Ch-ch-changes! By Titch1987

Ch-ch-ch-changes. As Wolfe said in his previous blog post, we have been kind of quiet on the community front, but on the back end of things he says, “We have been busy.” As with everything, change comes from a need to help streamline or make procedures better for more efficiency. Sometimes change can just be a fresh look. Now, I know a lot of things have been very vague from us as to what we have been working on and I apologize for that. I can’t help but think about game developers who say, “We want it to feel complete before we show you;” we are getting to that stage. I have mentioned working on this project to a number of people for while now because I am dying to show you all, and my personal deadline is drawing closer and closer - I can see the finish line. Runners will talk about breaking through the wall: When you’re tired and near the end, you have to break through that wall with that second burst of wind to finish. This project has been the biggest wall I’ve had to break through in some time.

Back to the reason for change: Streamlining. Occasionally we bring guests on to cast with us, and they generally say, “I didn’t realize it was as much to set up, and what goes on in the background it was really cool seeing the behind the scenes.” I arguably have made the work load on the production side harder? I don’t think harder is the right word. I would say I paid closer attention to detail which sometimes cluttered our experience. So where did the reason for change come from? Well this goes back all the way to when Wolfe and I casted and produced alone using the original white, black and red line background. When Paco joined the team, he immediately felt we could do better, not just for us, but for the viewers. It was then that the “green map” became our staple theme. We ran with that for quite a while and in some ways has been a huge scene for us and a point of creative growth. I started playing around with video editing by initially incorporating our logo in the background. I started to play with creating transitions as well. If you were to ask anyone what was AHC’s first background, most people would probably refer to that, and rightly so as it felt more like us.

After a while, Wolfe felt we needed a change; it was back to the drawing board. So we all went to work looking for something new that would fit us. Enter “Paco’s Desk.” This felt like a perfect fit for us. We had the Paco production-like feel and with some customization, we could really make it work. We started getting creative with logo placements like putting the GS logo under the mouse as a mouse pad and adding the mugs to the table. We then added some of what we felt were the best transitions we have made and used to date.

This time it was my turn. The setup was starting to feel old, and it was growing to be uncomfortable to look at. It started to feel cramped and roster scenes felt bland; we were also feeling trapped creatively. Because of this, off to the drawing board I went. This time, however, I had not said anything and just got to work. I dropped an image in our chat with the subtitle, “What do you guys think?” The response I got from my team was far less than enthusiastic: “If we are going to change things up, then change this and this.” Ok, start again - delete everything and go back to the drawing board. This time with the changes and a complete layout, I once again presented the team with my idea. The reception was an overwhelming no. Getting shot down twice, I simply felt, “Ok, well fuck me then.” After a very long discussion about aspects of our stream that stand out and what we can do to improve it, we identified some key points of existing broadcasts that we couldn’t match: A production budget and a studio. With the impact of the pandemic on Esports pulling people out of the studio and into their homes, they have had to adapt to a world we were already well versed in. The Rocket League Championship is still under way and they use a setup not much different to ours: Four casters/analysts at home each in their own webcam box, a panel to the left and bottom for key information. Electronic Sports League’s (ESL) Starcraft 2 competition was taking place last weekend where we could see two casters both working from home, each with their own webcam box, and a panel overlay below. Now to be fair, their overlays are much more customized and professional than ours, but they have broadcasting software we simply do not, paid and seasoned professionals to create assets, and commercial equipment for overall production. The only difference now is that they don’t have a studio. How can we compete with production teams with the professional grade now working in the format we have been for the past year? It is as if the major leagues are playing in the minors, and we just do not stand a chance - they pump a bunch of money into a broadcasting format we started using before anyone else. How are we supposed to make ourselves different and stay relevant? Can we even compete?

Feeling somewhat broken and defeated, with something Paco said repeating in my head over and over, I went back to the drawing board as I knew there had to be something I can come up with to freshen up the stream and bring back the, “I love this scene” feeling. An idea formed and a quick mockup drawing was made. I dropped it in our chat again asking for feedback, but this time there was some back and forth; they started to see my vision. A new big question emerged from this: Can we make this happen though? It’s not going to be easy, but I thought I could. Over the course of 20 hours of work, I started to chip away at the project piece by piece using more files for this project than any other project we have done. The other night, I started to compile everything into Streamlabs to put everything together with some things missing from my to-do list. With things being 98% complete, I pull two others into Skype and showcased my work. It needed a few minor tweaks, but we were reaching that, “This feels good” sensation. The vision had come to life - I created what I feel is the best work I can produce up to this point. Note: When I say its 98% complete, I am speaking to our base theme. In all truthfulness, this project will never be done. For the foreseeable future this will always be 99% complete. I just need to break through the wall to finish that 1%, and my hope is you guys see the potential of this effort when we finally get to take off the cover next week for the first cast of the Season 8 Pro League.

Thank you for reading my newest blog post – I hope you enjoyed. Please join us each week on Twitch, link you can find on the Live page of this website.

Until the next blog!