People have asked if I’ve ever planned some DVD releases of my old reviews, which is a great idea. I’ve recently put some serious thought into it and started fooling around with DVD Architect. These are the conclusions I’ve reached:
It’s very easy to create DVDs that look like rubbish. That is, yes, I can very easily slap the videos onto a disc, use some generic plaintext menu, and you’ll have a disc with a ton of great content, but menus that look cheaper than a Hong Kong bootleg of The Matrix.
I’d prefer to send out a higher-quality product than that, however, but that’s where I run into some problems. As a graphic artist, I’m absolute garbage. For some reason, I’m comfortable in front of a camera, I can write, but when it comes to drawing or graphics, I don’t even know where to begin. The extent of my photoshopping ability is to add captions or draw little red goatees over people’s faces. It’s pathetic.
That’s where I’m at right now: looking at some very generic DVD files in desperate need of an artist’s touch. Maybe you don’t care how the menus or packaging looks, but I do. If anyone is saintly enough to volunteer their time and effort, feel free to e-mail me with any ideas you might have. Right now, I’m looking at releasing two, maybe three volumes of TSE videos (Vol. 1, Vol. 2, maybe a Final Fantasy 8 compilation), as well as the Phantasmagoria 2 saga on 2 or 3 discs. Each would have creator commentaries, as well as some extra artwork, music videos, etc.
Each video needs a main menu screen (with options to Play All, Episode Select, and Special Features), an Episode Select Screen, and a Special Features screen. Then there’s the artwork for the DVD packaging and the disc itself. Animated menus and buttons might be a little extreme given my lack of experience, unless you have some brilliant ideas and can talk me through it.
Also, the physical production of the DVDs poses something of a challenge. I have no idea what the demand for these things will be, but if it’s high, I don’t really have the means to easily mass-produce the discs. Basically all I can do is run copies off one-at-a-time on my PC, maybe LightScribing a logo on the top of the disc. If you know of a way to print off copies in bulk, or maybe a service that offers discs-on-demand, that would also be helpful.
I realize I’m unlikely to get much help for free, since I’m basically asking for professional graphic design, here. If you have a fee for a service such as this, e-mail me and we’ll discuss it.
Thanks, everyone!
My webmistress is preparing to launch the new version of the website, and while I have full confidence in her abilities, I feel it’s necessary to warn you that the potential for disaster is always lurking. Expect the front page to be in a state of dysfunction for a short while, until we can work the kinks out.
The forums will remain relatively untouched, and I don’t think we’re doing anything that should affect the way they operate.
We’ll probably be adding other functionality incrementally. The movie reviews may take a little time to set right because they’re undergoing such a radical series of revisions (I originally organized the file structure like a deranged drug-test monkey), and I’m trying to re-render and upload new copies of all my previous videos that I hope will load better for you guys. It’ll take a while until this battle station is fully-operational.
Lastly, if you’re subscribed to this blog feed, you’d better get ready to dump it. I will discontinue using Blogger with the new site format. All of my updates will go through another feed. Stay tuned for more details. Mainly, expect some outages in the near future, and try not to panic.
I know that the videos are downloading slowly for some of you. I’m working around the clock to upload new videos that tech support claims will stream without any bandwidth hitches. But I’ve also heard many complaints about stuttering, video sync problems, and failure of the videos to load at all.
At this point in modern computing, I really shouldn’t have to tell you that whenever you’re having problems, one of the first things you should do is ensure you have the latest device drivers for all of your hardware and software. Seriously. Check. Download the latest drivers for Flash and Java if you can, and then make sure you’re using the latest version of Firefox. Make sure Windows is up to date. Odds are, that will solve your problem.
I got a message from Blip explaining why they think the videos are being so slow to load. I set the video bit rate too high. I set it that way on the advice of a particular clown who shall remain nameless, but it’s made things a huge mess. I’ll have to re-render every video on Blip, and that screws all my previous blog posts up. I’ll also have to go change the embedded players on the other pages…agh, makes me want to pull my hair out just thinking about it.
But since I’m doing it, I thought I might correct a few things. I’ll be resizing the videos to 720×540, which is the original un-stretched format, and a little more manageable for the new site. I’ll also be cleaning up the Phantasmagoria videos so that the picture is uniform, and the breaks between “episodes” is more sensible. I’ve decided to split them up into hour-long segments instead of the confusing 10-minutes-on-YouTube, who-knows-how-long-on-Blip method I’ve been doing.
Now if you’re ready for the really confusing part, I’ll still upload the next Phantasmagoria segments on Blip somewhat piecemeal until the whole thing is finished. When it’s all done with, I’ll convert it all into the nice 1-hour long segments with the others.
It’ll take some time, though. Re-rendering all these files is damn slow work.
After taking a look at some of my web traffic statistics, I’ve been advised to start treating this damn website like Serious Business, because while my numbers aren’t great, they’re actually good enough that a guy like me can “turn pro” and start collecting some real cash. That’s the reason why you’re seeing ads creep onto the site. I’m trying to keep them as unintrusive as possible, but the changes around here have only just begun.
The Spoony Experiment is due for a complete overhaul. The site design right now is about three years old, and I’ll be the first to admit that it’s not very good. It’s basic, it’s relatively simple and the text is readable, which was the goal, but it’s always looked pretty amateurish. Makes sense, since I’m a complete amateur at web design, and I’m honestly amazed it’s worked as well as it has so far. We’ve had some pretty major disasters around here migrating the site to new servers, and it’s not all due to the size of the forum. I did a piss-poor job of coding this place, and whenever I had a choice between improving the site or creating new video content, I almost always chose creating more content. Probably the right choice, but it didn’t make TSE much more pleasant to be around.
So I’m tearing it all down. In 2009 this place will look completely different, from top to bottom. The content will remain, but the site is being restructured and redesigned so that all of the content will be much easier to access, and it’ll be easier to read. I’m still working out the details. The forum will remain relatively untouched, I think.
The conclusion of the Phantasmagoria review will also likely mark the end of my regular YouTube updates. I’ll probably change to posting small teaser trailers and funneling the traffic to the full-length videos on TSE where I can get some ad revenue. I owe a lot to the YouTube community, but I need to get some of that regular traffic to my site. I know it’s somewhat annoying, but those videos you watch add up to a lot of traffic.
Until I know more about how the new site will look, I’m hereby canceling all the requests I’ve made in the past for new banners. I’m definitely going to change the way those look into something narrower.
