Destiny 2 has become one of the most elaborate sci-fi gaming universes in recent years. The loot shooter lets you not only shoot excellently but is also full of fascinating stories and characters. Actually, the perfect material for a TV series. This was also thought by content creator Matty, who created the first Destiny 2 mini-fan series “Ace”. MeinMMO spoke with him about his mega project.
What mini-series is it about? “Ace” is a fan-made TV series set in the Destiny 2 universe. Its first episode was released on January 4th on YouTube.
The Destiny 2 community has long been waiting for Bungie to bring their talent for great stories to the screen. But so far, this has not happened, despite the merger with Sony.
So, the Destiny player and content creator Average Matty decided to realize his own TV project. It was realized with great support from his community, which raised almost 56,000 euros via crowdfunding to finance the series. But even then, as Matty told us in the interview, making “ACE” was anything but easy.
Here you can already get a taste and watch the first 45 seconds from the fan-made and animated series “ACE”:
MeinMMO: Could you please briefly introduce yourself to our readers?
Matty: Yes, my name is Matty, I stream full-time on Twitch and create content on YouTube. So I’m a full-time content creator.
MeinMMO: What are you known for in the Destiny community?
Matty: Before the series, I helped during the Trials of Osiris in Destiny 2. I helped my community become flawless when the weekend came. Usually, it was me and another content creator.
MeinMMO: When did the idea for a Destiny animation series first come up?
Matty: It was in January 2021, right after I became a partner on Twitch, and at that time my agent was not very happy with me because I was skipping commercial auditions to work on my stream. I tried to find a way to combine the two worlds from my previous life as an actor and content creation.
MeinMMO: How did you approach the production of an animated series from scratch?
Matty: After I had written the script, I first contacted motion capture studios here in LA. Basically, I googled these studios and cold-called them, hoping to get some insight into what I could do to get in there. Some found it a bit awkward when I explained to them that I was just a content creator wanting to do a fan project.
MeinMMO: What were the key steps during the planning phase?
Matty: Above all, financing and budgeting. Many people don’t realize how expensive motion capture and animation can be. I held hundreds of meetings throughout the year, and the biggest step was to get the right funding for what we wanted to achieve.
MeinMMO: What were the 3 biggest problems you had to overcome? Did you have to make sacrifices or unpleasant compromises?
Matty: Oh man, we ran into every conceivable difficulty.
The first problem we faced was the facial scans, I would say. We needed 50, but could only afford 15. When we asked the studio what problems that would cause, they had no idea because no one had ever done that before. We got such a realistic face but not the perfect movement, which we had to deal with as our first pilot project.
The second difficulty was raising money from the funders. I would say that the riskiest step we had to take was to pay all costs out of my own pocket. We did that so we could go straight to the studio. So if we got 30,000 commitments from a certain number of funders (who had to pay by November), I simply paid it out of my pocket so we could quickly get what we needed. It’s obviously risky and we paid for it with some funders disappearing at the last minute or not keeping their commitments.
The last major setback we had was switching from two animators to one at the last minute. One of our animators couldn’t keep his schedule, which posed a significant risk to the completion of the project, so we had to cut out 3 minutes of the story from the first episode, which we will release as a mini-episode next month or so.
We had to postpone the release three times and hire another sound engineer, who, thank God, finished all sound engineering within 20 hours after the release.
Nobody really knows this, but we finished episode 1 about 5 hours before the release on YouTube.
MeinMMO: How long did it take to finish an episode (approx.)?
Matty: It took exactly a year, from writing the project last January to the release on January 4, 2023!
MeinMMO: What were the best moments or most memorable situations during the production of the series?
Matty: That was 100% the time we spent in the studio. Going to a professional motion capture studio where some of the biggest names have worked was just incredible. Putting on the motion capture suit, stepping onto the set, and acting out the scenes was an absolute blast. I can’t wait to go back there.
MeinMMO: Tell us more about your team. Did you know each other before the project, or did you specifically look for talents for the series?
Matty: I am so incredibly proud of the team. It was mainly about finding the perfect team. I already knew Neenkin beforehand because I had seen some of his incredible work on Twitter. Neenkin was someone I had wanted to work with for a long time, so I was incredibly happy to have him on board.
Jessie, our composer, was someone I found via Twitter. She posted music from a previous project, and I thought: What? You wrote that? I immediately sent her an email and requested a meeting to see if she was interested in working with me on this project. She was incredibly professional and dedicated to the series. I feel very lucky to have her.
Nicholas, our sound engineer, was a blessing since we needed someone to balance all the sound and develop individual sounds for the project during the crisis. He came in as a favor right at the end (1 month before the release) and saved our butts. He is great at what he does.
For the next episode, we are lucky to have Richard Dorton on the team. Known as the “mocap guy,” his talent and experience in motion capture will be brought in as our official assistant director. Very exciting to see that.
MeinMMO: Can even people who don’t know Destiny have fun with “Ace”? How much prior knowledge of the Destiny story is required?
Matty: I think people who don’t know Destiny will enjoy “Ace” because I think it’s visually a lot of fun, and you can understand this kind of pilot episode after seeing the end.
I think it could be interesting for those who want to know who certain characters are since they were (in my opinion) the most important characters in Destiny.
MeinMMO: Many Destiny fans wondered about the copyright issues and potential difficulties involved since you are using Bungie’s story and characters. Can you tell us how that has been handled?
Matty: Well, technically, the story I’ve written does not follow Bungie’s direct storyline. I don’t want to spoil anything here before someone reading this watches the episode, but it was more of an alternate universe.
As for copyright issues, we honestly had great fear. Bungie loves to do a “film of the week” every week to showcase fan-made videos. But no one has done something so big before.
I tried to reach out about 9 times but received no response. We all held our breath when we released [the series], but since we adhered to their ethics, used our own music, and never used their logo, I believe they were glad to see it.
MeinMMO: What was the community’s reaction after the premiere of the first episode? Did you expect the series to be popular overseas, especially in Germany?
Matty: It was an insane feeling to see the feedback from everyone. The support the series has received and the encouragement from abroad, which honestly was surprising, was incredible. Seeing that everyone wants more excites me for what is still to come.
MeinMMO: How many episodes of “Ace” can fans expect?
Matty: Originally we planned 4 episodes. Episode 2 is 30 minutes, episode 3 will be 45 minutes, and episode 4 will be 1 hour and 10 minutes long.
MeinMMO: Tell us more about your plans: Can you imagine doing more Kickstarter projects like “Ace”?
Matty: We are planning many more projects that I think the gaming community will love to see once we finish “Ace.” Our team will grow, allowing us to complete these projects much faster than before.
MeinMMO: Which other parts of the Destiny story would you like to turn into a series if you had the budget? (Feel free to let your imagination run wild)
Matty: Honestly, this whole project arose from passion and love for one of the characters in episode 1. It would be hard to imagine writing a story other than that of the first Guardian.
I have always imagined that Bungie could let the player character become the first Guardian in Destiny 3, waking up on this barren planet and having to find other corpses to revive them and build the first city. I would certainly write it a bit darker than Bungie would do, but that would be a great project.
MeinMMO: What would you do differently next time?
Matty: What I would do differently with the rest of the episode and if I were to do another project would be to secure proper funding through investors and Kickstarter to make the project what we envision.
We want it to be as visually appealing as AAA gaming cinematics. Securing funding before we start is very, very important.
MeinMMO: Do you have any final words for our readers?
Matty: I want to say a huge thank you for all the support we have received. When you work on something for a year, you are very unsure of how it will be received and whether people will like it. I am so grateful for all the support. If you want to invest and be part of the next episodes, we have a form on our website Dreambiganimations.com, as we are currently meeting with investors to start with the remaining episodes. See you soon!
MeinMMO: Thank you so much, Matty, for these great insights into your project. We are very excited about episode 2 and your other Destiny projects.
Where can you watch the first episode of “Ace”? Besides the teaser, you can watch the first episode of the mini-series directly on the YouTube channel of Average Matty. There, episodes 2, 3, and 4 of the series will also be released.
What do you think of Matty’s project? Do you like the idea, and have you already watched the first episode? Then feel free to leave us your personal opinion in the comments.
As for the current gameplay of Destiny 2, there is also a lot going on. Bungie recently revealed that radical system improvements will go live with Lightfall:
Destiny 2: Lightfall will radically change the build system – It is meant to be a fresh start
