So, the video playback - is it fun to watch, should it be more fun? How should people be filming? Is there some way to make the videos... prettier, and if so is that a desirable end, or should the focus be purely on making it easy to score?
For me the answer to the question about the video being fun to watch is so far "no" (shrine-a post-game playback, vimeo versions appearing on playmakers website).
I'm in the process of shifting some paradigms around the video not being documentation or scoring process, but rather something that the teams have constructed to do the competing. Video Death Match - yeah! All the running around stuff beforehand is just preparation.
Current thinking is that the videos need to be more theatrical/dramatic with clear points of tension or conflict where they come together and clash to reveal victors. More like a film. It needs narrative/peaks/troughs/anticipation/climax to provide a series of emotional hooks.
The absolute key to this (probably) is in synchronising the video and the actions it captures.
I've got some vague, techy ideas of how to do this - all completely beyond my current skill levels - but will try and have some sort of prototype working for Monday's Hide&Speak...
Think your feedback is really interesting, it chimes with stuff HOlly & I have been thinking about in previous versions. Have been having some vaguely similar thoughts in response to Jane Mcgonigal's feedback over at the Playmakers site: http://playmakers.org.uk/2009/05/28/feedback-jane-mcgonigal-on-golf/#comments
I'm sorry about the unsychronised playback that happened in Shrine #A - the only time it's been off. The BFI playback was much more fun.
Am going to blog on Playmakers site now about your comments alongside team dynamic comments as I think they reflect one another.
Looking forward to seeing your prototype tomorrow!
Prototype in action with a really simple game mechanic (didn't plan the paper-scissors-stone!). Do I get extra points for the curtains?
http://www.vimeo.com/4934627
Syncing the film footage is really easy and the very specific points of cohesion seem to work well.
It's about 6 minutes of gameplay with 5 interjections. If you were going to expand this to, say, 15 minutes of gameplay, what characteristics would the interjections have to have? Can you use them to build a narrative thread a la cinema?
I think we have two very different audiences here - the players straight after a game, and non-players watching the footage on Vimeo. Are we aiming at one, or both - should we be making two different videos? And what's the atmosphere like when players are watching the feedback straight after a game - are they bored, or do they just chat and drink during the boring bits, and develop a communal hush when something interesting is happening?
How much difference would a soundtrack make, to give the audience something to focus on when there's nothing interesting in shot? I've just tried watching the Bond Sandpit footage with Last.FM "spy music" playing in the background, and even with the overlap being random and unedited, it seemed to work pretty well.
Players and non-players share basic expectations of what they want in return of giving up 10 minutes of their life to watch something and a shared 'language of film'. 2 groups might diverge after that, but got to get the fundamentals sorted first.
Current Vimeo use as convenient shorthand for conveying flavours and ideas, but not yet being used for Finished Things.
Video shown as part of the game has to be the priority and has to follow on from the crowd running around and generally being fired-up and invested in stuff. "game with a finish" isn't good enough: it has to be a "game with a BIG finish".
Video shown as part of the game has to follow on from running around bit immediately, therefore has to game has to be designed around producing the final film for the players. (no editing, scoring has to be apparent, scoring has to be easy and indisputable)
Players have to have a reason for watching the film - scores have to emerge in such a way as you only get the winner revealed at the end
Has to be a series of smaller hooks during the playback to keep players invested/interested in watching the whole film. Ramp. It. Up.
Is there a way to change "watching the film" to "playing with the film" (ie less passive?)
Drifting between the different videos is nice in moderation (wouldn't want to do it for (those) 10 minutes and could turn up some nice random interesting coincidental stuff, but how do you know when the 'something interesting's are happening.
How can you engineer for the somethng interestings to happen?