PolyCast Episode 109: "Starting to Speak Nerd"

[DanQ]

Better late the assertion than never. The one-hundred-and-ninth episode of PolyCast, "Starting to Speak Nerd", features regular co-hosts Daniel "DanQ" Quick, "Makahlua", Philip "TheMeInTeam" Bellew and Lisa "qnl" Bang; it has a runtime of 01hr58m30s.

The summary of topics is as follows:

- 01m34s | News
Civilization V Lead Designer Jon Shafer leaves Firaxis Gameshttp://www.weplayciv.com/forums/showthread.php?5312-Jon-Shafer-leaves-Firaxis-after-six-years! and joins Stardock Systemshttp://www.weplayciv.com/forums/showthread.php?5357-Civilization-V-s-lead-designer-hired-by-Stardock; Civilization: Network is renamed Civilization: World, with an alpha testing opportunity; version 1.0.1.135 patch for CivV is now available; and on CivV Downloadable Content (DLC) released to date.
- 72m23s | Forum Talk
What do those still opposed to Civilization V like about the game, and an open invitation by someone who rejects this position.
- 89m30s | Research Lab
A suggestion for Unique National Wonders per civilization in CivV.

- Intro/Outro | Miscellaneous
Dawn of a new season of the show, number of hours logged in CivV so far, and why the show switch from a pre-recorded to live format.

PolyCast is a bi-weekly audio production in an ongoing effort to give the Civ community an interactive voice on game strategy; sibling show RevCast focuses on Civilization: Revolution and ModCast focuses on Civ modding.

 

[hennord]

Yo!

Thanks for the podcast. It's nice with some real news, now that the recordings are not several weeks old anymore.

The real news for me though, listening to the podcast, was that you guys have finally taken of the kid gloves and putting some harsh judgement on CiV. Some well deserved harsh judgement that is

More of those critical but fair opinions, please.

Keep on civ'n!

Regards
Hennord

 

[OrsonM]

oh noes, somebody thrashing Civ 5... what will we do?

but seriously, I'm listenning to it now, and it was actually nice to listen what they had to say.

 

[b.orchid]

yeah agreed, good to hear some honest feedback about Civ 5, I've been curious to what you guys thought about it. It's interesting to hear that there is disabled code in the dll, like the religion for example. I also read on a post that the end of game replay is also in there, but disabled. I'm hopeful future expansions will do a lot to help with the fixes needed though. *cough* UI *cough* I'm not giving up on civ 5 yet though!

 

[DanQ]

Yo!

Thanks for the podcast. It's nice with some real news, now that the recordings are not several weeks old anymore.

Covering "News" was certainly minimally effectual, more often than not, with the delays experienced between recording and release next season. This was very much at the centre for the change in format from pre-recorded to live.

The real news for me though, listening to the podcast, was that you guys have finally taken of the kid gloves and putting some harsh judgement on CiV. Some well deserved harsh judgement that is

More of those critical but fair opinions, please.

We'll continue to do what we can in this respect. Where criticism is present, we want it to be constructive -- otherwise, it's better off without.

... but seriously, I'm listenning to it now, and it was actually nice to listen what they had to say.

yeah agreed, good to hear some honest feedback about Civ 5, I've been curious to what you guys thought about it.

Thank you kindly.

 

[TheDS]

I hope the rest of the shows won't be exceeding an hour. This was WAAAAY too long.

There was too much rambling on. The rarity of Maki's comments became really apparent, as did the way you and Phil dominate.

Get rid of the echo (or tone it way down) during your mid-show ad.

Good job toning down the pointless giggling and bad jokes... at least until the last 15 minutes. I know it's fun when you're in the moment, but it's not as interesting in the playback. At least it was at the end and could be skipped. Except then you still had some interesting commentary in the end, plus the CivAnon stuff. Ragnar is awesome!

If you can cut the time down by learning how to cut down on the rambling, that would be great. There was a lot in here, and I can see why it's hard to figure out what to cut. If it's a special episode, it's okay, but if this is the way you're always going to do it, I don't like it. Not saying you have to go back to editing, just that you've got a job ahead of you to recapture some of the quality you gave up to go live.

You guys mostly "behaved" yourselves, which is overall good, but it came across as a tad stilted. A modest sprinkling of jokes throughout is good to keep up the interest. Half the fun of listening is knowing you guys are having a blast, and with the complete lack of joking and banter for most of the show, it came off a little boring. Then in the end, you overdid it. Maybe it was just one of those days, or maybe everyone was a little too nervous about it being a live show, I couldn't tell.

It's going to take a little effort on all your parts to do the live self-editing that used to be done in post-production. Fortunately it's a skill which you'll pick up with a little conscious effort, at which point your live shows will sound almost as high-quality as the edited versions. A lot more structure may be required; you can't free-form this like you've done in the past, you have to set time limits and learn how to get your point across quickly or you won't be able to say anything. I'm hardly an expert either, but I'm learning the skill. And I gotta say, post-production is a God-send that you're really brave to want to do without.

Good luck, and may all your gaffs produce laughs!

 

[DanQ]

The feedback is appreciated, DS. On some specifics you raised to start, then in general:

- In being the first live episode 'proper' (i.e. not a special as was Episode 100), we were trying to find the balance between entertaining and informing. I believe we improved as even the recording of this episode progressed, but certainly there is further to go. As you allude to, this will come with more experience in this format.
- The echo you refer to in that spot was something that I had intended to correct in post, but forgot (there were several spots that needed that). I've made a note to set aside some time to do so still.
- There was post-production applied to this episode, including removal of a fair chunk of material. Post-production has not been taken out of the process at all.

There is certainly some notable analogy to what's being addressed here as was in our first season. In addition to our own assessments (myself and fellow regular co-hosts) and feedback received to date from audience members in attendance and the recording and afterwards, there is further tweaking to come in both the production and post-production of the live format. It won't necessarily be immediate or all at once, but then again we're in a "shake down" phase here -- to borrow a Star Trek phase -- as we tinker with the show's structure.