having a difficult time with retopology of the faces taking too long and being kinda a pain to deal with (for those who are familiar with the modeling process), but this new premium Add-on for Blender is big help.  I'm also working on some schematic drawings for the weapons to base the 3D modeling on.

Anyways, I'm getting back on track with the animation portion of the montage videos.  I think we'll definitely need a flashy video, because though we're still getting votes and visits to the Operation Moogle sites, it's a gradual one.  Seems like every other "Operation" out there gets more notice than ours do--and we're the one effort that was actually specifically asked for by a game company!

Operation Rainfall, Operation Moonfall, and "100,000 Strong for Bringing Back Mega Man Legends 3" have all gotten wide attention, and I think our videos will get us similar attention (if not a little more).  By the way, I personally support those efforts myself (and hope you do, too).

If you've got any ideas for videos, try them out, work on them!  We'll make as many unique videos for our cause as we can!  It doesn't have to be a flashy 3D animation--a simple little montage or skit or something like that can work.  Operation Rainfall are using some funny skits to get more attention--and it's working, with over 14,000 views of their uploaded videos.

I think if we go the extra mile in creating some creative, catchy and inspiring videos for our cause--and emphasize the fact that Square Enix actually asked for this effort, and that enough support for this cause would pretty much make this HD collection a sure thing--I think we can gain similar heavy support like our other "Operation" efforts have gained.

Any kind of support here is welcomed for Operation Moogle, however big or small.  Customized signature images, wallpapers, videos, fan art--they'll be posted on our blog site.  And anything you can do to encourage more signatures in our petitions, votes in our Poll, and even simple Likes to our Facebook fan page and Followings us on Twitter (both of which I'll update in a little while), you're help is never too small.

Anyways, sorry for the absence!  Glad to be back!

Wow man, that looks GREAT! Keep it up!


Also, sorry I can't be of much help other than the Youtube channel, but I been kinda busy lately, so sorry
But, I'm thinking of new ways to promote, but I don't know yet.
Sorry.

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No need to apologize, dude!  If anything, I completely understand!  And your help with the YouTube channel is a big help!  We'll be using that channel as a big part of promoting this cause!  Whatever more you add to it would just be bonus, because you've already started a big helping factor for Operation Moogle!  You did and are doing a great job!

I've been quite occupied myself besides this endeavor.  It's okay--we'll just take our time and ideas will eventually come for the YouTube channel and whatever else, all in gradual time.  There's no sense of obligation or urgency here or anything.  Take your time and relax.  In fact, that's my advice to all of you.

We'll probably have this thing going for a while, and as long as Square Enix is still wanting a voice, we'll keep this open and just develop it gradually, so there's no kind of rush or obligation here.  In fact, I've been taking it easy myself this last week.  A lot of things in life just come up, but this continues to be something I want to do.

I've got to find a new apartment soon and be completely moved before September, I've got a few projects I need to gain some ground on, and unfortunately, there was a crime committed right outside my apartment building last night (it's on the local news and everything).  This makes me want to move out of this place even sooner.  It's not really a bad place to live around here, but it's just that I live near Philadelphia, and we get some of the crimes moving from rough city towards out here in rural places.  But no worries--I'll be moved to a much better place soon, hopefully (if I can just find a stankin' available apartment first!  Hahaha!).

But yeah, guys, just take this Operation Moogle effort with relaxation.  There's no timeline, really.  We're just trying to gradually gain more people's attentions, and Operation Moogle will likely be here for quite a while.  Whatever ideas and efforts you can contribute, do it at your own pace, without busting your brains over it, and without costing time away from other areas in your lives or anything.  And be sure to enjoy your summer!  Savor the summer!

I thank you guys a lot for what you have and do contribute to this cause!  We've got some cool people here (this is probably my favorite forum site), and there's a reason why this thread's gotten over 3,300 views so far (which is almost 5 times as many views as our blog site)--you guys all help keep it interesting!  I know that as we gradually build Operation Moogle, we'll get that strong voice that Square Enix wants, and we'll get our Final Fantasy HD collection yet!  Keep up the good work...gradually!


{As an update on the animation, I'm modeling the characters, which are the most complex things to develop in the animation.  I've got some vegetation in the works.  And I'm working on creating a decent enough dust to blow in the wind.  I'm taking snapshots along the way.}

Man you are awesome. How did you learn how to use blender?[/left][/left]

Tutorial videos posted on BlenderNation, reading wiki guides online, a lot of playing around with features, and practice (which is really just more playing around).  Once you learn Blender's interface, it's actually one of the fastest 3D modelers out there, both to learn and to use.  Actually, one of the things I've been slacking off on is a few videos showing how to use some of Blender's neatest features.  People who read my work blog are still waiting for it.  I'll get to it, especially since a lot of people lately have been asking me how I use Blender.  The secret with Blender is learning its intuitive keyboard shortcuts--makes using Blender a breeze.

Good idea, Blade!  I tried to message here a little earlier, but it took me like 15 minutes to find the reply box!  It's kinda hard to see!  ;P  In fact, in light of what I told in the Discussion Thread, this would be the perfect place for tossing ideas for the channel!  Having a distinct thread on the YouTube Channel's design will be helpful!  And as far as I can see, you're the owner of the Channel, man!    The more we spread out the administration behind Operation Moogle, the better we can operate!

Sure, TheOneWhoWroteThis, you can post the links here on the forum or PM them to me--either way's fine!

And just to take bring some more notice to a good idea, if you guys got any ideas for the design of the Operation MoogleYouTube Channel, be sure to leave them at the thread that Blade started dedicated to this topic.  You can leave your designs there so that there can be a little something more interesting for the channel.  We'll need something to match what I expect to be some neat videos to endorse our cause!  We've got to spark the imagination of Final Fantasy fans everywhere, so get the creative juices flowing and throw your creative ideas out there!

By the way, here are a few screenshots of the early concepts for the 3D animation.  These are early and will look a lot better once they've been textured, scaled for the characters, shot with cameras, etc.:

This is a concept design for the "Operation Moogle" font in the animation. It's still early, so nothing's final yet. The final design chosen will look better incorporated within the actual scene.

This is what the desert-like landscape looks like in early production. It doesn't look much like a landscape yet, but it will.

Another shot of the landscape. It's basically just a plane that I sculpted with a texture brush, for any of you guys interested in the process.

Here's a camera shot of that landscape. Again, this is an early shot. It'll look even better with textures and proper lighting and blowing dust and trees and everything. Most of all, it'll look epic with the characters in the fight scene, with dynamic camera shots and physical interactions with the landscape and stuff!  Check out this Final Fantasy wiki page and you'll see a bit of where I'm aiming with this.


Anyways, it ain't much to look at in this early stage of production, but I hope you guys like it so far.  Let me know if you like the font or it there's another style you'd like to see.  I tried to match the "Operation Moogle" font on our official signature image.  But whatever gets chosen, it'll look a lot better in the final composition.  And as always, your feedback is appreciated!

I'll be trying to cover a lot of ground on developing it daily to finish ASAP.  I'm charged with zeal to do this.  I'll be trying to post something new daily or every other day!

I've created a new subforum for this, and moved both topics into it. The petition/poll thread looks great.


Which blog? MacroManJr's, David's, or mine? There are three great reasons to use Wii U Forums instead: 1) they're a neutral zone between the two Wii U blogs associated with them; 2) having the petition and poll in the form of a thread is neat and tidy; and 3) it's a fabulous way to promote this community, as there's a good chance that some of the people who register to sign the petition will stick around for the Wii U discussions.

Thanks a million for creating a subforum for Operation Moogle!  That's really going to help us a lot!  And thank you for liking the petition/poll thread!

Also, to what you said about using this forum, those are actually some of the good reasons I listed on the blog site!

Hey Macro, just wondering here, do you have any of the videos ready? Because I just got a Dropbox and wanted to see how it works xD

Nope, not yet.  I'm just in concept stage at the moment.  Should have something to share in a day or so, though.  But if you wanna test out Dropbox, you can place any Operation Moogle signature images there and place the public links to those signatures (in a public Dropbox folder) on your Facebook, Twitter, whatever.  Of course, this is just an excuse to use Dropbox (I like such excuses), but it could be a neat way to promote Operation Moogle while you're at it!  

Shouldn't this be in the Blog instead of this forum? That way, everyone can sign the petition, not just Wii U members.

Actually, that would be kinda difficult to do.  Those free WordPress pages are blog sites, and they operate a little differently behind the scenes than a normal website (which are typically managed from scratch or using WordPress a more by-hand way).  Also, integration of a petition with the site is not simple (not for free, anyways).

Yeah, I could've used one of those sites claiming to offer "free petition," but those are kinda a pain.  They want a home address from you, our e-mail addresses, a limited signature goal, tons of ads everywhere, blah blah blah.  Those "free petition" sites are free to begin with because they collect and reserve your personal info to sell it to email-based advertisers (spammers), as they reserve that right to do so in their terms of agreement.

So yeah, it's just a lot easier than dealing with a forum where you can have as no limit of signatures, you can just leave your name (or alias) as a signature, you can take the poll and then just leave a post with your name (or alias) as a signature, and you can participate with the discussion thread.

All you need is an e-mail address and an name (doesn't even have to be your real name!) to start an profile here, and you're ready for business!  Conversely, you can be as creative as you want with your support for Operation Moogle, with forum signature images and suggestions to us.

Though, after I made the petition/poll, I did at least place a copy of the poll there on the blog site.  I realized that once you vote for in the poll with the petition, you can't vote again.  So if there were any games in the list you forgot, you can cast a vote them here.  So there's two places for the poll.

I also put on the site an encouraging word for joining this forum site.  I did inform folks that though this is a Wii U forum site and Wii U is our general talk, there is a section here where we do talk about other game consoles, too.  And we don't HATE the other consoles (many of us OWN other consoles)--we just love the Wii U a lot, that's all!

And really, a lot of people out there haven't really been following the news about the Wii U too much since E3, so I think when they see some of the things we're talking about with Wii U, that may create an interest in Wii U as well.

By using this forum, we make emphatically clear that we don't want the Wii U to get left out of consideration for this compilation!  PS3, Xbox 360, and PC will surely get such the HD collection, so we're not concerned about whether a release would come to them.  We want this game on ALL the HD gaming platforms, including the Wii U.

I hope this wasn't too long!  But yeah, there are several reasons why I chose on a forum site for this campaign.  Plus, Feld0 kindly gave us our own spot here and a shout-out!  Can't beat that!

Brian Lockett

"Okay, Square Enix, my body is ready for this collection!"

This is the official Operation Moogle Petition Thread and Poll!

Welcome, Final Fantasy fans worldwide!  Here is where you sign the Operation Moogle Petition, in the form of a reply, and take our Poll.

Here, Square Enix can see the strong following wanting this Final Fantasy HD Collection they're looking into doing, given if a strong voice speaks up for one, and we'll certainly give them that voice!  And we'll even go the extra mile in showing them what we want to see most on this compilation with our Poll!  You can visit our website or the discussion thread for more information.

So let's get started!

But first, just a few rules for your replies as signatures, guys:

• In your replies, all you need is your name.  You can post a simple reply of your forum user name, your first name alone, your first name and last initial, or your first and last name.  It's up to you.
• You can leave a little message for Square Enix, but please, keep it short (25 words or less).
• No profanity--keep it clean, guys.
• Since you have an account here, you don't have to reveal your e-mail publicly, like most petitions.
• Please do not post more than one reply in this Thread.
• Please reserve all comments, questions, and suggestions pertaining to Operation Moogle for the Operation Moogle suggestion thread or the official Operation Moogle blog site.  Leave only your optional short messages in your signature replies to Square Enix.

Also, as a note, you can vote for more than one choice.  I set no limit on voting here.  (Just don't vote for them all!  Hahaha!)  And you can only vote once, so make it count!

Okay, Square Enix, you wanted this voice from us?  You've got it!  Beyond this introductory post will be nothing but pure petition signatures.  Consider our poll votes as well.  This is what you wanted.  Now just give us what we want!

Everything sounds good. Uh...I don't think IP.Board allows us to limit the number of choices a user can select in a poll, so if you allow people to choose multiple games, you'll have to trust that they're reasonable enough to not choose all of them. Considering how unrealistic it is to expect them to include, like, 10 of them, anyway, I think it might be better to ask people to choose a single game they want to see in the collection the most. You're expecting a lot of people to join the effort, right?

I do expect a lot of people to join the effort, but I was thinking that since some of the games of the series have smaller game disc sizes than others (particularly the older ones), and since they've already released some of these games as remakes anyways, then that could affect the size of the content on the disc, and maybe at most, we would see about the 7 to 10.  About five of the larger-sized games can fit onto one 25GB game disc, so I just gave a little room for compromise between the choices of games people want the most and what number of games Square Enix would decide to do.

I don't think we'll see even 7 games on the compilation, but again, it depends on what games the voters choose most, and what Square Enix would do, so I was just ball-parking it with a best-case scenario.  I'm saying that at a realistic best, we'll probably looking at 7.  And at the nearly impossible-to-happen but still possible scenario, in terms of game disc space, we could see a possible 10 of the choices of certain size fit on one disc.  And God forbid if Square Enix just decided to go crazy with a two-collection Collector's Edition or something!  Then we COULD be looking at a 10-game compilation of classics remastered in HD.  I was leaving room for all those possibilities, even the zaniest ones.

But you know what?  We'll just leave it open to voters' discretion.  Save us all headaches.  Hahaha!

Quite a lot has happened on this thread since earlier.
Also, is this just for North America or for us Europeans too?

This a worldwide event!  This Petition will be open to any of the marketed region!  Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australia.  One of the advantages of having this Petition with a forum is that people at Square Enix can see our Locations.  If we ALL demand this game, we won't run into Localization problems that folks with Operation Rainfall are dealing with (well, at least, that's the plan).

The aim of this petition is not only to let Square Enix know that we ALL want this compilation, but to also put some positive pressure on Nintendo to host this third-party title on the Wii U worldwide without the localization issues they're currently giving gamers with Operation Rainfall.  Nintendo wants stronger third-party support for Wii U.  Square Enix, one of the biggest third-party developers in the world, has expressed interest in the Wii U.  We here at this forum want both the Wii U and this Final Fantasy HD compilation.

A game like a Final Fantasy HD compilation would definitely help the Wii U compete for the "core" gamer.  This game will undoubtedly be released on PS3 and 360, and probably for PC too, and none of those with localization problems.  We just want to make sure it comes out (first of all), and then comes out on Wii U with no localization issues.

About where the Petition will be, it will be a thread here at TheWiiU.com, a dedicated thread set exclusively for our single replies to that thread counting as our signatures of this petition.  This thread will remain the suggestion box/discussion thread for the Operation Moogle, while another thread will be started really soon as the actual petition to host our signatures.

I'm working on a poll we can also participate in along with replying our signatures in that Petition Thread, where we can vote for what games we want to see in the compilation.  Feld0 has offered to give the Petition Thread a dedicated spot, so as soon as I finish with the final touches, I'll start the Petition Thread.  You can check out the rules for posting on hat Petition Thread in my last comment, and I'll repost those rules in the Petition Thread, too.

But until the Petition Thread I'm still working on is complete (and I'll announce it), you can visit our Facebook fan page and Twitter page, and check on the progress of our official blog site.  

Okay, guys, some of you know what this is about from talks in the Comment of this page:

http://wiiublog.com/final-fantasy-hd-collection-is-possible-if-demand-is-high-enough/

For those of you who don't know yet, apparently, Square Enix said that they would really consider producing a Final Fantasy HD Collection, a collection of Final Fantasy games reformated in HD glory, if the fans' voice was strong enough for one.  Here's part of the actual quote from Yoshinori Kitase, the producer of Final Fantasy:

We haven’t made up our mind about that yet, but if there was a strong voice coming through from the users asking for such porting, then obviously we would seriously consider it, but no actual plans yet.

Giving that the Wii U will be a high-definition platform, and given Square Enix's recently expressed interest in the Wii U, it seems there would be a good chance of getting, first, such a collection to be produced, and second, for such a collection to be ported to the Wii U (quite possibly even around launch time next year--who knows?)

Anyways, I'm starting a petition page called "Operation Moogle," in the spirit of Operation Rainfall (Google it if you never heard of it).  I'm open to suggestions for this petition page and ideas towards promoting it.  If we make enough noises, guys, we just might get heard!  

- Brian L (a.k.a. Macro Man Jr.)


[Fifteen minutes later...]

Okay, so far, I'm going with a WordPress page.  It's got an easier way to set up a petition page, and plus you can use your Gravatars for any comments you may leave (just in case you may wanna change them to a Final Fantasy avatar--just for style points).

Also, to make this effort even better, since they may hear our voice anyways, I'm thinking maybe we should feature a poll on the site as well as to voting on the top Final Fantasy games we would like to see in the collection.  Since we wouldn't really know how much of a collection they would compile, we'll just list all the console games and leave the polls to show the top-voted ones.  That way, if Square Enix DOES happen to catch sight of our site, they'll know what surefire wins they can include from this voice.  I mean, it doesn't make sense to NOT put our favorites into the collection.  This dream collection = our wallets handed to them.  (We can even let them know that on the page!)

I think we'll keep the page simple, but still feature the petition page, a news updates pages, and the poll.  Anyways, I'll be working on setting up a page.  Please feel free to toss your suggestions out there.  This is OUR revolution!  (Sorry--my inner rebel's kicking in there!)