Yong Woo and Ben Brode on the Designer Insights Video Series

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 Woo
Has 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 Brode
A 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!

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