Jeffool.com

So I’ve decided to create a 24/7 “MTV for video games”.

It’s called Screenlook, and it will be a 24/7 stream of smaller, indie, and amateur game videos, trailers, and things. I’ve also reached out to one person about even featuring a very short review that was creatively done. (My point being I’m open to content.)

I’ve created a few volumes to show the idea. I’ll be looking into the 24/7 aspect soon. While not a direct comparison, the inspiration comes from my love of the old G4 show Cinematech, and how it made phenomenal “background TV” when getting things done. I want to make a channel you can turn to when you don’t know what you want to play, and you can find something. Steam Queues or browsing itch.io show a ton of varying options. But Steam often shows you clones of games you have, and with itch there’s tons to wade through before you find what you want. I’m just trying to make a new avenue for discovery for smaller games.

I WILL be monetizing the channel. Be that on YouTube or Twitch or wherever else I find to air the show.

If you want in on it, feel free to follow the Twitch, which will alert you to when it goes live: http://twitch.tv/screenlook

And the YouTube, which enough subscriptions will get me a custom URL (YouTube doesn’t give everyone a URL now, due to name hoarding.) That’s at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa0Smevh5EBqREP7hGWlWqg

And you can always follow on Twitter, for the very rare tweet. http://twitter.com/_screenlook

And if you’ve got an opinion about it, or know of a game I should include, email or tweet me.

For a better idea, here’s a volume that would air, in loop with other similar volumes:

How can you give every game (indie or not) a blockbuster (and meaningful) soundtrack? It’s easier than you think. All it takes is a little work, and a little cost (Okay, it’s not “no cost,” but, considering the payoff…)

All you need is an online database, users to populate it, and API for developers to use it.

The database notes each user’s library (just taking the track titles, paths, and metadata, not actually uploading the music,) and asking users to tag the tracks by context, for use in interactive media when the appropriate context arises. Bam. Free million dollar soundtracks for anyone who wants to implement the system. The only cost being the user buying the music. It’s like playing music over games on consoles, only smarter.

(Sidenote: I don’t think any cloud services offer APIs for other developers, but it may be possible in the future to ask users for that data too, if you feel like streaming their music.)

Of course, users won’t be required to tag ALL of their data, but some should be required to lighten the load (and better personalize things.)

So after users’ data is pinged, the tags are of the veins “fast-paced, thrilling, scary, romantic, sexy, slow, energetic, sad, etc” to fit mood. But also consider an extra layer of “8bit, by instrument, etc.,”. To make it pitch perfect, ask users to rate each tag’s value. Especially if you want to do this after a game. (For instance, play the music, and ask “Do you feel this music was appropriate suspenseful during the standoff with ?” Let users pick if they want to use yes/no, a five point, or a ten point scale.)

It will take time for an entire library to populate. New users should be required to tag at least ten tracks, but power users (anyone logging in and investing the time) can categorize to their heart’s content. Maybe a deal could be struck with Pandora to import their categorization metadata? Power users should also be able to specify portions of songs instead of the entire track. (“Start this track :10 in, bypassing spoken words.”)

The idea is to give any game that wants to use the system a soundtrack custom-built by context needed in the game, with music already knowingly enjoyed by the user, at zero dollar cost to the developer at point of purchase. The only investment needed is the time investment required to learn the API to use it in your game.

Now, am I over- thinking the problem? Probably. But I’m okay with that. This is a blog post, not a plan to actually do this. Now, how does this get done? Get Microsoft to do it. Or Valve. Someone with a large interest in PC gaming. (Of course, Microsoft doesn’t REALLY have that, but, they like to claim they do with “Games for Windows Live.”)

But, it has to include a large, open music selection as well, like http://www.freesound.org/ populated by tracks available for public use and distribution, so developers can pack that music in, giving the install base something to begin with, to make sure bases are covered.

Okay. Done. Just had to get that out of my brain. It was bugging me. Thanks.

So, that’s over with. Game Industry News (GIN) didn’t last as long as I’d like, but, few good things ever do last as good as you want them to, y’know? I wasn’t able to put the time into writing it that I wanted, or try some of the other methods of distribution, so rather than throw time into something I didn’t feel I could do justice, I backed out. Justin, the host, didn’t feel like keeping it up, so he backed out as well. Dude’s doing two jobs and another podcast right now (the awesome Gamer’s Garage,) so I can’t imagine it was too painful for him.

That said, I did write a goodbye that the slack bastard (I kid, I kid; I love the guy, he knows that,) never got around to recording, so I thought I’d post it here. (Seriously, it’s not like there was a huge following, so it’s no big deal.) I wrote the majority of them “as him,” so to speak, so here it is:

Welcome to the Game Industry Newscast for this Friday, August fifth, I’m Justin, and it’s last call.

We’ve had fifty-nine weekday micropodcasts cataloging the day’s game industry news over three months time. The most-listened-to episode has one hundred and thirty five listens as of this recording. The lowest, four. New episodes would get about a dozen listens that day, and a few times that after about a week.

It seems odd to think about it, but many episodes will continue to get a few more listens until this domain expires or they’re taken down. So in a way the podcast isn’t dying, just hibernating. It was a new idea that was never entirely pulled off. A weekday micropodcast that was intended to be syndicated as a weekly news update for other podcasts. Crazy? Maybe. But it was fun, and it was aided wonderfully by friends who chimed in and some talented musicians who let us use their music free of charge. Maybe one day it’ll return, and it’ll work as imagined. But not today.

It’s an idea we may revisit in the far future. But it’s not one that we’re up for doing right now. Last week my producer Jeff decided that he didn’t have the time available to make GIN what he wanted it to be, and in turn decided would rather turn his attention elsewhere. With that, I don’t have the time to do it by myself.

This has been your Game Industry Newscast, I’m Justin, and on behalf of our producer Jeff, here, or elsewhere, we’ll see you in the future.