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Save Point ad no 1

My feedback:

I don't like the voice used for narration at all.

Drop the narration after "no matter what kind of artist you are" (0:17), pick it up again on "Here's how it works" (0:30)

Audio levels between narration and music fluctuate too much. Music too loud around 0:50 up to 1:10. Then again around 1:30.

Drop the line "of course we don't have time to explain everything here, but" (1:10) We know dis.
 
We really appreciate the feedback, that kind of detailed analysis with timing markers is very helpful. We had to develop with the robot voice for budgetary reasons, but are currently looking into hiring one of several voice actors to redo the VO track. Thanks for your help.
 
I agree with the voice, but on a big picture level, I don't understand what this is. I am left with more questions than answers.

It doesn't seem like something someone would immediately be interested in, because there is... nothing to draw that interest. So, it's a film collective of sorts to make an animated film. But any film? It's all very vague as to the films, how people work together, etc. I would think it would be more appealing to announce the actual film. "Hey, do you want to work Aliens from Uranus? It's about (blah blah bah) and YOU can be a part, here's how!

So maybe, you don't need a mass-appeal commercial for phase 1. You assemble a skeleton team and figure out the project. THEN you do an commercial, for project #1 and the future ones.
 
I agree with the voice, but on a big picture level, I don't understand what this is. I am left with more questions than answers.

It doesn't seem like something someone would immediately be interested in, because there is... nothing to draw that interest. So, it's a film collective of sorts to make an animated film. But any film? It's all very vague as to the films, how people work together, etc. I would think it would be more appealing to announce the actual film. "Hey, do you want to work Aliens from Uranus? It's about (blah blah bah) and YOU can be a part, here's how!

So maybe, you don't need a mass-appeal commercial for phase 1. You assemble a skeleton team and figure out the project. THEN you do an commercial, for project #1 and the future ones.
This may seem vauge again, but what we're doing actually has significant overlap with what you're describing here. Once you understand the problem, maybe it will be more clear, but that doesn't make your feedback any less accurate. People will be seeing our first ad with no prior knowledge, so if it's leaving people confused, that's something I need to address through redesign.

Ok, I'll describe the problem. In terms of being specific about the plot. Save Point doesn't have a plot. It has Plots. They are intended to be innumerable. It's a platform where people chain stories on to each other, via the Choose your own adventure routing upon which it's based. So one director writes a "film" such as Bandersnatch, then an outcome of that storyline would lead into another storyline.

picture a tree, with a trunk first, and branches growing out from it. There is a central plotline, or 10, but the bulk of it will be digressions of those central plots. It's a lot to get into a short advertisement. The platform is built this way so that people that work on the trunk can eventually graduate to directing their own "branches" This special format allows us to legally share all resources with all teams. We have over 4,000 modular production blocks at this time, and that number is just a starting point. 200 types of studio grade footstep recordings, 560 matte paintings, and so on.

To try and sum it up as briefly as possible, this is a story about a man who works in a factory, and lives a very average life. He comes into possession of a single magic item, the save point. From this point on the only way I can describe it quickly is on the meta level. Every few minutes in the story, the viewer can make a choice. These split into different versions of stories, or different stories entirely. Using the save point the main character begins to free himself from the limitations of life, money is no longer a problem, danger is no longer a problem. It's basically Edge of Tomorrow in a domestic setting. You can try to take over the world, steal the space shuttle during a launch, become a formula 1 driver, travel to a series of underground caverns beneath a monastery in Tibet, gamble in Vegas and reset the save point every time you loose, or simply travel to an alternate dimension where time folds and all events become simultaneous. Like I said, a lot to get across in a trailer, lol.

Basically what you outlined is already the plan. We need to recruit enough crew to make the first chapter, then advertisements can show sections of that chapter, as it grows there will probably be recruiting ads based on each chapter. I had a guy talk to me for several hours about doing a Fast and Furious chapter. I personally don't like those movies, but some people do, and I'll be glad to have him direct an area of the build that serves that demographic. As the story begins to fracture into many stories, I expect we will begin to recruit very much as you suggested. Right now it's hard for me to know how to write a commercial about a story that could be about anything.

The only way I can see to do this right now is to make a series of videos, first garnering interest, then others explaining individual facets of the operation. Save Point is ultimately a platform on which to build shows collaboratively, more than it is an individual story. It's like trying to explain what kind of story Netflix is. There's a big interface where you can pick between stories to watch. In this case the interface itself is a story.

In terms of networking privately to assemble a phase 1 team, I have been trying that for months, and it doesn't seem feasible. I can reach a number of people, but a significant percentage are not suited to the team for one reason or another. Too busy, no skills, personality issues, etc. And the no 1 reason, walk in, say hello and walk out 8 seconds later with no reason given. That situation may seem familiar to you, lol. We have gotten a half dozen good people already, but to fill all the necessary roles for even one chapter will require many more. One major issue is the number of musicians joining vs every other type of worker. We currently have 4 musicians per animator, and it needs to be the other way around.

Anyway, thank you for your feedback. We appreciate you taking the time to look at the material.
 
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Okay so Save Point is a film!

I totally thought that was the name of some sort of film collective where everyone gets to work on an animated film.
 
I just checked out the website I really dig it.

Perhaps you can do an interview style promo where actually you (non-animated) explain it :)
 
I actually responded to someone looking to interview film directors this morning, haven't heard back yet. But that's a good thought. I'm not much of a vlogger, but it might just be a necessary part of this job. I'm already having to learn 20 new skills at once to pull this off. I never intended to spend time building horse skeletons, but that's happening for some reason.

I really want to build an animatic for the opening right now, but I may use your idea at some point in the near future. It's a lot faster than making a 2 minute SFX video.
 
Here's an outside the box option. What if there was no message. Much higher intensity music, constantly ramping, then just the name. The ads message is simply, what is save point? then people can find out at the web link. The facebook ad text would say "What is Save Point" below the video. Same as the Matrix ad campaign.

 
No, I don't think that helps at all. I want more information. Here watch this, and you end up knowing exactly what it is:

 
No, I don't think that helps at all. I want more information. Here watch this, and you end up knowing exactly what it is:

Interesting, that's a good example of an informative ad. When I started out making that ad, many of the team felt that our visual imagery should take a front seat, and I wanted to do the infinite zoom, to try a bit of visual communication of the concept, a series of nested worlds. Needless to say, based on recent feedback, that's not been as effective as hoped.

It's interesting that this feedback seems mostly about the messaging itself, which the other team people all seemed to think was the most solid part of this. Perhaps their existing knowledge of the project made this messaging less confusing.

Considering that no one who sees the ad will have this existing knowledge, I have to assume that this needs rewritten with a clearer breakdown of the moving parts. I'll study this ad you posted further, and try to understand why my messaging is confusing in comparison. I still feel like the issue is not being able to communicate the nature of interactive storytelling in a short ad. I don't know if that problem is going away. Perhaps I'll find just the right words to make it click for people in seconds at some point.

I'll be honest, I just listened to it 3 times in the background while I was typing this, and I'm having trouble fully grasping what makes it so opaque. It says it's a cooperative project where different types of artists can work on a show together, it mentions that we make work available on sections of film, and that we help mentor, and build professional credentials via that work.

Just for contrast, here is the very first version I made over a week ago. People mostly complained about the lack of visuals, saying that the art and animation samples were what led them to join, and that should be the focus. I complained about the vocal hook in the song mix, lol.

 
D'you want the sugar coated version, or the harsh reality reaction (with notes)? :seeya:
obviously the second, but I have 3 questions.

1 why did you need to ask? you already knew my answer.

2. why does it have to be harsh? When I work with people on a mix, one says 10 another says 8, we turn the knob to 9 and just nod at each other. It's not always a dramatic process, lol

3. the use of the word reality feels like it foreshadows a speech about how I'm not in touch with reality. That may or may not be the case, but my point is, I'm really looking for more conventional feedback, such "the music was too loud"

is that a picture of a guy running away? What is he running from, and why? I guess that's 5 questions.
 
It starts off sounding like an informercial.

"You know that thing you've been looking for?"

Then it starts talking about a team and everyone gets credit. So we assume this is a volunteer position but it is never actually stated. And there is no explanation of how this team works. So anyone that contributes is part of the team? There is no quality control, or hierarchy? Who decides what? Whose work gets used, and not? I still don't get it. I don't understand how this formula works in creating something great. It sounds like an open call for anyone to work on a patchwork animated film for free. You need to explain how this actually works. You mentioned you had a team already. Is this just people that signed up from the promos? Or do you have a board of directors or similar?
 
It starts off sounding like an informercial.

"You know that think you've been looking for?"

Then it starts talking about a team and everyone gets credit. So we assume this is a volunteer position but it is never actually stated. And there is no explanation of how this team works. So anyone that contributes is part of the team? There is no quality control, or hierarchy? Who decides what? Whose work gets used, and not? I still don't get it. I don't understand how this formula works in creating something great. It sounds like an open call for anyone to work on a patchwork animated film for free. You need to explain how this actually works. You mentioned you had a team already. Is this just people that signed up from the promos? Or do you have a board of directors or similar?
ok, those are all good questions, and I think the first line is maybe the worst line. I'm planning to remove that, and InonV made some very good points as well. Thanks for the feedback, that's helpful.

to clarify some things,

this is currently a volunteer organization
that may or may not change, but for many it's intended as a mid stage route to bridge the gap between competent and employed. We don't typically employ people, it's more like a new form of college, where you learn to work on a team and make a finished product, in lieu of a conventional curriculum. Much like a college, we provide resources, training, mentorship, homework, structure, and the ability to climb in a hierarchy via your achievements within the project. Your work on the project is the tuition, and you'll likely get out of it about as much as you put in, since the real learning happens as you interact with others and cooperatively build something legitimate. We never force anyone to do anything, but the people we learn to respect by working along side them, those are the ones that can rise to the top rank.

There are a lot of different types of contributions. They are considered to be of different levels and values. It gets complicated. Value is driven by rarity. The rarest things I've grown to respect are hard work, commitment, intelligence, and creativity, pretty much in that order. People think creativity is king, but it matters little without it's supporting cast of characteristics.

There is a hierarchy, it's divided up amongst 3 primary tiers. The lowest tier is contributor. You can get listed on the project staff much as you would see a music contributor on a feature film's credits. There's not a lot of learning there, you just get resume credits. Many feel it's rewarding simply to see their creative works combined with group talent to become something more than they first imagined. You paint a picture that you couldn't sell for 2 dollars on pond 5, and 20 guys come in and create an animated scene where your brush strokes come to life. We show it to 3 million people. It's not salary, but it's definitely not nothing. It's much more than I got in return for a lot of my work over the years. Most of these will be one time contributors, uploading past art, music, 3d models, etc. Donors.

The second tier is the main workforce. This kind of involvement is where you really get an education in filmmaking. We will establish a bounty board, where anyone can compete to create the definitive solution for a project goal. There will be a large number of tasks, corresponding to individual scenes in the story, which we refer to as "cells" A task could be as simple as "Draw a picture of a mountain" or as complex as, create a 3d model of a suspension bridge and light it. This level would include the bulk of the legitimately skilled people that join the project. It's for people that show up every day and really try to get better at filmmaking, regardless of which position.

The top tier are the people who answer some of your other questions, what gets included, creation of cell scripts, chapter direction. Top level creatives that administrate and form the core of the project. Anyone can ascend to this position, but it's similar to getting a black belt at a dojo. It takes time and effort, and when we see that someone is ready, they reach the top tier. Once you are there, you are helping to run the entire project, an appendage of the director. You are also positioning yourself for what we consider the ultimate goal within the project. This goal is to replace me. At first, I'll be the authority on the project. In time, it must grow beyond me, and I'll be looking to pass the torch as soon as I can. In this case, that doesn't mean what it normally would. Timelines fragment. Making a new director doesn't remove me. The infinite storyline allows for as many directors as the audience is willing to watch. Once a director is vetted and given the keys to his or her own branch, they control the story, crew, and money of that branch. A small tax from branches is cycled back into the parent company. The parent company supplies their licenses, IP, workers, the core idea, a built in audience, and also we trained you. The tax is 10%. I don't get rich from that. It's mainly spent on resources that are shared throughout the entire system, and secondarily on advertising, which feeds viewers and subscribers into the entire system of which that directors branch is a part. So it's like the national tax pays for highways, and then we all drive to work on them.

Another question you had was about QA. that's a great question. it's got a complicated answer, and this has been a lot of typing already. There will be a significant amount of quality standards and style guides posted for all project members to use as reference. Work not meeting the standards must be repaired or discarded. Top tier team members will make those decisions. We don't have such a council in place yet. We are just barely opening the front doors for the first time, so as you can imagine, there aren't a dozen black belts standing around for me to work with. We really try to approach that problem from the other end, supplying great quality assets and assembly guides that should result in screen ready results most of the time. It's really a matter of that top level organization being handled properly. Finding jobs for people where they can work at their creative apex, and then creating an assembly line where complete failure is unlikely. This is the place where I get to use the apex of my skills.

I'm trying my best to explain here, but the truth is it's even more complicated than it sounds here. I sometimes talk about how speed is the core of the project. It absolutely is, and everything here would fall apart if I didn't know how that speed could be achieved. But I do, and I'm trying to implement it. It's working, but very slowly, because I lack funding. If I can put together a small team, say 40, we can work for 6 months and create something worth taking to crowdfunding. VC's will likely never work, because of the exponent issues. Once I can actually show people the solution working, I think everyone will be amazed. Which is strange, because we've all seen this done before, and simply never realized what we were looking at. It's as simple as a snowball rolling down a hill, and as complex as clockwork. I really can describe it practically, it just takes forever. I'll stop here, because this post got too long, and I have to go work more on the website. I'll address any further question as time is available.

The current team is less than a dozen people, we have been growing at about 1 new member every 2 days. I just launched the first recruiting ad this morning. I'll hot swap out new versions as I'm able to complete them. I'm likely to try and implement a lot of what's suggested above, but I ran out of time.

Here are the results from day one of initial ad testing

This is the national average CTR
ad CTR for facebook.PNG


This is the CTR of the OP ad

This video CTR.PNG


CALCULON.PNG


Thanks for taking an interest in the project.
 
1 why did you need to ask? you already knew my answer.

This is why:
3. ... I'm really looking for more conventional feedback, such "the music was too loud"

2. why does it have to be harsh? When I work with people on a mix, one says 10 another says 8, we turn the knob to 9 and just nod at each other. It's not always a dramatic process, lol

Yeah, but ... [cue harsh feedback] this isn't a question of nuances - that ad (the first one) is just all wrong, and it's going to undermine what you're trying to achieve. An advert is a movie with a purpose, so it should have great visuals, a great script, a great soundtrack and - above all - a great director. You've acknowledged in your own post above that you let the graphic artists do the driving, and you also say that you want this venture to work from the bottom up. Unfortunately, this advert shows exactly why this never works.

Even if this is intended to be a collective venture, it still needs a director who directs - someone who decides precisely what's going to be done, what's going to be seen, what's going to be heard. That someone should be you, but it seems like you're trying too hard to be too inclusive at the expense of quality, and the advert reflects that; in fact, it even says it.

The script for the ad has the same tone and content as your posts here, so I'm assuming you wrote it yourself? If that's the case, you really need to study creative writing for adverts, because the script is riddled with poor choices of vocabulary, unnecessary repetition, off-putting phrases and, and, and no particular plotline.

00:00 You know that thing you've been looking for? "Thing" - very weak word, especially when talking to artists.
00:05 A group of real people you could work
00:06 with to make your art form into a real product - you're implying their art isn't real ; that's an immediate turn-off
00:08 that people watch?
00:10 We built that: it's called Save Point, and "Built" - past tense - so we should be able to see it. Where is it?
00:13 you can join it no matter what kind of no barrier to entry, no filter, no quality control
00:15 artist you are.
00:16 It never costs anything. Sure, it costs someone something, so there's a catch - what is it?
00:17 We just work together "just" - the ultimate put-down ; we're not "serious"
00:19 to build an animated show so it's "just" some kind of cartoon series - the new Simpsons, maybe?
00:21 at a professional level - with "no matter what kind of artist" and "never costs anything" ? The next 20 seconds better be really convincing ...
00:23 and build up our credentials and okay, so this is some kind mutual referral scheme, like LinkedIn validation?
00:24 experience to help every member
00:26 get closer to a position in the film or more of the LinkedIn-like fluff - not actually a position in film or TV, just "get closer to a position"
00:28 television industry.
00:30 Here's how it works: whether you're an artist, animator, musician or filmmaker 30 seconds in, finally ...
00:35 you can join the team - eh ... yeah, we heard that already at 00:13. Everyone and anyone.
00:37 and we will provide you with sections of our story that you can work on. - same as every other animation studio then ...
00:41 We can help you learn new skills or so it's an apprenticeship?
00:44 teach you how to use the skills you already have, - if I have them, why do I need to be taught?
00:45 effectively within a team.
00:48 If you're already at a high level of skill, - the last 48 seconds have emphasised how this is all about amateurs getting a foot on the ladder; why would I want to be involved?
00:50 we can learn to work with you, creating - oh! You want to use my skills to build up your credentials (so that's what you meant at 00:23).
00:53 simple ways to adapt your existing - huh? you think my high-level skills can be simplified ?
00:54 workflow into our show. ... so, again, it's all about you.
00:57 The final product is a new type of animated series - What's new about it? Where's the demo?
01:00 which we will broadcast on many platforms. - Facebook? Instagram? TikTok? Who's paying for this, seeing as it "never costs anything" (00:16)
01:03 People who work on the project are fully credited and appear on imdb as part of the staff. - Wow!
01:08 Of course - On the defensive, when you should have total control of this presentation?
01:10 we don't have time to explain everything here, -1 minute 30 seconds is loads of time, if used wisely.
01:12 but if you're interested in learning more - "if" - not exactly a forceful call to action; and to be still at the "if" stage after 1m10s doesn't inspire confidence
01:14 you can check out the Save Point website
01:17 at savepointofficial.com or simply find - dumbing down again
01:20 us on discord using the link at the top
01:22 of that page.
01:24 Almost anyone can join the project: - Hang on - now it's only almost anyone? Who's not welcome now?
01:27 you just need to be over 18 years old - "just ..." again
01:29 and have some type of skill - The penultimate line before the call to action and ... yeah, we'll take pretty much anyone.
01:30 relevant to art animation or sound. Find out more now

You could have summarised all of that in two phrases: "Want to know what Save Point is? Find out on savepointofficial.com" and I'm not just trying to be pernickety. This is a public presentation of your work, and that text is a sample of what we (the public) can expect from the project as a whole. Right now, it says "Random bunch of artists hoping maybe we can make a movie or something. We don't really do money or words or stuff like that, but it's going to be big. And we have a website."

You've got a whole lot of negative there, and nothing positive - it's not a recruitment ad, it's not a demo of the story, it's not a (serious, professional) presentation of the company, it's not even a great presentation of the artwork when you take the narration out of it, because there's no context. Once again, I'll point out that you seem to be overwhelmed with the complexity of this but so far, as I understand it, it's nothing more complicated than an animated CYOA book.

So if you already have a dozen people on board, where's the 2-minute video of the opening scenario, produced to a professional level? That is what'll sell the concept to other animators, and to future users/viewers. If you can't produce 2 minutes' worth of professional quality video/animation with your current resources, then why would anyone want to contribute their own time, money and energy to your project when they could be working on something else for themselves?
 
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Ok, I understand your feedback. Sorry it took me so long to get back to this.

I hesitated to answer this, not because I don't have answers, but because some of those answers open various cans of worms, and would require even more writing. You remember that line in casino,

"A lot of holes in the desert, and a lot of problems are buried in those holes. But you gotta do it right. I mean, you gotta have the hole already dug before you show up with a package in the trunk. Otherwise, you're talking about a half-hour to forty-five minutes worth of digging. And who knows who's gonna come along in that time? Pretty soon, you gotta dig a few more holes. You could be there all f***in' night."

To start with, you aren't completely wrong about the initial statement. It's not a good ad for this, and it could definitely use some editing on the messaging side, in the 20/20 of retrospect. An assumption you've made that's incorrect, is that I'm making the wrong ad because I don't know what the right ad is. Que first can of worms, a topic I've been diligently trying to avoid discussing on these forums. This is an issue of how as independent filmmakers, AKA unfunded filmmakers, have a lot of choices made for them by the lack of funding. At least if you know what you're doing. I guess I can't say that without giving some explanation. I want to avoid writing a textbook here, so I'll make it as brief as I can.

Imagine you are taking a multiple choice test. The purpose of the test is to determine how skilled a director you are. If you are given a budget and all the in house advantages of a studio picture, you can simply answer each question normally, selecting from any of the choices. In example I would have strongly preferred to finish the first chapter of Save Point before making a first commercial. Then I could do so with the completed pipeline and crew in place, in addition to having a library of full quality demo footage to curate from. It would be superior ad in every respect. Here's what that multiple choice test looks like to an indie director:

You would like to make an action movie with a lot of humor, something for summer audiences that gets a wide release:

You need to pick stars that can sell tickets and give an entertaining performance, do you

1. hire your cousin, a mailman, and cast him in the leading role with your sister as the love interest

2. Employ a reputable casting director like Shelia Jaffe, and let them do their magic (greyed out for lack of funds)

3. Hire Ryan Reynolds and the Rock, because that literally works every time (greyed out for lack of funds)

Congratulations, you have hired your cousin to kiss your sister! Que the forum posts about what an idiot you are for making that "Decision"


The movie needs big action scenes to keep lower attention span audience members hooked, do you

1. Not have any action scenes in your action movie

2. Have all the action scenes be unknown actors jumping over goodwill sofas

3. Crash a decommissioned military helicopter into a semi carrying 400 chandeliers and film it with a phantom flex (greyed out for lack of funds)

4. build your own highway on top of an isolated mountain that you purchased, and crash 100 cars that the company gave you for free on it (greyed out for lack of funds)

Congratulations! You have chosen to have a mailman jump over a used sofa! 3 am viewers of the "no up front money" Serbian streaming service "borkslovlad jr." will get to see your movie. Your check for 9 USD will be arriving in 3 short years.


You need to make a trailer to raise interest in your project, do you

1. Make a 0 dollar trailer with no completed film footage, because your entire company of 14 people has less funding than a teenager who did a funny dance on tik tok once, in a perhaps misguided attempt to raise money or recruit team members so all your decisions don't have to be so artificially limited in the future.

2, Realize that you are caught in a viscous cycle of poverty and give up.

3. Wait until you've already spent the 140 million the studio gave you, spend time editing and refining those results, run several finished trailers past focus groups, then publish the trailer strictly to sell copies of the finished product. Because you never really needed any money in the first place, you already had it. Now you can be deemed competent, since you are meeting the standards of competence people are accustomed to.

(greyed out for lack of funds)

This is the aspect of indie film no one talks about. How you can't get funding without success, and you can't make the obvious correct decisions without funding, creating a loop for everyone who doesn't have at least starter financing. So you end up doing some desperate thing that won't work, not because you didn't know what the right approach was, but because you were forcibly stopped from doing things the right way, and then immediately judged for doing things the wrong way. And what is the result of that judgement? It becomes a reason others use to withhold funding in the future. If you try to continue soldiering on, the next multiple choice test is much the same. Fill it out again with answers you know are wrong, and you can continue doing what you love, but now you are building a "Track Record" proving that you are incompetent. After all, every third person that is given one or two hundred million dollars to make a film creates something fairly entertaining, so why can't you make something good with the $1.400 stimulus check you got? The only answer must be that you deserve even less funding.

The first chapter of Save Point will probably take several thousand man hours. It's the most work intensive chapter of the entire project for multiple reasons. Maybe I'll explain those at some point. It's math stuff, not ego. Basically in a divergent narrative that first chapter will get watched more than any other part, plus literally a half dozen other reasons.

How come we can't get to work with a crew of 12? You forgot to ask about the balance of skills among the members that joined early. I've got some really talented people. 11 musicians, 2 voice actors very recently, and I'm doing literally everything else. Sometimes it takes 4 hours to paint a single backdrop. Animation is grueling and very time consuming. I had to spend months learning the programs that would allow it in the first place. Not just one, but a dozen, because I have to know enough about each to make an informed decision on what works in the pipeline. There's a ton of technical research required for what I'm doing here, no one else knows what we need, where it is, how to implement it, etc. I have to spend all that time myself, and it's time I can't spend painting, or animating, or building up foley libraries, or composing music, or fixing the web page, or rewriting the ads, or modifying the videos, or publishing to social media, and on and on and on. So I'm trying to get some help, because the amount of work it will take to get this ready for crowdfunding is more than any one person should have to do. It's slow also, which is frustrating.

So why don't I just do something simple first? Just make a tv commercial for Hyundai and get paid? Make a low cost indie film that wasn't so ambitious, and sell it in a local market, or just quit in frustration for a few years, or create a pure CGI film that requires no budget, create web videos for local businesses, produce a game review show with 60 episodes and get it on youtube's biggest channel at the time. Make multiple feature films that are shown in local theaters. Manually place your work in retail stores one at a time.

Would you believe me if I told you I had done every one of those things and many more already?

I need to build something here with enough potential to attract real funding. I can't accomplish that with something unambitious. The catch being that the bigger thing you are trying to achieve, the worse it's going to look pre funding. That's where I am now. Progress towards a better situation has been fairly constant though, so I envision a day when the situation changes.

I'll answer another question you've asked several times. Why do I act like this simple CYOA story is such a big complicated deal? Because it absolutely is. I'll use images here.

This is a glass of water. It's not very impressive. It's the final consumer end product, and people don't typically make a big deal out of it.

1626564162096.png


This is a water refinery. I tried to look up the price and complexity of building one. The answer was available in PDF form, as a 44 page post doctorate thesis. If you were trying to solve for procedural generation of these, I can personally attest that it would require a good bit more than 44 pages of documentation.

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This is why I keep saying this is a big complicated project. because yes, it's just a simple CYOA story, rendered as an animation, That requires a pipeline setup beyond anything previously attempted. At a heavy choke (like a shotgun choke) you need to produce about 5 hours of film for every one hour a viewer watches. (case study - Bandersnatch) In SP, it's not a heavy choke. That means creating something that's literally thousands of minutes long. And for something like this, economy is mandatory. Even if someone gave me 100 million dollars, the exponents would eat it. So this has to be generated from a very different strategy, more akin to the way planets have been created in Minecraft. The short version is, I'm not building Save Point, that would be impossible. I'm genetically engineering the seed that will grow to become Save Point. That's complicated and challenging, thus my sounding overwhelmed at the complexity of something you are perceiving as simple. You are looking at a glass of water, and I'm looking at every nut and bolt required to write an algorithm that procedurally generates water treatment plants.

And why am I doing that? Because I want to watch it. Because I want to play the game. I'll leave you with a far better commercial for SP.

 

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