Q&A: January 12th, 2022 (Patreon)

The Great Leveler Asks
Unused/underused setting for an RPG you'd like to see?

I'll avoid saying Spies or Racing, because I've already gone on tirades in videos about those concepts. One that springs to my mind is in Military Shooters. It's obviously a lot more difficult to make your transitional RPG in a setting where guns are all lifted from the real world and you can't cast magic, but considering the management aspects of Metal Gear Solid 5, and the sheer dedication people have to role playing in custom games like Garry's Mod and GTA5... I think there'd be an opportunity for a ground military game which would have several chances to tell a challenging story, though there's so many landmines politically, it's not a surprise why companies would want to jump into that for a less lucrative genre.

Guess another one that comes to my mind is Western Science Fantasy. The Japanese have been doing it for ages, but from North America, the closest thing that comes to my mind is The Outer Worlds...

Oh! And considering everyone still goes on about the Thieves Guild questline from Oblivion to this day, why not a make a Heist/Thief RPG? Oceans Eleven The Video Game.

Vsevolod Frost Asks
Do you consider this situation when you work independently and alone is ok? Are you really satisfied with it? Do you think about how it would be otherwise, or maybe you think how you could do it otherwise? Or is it the exact way you wanted it to be?

When I started, I wanted to do everything myself as a way to prove that I was capable. Also, it was my way of challenging myself after University. The Film Final was 10 Minutes. So I challenged myself to make a video twice in length about a much more specific and nerdy subject, that led to "How Call of Duty Lost Its Identity."

These days however, especially after bringing on Stoofer, and watchin them go from just Thumbnails to the Full Intros you see today, I've often thought about being more of a director than a one man army. However, I don't make enough to pay off an editor for instance, and cover rent. At least, pay them any reasonable amount.

I don't want to be one of those Youtubers that uses wide eyed editors who'll accept being paid in exposure. Do things right, or don't do them at all.

Jorge Asks
Have you ever considered doing “Years Later” videos on the RDR games?

Honestly, I've only come around to Western's pretty recently in my life. So, I've not revisited Red Dead Redemption since it came out, I've not played it's sequel, and I've never touched games like GUN or the original Red Dead Revolver. I'd say it's pretty unlike a video about those games would come up soon, but you also never know.

Finally watching The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly really opened my eyes and made me question why I didn't care for Westerns as a Teenager. I guess I just preferred laser guns that much.

Alex Dicarlo Asks
What aspects in games do you feel contribute most to a games atmosphere and immersion?

Lighting, Audio, and Animation.

Fidelity's very important, but I think we're much better at detecting how things should. I think one of the reasons I loved conversations in Cyberpunk so much was the sheer detail they put into animations which most games of that type simply don't bother with.

Lighting is half of Metro Exodus' appeal, especially in the Enhanced Edition. Textures' can be top notch, but if the lighting isn't stylish or grounded, then it doesn't really matter. Mass Effect Andromeda was my lesson for that.

And Audio, having played a load of Exodus, I couldn't believe the jump in audio quality when I revisited the earlier games. Audio is what grounds us in a space, it's what we react to faster than anything else the developer can conjure up.

I'd argue these three things are the most important things, because I've seen some games be carried by them.

Elias Harris Sturim Asks
What's your process look like for the research and writing portion of the videos? How long is a typical script?

Metro Exodus was an exception. It normally doesn't take that long, but I felt a lot of pressure to get the opening as solid as I possibly could, considering the heaviness of the subject matter. Not only did I spend lots of time talking to various people in various parts of Ukraine, I also had two separate conversations with developers that were 4ish hours.

They were awesome conversations, but as you can imagine, a bitch to transcribe, and transcribing was necessary, so I could go back and verify everything I said with what they did; can't just go off of memory for that.

For the order, I play the game first, research, write (typically while playing again), narrate, edit narration, place footage, add music, and polish.

How long a script takes to write depends on the subject. Sometimes it can be two hours, sometimes it can be two months.

San_Rayncloud Asks
What's your perspective on physical games vs digital purchases?

The former will always exist, but the latter is becoming more and more questionable. One day, Xbox Game Pass will get a big bump in price, as well many other subscription services, and companies will be doubling down on exclusives for each platform.

Think of Physical Game releases like Vinyl or Paperbacks.

It is kind of amusing though seeing companies jump on digital rights ownership for people when there's the possibility of it helping them making money.

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