I like the idea. I know it's hard to come across as objective while still giving people the feeling their work is being treated fairly. After all nobody here has the ressources a professional video game company has to create high quality on every aspect of a campaign.
It's still quite possible to improve upon everything that I point out in the video. But yes, I do try to make sure that people know that it's not an attack on their project, but that I'm simply using their project as a vehicle to explain my points and help educate others.
Unfortunately the video was so long I could only pay attention to the beginning where you say there is no reason to put text on a loading screen. That was interesting for me because in WC3 I used to have more and longer cinematics than I do now in SC2. I do that because I put more emphasis on gameplay and I don't want players to watch cinematics for too long.
If you plan on focusing on writing and executing a well-constructed story, there will be lots of dialogue and lengthy cinematic experiences. That just comes with the territory. They wouldn't complain about it if Blizzard did it, so if you can produce a well-choreographed cinematic that explores a portion of your story in such a manner that it sheds more light on it for your players, there's no reason to not take that opportunity and run with it. It ultimately comes down to what kind of focus you have as a developer. I'm of mind that all three disciplines, story, gameplay, and aesthetic, should all be equally considered during the developmental phases of a project and should all be of comparable quality.
I put text on loading screens, epilogue text at the end of each map, and 2-3 codex-items players can find so they have more stuff to read. Also the loading times of SC2 are so long, I think it's good to put something there other than a nice background.
While 'codex' items aren't a bad idea for non-critical story elements, anything you can offer players through text can be better presented through a cinematic (or a briefing, in the case of SC:BW). The only reason you'd need to include prologue/epilogue text, as you referred to it as, is if you're offering a recap to refresh players in between missions - and even then, an argument can be made that attentive players won't need it, thus encouraging inattentive ones to pay more heed to the dialogue and the story. Still, I understand why so many people believe that text has merits. It's one of the reasons I spent so much time explaining why it's better to show than to tell.
I skimmed through the video a bit but I couldn't find any of my critic points I had for Vortex of the Void chapter 1
In the future I'll play through the reference material to completion in order to better encapsulate my points without being distracted. I had a lot of commentary on my mind and was only able to select a few choice bits. I'll likely take some of your suggestions for the next episode, to help streamline its efficacy as an educational tool.
Play first, take notes on 4-6 bad things but also 4-6 good things
Replay and record, cut the video length down to 10-30 minutes (and send the creator the original 2 hour video)
Focus on one map at a time
Understand the stand point of the background of the common SC2 modder/campaign creator. If you don't, you only set unrealistic standards and don't really help them. For example, we can't do cinematics like the Raynor-drinking scene, we have to rely on ingame models
Sending the creator the longer video is an interesting option. I'm thinking about having a 'long-form' live recording where I explain in detail what I mean (in the same style as the single video that's up for Vortex of the Void), and releasing it to the public alongside a shorter, more condensed video that offers the same points with more brevity for those who are less interested in the finer details. That seems to run counter to my original 'in-depth' approach, but I think it'll offer something for every kind of viewer, which will help teach them regardless of which video they choose to watch.
And here're the good things:
A video series like this exists. I want to see the next video asap
Your point aren't generally invalid. One should strive for the best possible and not settle for medium quality
Good ideas on how to improve story-telling
If you cut the video from minute 20 to minute 50 (which is just chapter 1) it's actually not that long
I appreciate both the praise and the suggestions! I'll definitely be working towards the next video very soon, so hopefully you'll see more in the coming weeks and months. I'll post here when there is an update. Thanks for your interest in both the community and the series itself!
Jayborino takes maps that are in BETA stages as well as finish project. He also takes maps that are from new people starting projects. It really seems that your interest is to bully creators and other people. Your first video proves that you can do more than just talk. I will say that since you dont know the difference between good critic and bad critic ask first the creator before putting them on your "playlist".
I specifically chose Vortex of the Void because it seemed like a stable, final version of a project so that I wouldn't be spending all this time explaining the positives and negatives of a map or series of maps that could potentially be updated to fix several flaws (or even introduce new ones). Additionally, I explicitly stated early on in the video that I was attempting to make this series a departure from my normal, caustic commentary in order to explain in an educational manner what the objective good and objective bad of the reference material actually is. The latter half of your paragraph here is difficult to understand, so maybe you can reword it. What do you mean that I can 'do more than just talk'? And how have I demonstrated an inability to tell the difference between good and bad critique? My ultimate goal is to use this video series to improve both my ability as an entertainer and the overall ability of the community to produce quality content.
I think your videos can turn off the new people in to campains.
If anything, the goal of these videos is actually to get people more excited for custom content, because the better the projects are, the more enjoyable they will be to all kinds of players. Hopefully, once I iron out exactly how to produce this kind of content, the videos won't run any risk of turning people off to the scene, as that was not my intention at all. I simply wanted to start discussions regarding the steady improvement of custom campaigns (and other custom content) from the ground up, through design philosophies.
Honestly, Narudek's campaign isn't strong in it's story, but I always felt it was really cool in its visuals, both units and terrain. Of course every part of making a mission has its costs (mostly time to produce) and benefits, and each person needs to decide where to put their time. Do you think Narudek's campaign would have been better with basic terrain and default SC2 units, but a better story? I don't know myself. Perhaps you could create a hierarchy of importance.
I mention this above but my 'hierarchy of importance' would actually involve placing all three disciplines - story, gameplay, and aesthetic - dead even with one another. They are all equally important, as they all immerse the player in the overall experience and they all lend to the objective quality of the project as a whole. Each individual discipline might have more important focuses, such as ironing out the main premise of a story before handling the smaller details or planning out the flow of a mission's gameplay before testing comparatively minute tasks like difficulty scaling, but the holistic focus of your project should be to create as close to a perfect balance of quality between all three disciplines as possible, so as to make your project more consistent (and thus, more immersive).
I find one of the difficulties of making an immersive story myself is that I'll have all these ideas in my head about the characters and where the story is going, that I can find it hard to figure out if I ever communicated this vision to the player. It seems impossible to figure this out without a fresh pair of eyes.
One of the focuses of the developmental stage of any project is figuring out an overarching plan for how you will go about creating the characters, the story, the maps, and any additional mechanics (new units, new abilities, etc.). Maybe coming up with a more concrete plan would help you out?
Thanks everyone for your interest. I'll do my best to deliver a more cogent video next time around!
if you read through the history of Narudek projects you can familiarize with the struggle to make such projects.
I understand what you are trying to say with your post, but ultimately, in terms of objective quality, the struggle you go through doesn't matter unless it impacts the quality of your project. I can definitely understand and respect the struggle of creation and all the problems that arise if you seek to add voice acting and complex story/gameplay/aesthetic elements but we're just talking about the end product. In fact, it's that struggle that makes it almost impossible for developers to be objective about their own projects, so maybe that's something I'll talk a bit about in my next episode.
As for being like Jayborino, there's almost no chance of that, as he has far lower standards than I do and doesn't seem as interested in cultivating a community that produces high quality content. He's very accepting of poor execution and poor writing (as is anyone who thinks Blizzard did well with SC:BW/SC2), and that is his decision. The issue is that lower standards are the standard, so I have to go into detail as to why the objective quality is so low, as well as how to avoid falling into that trap as a developer.
The main reason the first video was that long is due to it also containing a primer, but I will be running through the reference material content before I record so it's easier for me to make clear points in the future. Will definitely be cutting down on the video length in the future.
Hello everyone! I'm Pr0nogo, a longtime voice actor, Brood War campaigner, and general StarCraft enthusiast. I've played a slew of custom (and official) campaigns for Blizzard games in the past, as well as separate titles in my Let's Play series, and have started a new project called 'Philosophy of Design' with the goal of helping the community flesh out higher-quality campaigns from the ground up. Topics of each video will often involve what I'm calling the three disciplines: Story, Gameplay, and Aesthetic (audio-visual), and explain the objective good and the objective bad with the intention to help other custom content producers deliver better content in the future. It is a stark departure from my normal content, which is rarely politically correct and often a lot more caustic, which causes it to be perceived as 'hostile'. I'm doing my best to avoid such comparisons with this new series.
While only one episode is out as of right now (using Vortex of the Void as reference material for the first discussions), I do plan on continuing the series and would appreciate any and all feedback. I can answer questions here, on YouTube, or via email at [email protected]. Additionally, if you would like to recommend a specific project as reference material for a particular subject matter, feel free to drop the suggestion and I'll look into it! Content isn't restricted to just SC2, or even just Blizzard games, as the discussions are meant to apply to all types of media.
Each episode will likely be longer than an hour and can be viewed at my YouTube channel. Here's a playlist link, which you can check out every so often if you're looking for more episodes!
I hope this series helps people as they strive to produce quality content and I'm glad to see that more projects are being worked on every time I come to SC2Mapster. Cheers!
A new cast has been made available. This is a cast of a live game, and was recorded as-is, much like all other casts. That means that there are no more edits. The microphone audio stream has been rebalanced and there is much less static this time around. Enjoy!
So I know that SCII isn't exactly exciting to watch, nor is it any good, but I'm getting about 2% joy from hurling insults at Dustin Browder whilst describing game events in replays and finding alternate names for units (some of my jargon, notably butterlings and snow globes, is taken from IskatuMesk's casting - but some of it is new). As a result, I'm opening this up to the public: if you have a specific replay you want casted, be it something you took part in or just a match you think I'll rage over for years to come, drop a link below and I'll get to it when I can. If interest is sizable, I'll likely invest in a new computer so I can jump up to max graphics settings and better framerates.
I am not limiting the content of the casts/replays to 1v1s or mid-to-high-level play. I will cast any skill level and any player count and team allocation. This means that I will do everything from the standard 1v1 matches to hour-long eight-player FFAs. I have no time cap on my YouTube channel, so video length isn't an issue. Keep this in mind when requesting a replay. I would also appreciate it if you actually include a download link to the replay in question, as that tends to help the process move along a bit more swiftly. Yes, some people forget that.
I'll add casts to the thread as I post them to YouTube. If you have any feedback pertaining to the casting itself, do let me know. All casts are available in either 720-24p or 1080-24p HD at a 16;9 aspect ratio for you fullscreen junkies. Naturally, expect a good amount of quality to be dropped thanks to YouTube's terrible compressor.
Release notes can be found under each individual video. They are likely more detailed than the video description, which also may contain relevant notes. Each cast is sorted by type and in descending chronological order from newest to oldest.
1v1 Casts:
-Released 22 January, 2013. Neither of these players are ranked in ladder. Features Sirius as Protoss against SanshuJuro as Terran. Microphone audio is superior to previous casts, though certain small bits here and there might be a little hard to hear.
-Released 18 January, 2013. Ranking on these players is unknown. Features MskiChakra as Zerg against AsGZealo as Terran. Microphone audio may be too quiet at certain points. This and the first cast do not have background music. I swear a bit less in this one than in the second one, but also miss a few things (e.g. Starport).
-Released 18 January, 2013. Ranking on these players is unknown. Features iMMaFia as Zerg against KsGuides as Protoss. Microphone audio may be too loud or too quiet at certain parts. This and the second cast do not have background music. I swear too much in this one and it's mostly annoying.
Upcoming/Requested Casts:
This is purely here for records, and to reduce the chance that people request the same replay multiple times. I may have already recorded the videos for these. Most videos are recorded early in the week and uploaded on Fridays.
0
It's still quite possible to improve upon everything that I point out in the video. But yes, I do try to make sure that people know that it's not an attack on their project, but that I'm simply using their project as a vehicle to explain my points and help educate others.
If you plan on focusing on writing and executing a well-constructed story, there will be lots of dialogue and lengthy cinematic experiences. That just comes with the territory. They wouldn't complain about it if Blizzard did it, so if you can produce a well-choreographed cinematic that explores a portion of your story in such a manner that it sheds more light on it for your players, there's no reason to not take that opportunity and run with it. It ultimately comes down to what kind of focus you have as a developer. I'm of mind that all three disciplines, story, gameplay, and aesthetic, should all be equally considered during the developmental phases of a project and should all be of comparable quality.
While 'codex' items aren't a bad idea for non-critical story elements, anything you can offer players through text can be better presented through a cinematic (or a briefing, in the case of SC:BW). The only reason you'd need to include prologue/epilogue text, as you referred to it as, is if you're offering a recap to refresh players in between missions - and even then, an argument can be made that attentive players won't need it, thus encouraging inattentive ones to pay more heed to the dialogue and the story. Still, I understand why so many people believe that text has merits. It's one of the reasons I spent so much time explaining why it's better to show than to tell.
In the future I'll play through the reference material to completion in order to better encapsulate my points without being distracted. I had a lot of commentary on my mind and was only able to select a few choice bits. I'll likely take some of your suggestions for the next episode, to help streamline its efficacy as an educational tool.
Sending the creator the longer video is an interesting option. I'm thinking about having a 'long-form' live recording where I explain in detail what I mean (in the same style as the single video that's up for Vortex of the Void), and releasing it to the public alongside a shorter, more condensed video that offers the same points with more brevity for those who are less interested in the finer details. That seems to run counter to my original 'in-depth' approach, but I think it'll offer something for every kind of viewer, which will help teach them regardless of which video they choose to watch.
I appreciate both the praise and the suggestions! I'll definitely be working towards the next video very soon, so hopefully you'll see more in the coming weeks and months. I'll post here when there is an update. Thanks for your interest in both the community and the series itself!
I specifically chose Vortex of the Void because it seemed like a stable, final version of a project so that I wouldn't be spending all this time explaining the positives and negatives of a map or series of maps that could potentially be updated to fix several flaws (or even introduce new ones). Additionally, I explicitly stated early on in the video that I was attempting to make this series a departure from my normal, caustic commentary in order to explain in an educational manner what the objective good and objective bad of the reference material actually is. The latter half of your paragraph here is difficult to understand, so maybe you can reword it. What do you mean that I can 'do more than just talk'? And how have I demonstrated an inability to tell the difference between good and bad critique? My ultimate goal is to use this video series to improve both my ability as an entertainer and the overall ability of the community to produce quality content.
If anything, the goal of these videos is actually to get people more excited for custom content, because the better the projects are, the more enjoyable they will be to all kinds of players. Hopefully, once I iron out exactly how to produce this kind of content, the videos won't run any risk of turning people off to the scene, as that was not my intention at all. I simply wanted to start discussions regarding the steady improvement of custom campaigns (and other custom content) from the ground up, through design philosophies.
I mention this above but my 'hierarchy of importance' would actually involve placing all three disciplines - story, gameplay, and aesthetic - dead even with one another. They are all equally important, as they all immerse the player in the overall experience and they all lend to the objective quality of the project as a whole. Each individual discipline might have more important focuses, such as ironing out the main premise of a story before handling the smaller details or planning out the flow of a mission's gameplay before testing comparatively minute tasks like difficulty scaling, but the holistic focus of your project should be to create as close to a perfect balance of quality between all three disciplines as possible, so as to make your project more consistent (and thus, more immersive).
One of the focuses of the developmental stage of any project is figuring out an overarching plan for how you will go about creating the characters, the story, the maps, and any additional mechanics (new units, new abilities, etc.). Maybe coming up with a more concrete plan would help you out?
Thanks everyone for your interest. I'll do my best to deliver a more cogent video next time around!
0
I understand what you are trying to say with your post, but ultimately, in terms of objective quality, the struggle you go through doesn't matter unless it impacts the quality of your project. I can definitely understand and respect the struggle of creation and all the problems that arise if you seek to add voice acting and complex story/gameplay/aesthetic elements but we're just talking about the end product. In fact, it's that struggle that makes it almost impossible for developers to be objective about their own projects, so maybe that's something I'll talk a bit about in my next episode.
As for being like Jayborino, there's almost no chance of that, as he has far lower standards than I do and doesn't seem as interested in cultivating a community that produces high quality content. He's very accepting of poor execution and poor writing (as is anyone who thinks Blizzard did well with SC:BW/SC2), and that is his decision. The issue is that lower standards are the standard, so I have to go into detail as to why the objective quality is so low, as well as how to avoid falling into that trap as a developer.
Thanks for your comments!
0
The main reason the first video was that long is due to it also containing a primer, but I will be running through the reference material content before I record so it's easier for me to make clear points in the future. Will definitely be cutting down on the video length in the future.
0
Hello everyone! I'm Pr0nogo, a longtime voice actor, Brood War campaigner, and general StarCraft enthusiast. I've played a slew of custom (and official) campaigns for Blizzard games in the past, as well as separate titles in my Let's Play series, and have started a new project called 'Philosophy of Design' with the goal of helping the community flesh out higher-quality campaigns from the ground up. Topics of each video will often involve what I'm calling the three disciplines: Story, Gameplay, and Aesthetic (audio-visual), and explain the objective good and the objective bad with the intention to help other custom content producers deliver better content in the future. It is a stark departure from my normal content, which is rarely politically correct and often a lot more caustic, which causes it to be perceived as 'hostile'. I'm doing my best to avoid such comparisons with this new series.
While only one episode is out as of right now (using Vortex of the Void as reference material for the first discussions), I do plan on continuing the series and would appreciate any and all feedback. I can answer questions here, on YouTube, or via email at [email protected]. Additionally, if you would like to recommend a specific project as reference material for a particular subject matter, feel free to drop the suggestion and I'll look into it! Content isn't restricted to just SC2, or even just Blizzard games, as the discussions are meant to apply to all types of media.
Each episode will likely be longer than an hour and can be viewed at my YouTube channel. Here's a playlist link, which you can check out every so often if you're looking for more episodes!
I hope this series helps people as they strive to produce quality content and I'm glad to see that more projects are being worked on every time I come to SC2Mapster. Cheers!
0
A new cast has been made available. This is a cast of a live game, and was recorded as-is, much like all other casts. That means that there are no more edits. The microphone audio stream has been rebalanced and there is much less static this time around. Enjoy!
0
So I know that SCII isn't exactly exciting to watch, nor is it any good, but I'm getting about 2% joy from hurling insults at Dustin Browder whilst describing game events in replays and finding alternate names for units (some of my jargon, notably butterlings and snow globes, is taken from IskatuMesk's casting - but some of it is new). As a result, I'm opening this up to the public: if you have a specific replay you want casted, be it something you took part in or just a match you think I'll rage over for years to come, drop a link below and I'll get to it when I can. If interest is sizable, I'll likely invest in a new computer so I can jump up to max graphics settings and better framerates.
I am not limiting the content of the casts/replays to 1v1s or mid-to-high-level play. I will cast any skill level and any player count and team allocation. This means that I will do everything from the standard 1v1 matches to hour-long eight-player FFAs. I have no time cap on my YouTube channel, so video length isn't an issue. Keep this in mind when requesting a replay. I would also appreciate it if you actually include a download link to the replay in question, as that tends to help the process move along a bit more swiftly. Yes, some people forget that.
I'll add casts to the thread as I post them to YouTube. If you have any feedback pertaining to the casting itself, do let me know. All casts are available in either 720-24p or 1080-24p HD at a 16;9 aspect ratio for you fullscreen junkies. Naturally, expect a good amount of quality to be dropped thanks to YouTube's terrible compressor.
Release notes can be found under each individual video. They are likely more detailed than the video description, which also may contain relevant notes. Each cast is sorted by type and in descending chronological order from newest to oldest.
1v1 Casts:
-Released 22 January, 2013. Neither of these players are ranked in ladder. Features Sirius as Protoss against SanshuJuro as Terran. Microphone audio is superior to previous casts, though certain small bits here and there might be a little hard to hear.
-Released 18 January, 2013. Ranking on these players is unknown. Features MskiChakra as Zerg against AsGZealo as Terran. Microphone audio may be too quiet at certain points. This and the first cast do not have background music. I swear a bit less in this one than in the second one, but also miss a few things (e.g. Starport).
-Released 18 January, 2013. Ranking on these players is unknown. Features iMMaFia as Zerg against KsGuides as Protoss. Microphone audio may be too loud or too quiet at certain parts. This and the second cast do not have background music. I swear too much in this one and it's mostly annoying.
Upcoming/Requested Casts:
This is purely here for records, and to reduce the chance that people request the same replay multiple times. I may have already recorded the videos for these. Most videos are recorded early in the week and uploaded on Fridays.
Protostitute vs. DenLilleMand PvT on Entombed Valley
ShoWTimE vs. QnkÇGiantt PvZ on ESL Antiga Shipyard (dual cast with a friend, should be interesting)
IlIlIIlIIlIl ('barcode') vs. AcerBly TvZ on ESL Daybreak
LiquidSnute vs. FXOBabyK ZvP on Entombed Valley
Breath vs. NoLie PvZ on Entombed Valley
GEGTgaulzi vs. Exehn PvP on ESL Metropolis (this game is retarded)