Knightmare.com

I considered submitting the following as an article but a) I wasn’t entirely satisfied with it and b) I then thought that perhaps others could come up with ideas and the ‘Powers that Be’ can publish an article using all the best ones. Or it can just stay here on the forum!

Knightmare – The Only Way is Onwards

As has been stated elsewhere, the last eighteen months has been a fantastic time to be a Knightmare fan. However, it would be a shame if the fandom lost momentum now. It would be all too easy to see the recent convention as the highest peak scaled; something we never thought would happen and are now simply grateful for the brilliant memories and experiences it provided. Although 2014 is still to give us David Rowe’s ‘Art of Knightmare’ book and even more Knightmare Live, one of the Q&A sessions at the convention got me daydreaming about what the longer-term future holds for the Knightmare ‘brand’. I therefore present here a fantasy timeline charting certain key products and events which exist only in the future of my imagination. Although this is just a bit of fun (and most of you will probably have much better ideas) it would be nice to start a debate about where Knightmare could/should go next…

December 2014
The Knightmare ‘Corridor of Blades’ game is released on the app store. Players tilt their devices or swipe their screens to make the on screen dungeoneer side-step left and right to avoid the blades. There’s a choice between ‘lifeforce’ or ‘instant death’ modes. Yes, it’s a simple a variant on the ‘running’ format many games are using but authentic sound effects (including an original ‘ooh nasty’ from Hugo whenever a player dies) give it a real Knightmare ‘feel’ and make it a steady seller. Updates expand the variety of on-rushing threats to include goblins, stormgeists, giant spiders etc. The game becomes popular with those not even familiar with the original show.

January 2015
Fresh from more festival success, Knightmare Live starts a three-month run at the Hammersmith Lyric theatre in London. It is promoted as a fantasy comedy show and no longer primarily relies on TV nostalgia to put bums on seats. Continued popularity means it later moves to the West End with a regular spot in the intimate Arts theatre, just off Leicester Square.

March 2015
The original eight series are made available to rent or buy on itunes.

October 2015
Knightmare comes in at number 42 on Channel Four’s 100 greatest theme tunes (far too low!).

May 2016
The second successfully crowd-funded Knightmare convention takes place with even more of the original cast and crew attending. Rather excitingly, a new online format of the show is premiered.

July 2016
The Knightmare YouTube channel is launched. Each weekly episode shows a single quest’s progress through a single level of the dungeon. Furthermore, each level is based on four clue room objects and two characters suggested on a weekly basis by fans via social media. A team of writers (including some members of the KM Online community!) then construct the level, choosing which of the objects will be required, whether the chosen characters will help or hinder etc. Viewers can watch quests in real time as it is filmed on Saturday mornings or catch-up with edited quests whenever they like. At first the show is fairly low budget (it looks a bit like the Geek Week episode) with only two actors playing all the characters but as popularity and advertising revenues increase…

[note: the dungeoneer is, initially at least, a non-team member based in a blue room and visible via a live stream to teams of three who then play online, guiding this passive ‘actor’ through the dungeon].

November 2016
A number of KM apps are launched on the increasingly popular Google Glass, including:

The Goblin Pursuit fitness app. Users input their time and distance objectives and then get pursued by goblins sounding their horns. Glancing backwards enables runners to actually see the blasted things giving chase! Runners are of course caught if they don’t hit their targets (cue obligatory ‘ooh nasty’). Alternatively, choose to be a goblin and hunt down a fleeing dungeoneer!

The Eyeshield Navigator – uses Google Street View to present users with an Eyeshield style video to guide them to a chosen destination – locating a Wagamama’s has never been so much fun!

September 2017
The KM Kinect game is released on XboxOne. Gamers can either use the hardware’s voice recognition technology to guide a CPU dungeoneer around or use the Kinect motion sensor as a controller (walking on the spot, stamping their feet to the left or right for side-steps etc.). Xbox Live enables teams of four to hook up just like the original show, with one player having a restricted view of the action and controlling the dungeoneer via Kinect based on instructions from teammates. The game includes the voices of several original cast members, specially filmed spyglass sequences etc. New rooms/puzzles are released periodically ensuring adventurers never get bored. Arcade mode gives players the chance to race against other teams, tackle floor puzzles in isolation etc.

January 2025
Wearable technology is now the norm. All glasses and sunglasses are internet enabled by default (and early adopters are already wearing ‘connected contacts’). People sit on high speed trains from Birmingham to London whilst guiding dungeoneers based in South Korea. University students sit in boring lectures secretly watching KM episodes.

If you have any Knightmare ideas please share them with us, either on the forum or via our FB page...

I like it.
The amusing thing is that with a dedicated small team, most of that list is perfectly achievable.

I really like this list, and totally agree about the need to keep the momentum going. All your ideas tie together and can feed off each other, of course - if the next convention was in a position to be first to screen brand new Knightmare, or the first place to try out new games/apps, that would be a big selling point.

The Corridor of Blades game sounds brilliant and I hope it actually happens at some point!

This has almost certainly been suggested before, but another idea for a phone-based game is a mechanism like Ingress (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingress_%28game%29), where exploring the real world is what lets you interact with content in the virtual world. "Lord Fear's Midnight Hunt" in phone app form, say.

I'd pay good money for a phone version of Lord Fear's Midnight Hunt... (sorry that's all I have for now >.<)

I'm not much up on new technology but the demand for fitness apps is huge at the minute, maybe the goblin chase idea could be expanded into different rooms/activities that have to be completed with either speed or dexterity. The corridor of blades being the end to each difficulty' level, and getting faster each time. Maybe throw in some bomb rooms, or causeways that drop if you hang around too long, and always with the goblins chasing so you've got that adrenaline rush and forget the actual aim of increasing your fitness/balance/stamina!
It could be a great one for children, just like a computer game but Mums are happy because they're keeping active at the same time

I rather see people have their very own 'knightmare game kit'
Get yourself a blue screen and play KM in your very own home

Yes, I think augmented reality along the lines Greystagg mentions may well be the true path of KM’s long-term future – it seems the natural evolution from the chroma key work done in the eighties. Technology such as Google Glass has the potential to blur the lines between real world and dungeon, between watcher and player, in quite fascinating ways. The dungeon wasn’t built in a day however and I imagine small steps will be the key to longevity.

In the meantime, a couple more ideas for the fantasy timeline!

Knightmare presentations are given in schools. Children learn about basic chroma key techniques, TV history, watch a classic episode and get to play a room themselves (I’m certainly no expert but surely there are several elements of the school curriculum into which KM can be shoe-horned and made relevant!). After such talks, school yards are once more full of kids playing KM. The show’s format/brand thus takes hold at a grassroots level!

The ‘play a room of the dungeon’ aspect of the convention is expanded into mini quests and teams of school-kids, stag-dos or whatever spend an hour or so on a short but complete adventure. Over time, many KM dungeon centres crop up all over the country and the activity becomes an evening out to compete with bowling, the cinema, go-karting etc.

Amusingly we did consider that latter idea for the convention. The cost would have been very high though.

Taking the Corridor of Blades setup on the road might be a good way to drum up interest for future cons, possibly at conventions like the MCM Anime Expo in London? That kind of exposure will pretty much guarantee any numbers you could want.

Mystara makes a good point about money, which would mean we'd need to think about maybe waiting until tech came to a cheaper amount?

Oh, taking the Corridor of Blades to other conventions is a fantastic idea. If it was feasible that could be a great way to reach a new market.

Yes, a KM stall at other relevant conventions is a great idea and a 'play the blades' activity would be the most attention grabbing. Possibly a danger of undermining a KM con USP but I suppose if there's another convention it will be a different room anyway...

As an aside, what happened to "Knight Fayre"? I liked that!

The corridor of blades requires a huge space and thousands of pounds to run. Putting it in at another convention would, sadly, be impractical.

Gosh, really? I understand the space aspect but hadn't appreciated it was quite so expensive.

The concept of some kind of KM presence at other conventions is still a good one though.

And still all good fodder for the fantasy timeline!

(Throw enough pants at the wall and one of them will stick...or something)

There's only one person in the world with the corridor of blades and you're paying him for his time to spend day setting it up and another day to run it.

Then you have to pay for renting all the equipment - the cameras, the lights, the mixer (all of which are expensive), plus you need someone to build and paint the void, which takes about a day and also costs a couple of hundred pounds (at best)