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Extra Credits: Mailbag #4

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    Mailbag #4
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    As promised, here is that follow up
    Mailbag Episode.
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    And wouldn't you know it, our good
    friend Erin Siegel is back
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    to help us out with some more
    awesome drawings,
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    while Allison catches a breather.
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    We still got a lot left to squeeze
    in, so let's get right to it.
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    Are you ever gonna do that episode you
    mentioned about Voice Acting,
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    putting Role play back in RPGs
    or Genres or any of those other ones?
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    We will ... probably get
    to all the episodes we´ve
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    put in the "Future Topic" category
    at some point.
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    Because James spends most of his
    Time runnig a consulting company
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    and holding a full professorship.
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    Extra Credits episodes tend to get
    written as they overlap
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    with problems, he is thinking
    about in his work life.
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    But like I said all these things will
    probably come up sooner or later.
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    I don't actually need help with the
    research project itself,
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    but my topic is similiar to what you
    guys covered in an episode once.
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    Where do you guys find your
    research sources ?
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    Hmm... that's tough.
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    We don't acutally keep a list of
    footnotes for the episodes,
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    and some of the Information can't
    really be shared anyway, because
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    James gathered it from industry
    people he works with.
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    Other than that though, all the information
    we use is publicly avaiable on
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    the Internet or through the
    US library system.
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    We try very hard to keep things that
    are speculative in a speculative voice,
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    like the possibilities of tangential learning,
    for example.
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    We also try to always call out when we are
    making a logical leap in an episode,
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    and suggest other valid possibilities.
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    But we're gonna miss this one
    sometimes, so
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    fact check us and dig deeper
    wherever you can.
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    That's actually something I'd love
    to see come out of this show.
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    I got so many cool game ideas.
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    Is there any way i could pitch
    them to a Studio?
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    Well here is the thing.
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    Everybody has got Ideas
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    In fact, people in game studios
    usually have a lot more ideas,
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    they want to work on, than
    they'll ever be able to ptoduce.
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    Unfortunatly this means, nobody is
    really gonna be
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    interested in your game ideas.
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    However, prototypes are a different matter.
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    If you could put together a
    prototype,
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    that really shows off what you're
    trying to deliver.
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    That is something that publishers
    will potentially look at.
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    There are thousands of ways
    to make connections
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    and get people to notice your prototype.
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    But conventions are usually a good
    place to start.
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    Next question.
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    Is there any place i could apply my
    Psychology or Economics
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    or whatever degree in the game industry?
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    Most designers and producers i know,
    came from disparate backgrounds.
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    James, for example, took his
    undergrad in classics.
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    But if you are looking for an
    industry job
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    more directly relevant to your field.
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    That may be a pretty tough sell.
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    Only giant companies like Microsoft
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    devote ressources to
    dedicated psychologists.
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    And only companies, who build
    their entire game
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    around some non-game related discipline,
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    like Economics in EVE online,
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    hire those fields specifically.
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    It could happen, but it is a long shot.
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    How do you get into game localization?
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    There is a small number of companies
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    that handle a lot of the localization
    work for the game industry.
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    Just google "game localization"
    and you'll find most of them.
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    See if they have any openings,
    or even just
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    send them a resume with your skills.
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    Just be prepared.
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    You'll have to have a strong
    grasp of the langugage,
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    you are translating from, and an
    impaccable command
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    of the grammar and idioms of the
    language your are translating into
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    Are there any game design books
    you would recommend?
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    First and foremost James recommends
    Jesse Schell's "Book of Lenses"
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    After that he also suggests
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    "Rules of Play"
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    "Designing Virtual Worlds"
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    and another book called
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    "On Game Design"
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    If you are already a professional
    Designer and have those already.
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    you might also check out "Game Feel"
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    It's got a interesting and different
    take on the art of game desgin.
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    But other Books like
    "The Design of Everyday Things"
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    "Understanding Comics"
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    and "Flow"
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    Are also an essential part of the
    game designer's library.
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    Don't strictly limit yourself to books,
    specifically about game design,
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    to learn how to be a better game designer.
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    Is there a reason you haven't done a
    "Video Games & Violence" episode?
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    We've toyed with this one a lot.
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    The problem is that there is just not
    enough
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    good data regarding the real effect
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    for us to say anything definitive.
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    You've heard us complain a few times
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    about the fact, that most of the
    studies done in this regard
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    are funded by groups with highly biased
    political agendas regarding games.
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    And that goes for both sides
    of the debate.
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    From within the industry
    as well as from without.
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    We touched on it a little
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    in the "non-combat gaming" episode.
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    But we could do an episode
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    on why violence is such a common
    theme in videogames,
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    from a design perspective.
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    If that sounds interesting to any of you.
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    just email, tweet or facebook us and say so.
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    We'll add it to the stack.
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    Next.
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    What do you think about EA's
    Origin service thus far?
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    Well the E.U.L.A. bugged James enough
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    to not buy Battlefield 3 on the PC.
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    And I can think of plenty of things
    we don´t like about Origin.
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    But lots of other people have already
    made those complaints
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    and we seem to do a lot of
    EA bashing on this show.
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    So instead I'm gonna list off some of
    the things we do like about it.
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    Most importantly it's a sign that
    EA realises that
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    physical product sales won´t carry
    them through the next decade.
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    Which is a positive change.
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    EA is a big player in this industry
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    And it would do a lot of damage
    if they were to collapse.
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    If you look at all their studio acquisitions
    over the last decade.
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    And how quickly they shut down many
    of the companies they have acquired.
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    You'll see that they have been groping
    for some answer
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    as to why they simply are no longer
    profitable the way they used to be.
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    Origin may be the first step towards
    a real answer to that question.
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    And a sincere acknowledgment that
    the market is changing.
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    Besides, even thoguh Steam has been
    a fantastic digital platform.
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    A little competiton can only mean
    good things for digital distribution.
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    But all of that said.
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    They need to fix their dumbass E.U.L.A.
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    Do you see a way for Latin America or Africa
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    or other, seemingly absent markets, to become
    more relevant in the realm of games?
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    Latin America certainly will.
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    And soon.
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    James does a lot of work there.
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    In fact if you google the words
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    "video games brazil"
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    or "cnn argentina video games".
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    His work will probably be the first
    thing that comes up.
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    Latin America might even be a future topic down the road.
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    We'll see.
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    As far as other regions go.
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    We have less experience there
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    India is probably gonna be viable
    within the next decade.
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    Turkey already has a pretty good MMO market going,
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    but these things really go on a case by case basis
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    We'd like to use the Big-Mac-Index,
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    look it up it's a thing,
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    as an off the cuff indicator of wether
    or not
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    a country will be a reasonable market
    for video gams in the next decade.
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    If it takes the average person in
    a country
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    more than an hour of work
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    to afford a Big Mac.
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    Then there's probably a lot of other
    things that need to be done
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    before they are really ready to be a thriving video game scene.
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    Is there a way we could get the show
    close-captioned or translated?
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    We're all pretty slammed beneath
    our current workload
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    But we would love to see the show
    be accessible to more people
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    I'm not a 100% sure what would
    need doing
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    through blip or PA TV
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    But if anybody out there is
    willing to volunteer.
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    We'd be happy to look into a closed
    caption edition.
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    As far as translation goes
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    It's something we're working on,
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    but could use some help with.
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    We'd like to put the show up on major
    gaming sites in other countries
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    So more people can find it,
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    but our progress has been pretty slow.
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    If any of you happen to work for
    that kind of major site
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    or simply want to tell us
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    who's the best source for gaming
    infromation in your country.
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    Please email us.
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    That would be amazing.
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    And that is all we got time for.
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    I'll plan on scheduling these Mailbag Episodes
    a little more often from now on
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    and we're gonna try to organize
    occasionall live stream Q&As
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    so we can answer more of you
    guys questions.
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    But for now thanks again for all
    the questions.
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    Thank you Erin for helping us out once again.
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    We'll see you next week
Title:
Extra Credits: Mailbag #4
Description:

This week, we return to the mailbag and answer a few more popular questions.

Come discuss this topic in the forums!
http://extra-credits.net/episodes/mailbag-4/#discuss

To see Erin's REAL art skills, check out her DeviantArt page
http://esda06.deviantart.com
and her Tumblr.
http://esdafable.tumblr.com

Download the outro music here!
http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01751/

New episodes every Wednesday on PATV!
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Video Language:
English
Duration:
06:35
Dreydn edited English subtitles for Extra Credits: Mailbag #4
Dreydn edited English subtitles for Extra Credits: Mailbag #4
Dreydn added a translation

English subtitles

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