Record a short clip about someone who held you up when it counted, and what they did. A few of these will appear in the single player campaign of Sins of the Broken, in the finished game, exactly as you said it.
The rest of this campaign is us listening to one person at a time. This is the same thing pointed the other way. People who carry others rarely get said out loud. Say it here.
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WHAT TO SAY
There’s no script. But the clips that hit hardest have the same three parts — and they’re said to a person, not to a camera. Thirty seconds is enough for all three.
Who you’re talking to
Alex is our main character, and the one you play as. By the point in the story where your clip appears, he has lost everything. He is out of fight, at the lowest moment of the game, and whoever is playing is in his place for it.
Your words are what reaches him. So don’t perform to a camera, and don’t address us. Talk to him, and to anyone who has ever been at that exact point. Say “you” — not his name, and nothing about the game.
Part 1 · Who
Name them.
First name is fine. Say who they are to you. Don’t introduce yourself — introduce them.
My hero is my grandmother, Rosa.
Part 2 · What
One thing they did.
Not their whole life. One moment, one habit, one choice. The smaller and more specific, the harder it lands.
She raised four kids on a cafeteria salary and never once let us see her worry.
Part 3 · To Alex
Say what they’d say.
Don’t use his name — use his situation. Open with where he is: “If you’re out there and you’ve lost everything…” Then say what your hero would say to him.
If you’re at the end of your rope — she was too, every single day. She got up anyway.
The kind of thing we mean — not lines to copy, just the register:
He never called himself a hero. That’s how I knew he was one.
She didn’t save the world. She saved mine.
Nobody gave him a medal for it. He’d have refused it anyway.
The bravest thing I ever saw wasn’t loud.
If you’re out there thinking it doesn’t matter — it does. He proved it to me.
You don’t get to quit. She didn’t.
Somebody showed up for me once. I’m still here because of it.
He didn’t know he was saving anybody. That’s the whole point.
Please don’t
Read from a script. We can tell.
Add music. We’ll handle that.
Say Alex’s name, mention the game, or refer to us or the story. He should hear a person, not a message — and it’s what lets your clip stand on its own.
And above all — don’t say anything your hero would want kept private.
This is the one that matters most. Whatever you say could end up in the finished game, permanently, in front of people you will never meet. If your hero is living, ask them first. If they are not, say only what they would have been happy to hear repeated.
How to record it
Use your phone. You don’t need a camera, a microphone, or anyone to help you. A phone held at arm’s length, or propped against something, is what most of these will be.
Find a quiet room and face a window or a light. Sound matters more than picture — if we cannot hear you, we cannot use it.
Say it once and send that one. The first take is almost always the best one. It does not need to be polished, and it is not supposed to look professional.
Video requirements
If a video misses these we usually cannot use it, however good it is. It is worth a quick look before you record.
Length
30 to 45 seconds. Shorter than 20 seconds is usually too little to use, and much over a minute will be cut.
Which way up
Hold the phone sideways, so the video is wider than it is tall. A tall (vertical) video cannot be put on screen in the game.
File type
MP4 or MOV. Whatever your phone or camera records normally is fine — you do not need to convert anything.
File size
Up to 500MB. If yours is bigger than that, put it on YouTube, Vimeo, Google Drive or Dropbox and paste the link instead.
Picture quality
1080p (also called Full HD) or better, if your phone gives you the choice. Most phones already do this.
Sound
We have to be able to hear you clearly. Record somewhere quiet, indoors, away from traffic, TV and wind.
Nothing added
No music, no titles or words on screen, no filters, and no editing. Send it exactly as it was recorded.
Who is in it
You must be 18 or older. If anyone else appears or speaks, they must be 18 or older too, and they must agree to it.
What happens to your video
We don’t publish these. Your video is not posted anywhere. A real person on our team watches every one, and that is all — unless it is chosen for the game.
Only a few can make it into the scene. There is room for a handful of clips in one moment of the game, and far more good ones will arrive than can possibly fit. If yours is not one of them it is not a judgement on your hero, and it is not personal. It means the room ran out, nothing else.
If yours is chosen, we email you first — before the game ships, never after. We will agree with you then how you are credited: your full name, your first name only, or not at all.
You can change your mind. Write to us at any point and we delete it. You do not have to give a reason.