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Boggle Video Feedback
Hi everyone, I just finished making a little preview of the bigger video that I'm working on. While I'm waiting for my account to get verified (so that I can post the Boojum link), I wanted to prep this forum post to recruit some help.
I don't plan to do things perfectly or necessarily by the book. Especially with time considerations, I'm willing to cut some corners in terms of production value. However, if I can churn out a decent project, I hope that can attract more people to Boggle.
This is a goal of mine because, the topic of my next video isn't just a description of mine and Sam's race for the Boojum 3700 high score. I think as online games and video games continue to grow in prominence, Boggle becomes more accessible and relevant to the new generation of gamers. Even if they may not be wordsmiths, I think we know by now that there is someone in some small corner of the world who is willing to spend hours of their day becoming the best at a niche game on the Internet. That has always been the case for us, but I personally think the culture for this kind of gaming has expanded in terms of acceptance and prevalence. The speed running community for video gaming is proof of this in my eyes. They especially focus on optimization and strategies.
So, my hope is that maybe some video of mine or someone else's can inspire new players. Better yet, for those who've been around, I hope this can be an entertaining archive of memories that we've lived through together.
I'm faced with a few limitations on my end though I've found some workarounds. Let me know if you have other ideas to get around these problems
- My personality, in terms of content, still lacks confidence. I doubt I'll want to create a kind of persona, but I'm willing to accept small changes especially for the sake of clarity
- I am reluctant to pay for licensed music for a limited hobby. So, I made a few tracks of music. 1 lofi track and 1 preview music using percussion. I'm amateurish at best, though I know my way around music theory. I lack the ears for it, so I don't think this is a sustainable option. Another workaround that I've found is free music on the Internet such as lofi albums that allow others to use for videos. If you know of any music that would fit well for the kind of style I'm doing, let me know
- I don't have much of an idea on what to do for visuals. Especially for a more documentary-style video, I want to have more than just boggle replays. My current workaround is to use Excalidraw on Obsidian. It is a visual note taking app that I can use to create digital handwritten notes, as if I was looking at a digital diary. You will get a small peak of what this is like after I can post the preview. If anyone has any other ideas, let me know.
- I may need to ask questions about different history on this website. If there are particularly any memorable tournaments, I may need help understanding what other people's perspectives were. That and we don't have an archive, so if you think I should cover someone's tournament run (doesn't have to be the tourney winner), please let me know. For example, I thought I would cover over a streak of Blacklight's tournament losses due to bad Internet. I think everyone knew he had the chops to take the whole event, but apparently God said no. And then he finally won in the most recent tournament!
Nobody is obligated to answer this, but help would be appreciated. I'll post the video link once I can upload it. The style will differ from the prelude to the preview. The preview is also just one of the visuals that I will be using.
2kkei wrote:
ill also be gone in Hawaii for a week so hopefully Sam doesn’t beat the record during that time. But if he doesn’t break it by the time the video comes out, maybe I’ll have to think of some incentive or prize for him or anyone else to beat it
2kkei wrote:
I’m almost done with the script, as far as the events that I’m aware of. To everyone here who was here before Norm’s 3766 high score, what do you feel like the attitude around the Boojum leaderboard was? It doesn’t have to be intense, but if there was any kind of race or storyline going on, I’d love to know!
silverheartnine wrote:
@Alien what if i format the links to be even longer though? and also perhaps a tad sketchy-looking, like www.stealingstuff.info/86829hot-singles-vs-your889s675ds5credit-score.downloadmaliciousjavascriptnow.aspx? what then? :0 (P.S. i instinctively knew what your link was... as i clicked it anyway. cuz i mean. you gotta.)
@2k Hope it helps eventually! If you need something more specific dug up (or perhaps even edited/created) as visuals go, feel free to hit me up! I do the art nonsense ofc, and teeeechnically I do have a graphic arts degree even if I don't really use it so much... Can't guarantee that I'll have time/spoons for any particular thing, but either way I won't mind you asking. :)
2kkei wrote:
Thanks for the encouragements so far, everyone! I hope this particular video is the only rushed story that I need to (or prefer to) release before Sam breaks the record. Sasa, thank you for the feedback and the suggestions! I'll amend my script since I realized I never fully explained the website in the first place. That ought to be useful context. I don't have the best mic, but I'll try to keep my enunciation clear and well pronounced.
Lime and Silver, thank you for gathering this list of resources! Even if I don't use them for the next video, that might be more for the interest of time, but having as many options as possible is immensely helpful for future content when it isn't being rushed by a deadline. Thank you also to Alice for considering the tournament archive idea! I look forward to potentially documenting other fun ideas through this archive
2kkei wrote:
Nice Alien
Sasa wrote:
Totally do the doodledum thing eventually. Silver and Alien are next level artists, but maybe show a variety, to not be too intimidated by the masters. Don’t get overwhelmed with content imao. Focus on boojum battles first, and add the rest later. Hmm, maybe I will do something. Wish I was retired and focused, or at least focused… and don’t want to step on any toes, but the last thing I did filmicly was a music video a bazillion years ago….
Alienzen wrote:
You can format links just saying. Might be nice for people on their phones.
silverheartnine wrote:
I'll dump a random heap of free visuals resources in here, hopefully one or two things may be useful?
- jibjab there are lots of goofy little animated things on this site that you could stick people's profile pictures into and grab a couple-second clip for cartoonishly illustrating tournament happenings or as part of a player intro
- pixabay.com animated background texture (plenty more where it came from)
- pixabay.com free stock footage panning a library shelf (plenty more where it came from)
- graphicburger.com/backgrounds inspiration and/or free background 'texture' images to work with
- pexels.com and unsplash.com are also great for free stock images and 'background' pictures. Maybe some libraries as backdrops, gyms (when you're talking about grinding for skillz like Sam lol), images of typing hands or hands holding phones, etc.
- oldbookillustrations.com
- Free Fonts
- mockupworld.co/free (can be opened with Photopea, a free & fully online "Photoshop" program). I think some 'billboard' mockups and such could be a fun 'join us'! image concept.
Also I think a few visuals drawn in the actual doodledum minigame pad (and/or pre-existing doodles. you're certainly welcome to use any of mine if they're handy) could be a fun visual addition. You could even screenrecord and maybe fastforward a doodle happening as a 'B roll' type footage if you want to get fancy.
And if you're a math nerd, going into the straight-up statistics of which letters/where on the board they are vs. possible scores could be a thing... also, the most-common word structure patterns, highest-consonant-cluster-density words, rhymes, etc.. Maybe also like,, numbers of extant words containing each letter? idk, there's a lot of particular particularities that could be particularized. ...I'm rambling nonsense now, don't mind me.
Limequat wrote:
https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/
This has free sound effects, including suspenseful, dramatic stuff etc, some of which are fairly long - it’s not free music, but I know there are lots of sources for that too. I might have a link somewhere. I will look.
Also I agree with what Sasa said at the end there - it’s very cool that you’re doing this and I’m sure whatever you create will be fantastic. Try to enjoy making it and don’t worry too much.
Edited to add: this has free music: https://www.freepik.com/audio/music
Alice wrote:
I will see about making a Tournament archive when I have some time.
2kkei wrote:
Thanks for the feedback, Sasa! I’m not sure what to do about the suspenseful music, but I’ll try to pay special care to it where I can.
I also don’t have the best sense of aesthetic so I understand my positioning will look a little off. Still, I hope this can be a fun project for all of us to enjoy
Sasa wrote:
The race is a great angle.
Definitely explain the game and site first for the newbies.
I think intertitles are nice for jumps in time and to give viewers processing time. You could even make it like a graphic novel with word and thought bubbles, depending on your editing software.
I would personally, keep the music simple, but definitely find something suspenseful for points in the story.
Don’t worry about your persona. A clear, well paced voice is most important. It’s funny, but sound usually trumps visuals.
Thanks for sharing this with us. It is brave and impressive to put yourself out there and promote your passion.
2kkei wrote:
Considering Sam is only getting closer and closer to that record, I will definitely be rushing this video. It certainly won’t be the quality I hope it will be, but please let me know if you have ideas for visuals or lists of free music to use! Thanks!
Limequat wrote:
Sasa is probably the person who’d be best to help with this - she’s actually a filmmaker and has a musician husband.
SAAASAAAA, wake uppp!
2kkei wrote:
Well, it was a race between me and Sam…. That race might be all him at this point. Now it’s more of a race for me to publish my video before he beats it lol
Contact: boojumgames@gmail.com
