Hey guys. Sorry this took so long to get up. I'm not really going to have much of an introduction this time around, I just want to jump in and talk about the project itself. Early on in the sign-up stages of the game, there was a bit of a demand for a ThatGuyWithTheGlasses themed project. At first, I didn't really know what to make of it. I was like "what...a Nostalgia Critic ride??" Then, I realized that doing a "Theme Park Critic" concept could open the door to a lot of new areas in the game that have previously gone unexplored. For starters, it was the first time the contestants were really allowed to let their inner "theme park nerd" show through and start complaining about the not-so-great parts of theme parks as a focal point of the project. I also really enjoyed the crossover appeal that this sort of thing had, and the results were fairly impressive. I really have to give props to Disneyson1 this project for coming up with that killer audio clip. I'm loving the way the game is evolving into a more multi-media driven format. While written projects are still what make up the majority of the finished products, I think it's really cool when people think outside the box like the audio clip or the PDF file Team Coats presented in Project Two. Not going to say much about Season Ten right away (there will be a few MAJOR announcements about that at the end of this season...) but I'll tell you right now Season Ten will push these boundaries in even greater directions. Season Ten is going to be incredibly interactive, but I don't want to give away too much too fast, so we'll just leave it at that.
I think I'd like to address the players on a team by team basis. I'll start with the winning team this round, Team Baxter. I had some reservations about the project itself, but the way it was handled and presented, and the way the team interacted together, really made me proud. I think this project really proved that Monkey4057 is indeed a big power player. He's not the loudest player in the game, but he really knows how to drive home an idea, and he plays off of his strengths incredibly well. Imagineer2017 is also really crafty. He kind of employed the whole "throw a project" thing last project in order to secure getting Monkey transfered over to his team...sneaky, sneaky. Really interesting especially considering in my infamous "Mastermind Speech" I specifically mentioned that throwing a project was the one strategic move I personally regretted. But hey, I'm not going to condemn him at this point. He got exactly what he wanted, and now Team Baxter is kind of on a roll. Meanwhile you have CostaFreak, who is just all over the place this season. Like always, CF has the habit of vanishing for days at a time, but this season, whenever he DOES show up (and it's a considerable enough amount of times...) he usually contributes either awesome material, or at least very valuable words of wisdom. Everyone knows CostaFreak is this game's chief senior member, so he's got a lot of respect going for him this time around. Overall, the three of them really do make a likable underdog team.
Meanwhile, we have Team Davinson. This team took a hit right at the start of the project when MickeyMania forfeited for personal reasons. MickeyMania was one of THE star players of the season, and him and Disneyson made a noticeably good team. Loosing MickeyMania, perhaps I think sent Disneyson a little out of his element this time around. The communication at Team Davinson simply wasn't as strong. Thrill is definitely a "wild card" at this point, I'll give him that much. He sent StarWarsGeek to Outcast Island via Walt's Vault, and now he's been sent to Outcast Island himself. He's not the most active person, but he did manage to get second place on Festival of Imagination, so he's proved that he can last in a competitive environment. But So, You Want to be an Imagineer is a lot tougher of a landscape than Festival of Imagination, so Thrill might be in some trouble, especially if he doesn't get back from WDW soon. DWorld, on the other hand, is another question mark. Again, one of the most worthy new players to appear in Festival of Imagination, DWorld hasn't really done anything noteworthy yet. He contributes to the brainstorming and all that, but in terms of storyline or major contributions, he is kind of a player who is just..."There". No disrespect to him, of course. I understand how time consuming this game can be and we can't all have huge storylines and jaw-dropping projects. I think DWorld has a lot of potential, right now it just kind of feels like he's in a sort of hibernation.
And lastly, we have the almighty Team Coats. I really wish Futureimagineer would have been around for Fans Vs. Favorite to start out with, because he is definitely the biggest FAN of this game I've ever seen. On top of that, the kid really does have a lot of tricks up his sleeve. He's a known strategist, and he also is one of the most active brainstormers in the entire game, as well as being the person behind this team's 10/10 scoring PDF file last project. Then you have ManEatingWreath. MEW is not really the Team Leader we all thought he'd be, but I think that's a good thing. Throughout the course of the first few projects this season, MEW has shown a real vulnerability. First he was in the famous 3D or not 3D debate on the first project, in the loosing side. His team pumped out an excellent project last season, but they kind of faltered a little here. I think it came mostly down to the fact that his team kind of fell apart at the last minute due to everyone's personal schedules conflicting. A case of bad timing, really. That's all it boils down to. In spite of this though, I do think it's interesting that MEW has displayed a notable lack of self confidence as a Team Leader. His team's still on the top of the scoreboard, and don't get me wrong, he's doing a great job. I think think it's a interesting tidbit that he's not playing super-confident like I was. Lastly on Team Coats we have Hack, who I can only describe as a "hero". I mean, I was truly moved by his huge display of being a great team player this project. Hack might not exactly be the absolute best creative player in this game, though he does have a lot of really good ideas. I think the interesting thing about Hack is that really, he's more of a social player. He's just an all around likable, good guy. His claim to fame is being eliminated before his time, so I really think he's on a personal journey this season to prove he can go the distance. I'm excited to see how far his journey will take him. He's definitely one of the more unique personalities we've seen in our nine seasons.
Meanwhile, on Outcast Island...StarWarsGeek continues to display a lack of proper social skills. Sorry SWG, you're a great kid and a big fan of the game, but you are a little too confrontational and in-your-face, and that's a serious game flaw. I still think StarWarsGeek will be around for a while (hopefully he'll resurface soon...) but his character's stock definitely went down this project due to his back and forth bickering with AdvBlueDude and his lapses in activity. While were on the subject of AdvBlueDude, at this point it would surprise me if he WASN'T the person voted back into the main game. This guy has put up with a lot of crap, especially considering he came *this close* to the finals...TWICE, only to WIN Festival of Imagination, JUST to be the first person sent to Outcast Island before the game even started. He's been biding his time, mostly. I'm pretty bummed he never presented a project the past couple rounds, but I understand his predicament. Team Bluth NEEDS to start producing projects though, I'm serious. Be sure to have something in for Project Four.
And lastly, I want to talk about the new team division. DWorld has gone to Team Coats, but I think the three way team of MEW, Hack, and Futureimagineer is too strong to break, and if Coats ends up loosing, DWorld will be the next one headed to Outcast Island. Disneyson going to Team Baxter is the biggie. With him on their team, they seem almost unstoppable. Project Two was a big project for Team Coats, and that 10/10 is a big reason they're still ahead in the leaderboards. They're going to have to really hustle if they want to stay ahead. Disneyson is a huge threat no matter how you look at it. Interestingly enough, this is going to be the first time we've seen Disneyson not in a Team Leader position. To me I think it'll play out more like KingMickey going to the Fans in Season Seven though. He's really going to push Team Baxter over the edge and into greatness. Team Coats has a lot of work on their hands.
One thing I have to say is that I'm really enjoying how my expectations are shifting on a project-to-project basis. We already lost Basketbuddy and MickeyMania, the two most talked about players pre season. Last blog I called StarWarsGeek THE main character of the season, and now he's a mere footnote in the grand scheme of things. Things are shifting and turning each and every project, and I'm loving it. I have no idea WHO is going to win at this point, I just know that Disneyson is probably everyone's main competition. I've got to say, I'm kind of hoping for another PL7764 style winner. Those are always the most fun. At any rate, I'll be on the edge of my seat whatever happens. You guys are doing an amazing job, and I think the next couple projects are really going to dramatically shift the core structure of the game even more. Keep your seatbelts fastened, kids!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Commentary: Season Nine, Project Two
Hello, one and all. What a project that was, eh? All I can say is, I'm EXTREMELY relieved that we got through it with little to no causalities. I'll start where I left off, with my thoughts on the Team Pick 'Em. From the get go, this concept was one of the main driving forces behind planning for Season Nine. In the past seasons where we've had teams, the teams have either been divided up pre-game (Season Six) or was new players vs. returning players (Fans vs. Favorites, All Stars vs. Wild Cards). For the first time ever, I really wanted the Team Leaders to get in on picking their teams. I must say, there were a few surprises. First off, I never expected the mysterious Eskimokyle (who is currently DOA) to be the first one picked, and I also never expected Basketbuddy to be the one picked to go to Outcast Island.
But alas, this season really does have a backwards feel to it compared to what we usually expect, doesn't it? I mean here we are, just starting out the third project, and my pre-game cast assessment has been proven completely wrong. I listed Basketbuddy as the most likely person to win, and MickeyMania as the most likely newcomer to go far. BOOM! Both gone the first round of team play. Talk about shocking, huh? I'm REALLY going to miss MickeyMania. He just seems like a genuinely good person and a multi-talented Imagineer in training. Really hoping he'll show up for Season Ten. Basketbuddy, on the other hand just got bogged down with a personal schedule, but it's pretty shocking to me considering all throughout the pre-game he really seemed in this thing to win. These two being eliminated definitely evens the playing field a bit.
And speaking of my expectations being thrown off...seriously, MAD PROPS to Futureimagineer. This guy has gone from the single person in the cast I was LEAST excited about to becoming a major power player almost overnight. He put together an amazing presentation, contributes tons of ideas, and has a crafty, strategic side to him. I seriously just LOVE this new addition to our cast.
But the thing I know you guys all want me to get to is the most controversial event in the history of the game. I never expected things to EVER get as chaotic as they were during the fatal and infamous Season Eight, Project Eight. Well...they did. All I can say is, I kind of feel like a kid who has just gotten caught with his hand in a cookie jar. I wanted to see some serious alliances and major power moves this season, but I never expected anything on the mass level of hysteria of the event that we shall officially call "PM-Gate".
PM-Gate started when I got two PMs, one from MEW, one from Imagineer2017, explaining that they had been offered multiple alliances and were on razor's edge with not being able to trust anyone. As soon as you could say "Johnny Fairplay" the entire game came to a screeching halt as we tried to figure out exactly who was behind this mass string of PMs. There was a point where I really wasn't sure if the game could even survive this madness. I've explained this before, I'll explain this again. The key difference between PM-Gate and my "Mastermind" gameplay during Season Eight is that nothing that I did was malicious. I targeted Disneyson simply because he was a HUGE threat, no other reason. Sure, I had my fair share of mindgames, but I never directly made any sort of "hit-list" or at any point rubbed any one person the wrong way so much that they'd want to quit. There were certainly people who disagreed with my playing style, most notably AdvBlueDude and Imagineer2017, but these were more or less friendly rivalries, not open ended warfare.
That being said, I have to give it to StarWarsGeek. This kid is like...the MAIN character of the entire season. Who would have thought? He's spent the entire last season studying my game and preparing himself, and came up with a strategy that blew anything I did completely out of the water. It was only when I saw exactly how much harm this aggressiveness caused the main game that I kind of sunk in my chair a little bit and realized exactly what I had done. That phrase "I've created a monster...", yeah, it was very much in effect here. StarWarsGeek, however, is no monster. He's a dedicated fan of the game and a crafty, unpredictable player. He's got some major lessons to learn about how to socially integrate into a team, but he's a player who is out to win, and will be in it as long as he can. While his actions caused things to get slightly out of hand, I applaud him for being so ambitious with this game to begin with.
So now that PM-Gate is over with, I obviously don't want to hear anything else about mass PM warfare going on behind the scenes. The magic of this game in the first place, and you should all know this by now, is the fact that ANYONE can win and there are multiple routes you can take to get yourself to the finals. Make no mistake, I'm not FORCING you to have a strategic game and big moves, but what I do want to see, should you make the allusive Final Three, is a layout of your plan to get yourself there and how you accomplished it. This doesn't have to involve slitting throats less and less, but I definitely want to see you guys have an awareness of your position and steps you took to get yourself to the finals. Even if it was "avoid strategy at all costs...", that's still a GAMEPLAN. That's exactly what I'm looking for.
Anyways, I want to talk a little bit about Outcast Island. I think for now on, if you don't contribute anything to the Outcast Island brainstorming thread on a project to project basis, you should be eliminated on the spot. Players like Eskimokyle, who mysteriously dropped out of thin air at the start of Project Two, and DisneyParksFanatic, who has been floating along by dropping ideas every so often, are on thin ice, and if I don't see them post anything, they'll both be eliminated this round, no questions asked. Getting sent to Outcast Island should be your wake-up call. If you don't do anything to improve your standing the project after you get sent there, you don't deserve any more chances. I'm hoping the amount of activity on Outcast Island will improve as more people get sent there. I kind of expected the first project to be a blow out. Let's see if Adv and SWG can avoid last place this time around.
And...that's about it. All I can say guys, is that there's not really a lot I can do about "strategy". I understand that it can potentially be a pitfall for the game, but I think the think we all have to work on is just making sure it doesn't get out of hand. If we can all be mature about it and, above everything else, avoid directly targeting people and other sorts of malicious activity, we should be fine. I want this season to be FUN, not a stressful warzone. I'll be monitoring this situation very closely and will let you know the SECOND things start to get out of hand if they do, so we can collectively make steps to fix them. The one thing I can think of is just eliminating voting all together and just having the judges chose who gets eliminated every project, ala Season Six, but I want to give you guys another shot at this, as I think how you integrate yourself into a team is just as important as any creative merit you might possess. Alright, well...let me just say I'm still really proud of you all and I'm LOVING this cast. It should be obvious by now that eliminations will come a little faster than you're used to just because we are currently behind schedule, but overall I think this season is going to flow really well. Now, get back to brainstorming!
But alas, this season really does have a backwards feel to it compared to what we usually expect, doesn't it? I mean here we are, just starting out the third project, and my pre-game cast assessment has been proven completely wrong. I listed Basketbuddy as the most likely person to win, and MickeyMania as the most likely newcomer to go far. BOOM! Both gone the first round of team play. Talk about shocking, huh? I'm REALLY going to miss MickeyMania. He just seems like a genuinely good person and a multi-talented Imagineer in training. Really hoping he'll show up for Season Ten. Basketbuddy, on the other hand just got bogged down with a personal schedule, but it's pretty shocking to me considering all throughout the pre-game he really seemed in this thing to win. These two being eliminated definitely evens the playing field a bit.
And speaking of my expectations being thrown off...seriously, MAD PROPS to Futureimagineer. This guy has gone from the single person in the cast I was LEAST excited about to becoming a major power player almost overnight. He put together an amazing presentation, contributes tons of ideas, and has a crafty, strategic side to him. I seriously just LOVE this new addition to our cast.
But the thing I know you guys all want me to get to is the most controversial event in the history of the game. I never expected things to EVER get as chaotic as they were during the fatal and infamous Season Eight, Project Eight. Well...they did. All I can say is, I kind of feel like a kid who has just gotten caught with his hand in a cookie jar. I wanted to see some serious alliances and major power moves this season, but I never expected anything on the mass level of hysteria of the event that we shall officially call "PM-Gate".
PM-Gate started when I got two PMs, one from MEW, one from Imagineer2017, explaining that they had been offered multiple alliances and were on razor's edge with not being able to trust anyone. As soon as you could say "Johnny Fairplay" the entire game came to a screeching halt as we tried to figure out exactly who was behind this mass string of PMs. There was a point where I really wasn't sure if the game could even survive this madness. I've explained this before, I'll explain this again. The key difference between PM-Gate and my "Mastermind" gameplay during Season Eight is that nothing that I did was malicious. I targeted Disneyson simply because he was a HUGE threat, no other reason. Sure, I had my fair share of mindgames, but I never directly made any sort of "hit-list" or at any point rubbed any one person the wrong way so much that they'd want to quit. There were certainly people who disagreed with my playing style, most notably AdvBlueDude and Imagineer2017, but these were more or less friendly rivalries, not open ended warfare.
That being said, I have to give it to StarWarsGeek. This kid is like...the MAIN character of the entire season. Who would have thought? He's spent the entire last season studying my game and preparing himself, and came up with a strategy that blew anything I did completely out of the water. It was only when I saw exactly how much harm this aggressiveness caused the main game that I kind of sunk in my chair a little bit and realized exactly what I had done. That phrase "I've created a monster...", yeah, it was very much in effect here. StarWarsGeek, however, is no monster. He's a dedicated fan of the game and a crafty, unpredictable player. He's got some major lessons to learn about how to socially integrate into a team, but he's a player who is out to win, and will be in it as long as he can. While his actions caused things to get slightly out of hand, I applaud him for being so ambitious with this game to begin with.
So now that PM-Gate is over with, I obviously don't want to hear anything else about mass PM warfare going on behind the scenes. The magic of this game in the first place, and you should all know this by now, is the fact that ANYONE can win and there are multiple routes you can take to get yourself to the finals. Make no mistake, I'm not FORCING you to have a strategic game and big moves, but what I do want to see, should you make the allusive Final Three, is a layout of your plan to get yourself there and how you accomplished it. This doesn't have to involve slitting throats less and less, but I definitely want to see you guys have an awareness of your position and steps you took to get yourself to the finals. Even if it was "avoid strategy at all costs...", that's still a GAMEPLAN. That's exactly what I'm looking for.
Anyways, I want to talk a little bit about Outcast Island. I think for now on, if you don't contribute anything to the Outcast Island brainstorming thread on a project to project basis, you should be eliminated on the spot. Players like Eskimokyle, who mysteriously dropped out of thin air at the start of Project Two, and DisneyParksFanatic, who has been floating along by dropping ideas every so often, are on thin ice, and if I don't see them post anything, they'll both be eliminated this round, no questions asked. Getting sent to Outcast Island should be your wake-up call. If you don't do anything to improve your standing the project after you get sent there, you don't deserve any more chances. I'm hoping the amount of activity on Outcast Island will improve as more people get sent there. I kind of expected the first project to be a blow out. Let's see if Adv and SWG can avoid last place this time around.
And...that's about it. All I can say guys, is that there's not really a lot I can do about "strategy". I understand that it can potentially be a pitfall for the game, but I think the think we all have to work on is just making sure it doesn't get out of hand. If we can all be mature about it and, above everything else, avoid directly targeting people and other sorts of malicious activity, we should be fine. I want this season to be FUN, not a stressful warzone. I'll be monitoring this situation very closely and will let you know the SECOND things start to get out of hand if they do, so we can collectively make steps to fix them. The one thing I can think of is just eliminating voting all together and just having the judges chose who gets eliminated every project, ala Season Six, but I want to give you guys another shot at this, as I think how you integrate yourself into a team is just as important as any creative merit you might possess. Alright, well...let me just say I'm still really proud of you all and I'm LOVING this cast. It should be obvious by now that eliminations will come a little faster than you're used to just because we are currently behind schedule, but overall I think this season is going to flow really well. Now, get back to brainstorming!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Season Nine, Project One commentary
Hello everyone. It's been a pretty exciting couple of weeks, hasn't it? While Project One hasn't been fully posted yet, I really want to get the ball rolling on posting project by project commentary just to get you guys even more in tune with my thought process. Though Project One was certainly stressful, I think each and everyone of you for the most part handled yourselves really well, and I'm thrilled we have such a diverse cast and an interesting dynamic this time around.
As I've already said numerous times, the reason why we started off with another big group project after the somewhat ill-fated one last season was just because we wanted to give the three Team Leaders the chance to work with the rest of the cast to make proper choices come the Team Pick 'Em. This is the last time were going to do this, since the obvious lesson to be learned is no matter what happens, things are going to be disorganized.
I'd like to highlight a few personal storylines that I'm keeping an eye on. The first involves Eskimokyle. This is definitely a contestant to keep an eye on. He started the project out guns blazing, and even had a sort of communication breakdown. From there, he was somewhat under the radar, but still made at least a big enough impression to be the first person picked in the Pick 'Em. He's already living up to his potential.
The storyline with ManEatingWreath and the 3D or NOT 3D (hey, I kind of like that...) debate. This got pretty heated, and ultimately I don't even know if there's going to be 3D or not. I found it very interesting that inspite of having more power than most of the cast, MEW was outnumbered this time around and sort of an underdog in this debate. Another unexpected turn of events.
Unfortunately, potential strategist and personal friend of mine Monsterzendog just couldn't get into the game and ended up going DOA. He has been eliminated and won't be a part of the standings this season. Maybe one day I'll convince him to give the game a real go. I know it is daunting to just jump into a big thing like this. That's why I give most of this cast so much credit.
Speaking of credit where credit is due, by far the most surprising new addition to the cast is Futureimagineer. In my cast assessment, I basically said I saw him having the least potential out of anyone. All I can say is, nice way to prove me wrong. This kid really has potential. He struggled through the brainstorming because of his unfamiliarity with the source material, but when all was said and done he wound up one of the most devoted people on the project, even going as far as offering himself up to put the finished product together. I really like what I see in him. He'll definitely be one of the big people on my radar.
I was a bit let down by Basketbuddy's performance this project, but then again, I really think he might be intentionally flying under the radar. His sole contribution to the project though, his great 3D concept art, is definitely something that still put him on people's radars. I'm hoping that Basketbuddy will thrive when put on a smaller team. I think a lot of people are in this situation. Hack2112 was very verbal about his dislike of big group projects, but at the same time I see Hack as one of the contestants with the most potential. He's definitely got his heart in it, and I really think he'll be here a while.
MickeyMania1 started out strong, but then unfortunately fell ill about a week into the project. He seems to have resurfaced, so again I hope he can thrive on a smaller team. In my cast assessment I listed him as the most promising new contestant, and he still shows a lot of potential. Startwarsgeek, meanwhile, lived up to his reputation as a likable, scrappy underdog. He might not be the strongest contestant creatively, and he definitely lacks in the presentation department, but the kid has determination, and that's one of the main things you need in this game.
So all in all, things are running smoothly. There's already been one shocking twist, and I promise you, it will be the first of many. AdvBlueDude has decided to open Walt's Vault, and as a result has been sent to Outcast Island as the Team Leader for the Outcast team. This season really is a reinvention of the game. Twists like the Golden Power of MVP, Walt's Vault, and Outcast Island itself, will really play a large part in the fabric of how this season ultimately plays out. I can only hope the concepts run as smoothly as I see them running in my head.
So that's about it. Right now, I just hope the teams are divided as soon as possible so you guys can really get the ball rolling on the brainstorming for Project Two. I'm excited for the book project. It's one of the many projects this season where we step completely out of theme parks at large while still having the subject matter very much rooted in the theme park genre. I can't wait to see what you guys do with it. This is the best cast we've ever had, and I'm dying to see how this whole thing plays out. Have fun guys, I'll be watching anxiously and cheering all of you on!
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