We need your help: A Backer Beta Community Effort to produce a Primer Video Series for all gamers before Release!

[TrueMenace]

Hello fellow Backer Beta players (and lurkers). I have a very interesting idea to propose to you guys. So listen up!

 

I had an idea yesterday and it would require the entire Backer Beta Community.

 

The idea is to create a series of short, concise primer videos for the newcomers/uninformed before Release Day. 

 

These videos will summarize the game mechanics in an intuitive manner and showcase "safe" class builds with their attribute spreads and suggested abilities and talents. 

 

These videos are meant to help EVERYONE. Got a friend who heard about the game, show these videos to him. These videos will help market the game to a "broader" audience. A lot of gamers are scared of these type of games or misinformed. It's our job to let them know that this game is easy to learn and understand. Yes, of course there's a manual. But wouldn't it be better to hear all that good stuff from you guys? These videos will be shown everywhere on the internet (NeoGaf, Codex, Gamefaqs, etc.). 

 

A newcomer comes across the |OT| thread on NeoGaf, asks what this game is and bam we have these series of videos CREATED BY THE BACKER BETA COMMUNITY. Free marketing and informing the public. The end game for us is for Obsidian to promote these videos on Twitter. We need them to spread OUR WISDOM.  

 

We all played the BB, we all have our opinions and strong bias towards certain mechanics, therefore we'll need some structure. Thus, I'll explain how we need to prepare.

 

Each video will need to be concise and short.

 

Below, I will list topics for each video and what you need to do is give feedback on what you want to talk about. When you post, reference the video you are discussing. Write as if you are talking in front of a camera to an audience. This will make it easier to compose a draft for each video.

 

Video A: Game Mechanics. (HP/Endurance, Afflictions, Attack Resolution, etc.) Needs to short and concise and easy for anyone to understand quickly.

 

Video/s B: Suggested Class Builds by the BB Community. 

 

Here is the fun part. Post your tried-and-test class builds. Give the exact attribute spread, and suggested talents/abilities and skills. Talk about the class in general, and the purpose of your build and how it comes together with your attributes. These class builds need to be short and easy for anyone to watch and "copy". They need to be not "super niche" builds. One video per class. Generally the most safest class build will be used. But alternatives will be suggested. So an example, the Fighter class video will showcase their typical "tank" build, but an alternative DPS build will be suggested and how you can build that. Again, write as if you are speaking to someone who doesn't have a lot of knowledge of the game. 

 

Essentially, someone wants to make a Paldain, well they watch the Paladin video and see what attributes they should pick and how they will generally play out. That's the goal of each video. Alternatives to each class build will also be discussed at the end of the video, but not heavily emphasized.

 

KISS = Keep It Short and Simple. 

 

So, post your class builds, specific attribute spreads, a description of why you chose that and what your build accomplishes. We all will have to decide only 1 final build per class however. 

 

Video #C: Game Nuances. Things you have learned over the BB (tips and tricks of the trade) (kind of like the tips in the loading phase of the game but in a video format!). 

 

Can't think of any other topics to talk about at the moment.

 

In conclusion, these videos will hopefully stand the test of time. 1 year from now on a Steam Sale, people will hear about this game and want to know how to play. These videos will help. Ideally, if the videos do actually get made and are high quality, Obsidian can tweet them out to get even more heads turning and listening.

 

I may have missed some stuff to talk about, but hopefully I got my "idea" across. Let me know what you think and start contributing.

 

As for who is making the videos, I'm not sure yet. Sensuki has stated he is up for it. But it would be great if we had "dual" or "tri" commentary for the videos. 

 

Edit: I hope I elaborated on what the idea is, but feel free to help me out on that haha. I may have just written a wall of nothing.

Edited March 18, 2015 by TrueMenace

[Anaeme]

This is a fantastic idea. 

 

i will say it again and again...newcomers will not know what to do with this game without help

[Shevek]

Time limit per vid?

[TrueMenace]

Time limit per vid?

 

How much can we cram in 5 minutes? Honestly, no clues yet. Need to first read what others want to talk about per video, then organize a draft. 

Edited March 18, 2015 by TrueMenace

[Shevek]

I think character creation vids would be the most requested but our advice would be rendered meaningless by the 0-day patch.

[Sensuki]

Shorter videos tend to be better

 

As an ex-shoutcaster, I can tell you that videos with more than one person speaking, with back and forth commentary are a lot more engaging than the same person talking for ages, even if that person is good at talking. So if we can get something like that set up, that would be cool.

[TrueMenace]

I think character creation vids would be the most requested but our advice would be rendered meaningless by the 0-day patch.

Not necessarily. The idea is to have "safe" class builds. Not showcase "niche" builds that can be rendered useless by the Day 1 Patch. A good example is showcasing a tanky fighter. Can't screw that up and attribute spread is simple and safe. 

[Sensuki]

There's not too much that's going to change really.

[Shevek]

Well, I think I would rather do the opposite. I would do a vid on how to put together a custom party that does effectively in melee without the need for tanky fighters. Niche builds is where the fun is at.

[Whipstitch]

i will say it again and again...newcomers will not know what to do with this game without help

Yeah, PoE isn't Madden. I say this not to condescend to sports gamers, but to emphasize that PoE isn't one of those games where "hard mode" or above is near universally acknowledged as the de facto standard of play and "Normal mode" appears to be designed for people who lack fully functioning digits. I've personally born witness to otherwise competent adults getting their party messily murdered by Normal mode beetles. Newbies should absolutely go right ahead and take those difficulty descriptions at face value and remember they can fiddle with the slider at any time.

[Sensuki]

I haven't really discussed much with TrueMenace yet Shevek but I was basically going to introduce the effective builds that I know of - such as the high intellect Barbarian / high Intellect Fighter / Blunderbuss Rogue - etc etc

[Shevek]

I would just do a short vid on how to put together an effective custom party. I would maybe have one such party created as an example and explain the thinking behind why it was put together a certain way, etc.

[Bester]

I would just do a short vid on how to put together an effective custom party. I would maybe have one such party created as an example and explain the thinking behind why it was put together a certain way, etc.

 

While the idea is interesting, I think most people would play with stock NPCs for their personalities on their first playthrough, so I think vids about optimal builds for each class individually would be much more appreciated. I'm hoping Sensuki will make those, but if you made some as well, I think the more the better. Different approaches = more info. I hope Odd Hermit also makes some as well.

Edited March 18, 2015 by Bester

[Sensuki]

Yeah, I was going to do just single builds and not custom party builds.

[Shevek]

I think that with the stronghold utilizing custom adventurers, there are plenty of incentives to make custom party members for the first playthrough.

[ManifestedISO]

 

...newcomers will not know what to do with this game without help

 

Maybe, but I don't remember any helpful videos when the IE games first came out ... I wonder how it became popular with newcomers back then. 

[Shevek]

That was a different time. Gamers were into things like cloth maps and reading manuals.

[Osvir]

I like the sentiment excuse my criticism though (intended to be of the constructive kind)

Don't forget the "consumer" communities, Steam and GoG, where I believe most of the questionmarks will be found. Furthermore, there's going to be a tutorial in the game, recommended stats for character building, an extensive Glossary. I do think that allowing people to explore the game a bit is also healthy, and if someone does have a question about it, like "What does this do?" it could be beneficial to just answer the question with a sentance or two instead of "Watch this video!".

Meanwhile, on public forums, there might be only 1 person asking a question but there's 20+ people who have the same question who check the thread the 1st person asked in, and they see an "advanced" response rather than an "easy" response. A question like "What does this do?" could quickly be reference checked by you in the Glossary (in-game) and you can easily answer "This is what it says in the glossary in-game". Or if someone playing the game is having difficulty with some stuff, you can reference to the Glossary "Check the Glossary, there's tons of information there, also, here's the thing you were asking about".

From my sales & marketing work experience/education, people want "easy" solutions and my gut feeling is telling me that a video response to a simple question may give the reaction "I have to watch this video!? I'm going to have to learn all this?? Naaaaaaaaaaaah, pass". So it'll be key to be able to spot the difference between an "advanced question" and a "simple question".

Obviously:
- Advanced Question = Advanced Answer
- Simple Question = Simple Answer

Don't make it more advanced than it is, is what I'm trying to say, and the game isn't even that advanced*. Many games that I thought were really hard and difficult at first, I learned and championed my way through and got better at and I'm sure you feel the same for many games. How good were you at this game the first time you played it? How good was Adam (Brennecke) at this game when he died to the Beetles compared to how good he is now?

Give people some air to breathe before you chug the meta down their throats even if the meta has already been discovered and discussed by 1000's of people, finding it yourself in ignorance to the rest, gives a sense of achievement.

*I might've felt that the game was advanced at first, like MANY games I have played. New games tend to "feel" more advanced, in my opinion, but as you learn more and more this becomes narrower and narrower. Try to remember your first impression of the game, and realize that everything you know about the game is stuff you have learned about the game, and try to allow newcomers to be able to experience that first impression and that journey on their own

"Put yourself in their shoes" or even better, "Put yourself in your own shoes from 6 months ago"

Edited March 18, 2015 by Osvir

[Sensuki]

Actually Build Guides in a similar manner to what you find for a MOBA might be an idea for the Steam section.

[Shevek]

Alright, here is my contribution. Shortest I could make it is 15 minutes.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FLqPa4tWvY&feature=youtu.be

[TrueMenace]

Alright, here is my contribution. Shortest I could make it is 15 minutes.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FLqPa4tWvY&feature=youtu.be

Watching now, thanks! I'll get some ideas for my video. Thinking of showcasing the Cipher, want more people to get hyped for this "under-the-radar-awesome" class.

[Headbomb]

Personally, I think it's fairly pointless and even detrimental to do these vids before the final game is out. Balance will change, as will talents, abilities, items, etc... What's good in bb480 may be utter crap in the release version (or vice-versa).

[Shevek]

I am pretty sure they are 99% focused on bug fixing but you may be right. We'll see I guess.

[Headbomb]

Bug fixing, but balancing is also part of it.

 

Now I doubt Moon Godlike paladins will change very much from where they are now, since they were fairly well-balanced (favourite class/race combo so far), so I doubt the above video will be miles off track when release day hits, but how viable some of the specific stuff is, like a dual pistol build where you switch between two pistols to save on reload time, could very much change if they decide to nerf guns.

 

There's also the fact that most people (esp newcomers to IE-style games) will be using companions from the game, rather than building entire parties from scratch. Very few will bother making custom companions on their first playthrough.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think making these videos is a good idea. But let's have the game out before we start to opine on what's a good build for the game, and if those are intended to be guides for newcomers, then they should be done with a newcomer play style in mind. Full custom party guides are probably something that should be aimed mostly to those attempting the game on Hard / Path of the Damned.

Edited March 19, 2015 by Headbomb

[Shevek]

Naw, I think we should put out a bunch of these vids and give people the option whether or not they want to see them. The comment section of youtube videos can be used for clarification and to generate further discussion.

 

Maybe folks will utilize vids like these. Maybe they wont. So? The vid is there. People have the free will to do as they want with it.