Yong Woo and Ben Brode on the Designer Insights Video Series
There's been some talk lately, which grew from the Hearthstone 2017 Wishlist question, about wanting to see more of the Designer Insights video series and why they haven't happened very much. That lead to an explanation of why they aren't done very often and we've summarized it below.
- The team wants to do more designer insight videos.
- Ben does the videos at home in off hours due to not having a good spot at the office to do them at.
- It isn't as simple as talking to a camera for a few minutes.
- Videos go through multiple takes, and then some more after the team provides feedback. It can take days to get one episode right.
- They are working on getting space that is a permanent setup for this type of content.
- More developers being on them could happen, though some don't want to be harassed by the community.
I really don't like to make articles here personal, but the final point is one of much importance. We've gotten to an interesting point where we want more of something but due to the toxic nature of many comments directed at the Hearthstone team, no one from the team wants to come out and talk and it's actually not very interesting at all, just sad.
Although you may not agree with certain philosophies that the team may have about the game, it is important to post with respect and stay constructive. We should be welcoming communication first and foremost, so let's make that more of a priority this year and not feed those who want to cast plagues upon the creators. On the moderation side we can only do so much since we're only one site of many within the community, but as a whole, we need to stop letting the really toxic posts stew.
Anyway, back the to regular scheduled programming of the sources for this post. Oh, and if you want to vent a bit about not being able to win games, we've got our group therapy thread.
Blue Posts
This conversation has taken place over Twitter and reddit.
Tweet to Yong Woo
The initial question was posed by @Spideraxe30 wondering if they'd consider doing more.
Quote from Yong WooHas the team ever considered doing more designer insight videos since i think a majority of the community enjoys them
It takes significant amount of time for people involved to make those but we want to do more for sure!
Ben Brode Responds on Reddit
A thread on reddit which linked the above tweet got some discussion brewing about the topic so Ben decided to chime in on it. He also shared a picture of his setup. Please send us huge Hearthstone backdrops, they're rad.
Quote from Ben BrodeA little more context for you!I make those videos at home after my son goes to bed. Since daylight savings hit last spring my son goes to bed at 8:30 instead of 7:30, so I have an hour less time each night. I have to move my computer because otherwise you see my bed in the background (like in my first video) and that's a bit weird/unprofessional. Also because I record at night, I have to set up my studio lights. Once I have it all set up, I do several takes. Often I flub a line so bad I start over. I hate editing together cuts because I think it looks kind of jarring and distracting.
Once I have something I think might work, I send it to the rest of the people who care about this stuff on the Team, like Jason Chayes (Production Director). Sometimes they remind me of key points I totally forgot to mention, and I have to find another free night to do another take.
This is all pretty dumb, so we've been working on getting space that is permanently wired for making these types of videos at work. It's more challenging than you'd imagine as often we have trouble finding an empty conference room to have a meeting in, much less a room we want to leave empty all the time so nobody messes up our lighting rigs.
Regardless! I love doing videos, and I think I can convince more of the team to get involved, so it's not just me. Not everyone is as excited about being a public face as Yong and I are, though - there is a lot of harassment that comes with being more public.
My 2 month paternity leave ends next week. I'm excited to get back to work!
It's sad about the harassment. A lot of comments on the forums show that they're justified.
They need to start doing something about this meta....
We see 0 paladins.. 0 hunters... this is %100 real, playing at rank 5, no paladins no hunters,
Tired of reno, and jades, with pirates.. all day..... everyone net -decks.
Please blizzard do something cant stand constructed for 3 or 2 more months before the new expansion... nerf jades, pirates.. and reno.. so we can see tempo mage, hunter and paladins again.
Why do these sorts of comments get only downvoted.
Hearthstone community, show your displeasure. It matters.
Edit: referring to the part about no hunters and paladins. The netdeck thing is stupid.
It doesn't cost money to record a video like Ben's and upload it to the internet.. It just takes time. Often too much time.
He's also far from the first Blizzard dev to do so.
Perhaps I'm the only one who doesn't care whether they make videos to show their design intention. The most important thing is not explaining to the community why the current game is not satisfactory, but to make the game better by updating it. Nerf the cards that spoil our gaming experience ASAP, that's the core issue.
This game has 50 million player base across the globe and earns more than 20 million dollars each month and lead designer can't make a single video the community has been asking for months and months because he says he has to set up light in his bedroom after putting his kids to sleep.
I didn't know Blizzard was a such a small indie game company.
No wait, don't they have some other small indie games they made which has like bi-weekly update videos, character overview videos, and even makes short-movie for each of their characters? What the... How did they manage to do that impossible task? It's like they have the resources to hire certain people or something.
But that's okay. This game is only 3 years old and its just something Blizzard is doing for fun on the side beside their 'real' games.
It's weird you talk like you work at Blizzard and know everything that is going inside the company. Its kind of funny to me.
However, It might have started as a low investment project, but it has grown to AAA-game long time ago and Blizzard should treat it like one if they are any smart. It is nonsense for you to think low budget project should stay low budget no matter how much success it brings. I thought the point of not investing too much on a project first was because of fear of it failing but if it is bringing in so much profit already, some of the money should be reinvested back in a project to meet the demands. It's funny how you are saying it like hearthstone is some kind of scientific research experiment to see how low budget you can make the game and stay that way. If it becomes a bigger title, they should accommodate for it since it will bring them more money.
Anyway, If that is the way Blizzard is treating this game, that is not an excuse. It's a bigger problem actually.
I love Ben Brode. He got a lot of shit from the community in the past, but I think now everyone if focusing more on Team 5 as a whole rather then jut him.
I didn't even know that there are such threads in the forum until I saw this newspost. Now I am right in the middle of them. Thanks Hearthpwn FeelsBadMan
Reno jackson players what are you going to do when he shifts out ?
Play wild like i already do
...Adapt. I'm already working on a control priest that makes no use of Reno, but I need to figure out my value package so that I dont get wrecked by non aggro.
Move to a more midrangy build, use neutral unconditional heals, wait for replacements. Yeah, I don't think there's too much of a trouble.
I don't think the hearthpwn mods or the dev team have any right to tell people how to react to designer insight videos. It comes off as very preachy and if the hearthstone dev team can't take community criticism maybe they are in the wrong industry. This community isn't inherently worse than other gaming communities, the tension is simply a result of previous lack of communication and missteps by the dev team that have brought relations to this point.
Nope. It's just because part of population are brainless kids and flamers, who speak before thinking.