Gaming Podcasts: A Thread about Listening to Others

[Hero-of-Time]

I was listening to the latest episode of Frame Trap this morning and I have mixed feelings about the episode. On one hand it was great to hear some of the stories Huber was telling about his childhood and how he wasn't allowed to watch Jurassic Park at the cinema. On the other hand it was very frustrating to hear him talk about lootboxes and microtransactions, essentially waving away the idea that they are a problem. He is a bit like Jones in the sense that if there is something bad that is in a game that he likes then he will bury his head in the sand. I was happy that Ben pushed back a few times with some of the comments that he made.

[LazyBoy]

I've had an idea for a podcast/videocast series and I wanted to get some feedback on the idea - if it is better posted somewhere else please say.

In short, it would be a regular competitive Smash Ultimate lets play, but with space for discussion of other games. Think something like the Contender as the format, but Game Grumps like in the way the conversation opens up.

Minimum 5 people probably needed, minimum one show a week where everyone has to turn up, with the option to do more if you have the time. A series would be 5 rounds for example, with the final round being an out and out battle/tournament to see who is the best. But each round before that can be different with different challenges - a stamina week, a week where you can only pick characters from the Mario franchise, a team week etc. Each round is 2 weeks long, with the first week setting the challenge and seeing us practice against each other, the next week being the actual competition. In between we could put up additional content if we want of us practicing (maybe even discussing strategies and how we're practicing), and we could do this in pairs or in triplets depending on availability (we can just work opportunistically here).

Key though is that whilst others are fighting, the spare people discuss what we've been playing this week - and this can be new games, retros games, indie games. Whatever. We can review it, pull out interesting parts. Anyone can ask questions of course, and build the conversation.

Its something different - there's lots of just game review podcasts out there, and this might be fun. If the conversation fails we always have the Smash, and vice versa.

Just putting it out there, shout if you think you might be interested. 

[S.C.G]

This sounds like an interesting idea @LazyBoy and it has potential to work as well, so I'd tentatively be interested depending on how everything is set up.

It sounds fine in principal from what you've described though and I can see that you've done your research on similar shows which are already available.

[LazyBoy]

I'm happy to hear that @S.C.G, as NE reviewer I was hoping you'd be interested. The show is not really about to be about Smash skill - I'm pretty crap at it myself - I just think the lets play format grants you a lot of time to discuss things whilst acting as a safety net if the conversation drops. What is needed then is not good Smash players, but good conversationalists and reviewers.

Is it the kind of thing that could be put under the 'NE' banner? 

[Glen-i]

As far as I'm concerned, you're pretty good @LazyBoy. You certainly keep me on my toes.

While I wouldn't be able to be on the actual discussion panel. (Don't really have the equipment for that) I certainly wouldn't mind being one of the players in these sessions if I happen to be available.

Any excuse for more Smash, I guess.

[S.C.G]

1 minute ago, LazyBoy said:

I'm happy to hear that @S.C.G, as NE reviewer I was hoping you'd be interested. The show is not really about to be about Smash skill - I'm pretty crap at it myself - I just think the lets play format grants you a lot of time to discuss things whilst acting as a safety net if the conversation drops. What is needed then is not good Smash players, but good conversationalists and reviewers.

Is it the kind of thing that could be put under the 'NE' banner? 

That's good to hear as I'm not that brilliant at Smash either, I was just talking about improving my Smash skills a bit in the online thread only last night as well.

Yes, it's good to have a safety net I think, in the past when we've made certain podcast style videos on N-E some of them have gone better than others.

Would people taking part have to appear on camera or is it more that we'd have some Smash streaming/playing and it's more about just the audio side of things?

This is something which I think could be put under the N-Europe banner, potentially but we'd have to discuss it more but as long as the staff are happy, I don't see why not.

Obviously it's not my decision to make ultimately as besides, we'd need help putting all this together and we have been talking about trying to do make more video content.

[LazyBoy]

Would be very happy if you joined @Glen-i, as then we can be assured that someone with actual skill is involved.

Hold your horses on discussion though, as we don't know what we'll need yet:

1 minute ago, S.C.G said:

That's good to hear as I'm not that brilliant at Smash either, I was just talking about improving my Smash skills a bit in the online thread only last night as well.

Yes, it's good to have a safety net I think, in the past when we've made certain podcast style videos on N-E some of them have gone better than others.

Would people taking part have to appear on camera or is it more that we'd have some Smash streaming/playing and it's more about just the audio side of things?

This is something which I think could be put under the N-Europe banner, potentially but we'd have to discuss it more but as long as the staff are happy, I don't see why not.

Obviously it's not my decision to make ultimately as besides, we'd need help putting all this together and we have been talking about trying to do make more video content.

Well I have no interest in either being on camera or using my real name - I've got no interest in fame, but I would like a creative outlet for my gaming. 

My vision was no cameras whatsoever, with us commentating/discussing over recorded or live-streamed gameplay footage. We'd put a fairly raw version of that up on youtube, and also edit a best bits together. A couple graphics would be needed. 

I guess the biggest ask is that I lack both the skills and equipment to produce these videos, so we would have to find someone to put them together - can anyone weigh in on this?

And who are the staff that would have to sign off on this?

[Glen-i]

11 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

And who are the staff that would have to sign off on this?

Definitely @Ashley if you want it under the N-E banner, you'll need the go-ahead of the person who runs the site.

Graphics-wise, @RedShell would be the guy who does pretty much all the graphics you see on this site. If you decide to go for it, you could ask him nicely.
I'm kinda new-ish to the staff, but I believe @Vileplume2000 has some experience with making videos for the site.

Edited October 11, 2019 by Glen-i

[S.C.G]

12 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

Would be very happy if you joined @Glen-i, as then we can be assured that someone with actual skill is involved.

Hold your horses on discussion though, as we don't know what we'll need yet:

Well I have no interest in either being on camera or using my real name - I've got no interest in fame, but I would like a creative outlet for my gaming. 

My vision was no cameras whatsoever, with us commentating/discussing over recorded or live-streamed gameplay footage. We'd put a fairly raw version of that up on youtube, and also edit a best bits together. A couple graphics would be needed. 

I guess the biggest ask is that I lack both the skills and equipment to produce these videos, so we would have to find someone to put them together - can anyone weigh in on this?

And who are the staff that would have to sign off on this?

Yep, it'd be excellent to have Glen involved, especially for Smash, I've learned a fair bit just from playing Smash each week even though I've still much to learn.

Glad to hear that you don't really want cameras involved, I'm probably happier just providing voice if required, I don't mind real names so much but if you like we can just stick to forum names but I would have thought first names would be fine?

1 minute ago, Glen-i said:

Definitely @Ashley if you want it under the N-E banner, you'll need the go-ahead of the person who runs the site.

Graphics-wise, @RedShell would be the guy who does pretty much all the graphics you see on this site. If you decide to go for it, you could ask him nicely.
I'm kinda new-ish to the staff, but I believe @Vileplume2000 has some experience with making videos for the site.

Yep, seconding this... what I was going to say is that we could talk about it in the staff section and see about who can do what in addition to talking about it here.

I think this could work very well as this sounds like a good fit for the site and our community.

[LazyBoy]

Thanks @S.C.G - is it worth me writing a little synopsis of the idea for you to post in the staff forum?

@Ashley going on my description above, what are your initial thoughts?  Obviously we wouldn't push forward without a successful trial run, but if it works it could draw more people to the forums.

 

[S.C.G]

2 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

Thanks @S.C.G - is it worth me writing a little synopsis of the idea for you to post in the staff forum?

@Ashley going on my description above, what are your initial thoughts?  Obviously we wouldn't push forward without a successful trial run, but if it works it could draw more people to the forums.

Definitely, then I could post it in the staff section and it would be a good way to keep track of ideas etc and who's on board.

It's sounding promising though.

[LazyBoy]

Alright I'm just off to the gym, then I'll put something together when Im back - exciting stuff.

[Jonnas]

That sounds like an excellent idea. Like an odd mix of Friday Night Fisticuffs and Frame Trap.

Seeing as I should practice Smash online more often, I'd like to be on board... But I have no idea on how feasible that would be. I certainly don't have a fancy microphone.

[LazyBoy]

Alright @S.C.G, this one if for the staff.

Spoiler

The idea is to produce a weekly video of around 45-60 minutes that looks like a Smash Ultimate Lets Play, with discussion among 5-6 regular competitors about Switch games.

It would be an informative but humorous show, with good conversation being key and the Smash games providing both entertainment and content to fall back on. I would like to request it is put under the NE brand, promote it on the website and use it to attract new forum members.

It would be family friendly, polite and encourage viewers to try out games maybe they had not considered.

Following auditions to find our 5-6 competitors (myself included), we would have a test run of the idea before you sign off on it and we go into full production. This would mean an hour a week where all competitors join a smash battle arena, call into a shared conference call, and both the Smash and audio is recorded. 

I'll say at this point that I am no expert on producing content like this, so we would require a producer to record and edit the videos, as well as being able to advise on the equipment and software we will need.

I will helm the show to begin with, though I am not precious about it and we can discuss changing this in the future if necessary. Shows would begin with me establishing the situation with regard to the current competition we are engaged in. The show will be filmed in series, with the first series being 5 'rounds' long, each round consisting of a practice week, where the challenge for that week is introduced and we practice, and the week after being the actual challenge. So 10 weeks in all.

On challenge weeks we are awarded points depending on performance in the challenge. The final round is always a straight 1-1 tournament for inflated points. The other rounds are themed - a Pokemon only week, an explosives weeks, a team battle week etc. 

Whilst matches are happening the other 1/2 competitors who are not playing will be commentating where the fighting is interesting enough for it, but most of the time they will be discussing Switch games. I will ask every competitor for a game they have been playing this week in advance, and throw questions to them about that game when they are not playing. Others can of course chime in, and plenty of allowance will be given for the conversation to branch, especially where subjects are topical.

The show will be posted in its entirety on youtube, but can then be clipped up into - Best moments of fighting, separate game discussions, and maybe just funniest bits. Thus we produce 3-4 pieces of content for each hour of video recorded.  

Availability will probably be the main obstacle here - getting 5-6 people to agree on a time every week is not easy. However on practice weeks we can just leave people out, whilst for people who have missed challenge weeks we can have a fun punishment the next week they are available, where they have to go up against a team of 3 others, getting a point for every stock they manage to win off the other team. Its not about winning the competition after all, its just a fun framework.

As I said we can do a test run first, and then if we like it try doing a series. If we get some views, or new people join the forum then we can consider it a success. 

Interested to hear your opinions, please say if you have any questions. Would be great if we could try this out this weekend, as I have some time.

@Jonnas would love to have you involved.

[S.C.G]

2 hours ago, LazyBoy said:

Alright @S.C.G, this one is for the staff.

Thanks, I appreciate you typing that out as it gives a clearer idea for the general vision of the video series and I do like the sound of it the more I read about it.

I've posted a thread in the staff section so that should get the ball rolling and see if we can figure out who can devote time and various skills to this project on a regular basis.

We'll be sure to keep you and the rest of forum updated but it really does sound promising from the outset, we'll see anyway.

[LazyBoy]

On 10/11/2019 at 5:10 PM, S.C.G said:

Thanks, I appreciate you typing that out as it gives a clearer idea for the general vision of the video series and I do like the sound of it the more I read about it.

I've posted a thread in the staff section so that should get the ball rolling and see if we can figure out who can devote time and various skills to this project on a regular basis.

We'll be sure to keep you and the rest of forum updated but it really does sound promising from the outset, we'll see anyway.

Any feedback from the staff forum?

[S.C.G]

14 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

Any feedback from the staff forum?

@Glen-i can help with the Smash side of things but audio recording isn't really an option.

@RedShell can also help with Smash and also possibly recording of Smash footage with the technical limitation of 1080P @ 30fps though I don't think that's a problem. 

Red also mentioned a few technical issues might arise but I'd argue that he's very experienced in capturing footage though editing would likely need to done by someone else. (due to time constraints) but as for Graphics, it should go without saying that Red is definitely the man for the job.

(this is as I understand things so far, correct me if I'm wrong though)

Personally, I'd be happy to help with Smash and can probably help with audio, I don't think my mic setup is brilliant though so I might need to look at that.

How would we be recording audio? Is it Skype or something else? I have Skype but I deleted it as it takes up valuable resources, so I could use something else but it has to be PC based.

I don't use anything on the mobile phone side of things, so Nintendo Switch mobile app is definitely not an option, just to throw that out there but anything PC based is fine.

A few months ago I got that Video Editing humble bundle, so I have software, I just haven't installed it all yet and redeemed the keys but I should do that as it might be helpful.

Because I have the time, I'm willing to try my hand at anything within reason if it's useful to this venture and this site in general so I'm on-board as much as I can be.

Edited October 13, 2019 by S.C.G

[LazyBoy]

Good to hear that the reception has been warm. What about using the NE brand in principle? Would be great if we could push it out on the main site when ready, and it would really help if it could be arranged this on the forum.

[Glen-i]

2 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

Good to hear that the reception has been warm. What about using the NE brand in principle? Would be great if we could push it out on the main site when ready, and it would really help if it could be arranged this on the forum.

@Ashley hasn't gotten back to us yet. But that's pretty usual on the weekend, give it time. I'm sure we'll get word on that soon.

Edited October 13, 2019 by Glen-i

[LazyBoy]

Coolio. If I were to start a thread so I could arrange a test run, where would be the best place to put it?

[S.C.G]

1 minute ago, LazyBoy said:

Good to hear that the reception has been warm. What about using the NE brand in principle? Would be great if we could push it out on the main site when ready, and it would really help if it could be arranged this on the forum.

Oh yeah, in pinciple it should be fine as it would all be a community effort from staff and forum members so promoting it on the main site when the time comes would be fine, I'd even gladly do the promotion myself as I already handle a lot of the articles which go up on the main site, I've always been happy to do so and this would be no exception.

It's just as Glen has said, we'd like to know what Ashley thinks about it all as he's in charge of the site and while I'd have thought he'd probably be happy for all of this to go ahead it's best to have a proper talk about it all plus I reckon he might have some ideas on how to help promote it all further than the main page across social media etc.

I'm not so great at that side of things... also though I think @Vileplume2000 has been promoting our articles on social media recently as well? So he might want to help us with that or partake in the Smash side of things, or maybe video/audio recording? What do you reckon Dennis?

The more people we can get involved, the better the chance this will have.

[S.C.G]

2 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

Coolio. If I were to start a thread so I could arrange a test run, where would be the best place to put it?

I'd just post another thread right here in General Gaming for the thread in the Staff area I just went with... Super Smash Bros. Ultimate N-E Videocast but call it what you like.

[LazyBoy]

Thank you Glen, but you'll have to excuse my love of ridiculous thread titles.

[Glen-i]

41 minutes ago, LazyBoy said:

Thank you Glen, but you'll have to excuse my love of ridiculous thread titles.

I believe you meant @S.C.G, because I very much approve of that name.

[LazyBoy]

Brain fart