Catching Up

Lately, I've been doing a lot of YouTube uploading with no matching blog posts, so I thought this morning would be a good time for a status update, blog style!

But of course, no blog post would be complete without a few pretty pictures... and what better place to get some than a previous attempt at a status update!

In the days before our second baby boy was born, I was trying to record a video status update while playing a fast 1 vs. Hard AI game, shooting for around 5 minutes in real time.

After several failed attempts, I decided to take screenshots from one of the attempts with the thought I could start a draft post from a PC at the hotel and finish the status update on my iPhone later. I did start a draft and uploaded the pics, but the iPhone-authored post never became a reality, and as you know, much later, I actually did a video status update - using another replay.

But now those screenshots get a 2nd chance!

Game Time 9:03 - PvP on an old map I learned to play SC2 on, Agria Valley - my terrible attempt at a 4-gate. These zealots are actually my 2nd wave of attackers, trying to draw attention away from the probe that's building pylons elsewhere in the base.

Uploading Season 7 and 8

After being distracted by X-COM for more than a week, I have returned to this task and have uploaded the 3rd of these 5 games. I was quite pleased to upload my 1v1 qualifier for Season 7 - I had promised Morphius I would cast it, and it was great to be able to tell him in Battle.net that it was done (after 3 months of waiting!). I am also very excited to start playing again (as the Season 9 ladder locks next week!) and casting more recent games!

Game Time 9:27 - A pylon is finished and I warp in a set of 4 stalkers who start harassing the mineral line, drawing the attention of the forces who dealt with my zealots. I send the probe to the other side of the mineral line.

Ladder Aspirations

I have had some encouragement that I might actually make it out of Silver League! My Platinum League opponent during my 1v1 qualifier for Season 8 said I could get into Gold with a week of playing. And after watching the replay, if he's a typical Platinum player, then yes, with some more confidence in applying pressure and practice knowing when to build drones, I think it's possible - at this level, our mechanics are so inconsistent that careful decision-making could make the difference.

More recently, I was listening to an interview with Sasquatch, a player in the Complexity Academy (the B-team for the Complexity professional team), and he said that if you're in Bronze, if you play 2 hours a day, you'll make it to Masters. Really? Is that all it takes?

His general advice for lower league players - play a lot more and pick just one strategy per match-up. If you play infrequently and try to do something different each game, you'll never get better.

Surprisingly, I've been thinking along the same lines. My intention with mouse-only play with baby is to focus on a single build. I really want to work on my map awareness, and using only one build should allow me to focus more attention around the map instead of in my base!

Game Time 9:39 - My stalkers hold on just long enough for a second batch of fresh troops to get warped in and the scale tips in my favor.

A New Game, An Old Game & X-Split

After reading about "Let's Play" videos (videos of people playing through a game with commentary), I've decided to do a "blind" Let's Play of X-COM: Enemy Unknown. Since my intention is to capture my first impressions, it may not end up being a Let's Play in the strictest sense - in that I likely won't finish the game! But I thought playing as far as I can on a first try might be fun.

As part of this, I'm hoping to do a "context" video of the original X-COM, and since it doesn't use Direct3D, I'm going to use X-Split to capture the video and audio (Fraps only captures Direct3D video). Now the cool part is that X-Split is very popular with streamers and live casters - its main strength is live streaming - that it can record as well is a secondary feature.

So my diversion into XCOM may play a part in me using some more advanced tools for casting SC2 - and perhaps a step towards some low resolution streaming?

Game Time 9:44 - In the split-second chaos, the Hard AI focuses on the fresh stalkers, allowing my damaged ones to survive, giving me a numbers advantage. Soon after, his offensive forces return from attacking my base, but I warp in stalkers at another pylon in the base, and with some kiting, stave off the zealot portion of the force while sustaining minimal damage, and the Hard AI surrenders.

Bandwidth

With all these plans, I'm trying to keep aware of my limited bandwidth - both in regards to my free time and my Internet bandwidth!

With my current schedule, I typically get 1-2 hours of time in the early morning with baby and about 3-4 hours of uploading time - with my DSL connection, that results in being able to upload about 15-20 minutes of 1080p video.

At first glance, that length limit may seem terribly short, but I think it fits my current life stage well. I'm in no rush with any of this, and want to keep the balance on the fun side and away from the second job side...

My original premise with the blog and casting was that with just a bit more time, I could take something I already do (play games and watch replays) and turn it into content. And with my tendency to expand scope (as I've already done), it helps to remind myself of this original intention.

Speakimg of such, wow, this post sort of exploded size-wise! Perhaps I should focus on shorter, more frequent posting as well? ;-)