And Now For Something Completely Machinima

This week on And Now for Something Completely Machinima , snacks are flowing, pretzels are implied, and Tracy throws us a curveball of a film pick. 🍪🎬 We dive into “Demoram” by Livviathen , a lightning-fast, 90-second burst of animated chaos made in Team Fortress 2 and Garry’s Mod —and somehow packed with more storytelling, personality, and punch than films ten times its length. At first glance,...

🎮 What if the “bad ending” of Half-Life… wasn’t the end at all? In this episode of Completely Machinima , Phil, Tracy, and Damien dive into one of gaming’s most legendary “what ifs.” We explore a fan-made Half-Life mod that does the unthinkable: it turns the game’s infamous impossible ending—the one where you’re meant to die horribly—into a brutal but beatable continuation of the story. Instead o...

🎬 This week on And Now for Something Completely Machinima , we’re shaking (and stirring) things up with a deep dive into Benjamin Tuttle’s long-awaited James Bond machinima, Endgame – Part One 🍸💥 Host Damien Valentine kicks things off by revealing he actually voices Q in the film (recorded years ago!), before the panel digs into why this project is such a standout. Created in iClone and rendere...

🚍 This Week on Now for Something Completely Machinima 🎮 What if the most boring video game ever made was actually a goldmine for creativity? This episode kicks off with Ricky’s unconventional pick: Desert Bus , a notorious 1990s “anti-game” by Penn & Teller where you drive a bus from Tucson to Las Vegas… in real time… for eight hours … and earn one point . That’s it. No explosions. No shortc...

This week on the podcast, we’re diving into a grab-bag of big creator news, starting with YouTube, and yes… the “slop” situation.  Tracy kicks things off with what looks like YouTube’s latest attempt to clean house: platform changes that claim to improve privacy and the viewing experience, but also mess with how videos behave when embedded on third-party sites. If you stream shows inside places li...

A special ep but unfortunately for the main content, most of this you need to hop on to our YouTube channel to watch as its mainly video footage... here is the intro by Tracy, with part of Paul Marino's keynote from his 2007 Introduction to the Machinima Europe Film Festival and the occasional part of a conversation.  Enjoy nonetheless. Credits - Host: Tracy Harwood Editor: Phil Rice Producer: Phi...

On this episode of And Now For Something Completely Machinima, Damien, Tracy and Ricky dive into one of Machinima.com’s most unexpected gems: the documentary series “All Your History Are Belong To Us”, focusing on the Stamper brothers and their legendary studio, Rare.  💬 We talk about how the series charts Rare’s rise from a small UK outfit in Ashby-de-la-Zouch to a powerhouse behind classics lik...

In this episode of Completely Machinima , hosts Phil Rice , Tracy Harwood , and Damien Valentine explore the stunning AI-powered operatic machinima “Arido Taurajo” — a groundbreaking short film created by Chantal Harvey (aka Mamachinima) in collaboration with digital artist James Morgan , AI composer Roboccini and soprano/AI researcher Maya Ackerman , among others. 🎮 About the Film: Set in the Wo...

In this episode of Completely Machinima , hosts Phil Rice , Tracy Harwood , and Damien Valentine review two creative Star Citizen machinima commercials — Dumpers Depot and Big Benny’s Grab Eats — both made for a Star Citizen video contest . They explore how these 45-second in-game ads show off community creativity, storytelling, and production skills. Tracy breaks down what made Dumpers Depot Comm...

We're beginning Season 6 with one of the best machinima-animated shorts we've ever seen (probably)! 🎥 Back to the Future UNHINGED, Machinima Film Made in Blender  In this episode of The Completely Machinima Podcast , hosts Phil Rice , Damien Valentine , and Tracy Harwood review “Back to the Future Unhinged”, a viral machinima short film by Landon’s Animation Wheelhouse , created entirely in Blend...

🎬 Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sound – Footsteps  In episode 5 of our Maker Series, Ricky Grove explores the often-overlooked power of footstep sound design — and how something as simple as a single step can define mood, build tension, and reveal character.  👣 What You’ll Learn:  How footstep sounds convey location, emotion, and suspense in film.  Why footsteps in the Spanish horror series 30 Coin...

🎃 Halloween Special | Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sounds: MONSTERS! 👹 This Halloween, step into the dark side of Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sounds — where we explore the terrifying art of monster sound design ! 🧟‍♂️ What do monsters really sound like? From the primal screeches that haunted early humans to the eerie, unearthly noises that send chills down modern audiences’ spines — this episode r...

🕯️ Maker Series: Phil’s Music Notes – [Horror] Intervals 👻  🎃 A pre-Halloween special exploring the dark side of sound.  At its core, music is a game of intervals — the spaces between notes that define every melody, every emotion. Even without musical training, we instinctively recognize the cheerful sound of a major chord or the melancholy of a minor. But some intervals go far beyond sad or hap...

How do you make virtual worlds sound real? 🎧 In this episode of Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sound , Ricky Grove reveals the secrets of sound frequency —the subtle audio magic that transforms machinima and 3D game-engine films into unforgettable experiences. Perfect for filmmakers, animators, and sound lovers alike. 🎬 Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sound –  Ambient Sound in Machinima Discover how soun...

How do you make virtual worlds sound real? 🎧 In this episode of Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sound , Ricky Grove reveals the secrets of ambient sound —the subtle audio magic that transforms machinima and 3D game-engine films into unforgettable experiences. Perfect for filmmakers, animators, and sound lovers alike. 🎬 Ricky’s Wonderful World of Sound – Episode: Ambient Sound in Machinima Discover ho...

This week, we continue our discussion, reflecting on Season 5 and our predictions for 2026.... yep, sure is a lot going on in the world of #machinima! Do add your own thoughts into the comments (on our show notes). 1:01 Our predictions for 2026 1:10 Tracy’s thoughts! 4:26 A quick interjection on the Minecraft short we reviewed 6:47 Damien’s views and perspective on tools being used 7:38 Ricky’s pr...

In this first part of our 200th episode of Completely Machinima Podcast, Ricky highlights ⁨@NeuralViz⁩ AI-driven films as a significant advancement, while Phil praised the fast-paced, subtle social commentary. We discuss legal developments affecting AI use, such as Warner Brothers suing Midjourney. The success of Blender's "Flow" at the Oscars is noted, emphasizing the growing capabilities of open...

This is our final film pick for Season 5, and it stimulates quite a discussion. The film is a concept test of tools and techniques, but the story and aesthetic is less inspiring. Check out our thoughts and do add your own comments below. 1:47 Introduction to Reflekt by @derunique 4:00 Anachronistically broken  10:25 Gelling the story?  11:54 The aesthetic of Unreal  13:19 Who is the apocalyptic so...

This week's film selectiion is a technical masterpiece, made in RDR2. It is both an homage to the game and the film. John Wick's Red Dead Redemption is made by eli_handle_b.wav, and is worth every second of your time watching it!  1:49 Introduction to film, editing quality, compositing and matching RDR2 to John Wick – technically outstanding! 4:11 How?!!! Skill level is well above average 7:00 Thi...

A DC inspired short made with love and artful skill, this week's pick is also an homage to the creative talent of a young creator now sadly passed. Despite us not necessarily being the target audience - due to certain demographic features - we really enjoyed reviewing this. Check out our comments and do add your own.  1:32 Introduction to the film: form and creative technique – Smallville comedy v...

This week, we discuss a 2013 episode of @Draxtor 's interviews series with artists filmed in Second Life series, this episode with Australian artist  @lynettewallworth270 .  1:43 Get involved in the latest Star Citizen contest, links in Show Notes  3:26 Introduction to the pick  9:12 Phil describes early traditions of interview shows filmed in virtual worlds, such as Late Night with Toxie (filmed...

This is not genSLOP... or is it?! This week's discussion focusses on a recent genAI meme, vlogging from the Fall of the Empire as a Stormtrooper tourist.  The series we take a look at is by Galactic Archives, which has garnered a phenomenal number of views in just a couple of weeks.  Its quite different to The Glurons we discussed a couple of months back by NeuralViz, which remains a standout for...

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...

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 harnesse...

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. A...