Page 57 · cinematic kill animations · live on real DARK VIVID arenas

25 NEW KILLS FOR THEMINIGUN

A minigun is not a gun that shoots, it is a gun that removes things — and a page of twenty-five long bursts would be one idea told twenty-five times. So none of these kills is about the burst. They are about what the stream takes out of the set, about standing somewhere other than behind it, about what the weight and the heat and the recoil do to the person holding it, and about the seconds either side: the spin-up he spends running, and the spin-down after it is already over. Each kill runs as long as its own story needs, from five seconds to fifteen — short and savage where that is best, a full mini-movie where the idea earns it. Every one is built on its own from its first frame to its last, with the gore at full.

YOU SAID“Even if we are building 1000 kill animations, each one should be very well designed and crafted.”

YOU SAID“From start frame to end frame everything should be very very different.”

1PLAY THEMTap any kill card. Nothing plays by itself. 2THE LANGUAGEWhat makes a kill a minigun kill. 3HOW THEY PLAYRarity order, what a kill needs, the stage. 4THE BOARDAll 35 weapons and what is ready.

TAP A CARD TO PLAY IT

THE MINIGUN KILLS

Tap any card and it plays in the phone above, on a real arena, at full gore. PLAY AGAIN restarts it, SLOW drops it to a third speed, and the track under the phone carries that kill’s own beats — drag it to stop anywhere. Nothing plays until you ask for it. Tap CHANGE on any kill you want rebuilt.

THE ROTATIONMost epic first, then the next

1Your owned kills for this gun play in rarity order, the biggest first. › 2If the spot can’t host one, it is skipped and comes back later. › 3Once they have all played, it starts again from the top.

WHY THESE LOOK LIKE SHOTGUN KILLS

THE CAMERA LANGUAGE

Each weapon family has its own way of being filmed, so a kill reads as that gun’s even before you see the gun. The pistol stays inside arm’s reach; the pump breaks cover a shell at a time. The minigun does neither — it is a machine for deleting scenery, and the person holding it is being acted on as much as the person in front of it.

THE BARRELS ARE THE CLOCKEvery kill is bracketed by a spin-up and a spin-down, and the camera is tied to the rate of rotation rather than to the shots. The gun is up to speed or it is not; there is no in between to cut on.

THE STREAM EDITS THE SETIt is a tool for removing scenery. A wall stops existing, a floor is swept away, a column is cut in half — and what has been taken out of the frame is the subject, not the person it was taken out from in front of.

NEVER FROM BEHIND THE GUNThe view over a minigunner’s shoulder is the least interesting one there is. The lens stands beside it, underneath it, inside the barrel cluster, or downrange looking back up the stream.

IT COSTS THE PERSON HOLDING ITWeight, heat and recoil. It walks him backwards, it pulls him onto one knee, it burns through his hands. Half of these kills are partly about the shooter losing an argument with his own weapon.

IT DOES NOT FINISH, IT RUNS OUTA minigun has no last shot, only a last round in the belt. The final second of a kill is usually the gun — coasting down, steaming, empty — and not the man.

DECIDED 23 OCT

HOW THEY PLAY IN THE GAME

These are the cinematic kills, on top of the 238 skin kills that already exist. Nothing is replaced.

ROUND-ENDING ONLYAnd the match-winning kill, exactly as the kill cam works today.

THE APPROACH STAYSWalk-up, dash or ranged as now — the kill itself is the next animation in the rotation.

WHAT A KILL NEEDSA wall worth removing, a second floor, room on both sides, a second foe in the line. If the spot can’t host it, the next one that fits plays instead.

THE CINEMATIC STAGEA mini map built only for kill animations. The kill cam cuts to it so a set piece is never lost.

ANY TAP SKIPSSame as today. Five to fifteen seconds, as long as the kill needs and never padded.

EVERYTHING IS OWNEDFor now. Kills are sold on their own as well as inside a skin.

‹ THE BOARD · ALL 35 WEAPONS PAGE 57 · THE PUMP SHOTGUN KILLS PAGE 40 · THE SKIN KILLS