e.sport / tournament&show – page 12.
It’s the end of my so sweet working week – so I’m allowing myself all the kid stuff.
That’s why I’m resuming my big pharaonic project with the piece that amuses me the most: the Clap-Trap character.
I know that I am making a scandalous theft of a character and that everything that will come to my mind has very little chance to see the day. I don’t care – my own head is free.
It is thanks to this unbearable little robot that I will succeed in imagining a real show on two levels.
He’s going to be my favorite link – the reason? He’s whimsical and insufferable.
And he’s announced as a link in the latest Borderlands 3 teaser: he opens a kind of chest that you’ll fall into in the Borderlands 3 world.
That’s the aspect I’m planning to use again.
Here we are at the show.
The stage curtain is still down.
It’s going to rise gradually, but then… badly. Squeaking, squealing, going sideways.
From the room, we’ll see bits of scenery, feet.
Not much.
Then, coming from the back of the room, from the top of the steps of the parterre: the splendid and strident voice of Clap Trap.
Who speaks directly to the stage technicians: when I tell you to press the black button, you press the black button. Do you understand?
Press the black button! No, not the red button – I said: not the red button –
Come and get me, you shouldn’t have pressed the black button – it was a test, you lost.
Come and get me now !
And a technician will go and get Clap-Trap, stuck & lost at the top of the stairs, all grumbling and ranting with all its little badly greased mechanics.
Between the two of them, they will manage to press the green button and the curtain will finally rise on the sets of Border Depths: a common room – stairs – ramps – huge screens on the sides – the central screen ready to come down – and the two owners who will watch this strange carriage arrive in their magnificent hotel.
It is Clap-Trap who will announce to Vassilissa the very soon arrival of its favorite pet human, Zane, as well as its hated bad company robot Fl4k.
How are they going to pay, these barefooters from nowhere? will be her objection.
It takes at least the little robot’s infernal glibness to overcome the resistance of this old shrew of hotel owner.
Of course, it is necessary to go and see the beds – of course they are on the second floor – obviously, this will allow the different characters of the play to enter the stage and take charge of transporting the despicable robot down the stairs.
And from there, not only is the play thrown like a ball onto the world stage – but no one will wonder what the Borderlands characters are going to do in there, since they announce themselves from the start.
From the detestable characteristics of each other, we can work on interactions between them.
For example, the Baron, at the beginning of the play, has an almost unpleasant conversation with his superior who reproaches him for having stolen ? – lost – considerable sums of money, the money of the “black cabinet” – this superior is a completely unbearable suspicious guy.
In short – our Baron is thrown out, forced to find an idea to support himself – he will find Nastia.
The scene is a bit heavy.
It becomes much funnier if it is shifted by the robot. It would go something like this: the baron discovers the robot, turns around it, tries to see if it could be opened to take something inside. During this time of approach, Clap-Trap defends himself, steals his phone – and broadcasts, unintentionally, in hologram the interview with the superior – and takes advantage of it to make fun of the Baron and comment the scene.
Alliochka wakes up everyone when he starts playing music – associated for a while with Clap-Trap, the duo becomes infernal.
From the moment the robot is on stage (and no – it’s not impossible – I’ve seen a life-size R2D2 very well animated so a Clap Trap, yes it can be done), it opens the door to the other characters of Borderlands. This gives real roles to cast – and yes it is also possible to have a FL4K on stage – these will, like Clap-Trap, give the scenes a punch, a big youthful punch and will tip this play into real burlesque – no risk of doing social realism that makes you cry with them.
There are enough secondary characters in the play that the roles are filled by “actors from the Borderlands”.
And so in the phase 3 quests, I’m incorporating real moments from the play – that will be spent on stage, during the play.
This will allow for constant back and forth, as I mentioned yesterday. It will also enhance all the players who have participated, and who may find themselves on stage (well, a moment in their game) – and it will inevitably make them want to see the show – and even share it.
I still have to decide on the “fate” of the ending.
In the real ending, Anna dies – poor Anna – Mr. owner dies under the blows of his tenants, Mrs. owner accuses the thief Vashka, all the tenants accuse each other of the fight and the fatal blow – a bit of prison for the thief, Natasha in the end – finally he gets off pretty well – and the only one who really has a sad ending is the actor who can’t be an actor anymore because he’s gone crazy – and he hangs himself, while all the others are caught up in a party, drinking, singing, laughing, dancing and really breaking everything.
And really, you feel that this is an ending made to finish the story – and not a planned ending, announced from the beginning, for which the whole story was built.
So – since it’s a very artificial ending, I feel I have no moral compunction about leaving it where it is – lost in Oblivion – to replace it with the ending that will be established by the end of the tournament.
I can use it as a challenge to the player-characters who had to die: Anna and the actor – they have the option of staying on the stage by eliminating the others – it can be nice and a tribute to the original play anyway.
What I still need to figure out – and it will be soon – is how I handle the 8 characters eliminated from phase 3: when I eliminate them from the show – and/or/when/how I re-use them anyway – or not.
Well well well… childish, hum ? it was easy & cheap to pick up Civilization VI through the Xbox Pass – it was a ridiculous price.
I love this series – I didn’t know about opus 6 – and you know what? You can build the Chinese Wall – just like that.
So… you’ll forgive me for being very busy with very serious things, but I have my Great Wall to build. Have a good night.
Featured Image : the real & incredible – Chinese Wall.
ALTAIR - Concepts 