Something to get you in the mood for a good game of VaS

[BuShips]

I'll begin by stating that this is not a play-by-play of a game of Victory at Sea, but it could have been. Mal Wright, one of the driving forces of another naval combat game system did such a great job on his photos and report that I felt inspired to try making a PowerPoint file. While I claim no particular finesse, I thought I could then puzzle out the method that a lot of business-folk use and convert the PPT into an AVI movie file. I was able to keep a few frames short enough so that the five minute time limit in Photo-bucket was followed, so after taking awhile to upload it, it's finally there. Keep in mind, it's a crude first attempt at telling a storyline using PowerPoint and then converting to a "film", but somehow I don't think James Cameron has anything to worry about :roll: . The reason I posted it here was to stir up some excitement for naval war-gaming. For those curious, I'd just say watch this recreation of the First Battle of Narvik and then run out and buy a copy of Victory at Sea. I should add that fjords are not included. :wink: Oh, I do very much recommend that you click the "full size" feature. It magnifies all of my errors quite nicely, lol.


http://s31.photobucket.com/albums/c...ction=view&current=TheFirstBattleofNarvik.flv

 

[DM]

And the niminations for this years wargaming oscars are......

Bravo Zulu

 

[Captain_Nemo]

that is cool

when's the next one?

and I need to learn to do that

 

[BuShips]

And the niminations for this years wargaming oscars are......

Bravo Zulu

Why thanks! All of the sound effects other than the opener were prodded from PP slide transitions. Of course spending more time would allow inserting of all sorts of sound clips. The possibilities are great with this method.

that is cool

when's the next one?

and I need to learn to do that

First, you have to have PowerPoint. Once the slide-show is constructed, you would then need a PPT to video converter. The one I decided upon was "PowerPoint to Video DVD". The trial version allows 15 attempts, then you would need to pay ($99 iirc). If you wish to look at a particular photo of Mal's for longer than I showed it, you can of course pause the movie. Also, using that feature you might see a credit to the converter software inserted at the very beginning (a good touch for sales). I foresee a lot more of this type of presentation. Anyway, I thought this might be a possible method of inspiration for new players of naval gaming. It sort of gives them a feeling of watching History be replayed, which is part of the appeal to wargaming (well, at least for those of us that love military history). BTW, the original PPT file was about 8MB, while the movie expanded to 46MB. The movie time limit on Photo-Bucket is 5 minutes, unless you "go pro" where it rises to 10 minutes.

 

[juggler69uk]

The one I decided upon was "PowerPoint to Video DVD".

Is this a large download ?

Where did you get it ??

 

[BuShips]

The one I decided upon was "PowerPoint to Video DVD".

Is this a large download ?

Where did you get it ??

http://www.ppt2video.com/

The DVD version (about 6MB) creates the movie and can burn it so a DVD player will run it. That's the one that after the trial period is up costs $99. The other one is only $49 and just makes the AVI file. It is only 766K so is easy to D/L. I really should have used a "slash" for the above, as in "PowerPoint to Video / DVD". :wink:

 

[juggler69uk]

cheers