A live-action adaptation of Lone Wolf is coming!

[Nym90]

Sept 28, 2020 22:43:33 GMT Black Cat said:

Visibly, some people didn't read the article by Variety: "The U.K.’s ChorMedia and Holmgard Ltd are adapting Joe Dever’s popular fantasy-adventure gamebook series “Lone Wolf” as a live-action interactive series."

Forget "The Mandalorian" or the lack of interactive elements: it will probably be more like Netflix's "Black Mirror: Bandersnatch".

Indeed I did not read it! Thanks for that information. That sounds much more promising, though it will likely still have significantly less interactivity than the books themselves.

[Black Cat]

Sept 29, 2020 20:42:30 GMT Nym90 said:

Indeed I did not read it! Thanks for that information. That sounds much more promising, though it will likely still have significantly less interactivity than the books themselves.

I don't know... In "Bandersnatch", if you get "killed" (or arrested, or miss an opportunity, etc), you can restart from an automatic savepoint... but events that happened in the portion where you get a "game over" are taken in consideration (like, you meet a character, the character is killed and you get a "game over", you restart just before the meeting with the said character...except the character is already dead and the scenes plays out as if the character wasn't there!). Also, still on Netflix, there is an interactive series with Bear Grylls and in one of the episodes, you have to collect three elements. If you are missing one of them at the end of the adventure, your mission is not successful. These examples show that it is possible to collect items and the series can take in consideration previous events that could have happened or not to your character. As for puzzles, entering numbers (instead of flipping to a certain section) is also very much possible.

All that to say that technology is pretty much more advanced than one could think of regarding interactive TV series. In fact, I don't think you have to consider them as an "interactive tv series" but more like "live-action video game".

[Ofecks]

I just watched Bandersnatch for the first time a few days ago, it was really cool. All the choices were binary, though. I don't know if it would even be possible to make it more complicated than that, having read interviews and whatnot on the making of the movie, and how challenging it was for them (very).

[greg]

Bandersnatch didn't exactly start a wave of interactive TV though. It makes me wonder whether something like that is actually commercially viable.

[rhygar]

Oct 11, 2020 10:39:02 GMT greg said:

Bandersnatch didn't exactly start a wave of interactive TV though. It makes me wonder whether something like that is actually commercially viable.

I don't know if that's because of the culture prevailing over tv or not, though. I think they (those in charge, producers, the ones making the decisions) lack imagination and do not cater to certain interests. I don't rate 'live tv' very highly at all; I have more or less abandoned it and I have little faith in those running it . And I think they are the same sort of people in charge over in Disney+ etc. 

Do people, when they switch the telly on, just want to sit passively.. is that it? They want tv to be a passive experience? I'm not being critical, merely looking for the answer. 

As we all know, computer games (a very interactive experience conducted through the medium of a screen) are incredibly popular, so why could an interactive story not be viable?

Edit: Also, I doubt that it helped that Netflix faced legal action from the people who own the phrase 'choose your own adventure'. Search for a news item called: Netlix settles Bandersnatch 'Choose your own adventure' lawsuit. 

Not very encouraging to others. 

[greg]

May 8, 2021 12:40:43 GMT rhygar said:

I don't know if that's because of the culture prevailing over tv or not, though. I think they (those in charge, producers, the ones making the decisions) lack imagination and do not cater to certain interests.

I can't disagree with that. Those of us who lived through the eighties where sci-fi on TV was as rare as rocking-horse poo know that TV execs very much play it safe.
Other examples are Fox cancelling sci-fi show after show. And X-files very nearly having a robot side-kick because 'all sci-fi shows have one'.

These days more channels mean there is more varied content. But even now short-sighted execs will cancel shows like The Expanse.

Do people, when they switch the telly on, just want to sit passively.. is that it?

Often that is it. People want something to entertain them while they eat dinner; do the ironing; after a long day at work; after they've fed, bathed, and bedded the kids; and so on.

As we all know, computer games (a very interactive experience conducted through the medium of a screen) are incredibly popular, so why could an interactive story not be viable?

Computer games are hugely expensive to make. Red Dead Redemption 2 cost over $380 million! For that you could make 26 episodes of Game of Thrones with the level of effects seen in the final series ($15 million per episode).

Not very encouraging to others. 

Nope, sadly not.

[bulletrider]

With Netflix having just released Season 4 of the animated Castlevania series, it came to my mind that I also would gladly take an animation series of the Lone Wolf saga. Doesn't have to be interactive for me and surely I don't find an anime-style fitting but the general idea of an animated series is quite appealing to me. At least more than a live-action one with small budget and due to that with bad CGI etc.

[Ofecks]

I think LW would be amazing as an anime, to be honest. Assuming they actually stick closely to the source material and don't moe it up. I remember finding random droplets of anime on TV as a kid and the fantasy-themed stuff was always the most compelling.

Now that I'm thinking about it, the books themselves could be adapted in whole to one hell of a Visual Novel/JRPG series.

[greg]

On a different note, how do you imagine the lead character will be portrayed. Lone Wolf, as with many computer game characters are essentially a blank slate to allow the reader/player to insert them selves into the action.

Granted he is duty bound to the Kai and Sommerlund and he is one of the good guys, but he has no real personality traits to speak of. And while his skills certainly improve over time, does he learn and grow within himself?

How do you guys see him? Who would you like to see playing him?

[andyc]

I'm not sure if this is a good idea. In fact the more I think of it, it probably won't work at all, but how about the whole series to be through the eyes of Lone Wolf (so you never see him)? It could be interactive, where you change what you say and do, like a live action visual novel. Would it work? It would certainly be a big gamble and would require a ton of work to cover the different permutations to each action/route.

[wisestrider]

Deathtrap Dungeon is getting an "interactive movie" on PlayStation - this Lone Wolf project could end up looking similar:

youtu.be/7Bm-_YKdJdU

"Deathtrap Dungeon: The Golden Room is an interactive movie based on Ian Livingstone's multi-million selling gamebook and uses the Virtual Set technology that was used on The Mandalorian"

From Wales Interactive

That company have some other similar productions that have already released like Late Shift:

youtu.be/vzscNA5ZN4E

Not the same people as those mentioned as working on Lone Wolf but it does suggest there is a market for these when pitched more as games than as TV shows like Black Mirror: Bandersnatch was on Netflix.

Just thought it was interesting to note as the trailer reminded me of this thread.

[wisestrider]

Also seeing the Mandalorian was mentioned in error earlier in the thread is ironic after reading the description of this Deathtrap Dungeon "game".