Fans create interactive ‘Mass Effect’ film for YouTube

The opening scenes of Mass Effect: Assignment were posted on the video sharing site on 17 February and, at the time of publishing, the first section has accumulated over 65,000 hits. The second two films — which split the storyline — have each picked up around 20,000 views.

Decision one is pitched at the viewer when an Alliance character, Meer, gets attacked and asks your for back-up while a smuggler escapes. Do you, an operative known as Hale, offer your armour-clad N7 buddy protection and stay on the Paragon path, or go Renegade and chase after the smuggler alone?

“One of the best things about Mass Effect is your decisions have consequences,” Nick Acott, one of the film’s two 27-year-old directors told Wired.co.uk via email. “What you chose to do really matters and effects your experience down the line, so we were keen on emulating that in the short.”

So far online reception for the project has been good — ignoring the usual trolls — and Acott tells us Mass Effect voice actors Jennifer Hale and, Mark Meer — video games actors who play the male and female versions of Commander Shepherd in the game — have tweeted positively about the project.

See what they did with with the character/actor name mash-up there?

The special effects might not be quite Hollywood quality, but Assignment was made on zero budget and filmed by a crew of just three. Acott, co-director Gary Scullion and Rob Dunlop filmed, edited and added sound to the whole production, while friends Mark Joseph (who plays Defoe, the smuggler), Nicholas Sisouphone (Meer), Anais Roberts (Hale) and Zara Symes (The Asari) provided acting.

The N7 armoured costumes were made by the lead actors for Mass Effect cosplay events prior to filming, and the bad guys’ garb was knocked up with a heat gun and spray paint. Visual effects were provided by Breachgate, a group Acott and co met through Reddit.

Despite the lack of budget, Acott hopes to take the series beyond this first instalment of three sections with four potential story routes.