Xarostak 2 - VIDEO REVIEW

[Trantor]

Inspired by the discussion in this thread, I decided to go for it and do a video review of a custom dungeon. THOM's Xarostak 2 has the honor of being the first dungeon to be featured in this way. It is a bit different from my standard written reviews, I neglect the standard categories and instead focus on some general characteristics of the dungeon. Keep in mind that this is my very first attempt at doing a video, so don't be too harsh with the criticism.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir8Ftt7Hdvw

[beowuuf]

Hey, this was good!

Firstly, your reviews are pretty good anyway in text, and your delivery transfers well to the audio format (poor duke of banville!) It's like I'm watchign a legitimate game review show, you come across that well.

More importantly, the video of the game actuyally sold the game to me. I'd played up to the courtyard, and agree the furniture and feel is cool. But I hadn't encountered enough cool emchanics yet to make me stay. Seeing the speaking prisoner and the running man in person makes me want to pick this up again. I don't think I would have been swayed by just being told about these in text!

So yeah, if you have the inclination of doing more of these, then I think both designers and potential players will find them really useful!

[ian_scho]

Brilliant. Thanks Trantor!

Now go and download Xarostak 2.

[Jan]

Fantastic!

I've never played Xarostak 2 - and I think I want to play in - NOW!

And you have very good English, by the way!

[Gambit37]

Brilliant stuff Trantor! I second everything Beo said and I can't believe I never tried this game, it looks really good. Will def have to get some time to check it out.

What software did you use to capture and create the video?

[ian_scho]

What software did you use to capture and create the video?

Exactly my thoughts. Please create a meta-thread somewhere with the info, and time spent in the venture

[Trantor]

Thanks to everyone for your kind words. The reaction that Beo described is exactly what I was going for: that the people seeing this would be curious about the dungeon and decide to play it after seeing the cool scenes. So don't be disappointed if you find out you've already seen the best parts in the review!
Just let me reiterate my warning: Do not play Xarostak 2 until the bugs are fixed. THOM promised me he would try to do them as quickly as possible, but real life seems to be choking him right now.

As for the software to caption it, I used CamStudio. It's probably not a very good software (I'm annoyed by the mouse cursor always being displayed as a sandwatch), but it's free, easy to use, and last but not least, it was the first one I found when googling for such software. I then created the video and the audio track with Windows Movie Maker, which went surprisingly smooth. Capturing was basically part of playing, so it didn't take long; cutting to the right lengths and recording the audio track took the better half of yesterday's evening. I quickly found out that free speech is not a good idea. So I wrote down what I wanted to say and just read it aloud. And I did feel a bit stupid doing that, especially after hearing my voice over and over!

All in all, it certainly took longer than writing a traditional review would have, but from the responses in this thread, it seems that the effort is worth it. Again, thanks to everyone watching and liking this!

[Zyx]

I'm baffled by the review ANd the dungeon! Good work!

[ChristopheF]

Great video, Trantor!
I have added the link on the Xarostak dungeon page on the encyclopaedia. This really is the best way to discover a custom dungeon and make people want to play it.

[THOM]

Hi folks

It makes me very proud that Trantor had choosen my dungeon for his video-review.
I like it a lot. He shows some of the odd stuff that I included, without telling too much.
After that review, and after we wrote some emails, I thought it was necessary to do an upgrade of X2. You will find some additional details in my original thread:

http://www.dungeon-master.com/forum/vie ... 418#p97418

But please enjoy now playing the new version.

[Des]

Having recently had to make a screen demo video for work, I can appreciate the effort that has gone in to this vid. It's really well done with an excellent voiceover in perfect English - and the German accent adds a certian je ne sais quoi!

[beowuuf]

Agreed! Sexy hint of German is...sexy!

[Jan]

I think Trantor has very good English with only a relatively weak German accent. You should hear my colleagues from Lower Austria.

[THOM]

Austrians have even in German a strange accent...

[Adamo]

great review Trantor! Thanx for putting it on youtube!!!

[Adamo]

X2 is great! now would you please put C3, SS and BF videos on youtube too... <hides>

[Duckman]

We all knew ye ar a master-class dm reviewer but once again you surprise! great!