Thoughts on the weekly PA Video Contest

Discussion in 'Planetary Annihilation General Discussion' started by Zaphys, January 20, 2015.

  1. Zaphys

    Zaphys Well-Known Member

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    (TL; DR : the weekly Video Contest is an awesome idea so go here and cast your vote or, even better, make your own epic video and upload it!)

    I think Uber has a golden opportunity if the Video Contest goes well: having a weekly update in the "Videos" column in-game is certainly something that will create a feeling of the game being alive. The potential benefits of exposing videos to the thousands of players who play PA every week should be obvious. Therefore, I want to draw the attention of everyone in this forum for them to contribute by liking their favourite video here and/or by posting their own.

    Although, as I say, the benefits should be obvious, let me list a few reasons why I think the Video Contest is such a good chance to consolidate playerbase along with some examples of videos that have been already proposed for this week's contest:
    • Announcing and creating hype for big PA events. This is, actually, one of the most interesting uses of a weekely public video display. It goes without saying that having teasers and trailers for the upcoming tournaments show in the PA main menu will nearly completely maximise the potential participant view ratio. Also, Exodus people have already produced some of the most awesome PA videos (imo) precisely as trailers for tournaments:
    • Reinforcing the sense of community. With the in-game social features (chat, player profile, replays...) desperately needing some love, having videos made by active members of the community about on-going topics will create a nice feeling of a lively commnity. Be it gags, jokes, top player rivalry, balance issues, feature requests... anything that is considered important enough for the community will potentially appear as a video on the in-game main menu. These are some of the best videos proposed for this week's Video Contest (imo), only issue is that they are quite outdated:
    • Easily distributing in-depth Tutorials. Having updated tutorials of all kinds (for n00bs, for competitive games, for team games...) with that level of visibility will retain many newcomers and steadily improve the community average level of play and overall engagement with the competitive side of PA.
    • Showing PA's gorgeous visuals. PA is a game that, in order to be played effectively, a player needs to stay at a purely tactical level of in-screen display (reasonably zoomed-out and using unit icons); and hence missing most of the visually attractive content of the game. We all know that what this game does as an RTS has never been done before (multiple battlefields across an entire solar system) but, when it comes to the player's game experience, it usually translates into managing difficulty and demanding multitasking (something we, competitive players, love). This is why cinematic videos or cinematic replays and casts are so important for showing the visually stunning side of PA. There are many examples of videos on YouTube that convey this aspect of the game very well .
    • Showing PA's powerful engine. Having collisions that alter the system geometry, rotating and orbiting planets, orbital warfare, death-star-like annihilasers, teleports, unit cannons, nukes... implemented in a game with virtually no limit for scale is a massive technical achievement. Again competitive, and even casual, play usually takes place at relatively small scales and so the technically advanced features of the game are usually not visible. Cinematic videos or recorded in-game experiments are a wonderful way for the game engine to shine.
    Last edited: January 20, 2015
  2. wpmarshall

    wpmarshall Planetary Moderator

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    I think the last three are the most important as, if you are viewing the PA video column you already have, or are just about to, experience the visuals and the engine.
    Zaphys likes this.
  3. theseeker2

    theseeker2 Well-Known Member

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    lol he switched them around so those are the last 2
  4. theseeker2

    theseeker2 Well-Known Member

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    the PA carpet nuking videos kind of remind me of the supcom: FA intro when earth is destroyed by the seraphim
  5. icycalm

    icycalm Post Master General

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    I think no one should make a video if he's not running the game on Uber with all the bells and whistles on (including full supersampling) and all the mods that make the game look better. That's why we are not streaming yet, as a clan.
    stuart98 likes this.
  6. Zaphys

    Zaphys Well-Known Member

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    Yes I thought it was a very good point so I tried to emphasise those point by moving them to teh top of the list :)
  7. Zaphys

    Zaphys Well-Known Member

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  8. wpmarshall

    wpmarshall Planetary Moderator

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    I've been working on a story board for one since December - I just need a few details and can complete it - it wont be done in the VERY near future though. However I have other ideas :)
    cptconundrum, Zaphys and elodea like this.
  9. germanyxx3

    germanyxx3 Member

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    I hope you also watched my "little" nuke video in the main thread :D

    So I have almost reached the limit of the engine in this game o_O
  10. Zaphys

    Zaphys Well-Known Member

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    I am sure it will be an auto-win when you post it ;)
    wpmarshall likes this.
  11. wpmarshall

    wpmarshall Planetary Moderator

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    I doubt it :)

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