Device Recommendation: Desktop
Brawl Stars: The Movie. A critically-acclaimed story of the girl that could. ★★★★★
It’s been TIME since I’ve posted on the subreddit. With tomorrow being December 21st, 2012, I thought I’d finally finish a piece I’ve been working on in my spare time. You know, before we all die.
Speaking of which, allow me to briefly address the elephant in the room. 14/11/18, 3 AM EST. First of all, I’m obsessed with the passion of this community. Being a social game at its core, a lot more than our gaming experience is threatened if Brawl Stars is killed. Thanks to Brawl Stars, many of us have formed some pretty impactful friendships; these connections become vulnerable in a kill-scenario. I understand the worry, the angst, and the stress. But at the risk of sounding too optimistically naive, breeeathe haha!
The way I see it, there’s 2 possibilities:
Honestly, this piece proved to be a bit challenging to write, hence the delay. 😅 With my background in scientific literature, a present-tense screenplay that’s intended to be entertainingly engaging for a reddit audience isn’t really up my alley. With expected focus on visual and audio, there’s limitations to the extent that traditional screenplay narrations can evaluate character mindset. Ultimately, it ended up being a weird hybrid-style in its approach. So go easy on me, haha.
Before you “watch”, consider this:
Everyone has a Shelly. Some are strong. Some are stealthy. And some (most) are completely and utterly incompetent. But every Shelly is unique and is a reflection of the player behind the scenes. And behind the scenes of every player’s journey is their first steps as a noob. Animated in a Pixar-esque style, I present to you Brawl Stars: The Movie.
This is the story behind Brawl Stars.
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꙳Post-Global: You open the Brawl Stars App for the first time. Below is what you experience.꙳
ERC
ELL
Black.
A thin white line extends across the width of the middle screen. It starts to expand vertically, revealing dim, blurry, and indistinguishable images. There’s green. Some white. Specs of other colours. And this muffled, buzzing hum. Before the screen fills with colour, the line of light collapses into black, only to quickly expand again, as a clearer, crisper, and fuller image.
It’s… Magnificent. A huge, beautiful, and vibrant green field, with a beige-brown ball perched perfectly at its center. What was a muffled hum crescendos into the roaring crowd it is, situated atop the walls of this modern colosseum.
Past the ball and across from you is a hunched, caped figure with pale grey skin, a worn top hat, and a soiled shovel. Despite the daylight, the intense flames from a lantern at his shovel’s end casts shadows across his skinny face, while highlighting his devilish smile. He smacks his shovel in his hand. Repetitively. Menacingly. His cape blows in the wind.
The camera zooms out, revealing a blonde-haired maiden a distance to this man’s left, and a woolly bear to his far right. The maiden forces a smile, waving a glove-covered hand, as she grips a rose pink umbrella in the other. She sports a blue dress that mirrors the cold in her soulless, closed eyes. With bent, rocking knees, the bear is… wait, not a bear… it’s a girl wearing a bear!
Panicked at the sight of it all, the camera swings down hastily, revealing a yellow handkerchief, wrapped around a purple torso. Your torso. Your chocolate brown hands are firmly clenching onto a… Shotgun?!
The camera shifts to the third perspective, revealing a startled Shelly. “Dónde estoy? Qué está pasando?!” "Where am I? What’s going on?!"
-
She looks desperately to her right and notices a dark, masked, and shirtless Hercules. Her saviour, surely! “Hey! Señor, por favor, puede decirme dónde estoy?!” “Hey! Sir, please, can you tell me where I am?!” He looks at her with a charming, bright smile. “Ellllllllll Primo!” he exclaims, offering no more than an enthusiastic thumbs-up and a blank, pupilless stare.
With greater desperation, she glances leftward and finds a lil’ girl, with lil’ red pigtails, and a lil’ brown hat. With her lil’ eyes closed, she sways back and forth, while tightly clenching onto a NOT-SO-LIL’ electric wrench-gun. Running towards her, Shelly pleas quickly, "Hey, tu! No se qué está pasando! Por qué estoy aquí? Qué es este lugar?! Quién es ese hombre extraño?! Por favor ayúdame!“ "Hey, you! I don’t know what’s going on! Why am I here? Where is here?! Who’s that scary man?! Please help me!”
At this point, she’s clenching onto the pigtailed girl's arm. The lil’ inventor opens her eyes. They're a warm brown. She offers Shelly a calm smile, while grasping her arm back in response. “We Can Do This,” she says firmly. The words are foreign to Shelly, but that smile is not. For a second, Shelly seems visibly reassured. For that brief moment, she wasn't an alien in a foreign world.
The lil’ girl lifts Shelly’s hands off of her and quickly ushers Shelly into position center-field. As she retreats, Shelly reminds herself of her situation and begins to protest again. "En serio no tengo que estar aquí! Usted tiene al equivocado... etc." “I’m really not supposed to be here! You have the wrong… etc."
The camera shifts back to Shelly’s perspective, as she continues to plea. Confused and scared, her focus shifts abruptly. The menacing gravekeeper. The soulless maiden. The bear-child. The pupilless Hercules. The… ꙳BEEP!꙳ A horn sounds.
-
Third perspective. Alarmed by the sound of the horn, Shelly jumps, accidentally firing a shot. It spreads from her gun like fire, cone-shaped, crisp, and orange-red. The tip hits the gravekeeper, who’s somehow already center-field, with the beige-brown ball by his feet. Her dark eyes, inspired with awe, reflect the intensity of the blast.
[The flames’ reflection expand across her pupil, leading to a transition to the “real world”. There’s a young boy playing Brawl Stars. With his tongue pressed against his dark lips, the boy can be seen wearing simple cultural attire in the streets of India. He’s no different than you or me, and like us, is completely mesmerized by this game, which acts to connect us as one people — Brawlers. It’s his first time playing. He’s queued up as Shelly in Brawl Ball, with a random Jessie and El Primo as allies. His opponents are a formidable Mortis, Piper, and Nita. The game starts and he immediately shoots his first shot in the direction of the enemy Mortis, zipping in for the ball. This brief zoom-out is short-lived, and the camera zooms back into the game and the life within it.]
-
In one swift movement, Mortis kicks the ball back. In the blink of an eye, the gravekeeper retreats to the ball’s location. His movements are too fast to visually process. He’s seemingly teleporting from place to place.
Suddenly, the sound of a gun firing. In slow motion, sucking up all sound, but her low-pitched shriek, a bullet zips past a startled Shelly’s head.
“Ahahahaha,” the blonde-haired maiden teases with a high-pitched chuckle, her pink umbrella, pointed like a sword in Shelly’s direction. Innocently, yet threateningly. ꙳Pew!꙳ A second bullet springs from the umbrella, this time hitting Shelly in her chest. A green bar above Shelly’s head depletes, changing red in the process. ꙳Pew!꙳ A third bullet is fired, but instinctively, Shelly jumps and rolls out of the way.
Dashing to her rescue, Jessie flings a pair of goggles over her eyes and fires an electric ball in Piper’s direction. Piper’s laugh echoes, as she retreats behind some wooden crates and into a patch of tall grass.
Back on her feet, Shelly looks at Jessie, bewildered by the events that just transpired. Jessie raises her goggles and glances up at the green bar above Shelly’s head, now full. She smiles. Before Shelly can say anything, Jessie redirects her gaze towards Shelly, reaches up, and lays a firm hand on her shoulder. “We Can Do This,” she reaffirms powerfully. Once again, for Shelly, there is a brief feeling of “home”.
-
Without warning, a dash of black light zips by them. It’s Mortis! And worse, he has the ball! Jessie whips her goggles back over her eyes and springs into action. Three huge shots of electricity spring from her not-so-lil’ wrench-gun. Mortis dashes through each one with ease, seemingly appearing in three places at once. Across the field, El Primo and Nita are battling. Punches are thrown and earth is lifted. Rubble flies as El Primo pounds through the debris.
Confused, Shelly looks down at her gun, questioning her role in it all. A bullet zips past her head, as if to answer her. “Yoohoo,” Piper cries, waving a glove-covered hand as she peeks her head out from the bushes. She chuckles, annoyingly. Instinctively, Shelly lunges forward, charging across the field while dodging shot by shot. Left! Right! Left! Left! Finally, with Piper in reach, it’s checkmate! Piper presses her glove-covered hands to her cheeks and gasps… Mockingly though. She launches herself in the air, opens her pink umbrella, and begins to glide awa—✶***BOOM!***✶ Three powerful explosions occur from the site at which she leapt, launching Shelly backwards.
With one knee on the ground, Shelly lifts her head, revealing a cut on her left cheek and a confident smirk. She looks invigorated. "Nosotros Podemos Hacerlo!" “We Can Do This!” she roars.
-
An action-packed montage follows, featuring glimpses of the intense battle, while highlighting the growing bond of friendship, trust, and teamwork between Shelly and her allies. It’s the pure essence of Brawl Stars. There’s epic passes, intense passion, shot after shot, until…
-
Dust. Across the field from Shelly and her allies, only the silhouettes of Mortis, Nita, and Piper are visible behind the cloud of debris. The atmosphere is dark and heavy.
As the dust begins to clear, the bear-girl lets out a thunderous howl, “BEARRRRR”! The earth shakes, then shatters like glass, as a colossal, monstrous bear crashes through its thick crust. The crates crumble across the field and the grass seemingly evaporates. High-intensity wind flings rubble out and towards the vulnerable trio. El Primo conceals his face with a muscular arm, Shelly squints, and Jessie looks up in horror.
“Turret Time!” Jessie screams in a panic, as she flings out a mechanical dog onto the battlefie— ꙳Pew!꙳ ꙳Pew!꙳ Scrappy’s bolts fling into the air, in front of a calm and precise Piper, soulless smile and all. El Primo launches forward in Jessie’s defence, but Mortis quickly counters. He flips his cape, unleashing a swarm of bats that dash towards El Primo, pressuring him towards the looming bear. Shelly looks onwards, powerless.
꙳Pew!꙳ A bullet zips across the battlefield and towards a fragile and vulnerable Shelly. Before it hits, a figure cloaks her view. It protects her from the shot.
Jessie had jumped in front of the bullet.
Her green bar depletes to zero. “Mmm-AGHHH," she squeals, suddenly bursting into data in front of Shelly’s helpless eyes. These same eyes were fuelled with a flaming confidence not too long ago. Horrified, tears swell, as Shelly desperately looks to her support in El Primo, who is face-to-face with the overbearing bear, while bats nip at his tough exterior. Their eyes meet. She could tell he was scared. He bursts into data. A bunch of 1s and 0s.
Shelly falls to her knees. They crash to the ground with a heavy thunder. Her team… her brawl family… gone. She looks up with defeated eyes to see Piper perched perfectly between Mortis and Nita. “Kiss my—“ ꙳Pew!꙳
-
Black.
Then green. Some white. This familiar, buzzing hum. And… Mortis?! Shelly juggles her gun, which quick-fires towards the caped gravekeeper in her panic. Mortis bursts into data. On the ground from the force of the shots, Shelly sees a little hand extend downwards. Hope.
The sun’s shine conceals its owner’s face. She has lil’ red pigtails, a lil’ brown hat, and a NOT-SO-LIL’ electric wrench gun. Recognizing her, Shelly grasps the peach-coloured hand in excitement and leaps to her feet! She picks up little Jessie with a smile and swings her around. They’re by their net’s spawn with none other than a muscley El Primo upfield, in the distance. He has the same ol’ silly smile. He gives a healthy thumbs-up.
Jessie and Shelly reciprocate the smile. Shelly tacks on a thumbs-up of her own. The girls look at each other with a resilient confidence.
"Nosotros Podemos Hacerlo!"
“We Can Do This!”
-
The two of them enthusiastically charge upfield, and leap onto a waiting El Primo’s back [an updated star power 😱]. He bends his strong knees and springs up into the air and towards enemy territory. He crashes to the ground intimidatingly! Shelly and Jessie leap off the Hercules’ back and spring into action.
The ball is only metres away, to the right of the enemy's goal; it’s unguarded, or so it seems. As Jessie rushes towards the ball, a pink umbrella peaks from some distant grass.
Sniper Scope View: Green and black hues, along with the typical MIL-Dot rectile. Unaware of her own vulnerability, the lil' inventor sprints for the ball. ꙳Pew!꙳ A dark brown?! ꙳Pew!꙳ A blunt muffled blow?!
Piper looks up from her umbrella’s scope to see a waving El Primo, tanking the shots from up-close as if they were nothing. “Oh my,” she gulps. An abrupt shift. El Primo is shown chasing a fleeing and crying Piper, flailing her arms as she runs across the screen. “Aha, Elll Primo!” he cheers. ꙳Punch, punch punch. Punch, punch, punch,꙳ he teases. She’s barely out of range.
-
On the other side of the field, Jessie’s finally by the ball, promisingly uncontested. But not for long! Mortis pixelates into existence; he’s respawned! He swipes in. She rolls out. She kicks. He intercepts. A battle, a dance, the two are evenly matched. If she didn’t think quick, Jessie would miss the opportunity for the goal. She fires two shots towards Mortis. The first misses, but the second lands. Just what she needed! She uses the chance to gain ball possession and dribbles it through Mortis’ skinny legs. Jessie dives between them and back to the ball. She glows a powerful yellow before performing an epic (we’re talking Galactic Football-style) super kick towards a mid-field Shelly.
A perfect receive. She shoots, she sc— oof, the bear-child intercepts! With ninja-like reflexes, Shelly shoots a chip shot; it barely grazes Nita. But the graze was enough; Shelly’s gun begins to vibrate. She looks at it, first unsure, then confident. She lifts it again for the final shot. ✶***BANNNNNNNNNNNNG!***✶ Crisp, blue flames engulf the screen, as it fades to white. Nita seemingly evaporates.
Now’s the chance! Shelly’s foot meets the ball. A powerful kick. Mortis dives in a flash, but to no avail; the ball is in the net! Shelly Had Scored!
The horn sounds. The Game Was Over.
-
“Yes!” shrieks Jessie, as she sprints towards Shelly, leaping into her arms for a cozy embrace. El Primo sneaks up from behind and proudly lifts Shelly into the air. Shelly — the star of the show! Wanting to help El Primo, Jessie jumps down and presses her back against the base of Shelly’s foot. She squrims, grimacing as she struggles to support its weight. With a beaming smile, Shelly looks up towards the roaring crowd overhead. Unique and quirky characters comprise the audience, from a disheartened club of Pipers to a Ricochet spinning his head uncontrollably, while foaming at his mouth. “Brawl Stars! Brawl Stars! Brawl Stars!” they cheer.
Shelly was happy.
This was her most memorable victory as a brawler — her first.
Oh, how I wish you could see that smile. :)
[“Brawl Stars. Download Today.” End Ad. In-App Story Continues for Tutorial Segue.]
-
El Primo puts Shelly on her feet. Thrilled by their win, Jessie twirls and dances around in a circle ecstatically. “What an amazing kick! And oh my gosh, that super! Hahaha, you’ve got skill,” Jessie is clearly delighted. Shelly blushes; she can tell Jessie is happy. “Elll Primo,” El Primo smiles.
The enemy team approaches center-field. Mortis can be overheard murmuring to himself, as he kicks the dirt in disappointment. “Darn randoms using Piper in Brawl Ball," he hisses. Piper scoffs. The teams line up center-field and across from each other. Even Nita’s bear was there. They clap hands, “gg.” “gg.” “gg. “El Primo.” “gg.” “gg.” “Grawwwr.”
A mechanical screech booms from both sides of the field. Like a life-sized foosball table, a tunnel-shaped hole reveals itself on each end. Both teams retreat to their respective sides. Jessie ushers Shelly to join them. Before entering their tunnel, Jessie looks up at Shelly in admiration. She notices a cut on Shelly’s left cheek. “Let’s fix that,” she says with a smile. Jessie reaches into her pocket and grabs a band-aid. She tip-toes up and places it on Shelly’s cut. “Much better! I learnt that from my Mom. She’s a doctor,” she exclaims innocently.
"Gracias. Pero perdón, no entiendo," “Thank you. But I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” Shelly admits embarrassingly. “Oh, your language settings,” Jessie giggles. “Here, let me tweak them.”
[Player’s Language Setting Screen Appears, offering Supercell's 18 Languages.]
“Thank you,” Shelly beams [“Thank you” is said in the newly selected language, rather than Shelly's native language, Spanish].
Together, they enter their respective tunnel to embrace everything else the Brawl Stars universe has to offer. It was dark with mystery, but guaranteed, their was light on the other side. Shelly was home.
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꙳Cue Tutorial꙳
The Start of the In-Game Tutorial.
Some are brave, some are clueless, and some are completely and utterly neglected. Either way, everyone’s Shelly is unique. Everyone’s Shelly is their own. Most players are fortunate enough to meet other brawlers along their journey. Again, each uniquely their own. Within ꙳your game꙳, ꙳your device꙳, ꙳your experience꙳ may be an overused, macho El Primo or an underused, measly Penny. The story behind Brawl Stars acts to emphasize a sense of individuality within the game. There’s a life behind your phone and potential for connection between players and brawlers, alike.
In a twisted way, this premise suggests that like Digimon, there are mini digital creatures literally being held captive in your devices, served to fight each other, over and over again, purely for your sick amusement. Ayy, what could be more entertaining, haha!
Overall, this creative contribution is intended to be multifaceted in the benefits it confers. The film assists with:
A) Beginning to Explore the Story Behind Brawl Stars.
Either way, I'd like to hear from you. What are your thoughts on Brawl Stars creating a short film to introduce the game to new players? Which brawler do you most identify with? What would you like to see in a revamped tutorial?
And with respect to tonight, keep your heads held high! Being a social game, Brawl Stars has facilitated some powerful connections — we're a united community, who can get through thick and thin, sloppy and slick. In the wise words of a lil' girl we've all grown to love, "We Can Do This."
—
Thanks for Reading ❤️,
Portal
submitted by p-O-rtal to Brawlstars [link] [comments] Brawl Stars: The Movie. A critically-acclaimed story of the girl that could. ★★★★★
INTRODUCTION
Hey Brawlers, it’s Portal!It’s been TIME since I’ve posted on the subreddit. With tomorrow being December 21st, 2012, I thought I’d finally finish a piece I’ve been working on in my spare time. You know, before we all die.
Speaking of which, allow me to briefly address the elephant in the room. 14/11/18, 3 AM EST. First of all, I’m obsessed with the passion of this community. Being a social game at its core, a lot more than our gaming experience is threatened if Brawl Stars is killed. Thanks to Brawl Stars, many of us have formed some pretty impactful friendships; these connections become vulnerable in a kill-scenario. I understand the worry, the angst, and the stress. But at the risk of sounding too optimistically naive, breeeathe haha!
The way I see it, there’s 2 possibilities:
- Possibly One: The cryptic and ominous theatrics are a publicity stunt intended to convey Brawl Stars’ Doomsday. I mean, why get straight to the point and prevent turning-off loyal customers, when you can play with your food before you eat it? It’s pretty much what we do in our slaughterhouses, so it’s not really contrary to human nature. 🤷
- Possibility Two: Without saying anything, the Dev Team is attempting to create hype for something big. Something Positive. As infamous game-killers, Supercell understands how alluring Global unpredictability can be for their games. Capitalizing upon this, an intelligent team can create intrigue, discussion, and hype by employing unique marketing strategies, without needing to say a word. A brilliant team understands the power of Social Media. There’s a power in silence. They’re teasing. Imagine Supercell is the girl you like. "OMG, does she like me? OMG, does she not?” Odds are, if she’s taking the time to tease you, she probably wants your d... personality 🤷
Honestly, this piece proved to be a bit challenging to write, hence the delay. 😅 With my background in scientific literature, a present-tense screenplay that’s intended to be entertainingly engaging for a reddit audience isn’t really up my alley. With expected focus on visual and audio, there’s limitations to the extent that traditional screenplay narrations can evaluate character mindset. Ultimately, it ended up being a weird hybrid-style in its approach. So go easy on me, haha.
Before you “watch”, consider this:
Everyone has a Shelly. Some are strong. Some are stealthy. And some (most) are completely and utterly incompetent. But every Shelly is unique and is a reflection of the player behind the scenes. And behind the scenes of every player’s journey is their first steps as a noob. Animated in a Pixar-esque style, I present to you Brawl Stars: The Movie.
This is the story behind Brawl Stars.
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꙳Post-Global: You open the Brawl Stars App for the first time. Below is what you experience.꙳
THE SCREENPLAY
SUPERC
ELL
Black.
A thin white line extends across the width of the middle screen. It starts to expand vertically, revealing dim, blurry, and indistinguishable images. There’s green. Some white. Specs of other colours. And this muffled, buzzing hum. Before the screen fills with colour, the line of light collapses into black, only to quickly expand again, as a clearer, crisper, and fuller image.
It’s… Magnificent. A huge, beautiful, and vibrant green field, with a beige-brown ball perched perfectly at its center. What was a muffled hum crescendos into the roaring crowd it is, situated atop the walls of this modern colosseum.
Past the ball and across from you is a hunched, caped figure with pale grey skin, a worn top hat, and a soiled shovel. Despite the daylight, the intense flames from a lantern at his shovel’s end casts shadows across his skinny face, while highlighting his devilish smile. He smacks his shovel in his hand. Repetitively. Menacingly. His cape blows in the wind.
The camera zooms out, revealing a blonde-haired maiden a distance to this man’s left, and a woolly bear to his far right. The maiden forces a smile, waving a glove-covered hand, as she grips a rose pink umbrella in the other. She sports a blue dress that mirrors the cold in her soulless, closed eyes. With bent, rocking knees, the bear is… wait, not a bear… it’s a girl wearing a bear!
Panicked at the sight of it all, the camera swings down hastily, revealing a yellow handkerchief, wrapped around a purple torso. Your torso. Your chocolate brown hands are firmly clenching onto a… Shotgun?!
The camera shifts to the third perspective, revealing a startled Shelly. “Dónde estoy? Qué está pasando?!” "Where am I? What’s going on?!"
-
She looks desperately to her right and notices a dark, masked, and shirtless Hercules. Her saviour, surely! “Hey! Señor, por favor, puede decirme dónde estoy?!” “Hey! Sir, please, can you tell me where I am?!” He looks at her with a charming, bright smile. “Ellllllllll Primo!” he exclaims, offering no more than an enthusiastic thumbs-up and a blank, pupilless stare.
With greater desperation, she glances leftward and finds a lil’ girl, with lil’ red pigtails, and a lil’ brown hat. With her lil’ eyes closed, she sways back and forth, while tightly clenching onto a NOT-SO-LIL’ electric wrench-gun. Running towards her, Shelly pleas quickly, "Hey, tu! No se qué está pasando! Por qué estoy aquí? Qué es este lugar?! Quién es ese hombre extraño?! Por favor ayúdame!“ "Hey, you! I don’t know what’s going on! Why am I here? Where is here?! Who’s that scary man?! Please help me!”
At this point, she’s clenching onto the pigtailed girl's arm. The lil’ inventor opens her eyes. They're a warm brown. She offers Shelly a calm smile, while grasping her arm back in response. “We Can Do This,” she says firmly. The words are foreign to Shelly, but that smile is not. For a second, Shelly seems visibly reassured. For that brief moment, she wasn't an alien in a foreign world.
The lil’ girl lifts Shelly’s hands off of her and quickly ushers Shelly into position center-field. As she retreats, Shelly reminds herself of her situation and begins to protest again. "En serio no tengo que estar aquí! Usted tiene al equivocado... etc." “I’m really not supposed to be here! You have the wrong… etc."
The camera shifts back to Shelly’s perspective, as she continues to plea. Confused and scared, her focus shifts abruptly. The menacing gravekeeper. The soulless maiden. The bear-child. The pupilless Hercules. The… ꙳BEEP!꙳ A horn sounds.
-
Third perspective. Alarmed by the sound of the horn, Shelly jumps, accidentally firing a shot. It spreads from her gun like fire, cone-shaped, crisp, and orange-red. The tip hits the gravekeeper, who’s somehow already center-field, with the beige-brown ball by his feet. Her dark eyes, inspired with awe, reflect the intensity of the blast.
[The flames’ reflection expand across her pupil, leading to a transition to the “real world”. There’s a young boy playing Brawl Stars. With his tongue pressed against his dark lips, the boy can be seen wearing simple cultural attire in the streets of India. He’s no different than you or me, and like us, is completely mesmerized by this game, which acts to connect us as one people — Brawlers. It’s his first time playing. He’s queued up as Shelly in Brawl Ball, with a random Jessie and El Primo as allies. His opponents are a formidable Mortis, Piper, and Nita. The game starts and he immediately shoots his first shot in the direction of the enemy Mortis, zipping in for the ball. This brief zoom-out is short-lived, and the camera zooms back into the game and the life within it.]
-
In one swift movement, Mortis kicks the ball back. In the blink of an eye, the gravekeeper retreats to the ball’s location. His movements are too fast to visually process. He’s seemingly teleporting from place to place.
Suddenly, the sound of a gun firing. In slow motion, sucking up all sound, but her low-pitched shriek, a bullet zips past a startled Shelly’s head.
“Ahahahaha,” the blonde-haired maiden teases with a high-pitched chuckle, her pink umbrella, pointed like a sword in Shelly’s direction. Innocently, yet threateningly. ꙳Pew!꙳ A second bullet springs from the umbrella, this time hitting Shelly in her chest. A green bar above Shelly’s head depletes, changing red in the process. ꙳Pew!꙳ A third bullet is fired, but instinctively, Shelly jumps and rolls out of the way.
Dashing to her rescue, Jessie flings a pair of goggles over her eyes and fires an electric ball in Piper’s direction. Piper’s laugh echoes, as she retreats behind some wooden crates and into a patch of tall grass.
Back on her feet, Shelly looks at Jessie, bewildered by the events that just transpired. Jessie raises her goggles and glances up at the green bar above Shelly’s head, now full. She smiles. Before Shelly can say anything, Jessie redirects her gaze towards Shelly, reaches up, and lays a firm hand on her shoulder. “We Can Do This,” she reaffirms powerfully. Once again, for Shelly, there is a brief feeling of “home”.
-
Without warning, a dash of black light zips by them. It’s Mortis! And worse, he has the ball! Jessie whips her goggles back over her eyes and springs into action. Three huge shots of electricity spring from her not-so-lil’ wrench-gun. Mortis dashes through each one with ease, seemingly appearing in three places at once. Across the field, El Primo and Nita are battling. Punches are thrown and earth is lifted. Rubble flies as El Primo pounds through the debris.
Confused, Shelly looks down at her gun, questioning her role in it all. A bullet zips past her head, as if to answer her. “Yoohoo,” Piper cries, waving a glove-covered hand as she peeks her head out from the bushes. She chuckles, annoyingly. Instinctively, Shelly lunges forward, charging across the field while dodging shot by shot. Left! Right! Left! Left! Finally, with Piper in reach, it’s checkmate! Piper presses her glove-covered hands to her cheeks and gasps… Mockingly though. She launches herself in the air, opens her pink umbrella, and begins to glide awa—✶***BOOM!***✶ Three powerful explosions occur from the site at which she leapt, launching Shelly backwards.
With one knee on the ground, Shelly lifts her head, revealing a cut on her left cheek and a confident smirk. She looks invigorated. "Nosotros Podemos Hacerlo!" “We Can Do This!” she roars.
-
An action-packed montage follows, featuring glimpses of the intense battle, while highlighting the growing bond of friendship, trust, and teamwork between Shelly and her allies. It’s the pure essence of Brawl Stars. There’s epic passes, intense passion, shot after shot, until…
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Dust. Across the field from Shelly and her allies, only the silhouettes of Mortis, Nita, and Piper are visible behind the cloud of debris. The atmosphere is dark and heavy.
As the dust begins to clear, the bear-girl lets out a thunderous howl, “BEARRRRR”! The earth shakes, then shatters like glass, as a colossal, monstrous bear crashes through its thick crust. The crates crumble across the field and the grass seemingly evaporates. High-intensity wind flings rubble out and towards the vulnerable trio. El Primo conceals his face with a muscular arm, Shelly squints, and Jessie looks up in horror.
“Turret Time!” Jessie screams in a panic, as she flings out a mechanical dog onto the battlefie— ꙳Pew!꙳ ꙳Pew!꙳ Scrappy’s bolts fling into the air, in front of a calm and precise Piper, soulless smile and all. El Primo launches forward in Jessie’s defence, but Mortis quickly counters. He flips his cape, unleashing a swarm of bats that dash towards El Primo, pressuring him towards the looming bear. Shelly looks onwards, powerless.
꙳Pew!꙳ A bullet zips across the battlefield and towards a fragile and vulnerable Shelly. Before it hits, a figure cloaks her view. It protects her from the shot.
Jessie had jumped in front of the bullet.
Her green bar depletes to zero. “Mmm-AGHHH," she squeals, suddenly bursting into data in front of Shelly’s helpless eyes. These same eyes were fuelled with a flaming confidence not too long ago. Horrified, tears swell, as Shelly desperately looks to her support in El Primo, who is face-to-face with the overbearing bear, while bats nip at his tough exterior. Their eyes meet. She could tell he was scared. He bursts into data. A bunch of 1s and 0s.
Shelly falls to her knees. They crash to the ground with a heavy thunder. Her team… her brawl family… gone. She looks up with defeated eyes to see Piper perched perfectly between Mortis and Nita. “Kiss my—“ ꙳Pew!꙳
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Black.
Then green. Some white. This familiar, buzzing hum. And… Mortis?! Shelly juggles her gun, which quick-fires towards the caped gravekeeper in her panic. Mortis bursts into data. On the ground from the force of the shots, Shelly sees a little hand extend downwards. Hope.
The sun’s shine conceals its owner’s face. She has lil’ red pigtails, a lil’ brown hat, and a NOT-SO-LIL’ electric wrench gun. Recognizing her, Shelly grasps the peach-coloured hand in excitement and leaps to her feet! She picks up little Jessie with a smile and swings her around. They’re by their net’s spawn with none other than a muscley El Primo upfield, in the distance. He has the same ol’ silly smile. He gives a healthy thumbs-up.
Jessie and Shelly reciprocate the smile. Shelly tacks on a thumbs-up of her own. The girls look at each other with a resilient confidence.
"Nosotros Podemos Hacerlo!"
“We Can Do This!”
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The two of them enthusiastically charge upfield, and leap onto a waiting El Primo’s back [an updated star power 😱]. He bends his strong knees and springs up into the air and towards enemy territory. He crashes to the ground intimidatingly! Shelly and Jessie leap off the Hercules’ back and spring into action.
The ball is only metres away, to the right of the enemy's goal; it’s unguarded, or so it seems. As Jessie rushes towards the ball, a pink umbrella peaks from some distant grass.
Sniper Scope View: Green and black hues, along with the typical MIL-Dot rectile. Unaware of her own vulnerability, the lil' inventor sprints for the ball. ꙳Pew!꙳ A dark brown?! ꙳Pew!꙳ A blunt muffled blow?!
Piper looks up from her umbrella’s scope to see a waving El Primo, tanking the shots from up-close as if they were nothing. “Oh my,” she gulps. An abrupt shift. El Primo is shown chasing a fleeing and crying Piper, flailing her arms as she runs across the screen. “Aha, Elll Primo!” he cheers. ꙳Punch, punch punch. Punch, punch, punch,꙳ he teases. She’s barely out of range.
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On the other side of the field, Jessie’s finally by the ball, promisingly uncontested. But not for long! Mortis pixelates into existence; he’s respawned! He swipes in. She rolls out. She kicks. He intercepts. A battle, a dance, the two are evenly matched. If she didn’t think quick, Jessie would miss the opportunity for the goal. She fires two shots towards Mortis. The first misses, but the second lands. Just what she needed! She uses the chance to gain ball possession and dribbles it through Mortis’ skinny legs. Jessie dives between them and back to the ball. She glows a powerful yellow before performing an epic (we’re talking Galactic Football-style) super kick towards a mid-field Shelly.
A perfect receive. She shoots, she sc— oof, the bear-child intercepts! With ninja-like reflexes, Shelly shoots a chip shot; it barely grazes Nita. But the graze was enough; Shelly’s gun begins to vibrate. She looks at it, first unsure, then confident. She lifts it again for the final shot. ✶***BANNNNNNNNNNNNG!***✶ Crisp, blue flames engulf the screen, as it fades to white. Nita seemingly evaporates.
Now’s the chance! Shelly’s foot meets the ball. A powerful kick. Mortis dives in a flash, but to no avail; the ball is in the net! Shelly Had Scored!
The horn sounds. The Game Was Over.
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“Yes!” shrieks Jessie, as she sprints towards Shelly, leaping into her arms for a cozy embrace. El Primo sneaks up from behind and proudly lifts Shelly into the air. Shelly — the star of the show! Wanting to help El Primo, Jessie jumps down and presses her back against the base of Shelly’s foot. She squrims, grimacing as she struggles to support its weight. With a beaming smile, Shelly looks up towards the roaring crowd overhead. Unique and quirky characters comprise the audience, from a disheartened club of Pipers to a Ricochet spinning his head uncontrollably, while foaming at his mouth. “Brawl Stars! Brawl Stars! Brawl Stars!” they cheer.
Shelly was happy.
This was her most memorable victory as a brawler — her first.
Oh, how I wish you could see that smile. :)
[“Brawl Stars. Download Today.” End Ad. In-App Story Continues for Tutorial Segue.]
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El Primo puts Shelly on her feet. Thrilled by their win, Jessie twirls and dances around in a circle ecstatically. “What an amazing kick! And oh my gosh, that super! Hahaha, you’ve got skill,” Jessie is clearly delighted. Shelly blushes; she can tell Jessie is happy. “Elll Primo,” El Primo smiles.
The enemy team approaches center-field. Mortis can be overheard murmuring to himself, as he kicks the dirt in disappointment. “Darn randoms using Piper in Brawl Ball," he hisses. Piper scoffs. The teams line up center-field and across from each other. Even Nita’s bear was there. They clap hands, “gg.” “gg.” “gg. “El Primo.” “gg.” “gg.” “Grawwwr.”
A mechanical screech booms from both sides of the field. Like a life-sized foosball table, a tunnel-shaped hole reveals itself on each end. Both teams retreat to their respective sides. Jessie ushers Shelly to join them. Before entering their tunnel, Jessie looks up at Shelly in admiration. She notices a cut on Shelly’s left cheek. “Let’s fix that,” she says with a smile. Jessie reaches into her pocket and grabs a band-aid. She tip-toes up and places it on Shelly’s cut. “Much better! I learnt that from my Mom. She’s a doctor,” she exclaims innocently.
"Gracias. Pero perdón, no entiendo," “Thank you. But I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” Shelly admits embarrassingly. “Oh, your language settings,” Jessie giggles. “Here, let me tweak them.”
[Player’s Language Setting Screen Appears, offering Supercell's 18 Languages.]
“Thank you,” Shelly beams [“Thank you” is said in the newly selected language, rather than Shelly's native language, Spanish].
Together, they enter their respective tunnel to embrace everything else the Brawl Stars universe has to offer. It was dark with mystery, but guaranteed, their was light on the other side. Shelly was home.
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦
꙳Cue Tutorial꙳
The Start of the In-Game Tutorial.
CLOSING REMARKS
Everyone has a Shelly.Some are brave, some are clueless, and some are completely and utterly neglected. Either way, everyone’s Shelly is unique. Everyone’s Shelly is their own. Most players are fortunate enough to meet other brawlers along their journey. Again, each uniquely their own. Within ꙳your game꙳, ꙳your device꙳, ꙳your experience꙳ may be an overused, macho El Primo or an underused, measly Penny. The story behind Brawl Stars acts to emphasize a sense of individuality within the game. There’s a life behind your phone and potential for connection between players and brawlers, alike.
In a twisted way, this premise suggests that like Digimon, there are mini digital creatures literally being held captive in your devices, served to fight each other, over and over again, purely for your sick amusement. Ayy, what could be more entertaining, haha!
Overall, this creative contribution is intended to be multifaceted in the benefits it confers. The film assists with:
A) Beginning to Explore the Story Behind Brawl Stars.
- Who are the brawlers we’ve come to love? Where do they come from? How do they connect to us and each other? What are their stories?
- As novices to Brawl Stars, both Shelly and new players grow alongside each other, as they learn about all that which this beautiful universe has to offer.
- With increased depth, players have a greater ability to identify with and grow alongside brawlers, during their Brawl Stars journey. Brawlers are arguably the most captivating part of the game; facilitating these connections through creative narration is huge!
- The film examines the nature of connection and how Brawl Stars, as a social game, can facilitate the growth of relationships between players. The friendships between brawlers themselves represent an analogy for those we create in real life.
- Every art form has a learning curve. Unlike most art forms, however, there’s no universal control scheme for video games. Because of this, coherent and engaging tutorials are important. A well-made tutorial can make a good game a great one.
- For novices, there’s much to be learnt about this world’s charming ways. Learning = Success = Fun. An engaging tutorial is a captivating one! Correctly establishing a relatable setting is important for a tutorial’s reception.
- From teaching players about healing and ammunition depletion, to assisting them with strategy, this short film may provide the boost to retention required to get a player through a well-explained tutorial. Nailing this for Global release is important.
- Similar to Hearthstone’s animated short, for example, a fun but skippable short-film at the games start can generate interest by providing backstory and context to newer audiences.
- Brawl Ball’s similarity to the popular sport of soccer makes the film's concepts easily digestible to newer audiences and increases retention by generating excitement for unlocking the mode.
- First impressions are everything! A well-made story can make a great game an amazing one.
Either way, I'd like to hear from you. What are your thoughts on Brawl Stars creating a short film to introduce the game to new players? Which brawler do you most identify with? What would you like to see in a revamped tutorial?
And with respect to tonight, keep your heads held high! Being a social game, Brawl Stars has facilitated some powerful connections — we're a united community, who can get through thick and thin, sloppy and slick. In the wise words of a lil' girl we've all grown to love, "We Can Do This."
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Thanks for Reading ❤️,
Portal
