Thanks for the great response to Web Zeroes, Episode 2. Web Zeroes episodes are always a tad more nerve wracking to release because it really is putting a bit more of us out there than our machinima. I mean, obviously. But then again, you get to see Nick’s beard, so I guess it all evens out. Were it not for that beard, perhaps many of you would have been turned off to the show’s charm. Sometimes I want to wear it like a parka.

In other news, we are hard at work on the first few episodes of The Leet World, Season 2. Obviously, I don’t want to spoil any kind of “secritz”, but we’re working on something fun for the first episode’s release. Mark my words, you might get excited enough to punch a puppy when you see what I’m talking about. And not to leave you hanging with that tease, here’s another one. Or three, to be exact:

Have fun with those. Those are like, sneaky James Bond style screenshots.

By the way, downloads for Web Zeroes are coming today at some point, we just got so caught up in working on Season 2 that we literally just forgot. I’m assuming we’ll be forgiven for that. If not, tough enchiladas.

We appreciate all of the comments on the Season 2 teaser/Halloween message/release announcement thing we put out. Glad you guys are enjoying the ride leading up to the second season. Trust me, we are too. We’ve had some bumps, but now everything is running smoothly. Much thanks to Lord Ned for the assistance with some of my Hammer frustrations.

And while I’m thinking about it, I have some screenshots from Episode 1 of Season 2. Enjoy!

I know that some of you are having problems logging in. That comes from some pretty hardcore caching we’ve got set up on the site- all you need to do is just refresh the page (try it more than once if you need to) and it should help.

There’s a cool new post up on GamerSushi, titled “5 Features That More Shooters Need”. Thought you guys would like it since I mention some Counter-Strike in there.

Also, the dudes over at The Duo Group have just put out a new Gears of War machinima, as well as the guys over at LitFuseFilms. It seemed appropriate to mention these in honor of the hallowed Gears of War 2, which I will be beating like it stole something later this week.

So in two weeks, Daniel and I will be flying out to Seattle to partake in PAX. For those of you don’t know, PAX is the Penny Arcade Expo and it is a glorious celebration in gaming and gamers. There will be a number of awesome things to do, including seeing Rooster Teeth, Jonathan Coulton, a bevy of unreleased games and hours of other fine entertainments. To check out the full line up of the nerdery, click here. Looks wild.

Anywho, we’re busy fist-pumping about that, and excited to get out there and say hey to some folks. Other things we’re excited about include Web Zeroes, which is now getting closer to completion. In addition, we’re nearing the launch of our new site(s) as well as the trailer for GRIEF, part of which was filmed tonight.

Much thanks to all you dudes who participated. Some screenies:

We cliffhang like Sly Stallone.

Now that the hubbub over the end of Part 2 has died out long enough for me to speak, I wanted to give you dudes a few screenshots from Part 3 of the Season Finale. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you when it’s going to be out, because it’s all taking a tad longer than we anticipated. Rest assured that Nick and I are devoting virtually all of our free time to knocking this finale out of the park. I’ll let you know more soon, along with an announcement or two.

Also, if you have a few moments, I have some lines in the new episode of Red Vs Blue. You can hear my dulcet tones in the first scene and elsewhere. Woot and such.

But that’s not what I’m going to do. Or Nick, either, for that matter.

Last Friday, in the span of just 24 hours, Daniel, our Director, after effects dude and quality control guy, left his job in order to start freelancing in the film world. Little did he know that by the end of that day, he would have a one-month stint offered to him out in the land of California. A job which began this past Monday.

Daniel had just one day to make this decision, and took the plunge and the job, leaving Nick and I to scale Mount Doom (and finish the season) on our own. Luckily, it’s just a temporary 30 day job, but it happened at our busiest point of the season.

As a result, the two of us have been scrambling around all three parts of the Finale this week, finishing Part One on Monday night, filming for Part Three on Tuesday, editing and faceposing for Part Two last night and the night before. The immediate effect of Daniel’s notable absence was that we were not able to get a new shiny intro in front of the Season Finale for you guys, which Daniel was pretty disappointed about, because he’s been planning it for awhile now.

Needless to say, we’re totally supportive of Daniel’s decision to take this short term job. Let’s get real- man’s gotta live, and this show doesn’t pay the bills. When left with the choice of starving or The Leet World, Daniel made the smart move, trusting that with parts One and Two already filmed, we could complete the task. In 30 days, he’ll be back and helping us with our next projects. I’ve got to say I’m a little bummed he won’t be here to celebrate with us when the season’s over, but I know we’ll live it up when he’s back in town.

I’ll stress again that this is only a one month job, and Daniel should be back in July.

In addition to this news, I bring some screenshots from Parts Two and Three of the Finale. Enjoy!

NICK EDIT:

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Smooth Few Films is now full speed ahead on the Season Finale. We feel like ship captains navigating our vessel through perilous waters. With sharks, pirates, ninjas and whatever else lurks in the depths of that dreadful ocean of releasing content.

I’m currently busy with putting the finishing touches on the script for part three of the finale, while Daniel cuts the trailer and Nick is both getting part one ready for Jace’s skillful composing and starting the rough edit of part two.

Trailer’s coming terribly soon. More screenies below.

Drink up, me ‘earties, yo ho.

Well, not really. The weird thing about this episode is that we actually can’t film during the weekends this month. That means that we’ve acted like real people the last few Saturdays instead of horrid, slobbering cave trolls slaving over PC’s. Typically, our shooting schedule revolves around Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday filming, but due to some out-of-town trips and things called “jobs”, we haven’t been able to.

The goods news is that despite it all, we’re nearly done filming the episode, which means we’re one step closer to its release. As always, I’d love to give you guys a date on when you’ll see it, but any number of factors can affect the timing, so I don’t want you to think of me as a dirty liar. I mean, I am one (though not as big as Nick), but I don’t want you thinking of me like that nonetheless.

While there’s mostly good news to report, I do have to say that there won’t be a character bio this week. I’m not one to make excuses, but my only free night to write it was kind of my wedding anniversary. Slightly more important. They’ll be back next week.

To make up for it, I brought screenshots. Enjoy.

I would also like to remind everyone that the Themetacular Challenge is still ongoing, and will be ending soon. Remember, you don’t have to do The Leet World theme song exactly the same. Change the chords and the arrangement if you like, make it your own, make it different. We take creativity and nom it.

EDIT: We’re extending the contest until May 19th. We have some amazing entries, so be creative and don’t just do the song exactly the same. You don’t have to use Jace’s vocals if you don’t want. You can make it country, hip-hop, whatever floats your boat. Just be creative! If you feel like you want to resubmit based on that rule and you’ve already entered, you have a free pass to send one more back in.

So today we knocked a big chunk of filming for Episode Thirteen out of the park, claiming it as our property in celebration not unlike a young boy named Stephen once did. Yes, there was some collective Smooth Few Films squatting. Maybe one of the least problems-free days in our short history of production.

Nick upgraded the “camera” computer that we use to film the show, complete with an 8800 GT. Needless to say, our characters are colorful and smooth and it definitely enhances the look of everything. I even brought some screenshots to prove it.

Pretty nice, eh? In case you guys haven’t been around, a lot went down the last two weeks. I’ve put together a list of some important posts to make it easier to navigate.

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It’s so bizarre to be working on our 12th episode. So far, Episode Twelve isn’t quite the three-headed dogbeast we imagined it would be. I think we always forget how much easier a regular episode is in comparison to something like a challenge episode.

If you haven’t seen the Themetacular Contest rules yet, I’d advise you to check them out. Remember, we don’t want to just hear you guys trying your best to imitate Damn Dangerous- get creative, go all out, make the song your own, change the style- the more distinct, the better.

Here are some screenshots from Episode Twelve to satiate The Leet World appetite, if only temporarily. Over the weekend, we’re going to start adding some really cool new content to the website. A virtual nerdery for those of you obsessed with really digging into that kind of stuff. Should be fun.

Apparently, we were recently mentioned on GamesRadar as the number two Halo 3 Machinima directors on the web. It’s a great review, and they have a lot of cool things to say about our work in the Halo engine. It seems that if we had done more, we might have snagged first place. To check out the article and see some other cool Halo stuff, read up on it at the Machinima Academy Awards. They even mention The Leet World series. It’s fun to see this kind of press, especially considering that Smooth Few Films was also mentioned in the April issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly for “A Day in the Life of a Turret”. Much thanks to the 1Up crew for that nod.

We are still toiling mightily on Episode Eleven, making a Herculean effort to get it out as soon as possible. There’s a delicate balance between working efficiently, quickly, but not rushing it to the point that you’re hurting the end product. So far, we’re happy with where the episode sits, and we’re nearing the finish line.

As always, we’ll let you know when we’re on the “eve” of release- we’ll be there any day now. Below are a few more screenshots from the episode.

More extras are on the way as well, including a little message from a couple of your beloved characters. Stay tuned!

Edit: Apparently, we were also noted in the UK PC Gamer. Thanks for the heads up guys!