Scritching that itch
Here’s why I signed up for itch. Why I’m using Unity3D. And why I’m writing this content. Let’s get started.
In the bingo goals list for the Unusual Due Diligence channel, I have a list of different goals and outcomes that I am attempting to steer towards. Running a channel as a one-milkshake show is a lot of work. And that’s even with the universe at my back. And that difficulty level of “nightmare mode” is why I’ve decided to also set about an impossible challenge: “Hey, this is crazy hard. How about I ship more games?”
And to date, the channel has two games. Click here for the most recent one (as of this article). Those are web-based games using frameworks or approaches that met two key critiera:
- The title had to work on a mobile screen.
- I had to be able to ship the title within three days.
- The game had to, well, work
If you are new to the channel or to my [needs improvement] writing style, then let me explain to you real quick the specific reasons why I’m interested and intrigued about shipping games. Then, at the end I’ll bring it all around to show what I’m doing about it.
When you are in the process of producing a twice a week show, there are certain things you need to “get good” at doing. For example, being able to self-generate B-roll footage that isn’t from some random online asset catalog. After all, for the Unusual Due Diligence channel one of the prop B-roll scenes is an ANKR-blue lit portal that’s situated in the middle of a stadium configured for a professional basketball game. There is no such thing as stock art for the channel: I am inventing it each and every episode, using any shortcut I can get my hands on.
So, how do I go about doing that?
Well, for the most part I have two choices. First, I can animate some scenes in various dimensions using my primary toolchain. That toolchain is Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, Premier, and Media Encoder. Those work pretty well for a lot of odd ball scenarios, except sometimes I really need to create a more complex scene.
Enter Unity3D.
I’ve shown this in various behind the scenes footage I’ve made for the channel and, it reminds me i’ve not done one of those in a while but there’s a reason for that and incidentally why I’m writing this article here. I may get into that another day. Instead, let’s talk about the Unity3D Game Engine as low-budget solution for film studio.
It might not surprise anyone that the channel lacks access to modern film equipment. In fact, everything done is done on a Yeti X microphone (present to myself) and a Laptop that… well let’s just say it gets the job done. Constraints are good, they really are. if I had access to a complete film studio, I don’t think this channel would ever have evolved into what it is today, or where it might evolve into tomorrow. It’s something a larger company wouldn’t ever fund and why would they?
“You want to do a twice a week cartoon that covers due diligence on any topic you’re interested in? There’s precisely zero people that will watch that. Get out of my office, I have real work to do! “— Busy Entertainment Executive
Unity3D is my one-man film studio, well it is when combined with my other tools. And it took me a year to kind of “wait, so how does this thing work and what’s that button do and WAIT WHAT DOES THAT BUTTON DO WHY DID I CLICK IT”
QUICK REVIEW
At this point in the journey, here’s what I’ve shared with you.
- The channel makes use of a mix of adobe tools to produce video content.
- BRoll and other footage is captured in Unity3D
What I have not done is explained why.
SKILLS OVERLAP
When you look at the production of YouTube videos and games, something really odd struck me about three weeks into starting up the channel. I began to notice that there was useful skill transference from building sets, animating characters, painting stages and so in Unity3D, and then the composition of a scene, pacing structure and so on of a YouTube video.
That’s what led to the creation of the very first game, a little title I call ANKR It Up. And yes, that’s the ANKR Token. However, this article is not really about the Web3 stack. It’s about approach and growth.
So if you look at the Unity3D game engine, or any game engine, the skills used in producing titles have a strong, very strong overlap into the world of improving the quality of the YouTube videos. In fact, it’s a contributing factor to the hoverboard that Milkshake uses to move about the screen.
Here’s the rather remarkable thing to me, and why I’m writing this article. If you go searching for this skill overlap, you won’t find a lot of overt explanation of this phenomena. My belief is that there’s a good reason for it: until recently the tools and technology just didn’t surface this connection in a good way. For sure you will find stories about how games are becoming more like movies. However, what I haven’t found (not yet-if you know of one drop it in the comment below) is a quality source that explains how the skills in video games are a net positive to making quality improvement to the development of an online streaming channel.
Simple examples:
- Stage Design
- Lighting
- Motion
- Sound Design
- Pacing
THE DELIBERATION
This connection of video games improves YouTube and YouTube improves video games is something that I picked up on. It’s what I consider a virtuous loop. You really have to keep an eye out for these opportunities. The hard part: now what?
I debated for a long time what the next or third game for the channel would be. After all, it could be a board game and I even explored a card game. However, the experience and quality level of other game frameworks is pretty abysmal right now. Meaning this.
If you go scour the internet from your phone for playable games that work well on your phone and then also a desktop computer, I’ve found the experience to be completely terrible. It’s not that the games are fun. The mechanics are sound, but there is a lot more to a game than just the game itself. It’s the ease of access: is it weird to try and launch the game, does the resolution scale, do all the sounds load, does the game work in a bad internet area? And then if I found something promising the next question often killed it: is the project still alive or was it abandoned?
It wasn’t just a game framework I needed, but a framework that would let me move fast, and just work for the audience. According to the channel statistics, the channel audience is roughly split on mobile and PC. That… by itself is quite interesting. Are you all watching or listening at work? I may need to ask that in a poll soon. THAT SAID, let’s continue on.
I drew up this value map to show the relationship between building games, making videos, achieving value to YOU, having FUN, and looping it all into one amazing process. The question that took me a few months to answer: but what game engine do I use? Hint: you already know where I’m going with this.
You already solved it by now. I landed on Unity3D but with a new problem. I don’t have it in me to publish apps to mobile phones. That’s what you call a financial bridge to far right now with a one-man show using a laptop and borrowed equipment. But the year is 2022 and there are options.
After some reflection, and analysis of the 50,000+ or more of you that come and watch the channel, I realized that there’s a segmentation of people that just care about the games aspect. In a similar way? There’s a slice of important people that like long-form content like this too. I’m writing this for YOU.
So there’s a population of people, and that population might be one, or it might be one million, of a real interest in playing oddball games that a YouTube channel might push out. Again, the intention behind the games are all in an effort to improve the animation and set pieces and design of the channel itself.
To that end, I signed up for and added some of the base branding behind the channel to this https://unusualdd.itch.io. You know, I should go update the roadmap over at https://unusualdd.com/roadmap.html now that this is live.
Is there going to be a game sometime this year published to that itch website for PC users by way of the Unity3D framework? That remains to be seen, but I do know this…
This is Unusual Due Diligence. I am your host, Poseidon, the mighty god of the sea. In today’s online article, I explained the new emergency of an itch profile for the channel. You can visit the itch.io Unusual Due Diligence channel by clicking here.
HEY BEFORE YOU GO! Give me a highfive on your way or even a follow if you like long form content. If this article could be better, drop me a comment so I can know how to improve. -Poseidon
