What's Next?

As far as I'm aware, my part in developing the ASSIST ME! verse is over. I'm sure even once the season wraps Max still intends to use characters like Doom and Ammy in future random videos, as he has since the dawn of ASSIST ME! but the availability of the larger part of the cast and crew means large undertakings are harder and harder these days. Whether there will be similar videos for some other series in the future, I can't say. Because I don't know. Plans for Injustice ASSIST ME! never took off, the same for Street Fighter X Tekken, and so on. Killer Instinct seems like it will give Max some passion-fueled content, but I doubt something as ambitious in scope or as structured as UMvC3 ASSIST ME! will come of it.

But really, that's just my outlook. I can't speak for Max or really anybody else on that. If I'm asked to work on something with them in the future, chances are I will do it if I have the time, but I doubt I'll get as involved with anything else as I did with ASSIST ME! As much as I loved working on the series, it was one of those things that sucked up a lot of time and energy, and at times was too frustrating to do just for the fun of it.

I did toy around for a small time with suggesting we continue the story of ASSIST ME! strictly in sitcom format (10 minute webisodes or so) and even took a lot of my unused content for season 3 and turned it into a total of 10 scripts. The interesting thing about season 3 was that getting people together and filming it wasn't the hard part. Sure, some parts were harder than others, but mostly the season was fully filmed in a total of 7 or 8 combined days, with the exception being the finale. The thing that delayed the season was the video-game stuff, which is actually a huge undertaking for one guy to do with the quality Max does it. (Aside from capturing gameplay, Max must first learn the character, practice the moves well enough so that he can perform combos during capturing, write and record all of the tutorial dialog, apply effects like input icons, edit all that shit together, etc. An honest-to-God production would have like six guys doing different parts of what Max does all by himself.) My idea was that if we did a sitcom it would be easier just based on the fact that no gameplay footage would be needed.

Would people watch it? I don't know. But as time has gone on I've found myself less interested in the ASSIST ME! verse and more interested in doing other fan projects that I've always wanted to do. Here's a rundown of some of the fan projects that I'm writing (whether or not they'll ever be produced, I have no idea.) Unless otherwise noted, these are my own ideas for fan projects.

• The Legend of Zelda: Knights of Hyrule - a gritty look into the "Fallen Hero" timeline of the LoZ series. This story (planned to be a feature length script) sees Princess Zelda and her last standing Sheikah guardians seeking the disbanded Knights of Hyrule after fifteen years under Ganondorf's rule (8 years after the Hero of Time falls in battle.)
• Project: Batman - An alternate take on the Batman universe in which a young and overwhelmed Bruce Wayne funds and organizes "Project: Batman", a small team of specialists trained to battle crime in Gotham City. A feature length script, concept by Matt Simmons.
• Gotham City - A more traditional take on the Batman universe, in web-series format.
• Phobos - A feature length script set in the DOOM 3 universe, in which a group of Marines and scientists stationed on the Mars moon Phobos encounter an ancient and powerful demon.
• Merc Work - An action/comedy web-series starring Deadpool, Taskmaster and Crossbones.
• Biohazard - A web-series based on the Resident Evil universe, broken into four "chapters", each with dozens of episodes. Part 1 is "Umbrella Rising", part 2 is "S.T.A.R.S.", part 3 is "Raccoon City" and part 4 is "Ashes".
• MvC - The continuation of the ASSIST ME! universe, starring all the characters you'd expect and more. No video game footage, just dramedy.

I have other, original, projects in mind too. And more ideas will come. I would love it if I could find the time to write and produce all of these things, but the truth is I probably won't. Many of these will just remain nice ideas.