The Hardware Rivals Documentary

Yes….. a documentary 🙂

The idea for this film spawned earlier this year. To make a short documentary about Hardware Rivals and the impact it has on the people who play(ed) it. The plan was to interview players and – if I was lucky- some of the developers.

Telling the story of Hardware Rivals is important because part of me still has faith that we will keep this game alive. I want to contribute, somehow, to the legacy of Hardware Rivals. And to show that there are people who care deeply about this game and it’s players.

That started with building this website and trying to set-up a league. The league didn’t finish sadly, but it gave me a big reward: true friends from all over the world. Some of them I even met in real life, while traveling to various countries in Europa. Last month 1 player even came to my country to meet me.

In other words… the game and the players are close to my heart.

1. THE VIDEOGAME

Hardware Online and Arena and Hardware Arivals are unique games. So we want to show what the game is about and hopefully also the people who created it and the developers and publishers who have dedicated their time to make these great games.

2. THE PLAYERS
One of the major goals of our film is to tear down the misconceptions the public has by revealing the truth about video game culture and the amazing, vibrant community gamers have created over the years.

3. A SMALL GAME IN A BIG GAMING WORLD

We all know about the blockbuster online multiplayer videogames with sometimes millions of gamers. Hardware Rivals is about a small community in that vast world. The documentary can show that there are special things happening there also. One advantage is that you get to know the players better because there are less of them and as a player you are less a ‘number’ then in the bigger games.

Without your help we can’t make the film we want to make. As you just read, we have a very big story to tell with our film and we can’t do it with the quality it deserves without your support. Making even a short documentary will take lots of time. We even have to find out if it’s possible.

These are roughly the stages:

• First research into the topic and the initial audio interviews of gamers and, if possible, developers.
• Concept (what do we want to tell and how do we want to tell it): hook > short treatment
• Full treatment (a  description of how the story will be told)
• Go/no go (can we pull it off?)
• Post-production (budget, crew, planning)
• Production (the actual filming, true interviews, etc)
• Post-production (Editing, sound design, finishing, mastering)

During the whole process I’ll try to keep a diary. Might aswell do a Making of film 🙂

Cheers, Banganimator (aka BonnieBarko)

This website will be the main stage where we will keep you updated about the film. If you want to participate in the discussions about the documentary, then please use the special Hardware Rivals Documentary forum. Some of you already have an account on this website. If not, you have to register to be a part of the discussion.