Game commentary
blind
Join Date: 2010-04-17 Member: 71437Members, Squad Five Gold
Join Date: 2010-04-17 Member: 71437Members, Squad Five Gold
Hey guys. I'm sorry if this is dropped in the wrong subforums, but I figured it would be well placed here.
If you know some game commentary (e.g. HDstarcraft - love it) you know how a good commentator can spread popularity for a game by demonstrating its tactical depth. NS do have a lot of depth in gameplay, especially compared with all other FPS I know, and I'd really like to have some good NS2 commentary going on when this will finally grow up.
Regarding no one ever did some on NS1 I tried to fill out the hole by commentating/shoutcasting recent NS1 matches of ENSL which is still running. I'm completely new to this, so don't expect too much as I try to get better with every shoutcast I do. Hence, feedback and criticizm are highly appreciated.
All matches can be found here:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/blindNS" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/user/blindNS</a>
Because youtube videos are restricted up to 10 minutes length, I had to split many rounds. Hence I created playlists but you can also select specific rounds in my uploads on my channel and follow throughout the video responses I seeded.
Also mentioning that all vids are HD, because I personally always forget that I can select better res on youtube videos while complaining about the quality :D
If you know some game commentary (e.g. HDstarcraft - love it) you know how a good commentator can spread popularity for a game by demonstrating its tactical depth. NS do have a lot of depth in gameplay, especially compared with all other FPS I know, and I'd really like to have some good NS2 commentary going on when this will finally grow up.
Regarding no one ever did some on NS1 I tried to fill out the hole by commentating/shoutcasting recent NS1 matches of ENSL which is still running. I'm completely new to this, so don't expect too much as I try to get better with every shoutcast I do. Hence, feedback and criticizm are highly appreciated.
All matches can be found here:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/blindNS" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/user/blindNS</a>
Because youtube videos are restricted up to 10 minutes length, I had to split many rounds. Hence I created playlists but you can also select specific rounds in my uploads on my channel and follow throughout the video responses I seeded.
Also mentioning that all vids are HD, because I personally always forget that I can select better res on youtube videos while complaining about the quality :D
Comments
You can put Youtube videos in a playlist and they'll play sequentially. It's a little bit easier than finding the "response" vid.
Thanks for the hint, I will try that when I come back home after weekend.
@puzl
Funny you mention that, I tried to do with a 2nd caster, but we had lots of troubles with sound recording (using fraps and teamspeak), but we'll try again once we found a solution for it.
And no, finals are coming up sunday (unless they have to postpone) evening euro-time.
Clearly you missed all of these then?
<a href="http://www.ninelegends.com/files/index.php?dir=Shoutcasts/Natural%20Selection/" target="_blank">http://www.ninelegends.com/files/index.php...al%20Selection/</a>
I personally shoutcasted at least a couple of ENSL season finals, aswell as the (last?) EU vs NA exhibition match when v3.1 came out.
Which leads to the question wether ns2's first release will include a demo feature or not since they already said that some kind of hltv feature is low priority.
Because I personally enjoy the starcraft 2 videos and I agree that something like this would also help ns2.
We love commentary, spectating and replays, but I don't think they will hold up v1.0. Starcraft 2 did something I've always wanted (which I hope we can do for NS2) which is archive old versions of the game locally to allow you to easily watch old demos.
I'd still appreciate if you paid a bit more attention to the alien scoreboard res counts though. While watching HLTV demos I constantly try to figure out the timings and such, but on your commentaries it's all up to you to keep us on track of that.
I highly recommend you check out the HoNCast crew and how they're doing commentary for Heroes of Newerth. Granted, they have a whole spectator mode UI setup to make their life easier. No idea how the NS2 spec mode will be like.
And then there's the whole live versus replay commentary. They're both good things to cover.
Basically, I recommend someone (perhaps you) start getting a site together where we can get a team of good, consistent commentators to cover epic stuff.
For those who aren't familiar with it, here's one of the best replays from it:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGP1-R9rugo" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGP1-R9rugo</a>
Notables for NS2:
Current team res (aggregate and per-player / per-comm)
Total res gained for this round and total res spent for the round
# of res nodes
Alien Lifeforms and Marine Weapons on the field
Building counts
Score sheet (we all love K:D, right???)
for the next ones you do ... could you maybe raise your voice volume over the game sounds a little more? sometimes i had a hard time understanding what you were saying. but this might also just me being a non native speaker ;)
* Too much talking. You were talking so much that I started to try to tune you out. IMO, commentating is not necessarily about talking non-stop. You had a pretty heavy accent and were talking fast so I had to actually make an effort to try to understand what you were saying. Personally I like to hear the sounds going on in the game and I don't mind some commentary mixed in but I don't like it to dominate the audible experience.
* The mini-map overlay was HIGHLY annoying. I want to watch the match, not the mini-map. Occasionally (and quickly) popping it up during slow moments to see how many nodes each team had would have been better.
* Stop holding the tab key to see the status of players. You only need to hold it for a second or two to see who went fade / onos / heavy /etc. Between the mini-map and the scoreboard I honestly had to stop watching.
With all that said I think it's a good idea, but it definitely needs to be honed :)
Like every one else here, I'm really excited about streaming and watching high level ns2.
I wonder what kind of mistakes you're referring to. The games nowadays aren't too high level due to the lack of active teams, but it's still a world of difference compared to the present public games.
im not sure how you set things up to do this, but i think you might want to reconsider a second person commentating. not just for the second set of eyes to make sure you dont miss anything, but for pre-game, post-game, and downtime during the game, you can have someone to bounce ideas/thoughts off of to keep the listeners entertained.
you can count me in for any type of ns2 commentating, it was definitely an enjoyable experience for me, and i felt like i was making a connection between the really high skilled players in the match and the relatively lower skilled players watching. i know how much of a hurdle it is to get something like this off the ground, especially for one person, so if you need any help with your operation, let me know
edit: i still have some of our old shoutcast recordings if you would like hear them
Blind pointed out countless mistakes throughout the matches. Lerks flying into 2 shotguns, 2 marines with lmgs trying to take on a hive, gorges out alone, you name it.
But I can see how competitive NS can get old quickly. The tactics will be very similar game to game. You don't get the varied gameplay like you do in public matches. No heavy rushes, no sieges, no walls of lame, no DC first, no turret farms, etc. You may think some of those are silly or stupid, and yeah, you're right, but it adds variety and fun to each game, as you never know what to expect. Some of my most enjoyable games were games where both sides make stupid mistakes and the ebb and flow of momentum is great.
I take it that video was your first contact with competetive NS, because half of the things you ruled out actually do happen on a regular basis.
For example, one of the big differences to pub play is the smaller team size.
@topic:
Only watched one round so far, but I liked it!
Little criticism: You seemed to explain some very basic things - which is good for inexperienced players, but might get old quickly if you keep doing it in all your commentaries.
Where are you from Blind? You sound like you have a Dutch accent. Good job on the videos though.
That was exactly my point. I understand that most of that stuff is pointless for pros (I even said that), but it just doesn't seem all that fun when you strip down the game to just a few elements that are the most effective. At least you get to see many different things in public play, not just the most effective strategy 90% of the time.
Welcome to competition in every walk of life.