Also another improvement over the classic Sonic games is that in this game the camera doesn't show always the character in the center. If the character is running too fast, the camera moves allowing the player to see what's coming ahead. That's it's a huge improvement combined with the fact that this game has also wide screen.
Once big thing to mention is that the game has a health bar, not rings, and can provide much more of a challenge because of it. I watched the SBF playthrough and they got their asses handed to them on several occasions and they play character action games, sooooo.... its much more challenging then a Sonic game.
BaneDain That was the part I didn't have time for! I wanted to talk about the health system too but I'd already blathered on and needed to get back to other work. Good observation! -JP
BaneDain Extra Credits On Easy and Casual Modes, they also give you regenerating health. Your health regenerates so quickly on Casual, you have to try to die. I think they did a good and interesting job of placing healing items throughout the levels.
BaneDain also a energy bar for attacks, your base attacks use none of it, while your specials use it this kinda forces the player to stop and use the basic attacks at times especially since they are often less powerful and require a little more skill to hit with out being hit.
One issue I saw was that sometimes it encouraged you to just use hit and run tactics, always avoid having anything to do with the boss until your special attack is primed (particularly with Brevon's second mutant). With most bosses, they kept you in enough trouble that you wanted to attack just to end the fight before your health ran out, and couldn't wait for your special metre to refill.
CornishCreamtea07 Not entirely. There have been some great games since 3D. Some people just get mad at anything Sega does that's not 100% like the orignal three.
TheMasterfulDork Well what do you expect, Sonic splits its fan base up too much with all of its radical gameplay changes, many of which aren't even good changes. Just because something does something different doesn't mean it's a good change.
Im surprised nobody talks about this one change that freedom planet made to its design that no other 2d platformer has done, and that is remove touch damage, in freedom planet an enemy has to actively attack you to do damage and if they don't then you can run right past them. This solves that classic sonic problem of being blindsided on your first run through by every enemy, and i hope it becomes standard.
It's one of my favorite additions to the game as well! And while I'm also surprised James didn't mention it directly, it is tied in with the attack button system that he was talking about. By choosing to have an attack button, the developers chose to make the combat hit box based - like a fighting game - rather than collision based - like Sonic, thus giving them the freedom (hehehe) to make enemies that attack rather than walking no fly zones. And James did mention that part by talking about enemy variety. Also, he wasn't kidding about the pace coming back at high levels of play. You should see a speedrun of this game, it's crazy!
Speedruns are beautiful and something to aspire to if you get into the game, definitely. The enemy hit box thing also lends itself well to maintaining flow. I know he talks about combat like it breaks up your speed, and sometimes it does, but people tend to forget how often Sonic would come to a screeching halt from daft enemy or spike placement, especially in the first entry. I never attained a real sense of intentional speed outside of the intentionally reckless confines of a time attack mode in any traditional Sonic game simply because I'd never feel safe enough to go berserk through a stage. On that front, another solid decision: there is no Chaos Emerald / Bonus Stage equivalent. Sonic's emerald acquisition murders any confidence in booking it, because you either need to hold onto your rings at all costs (until the end of the stage, or until a checkpoint that _despawns the entry_ if you go by it too fast, as added incentive to not take advantage of the game's speed) or find hidden stage entries off the beaten path. If you're after Super Sonic, or even just a good ending as the case was in a couple entries, everything has to come to a screeching halt, and the game becomes a much slower experience overall for it.
***** Another important change to note is that there are almost no bottomless pits and the few that are there are made obvious (Airship level, Airlocks in the final stage, etc). Too often in 2d sonic you'll being going fast only to accidentally fall into a pit that you couldn't anticipate, much like the enemies. You aren't punished for going fast. Also wished James talked about the other genesis influences that this game takes from (Ristar, Rocket knight), particularly the TREASURE games (Gunstar heroes, Alien Soldier, Mischief Makers). Boss fights in this game are very much inspired from these games and are so awesome for it.
***** I think a lot of people are just so used to avoiding touching enemies in 2D platformers that they just automatically do it in Freedom Planet anyway and never notice the change.
The Super Best Friends guys did a really fun play through of Freedom Planet a little while back that is worth checking out if anyone is interested in this game but wants to see it in action first.
Best game I ever funded a kickstarter for. It felt like a sonic meets friendship is magic crossover with a touch of jazz jackrabbit :D And that's soundtrack, THAT SOUNDTRACK is pure bliss. So much of the game just hitts all the right notes.
Out of all your setups I like this the most. I hear less echo, the quality is totally fine and the framing is better than a camera placed a long way away. Please keep this.
I think it's been pointed out a lot already, but Sonic being about flow and continuous movement only really came about with Sonic Adventure or Sonic Adventure 2, and it didn't become the main thing until the Sonic Boost was introduced in Sonic Rush. The original 16-bit Sonic games had level design that, while branched and vast, didn't really let Sonic move too fast except in specific moments. Rather, it was more about exploration: Finding hidden power-ups, entrances to Special Stages, new paths, shortcuts, bonus stages, and sometimes weird Easter eggs (like the angel fountain in Sonic CD's Wacky Workbench--incidentally, I think Wacky Workbench is the single best example of an early Sonic stage being about taking it only a bit faster than Mario). Even Classic Sonic's stages in Sonic Generations were designed with this slower pace. Freedom Planet's design is closer to that of Dimps's Sonic games, which are more characterized by nonstop running and action, sticking to the ground when you're at top speed regardless of the orientation of the floor (allowing for external loops and such), mid-air dashes, and springs that activate as you walk into them rather than having to jump onto them. Nevertheless, I had been having Freedom Planet at the top of my list and it'll likely be the next game I get. I cannot say no to a game Gashi-Gashi did artwork for. He's one of my favorite Japanese artists.
It's so great to see GalaxyTrails' little gem see more recognition with time, and as a player of Freedom Planet since SomeCallMeJohnny's review back in December of last year, I can say that your fascination towards the game is spot-on, but very incomplete. There's a lot that makes Freedom Planet a fun game, and a mistake that many people make while talking about it is describing their game from their playthrough with Sash Lilac alone. Don't get me wrong; gameplay-wise, Lilac is the most fleshed out, and her roots to Sonic make her a selling-point to most potential buyers. But the rest of the cast is fun too in their own right, and it kinda feels like they get left out in the cold while Lilac basks in the sun. Carol and Milla work almost against the style of play that Lilac encourages. Carol can jump up walls that might've hindered Lilac's path, leading to heavier emphasis on exploration instead of high-speed antics, while Milla's incredible defensive capabilities, making up for her slow speed, challenges players to strategize and understand the way enemies attack you, whereas Lilac could've plowed straight through them without skipping a beat. Another brilliant design, which I hope more developers take note of, is that instead of taking damage by touching enemies, they must actively attack you for them to hurt you. No matter how short, all enemies and bosses have tells and patterns for what they're about to do, and understanding this is key when approaching this game's fantastic boss battles. Bosses here are large and in charge, and they won't hesitate to show you why. They're easily the highlight of every level, and do a great job teaching you how to take advantage of your capabilities in direct combat, and in combat with platforming elements mixed in. Speaking of platforming, the blend of combat and platforming in Freedom Planet is great as well. Players who've mastered the mechanics can come out of a battle just as easily as they started it. And this is good because the moves that your characters- Lilac in particular- perform also double in platforming abilities. Lilac's Cyclone attack works as a double jump with slowed descent, and her Dragon Boost can be shot either straight-forward or at a diagonal to gain sudden speed and height if your pace got interrupted. Milla's shield is great for blocking projectiles, but bursting it towards the ground can give you some extra upwards and sideways momentum to make trickier jumps. There's a lot more that could be discussed, and everything mentioned already is REALLY broad, but if James' short look couldn't convince newcomers to open up to this game, hopefully this brief comment can. If it isn't obvious enough, I love this game dearly, and have high hopes for GalaxyTrails Studios as a developer to expand on their ideas and make good on their ambitions for a sequel. Just, give it some time. This isn't Five Nights At Freddy's here. In short, for fans of the platformers of old, Freedom Planet is a great gameplay experience that pays homage to the games that made the platformer genre great to begin with; not just Sonic. Narrative-wise, it's a mixed bag, but the joy and adrenaline from the gameplay alone makes this more than worth the asking price. Rock on, GalaxyTrails Studios.
I second the recommendation here! One thing I should mention is that they included these "card" things in the levels that really reward exploration. While they didn't originally give you anything other than completion, an update now ties them to several pieces of audio clips and development art, and with 10 in every level, that's a LOT of behind the scenes stuff!
For some reason, I actually like this camera set up BETTER than the normal one. Maybe because I'm not distracted how "professional" everything looks and it feels more organic. Also, I think you missed out on a major point, that this game isn't _just_ an homage to Sonic. The game also draws inspiration from Mega Man X, Gunstar Heroes, and even Super Mario Bros. 2. The game is really a love letter to classic 90s action games as a whole. One last thing, to anyone who thinks that an attack button can't be integrated well with a fluid platformer haven't played the recent Rayman games!
Glad to hear this channel finally talk about Sonic. The genesis era especially is VERY rich with great design. Back on Freedom Planet, I agree, the attack button changed the flow. I think this came with the fact that they didn't want to a knock-off, but a new IP in a similar, but not identical, style.
The quality for this video is awesome James. Way better than a lot of your previous videos, especially the sound quality. Keep using the iPad, it works pretty damn well man!
***** I never owned a NES; it's just a well designed, well scored fun game with a lot of charm and good art. It's just awesome. It could've been done with real art, or 3d models, or 16 bit and I still would've loved the shit out of it.
i want to know how james keeps finding such cool and nice and fancy backgrounds for these videos. he is like, yeah traveling around the world, but i need my dosis of fancy, because i am like a vampire and live on that stuff
Your I-pad recording is just fine, James. Man! This game looks epic. I've been designing an endless runner which would be just as epic, but I'll try not to aim TOO high just yet.
I love hearing this game get talked about from a designer's perspective. It's really cool, especially since I hadn't played it until recently - I started playing it for my channel, actually, and it's been REALLY, REALLY good!
The setup you are using is fine. I do a bit of film work (indie lighting, gaffer, sound, camera op. etc). Feel free to disregard if I am telling you things you already know. Here are my recommendations: 1 - Get a Senheizer lavaliere. It will plug directly into your ipad, and gives great sound for this kind of setup. Also comes with a fairly decent lavaliere mic out of the box and is a really lightweight kit. 2 - A single LED or CFL light panel would be plenty for a lighting setup, even better if there is a dimmer on the light panel so you can dial it to get you a nice smooth dynamic range on the ipad. 3 - Get a lightweight aluminum c-stand and some arms for it. You can probably set up a mount for your ipad and the light panel on one c-stand. 4 - Also try out your cell phone as a camera. You may be surprised at the results, even though the ipad is larger I have found that we tend to replace our cellphones a lot faster and the camera tech on them is scaling faster than the ipad in general. This is also a lighter kit. 5 - Get a collapsing white reflector. These fold up for easy carrying, and even if you don't bring a light panel with you you can use the reflector to give you a nice bounce to even out the light and shadow on your image. Because the ipad tends to use a dynamic range stretching (it modifies the way it records the light off of the sensor based on the total amount of light) you will get much better results if you even out the light levels on your primary subject. 6 - Alternatively, grab a BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera. They're extremely cheap and extremely good picture quality but weigh about the same as an ipad2. The lenses are of course another question, but with a Kippon EOS to M4/3 adapter you can easily find a cheap 25mm or 50mm lens to pair with it. Feel free to message me if you want any specific product recommendations or links etc. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has responded with recommendations of course. Also check out this link: www.zacuto.com/revenge-of-the-great-camera-shootout-2012 If you haven't seen it yet, it pretty much puts to bed the idea that a really expensive rig is necessary to get a good product, though it never hurts :)
I would say that having a separate attack button (which may be more cumbersome at first) could provide a more fulfilling experience in the long run. Instead of being adorned with seamless movement right off the bat, the player would have to learn their own rhythm and create their own patterns for attacking and conserving momentum. I haven't played through this game yet, but I know that in other games (i.e. Dustforce and the like) learning how best to move through the environment is a fun challenge in itself. It can be a bit to get accustomed to at first, but once one has reached the level of fluidity found in classic Sonic games, the game would provide a distinct feeling of accomplishment.
Man this game is the most video game video game I've ever played lately. Its so refreshing to just pick up a game at be thrown straight into the meaty goodness that is fun gameplay. Seriously one of the best games I've played lately.
This setup works! We don't need all the fancy bells and whistles. The sound is clear and the video isn't corrupted or laggy at all. Use this on your travels!
Came here because I remembered this episode and I wanted to check it out since it is this month's IndieBox. Now I am SUPER excited and want my box now D:
Well, you can attack as you move (cyclone on the ground, dragon rush, IIIRC you can slash as you move). And most enemies don't hurt you just by touching you (only by attacking you), so you can move right through them if you're skilled enough. I think the attack button doesn't even interrupt flow much. Instead, it allows you to keep horizontal momentum going rather than occasionally jumping and interrupting it. To me, the most interesting thing about this game is still the expanded moveset, but more as it relates to level traversal. The double jump and multi-directional dragon rush really open things up and allow them devs to get away with peppering their levels with these satisfying secrets and speedy paths. And the addition of an energy bar for these moves was brilliant, because as iconic as the spindash is, it kind of trivializes a lot of the momentum mechanics of Sonic. Not being able to spam the dragon rush to get through obstacles all the time means the players has to think about how their speed interacts with the environment much more frequently than in a Sonic game, which is a much-needed breath of fresh air. Also, the health bar manages to keep things tense in a way the rings don't. Plus, I appreciate all the Genesis influences beyond Sonic (to Sparkster to Ecco to Treasure, all that goodness).
The attack system made the boss fights super fun and challenging, you really had to make use of the correct moves for the type of situation the boss forced you to be in. The trade off in terms of gameplay fluidity was worth it for me, no question.
My favorite part of this game is that there wasn't collision damage. You only got hit when an enemy was attacking, not when it was just idle. It allowed for the flow of the game to keep going without sudden interruption.
Just stick with this, it's perfectly nice. I'm not looking for high-end production quality - I watch for the James games! So glad we have this series. I just don't have time these days to keep track of what's worth my time to try out.
I'm glad you guys are covering this game. The story might be cringeworthy, but the assets on display in this game as nothing short of astounding fo rthe size of the team. This is an indie game to be impressed by. I wish more people were aware of it, so thank you for pimping it out.
Never would have thought Freedom Planet would end up on James's list of stuff. But hey more publicity for this glorious game is all the better =3 That being said, I'm really surprised you chose to talk about the attacking of all things. I would have thought the lack of enemy collision damage would be a more interesting point, since that, combined with the attacking thing is what makes Freedom Planet half as fun as it is. One of Sonic's biggest issues for me has always been the fact that if you move to quickly, youll slam into something that will completely disrupt the flow of the game and bring all the momentum you had up till then to a screeching halt. An enemy most likely. By needing to have enemies actually attack you most of the time in Freedom Planet, it makes it so that even if you run through them by mistake, you can still maintain your speed and blast through the level, which, to me anyways, makes Lilac feel radically faster than Sonic ever was. Not to mention that no enemy collision, combined with the attacking button, makes actually fighting them a lot more fun. A good example is using Carol without her bike. Pouncing back and forth and using her Wild Claw attack as you dive through and around bad guys is one of the most satisfying things ever. It's not that they're easy, it's that your movement is totally unrestricted, that makes it so good. Good stuff James, super happy you brought this one up :D
Don't forget the fact that enemies have to attack you and don't hurt you at all when not in attacking animations. This makes things very different from the standard "touch this and you die" mechanics of the Sonic Series.
IIRC, the Sonic Advance series (and many other Sonic games on handheld) have separate attack buttons. This design decision is most likely influenced from those Sonic games.
It's funny that you mentioned the attack button actually. Because I played through the first half of the game before I realised there actually WAS an attack button! I do find it funny, looking back on it, that the game was made in such a way that, that was actually posible.
Sparkster (Rocket Knight), Sonic, Mega Man, Gun Star Heroes, Ristar, this game has a lot of inspirations, and impressively managed to incorporate them without making a mess. I can say that this game was really made with love, something many games are lacking today, and that it deserves all the praise one could give it. So try out the demo, and see if you want to buy the game (the demo sold me almost at once).
Thanks for talking about this game. I'm not even a huge fan of Genesis Sonic, but I fell in love with this game. My wife is a Sonic nut and she did too, so I think that speaks to its quality and broad appeal. I think that the variety allowed by the designated attack button did wonders for this game's overall appeal. I've always thought that the way Sonic 1 broke up speed segments with puzzle elements was a terrible design choice, but that Sonic 2's concentration on nothing but fluid movement could get boring quickly. Freedom Planet's combat did what Sonic 1 couldn't do by making the slow portions as heart-pumpingly fun as the rest of the game.
If you want another opinion about the game, Woolie and Liam from the Super Best Friends Play did a full playthrough of Freedom Planet. You can feel the sheer joy they experience from playing right from the very first levels
Hi James, the quality is totally fine by me, to tell the truth I couldn't tell the difference, I'm all for you adopting an iPad for your James Recommends series or any other :-)
You started this not as a high production project, but as something for your fans. Speaking as a fan, this is totally good enough. I don't need to be able to count your nose hairs, I'm just happy to learn about interesting game design features in games that aren't necessarily super widely known.
Looks like a really fun experience, just by adding that one thing. It's amazing what a big difference a few small changes can make. That is actually one of the things that used to frustrate me about the original Sonic games: no attack other than jumping/rolling. I think I would definitely give this a try. Also, I often watch videos on TH-cam. When I do I prefer to watch them in 1080p. Stay hungry for the high quality, my friends. Hahaha! Seriously, if it's easier for you and it looks that good from an iPad, go for it! Now you won't need a team of people to haul all that stuff around. Yeah!
I feel as though the attack button addition was a really good choice. While game developers once had to worry about the gaming illiterate, these days most people that play games have some level of literacy with them. So while the button simplification was rather necessary with Sonic to keep the flow adequate, the hesitation most players will have with this new set up will be pretty brief and they'll be running jumping and attacking like an expert pretty quickly.
For the "flow of Sonic games" topic... I feel like that was only ever true for the first couple levels of each game. Not that you couldn't sprint through each level that way if you had them all memorized, but that was all higher level play. The first time through each level always felt more like a mix of exploring and watching for traps, as all the random pits, spikes, switches, etc. really made you slow down and watch what you're doing to keep from getting killed, and there were a lot of cool secrets to find all over the place if you wanted to take the time. In that regard, I feel like Freedom Planet did really well at keeping that kind of flow, while actually giving the later levels traps and enemy swarms that pushed the need for skillful speed a lot MORE than the classic Sonic games, in spite of their attack system seeming like it should slow things down.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention! It looks like a ton of fun, and hopefully it's better than the dreadful stuff the Sonic Team has been putting out lately
Nikolaj Lepka one last thing, start with lilac, her moveset is very much like sonic's, with a double jump that acts as an attack, the dragon dash which bounces off walls and grants invincibility during it's charge and use, and some new tricks made for maintaining momentum, namely an uppercut for taking out foes in the air, a dropkick for approaching the ground with speed, and a hair flick for rushing through foes.
One thing I'd note about the original Sonic is that gameplay wise it's a lot more about maintaining momentum than running really fast. Yes, the game serves as a tech demo to show how fast the Mega Drive/Genesis can go (And the special stage is, as I understand it, pure tech demo)... But outside of Green Hill and Starlight Zones (There are areas of other zones that allow this, Spring Yard zone in particular, but for straight zones, those two are the highlights for speed), the game doesn't actually provide much opportunity for pure speed. Marble Zone is pretty much a case of precision platforming (And hilariously placed - Yeah, this game that's been advertised on speed and where we gave you a taste of the speed the game would be playing at in the first three levels? Have a level where you need to wait for the marble block you've just slowly shoved into lava to get to where you need it to be in order to make the jump while you slowly, so slowly, ride upon it, and your protagonist gets impatient with you because you're having him just stand around on this floating block for a while. Hilarious bit of trolling in game design, that, sticking the slowest feeling set of levels in the game, outside of the underwater stuff, second, in this supposedly fast paced platformer that advertised itself on speed and showed off a little of that promise in the first set of levels), but but throughout you always want to maintain a constant forward momentum - your attack ability is weaker the less forward momentum you've got, and there are obstacles (Spring Yard Zone's spinny spike balls especially) throughout the game where losing momentum can be fatal, or at least make the obstacle harder than it should be, and with some elements in stages seemingly designed purely to cause the player to lose momentum rather than actually hurt the player directly (The fans in Starlight Zone being the obvious example there) Sonic 2, on the other hand, most of the level design seems to be pretty much all about showing off Super Sonic and how much faster Sonic is in his DB homage form than he is regularly.
It's always fun when EC mentions one of the games I've played and enjoyed. I've never beat the game story, though. Some of the bosses... uurrrgh, they feel impossible to beat! Dealing the finishing blow to those **stards sure feels sweet.
The quality is totally fine for what the videos are (honestly if it wasn't for the necessity of gameplay footage these would be find as podcasts imo). That said, would it be possible to get some small lavalier mic and use that? All the little audio annoyances would go away and it probably wouldn't make your setup much harder.
Huh, well it does seem like most of those separate attacks are also specific ways of moving the character, like a double-jump, slowfall with horizontal movement, or quick dash forward, so I can certainly see them getting woven into the continuous movement style by players once they get enough familiarity with them and how they interact.
Honestly: I think the audio quality improved. I know your audio quality is varying with the room your recording in, but if this partially due to the iPad: I prefer good audio over video quality. This series is all about you and your experience. So, hearing your voice clearly is key to me. The video quality is good enough in a positive sense: James recommends or even extra credits as a whole is not about "flash bang production quality", it is about the content your put in so much work into. What makes the process of recording for you more convenient, makes you and your team more relaxed in general and focused on the subject in particular. Streamline your production process so that you can focus on content and let other aspects like video, audio and animation be "good enough" to not intrude the content for us viewers should be the target - but good enough is literally good enough. No need to aim for "perfect video and audio" - but aim for the best content. That´s way I am here. Video, audio and animations are just tools to convey the message.
The Ipad setup works fine man, might want some better audio quality, but it works.
Yeah the sound isthe only thing that kinda bothers me.
Agreed, fix the sound even slightly and there's no problem with the video
VerySexy Douchebag Agree
I agree as well the quality isn't that bad that it makes the video worse.
I'd change the angel of the recording though.
VerySexy Douchebag
I playing around with my friends Zoom iQ5, it's a Mic that connects to his iPhone.
Also another improvement over the classic Sonic games is that in this game the camera doesn't show always the character in the center. If the character is running too fast, the camera moves allowing the player to see what's coming ahead.
That's it's a huge improvement combined with the fact that this game has also wide screen.
luis enrique vargas azcona In the early days making a good 2D Camera was hard!
It's still hard!
Once big thing to mention is that the game has a health bar, not rings, and can provide much more of a challenge because of it. I watched the SBF playthrough and they got their asses handed to them on several occasions and they play character action games, sooooo.... its much more challenging then a Sonic game.
BaneDain That was the part I didn't have time for! I wanted to talk about the health system too but I'd already blathered on and needed to get back to other work. Good observation!
-JP
Extra Credits Yeah man, don't sweat it, that's what comments are for. Keep up the good work and have a good one.
BaneDain Extra Credits On Easy and Casual Modes, they also give you regenerating health. Your health regenerates so quickly on Casual, you have to try to die.
I think they did a good and interesting job of placing healing items throughout the levels.
BaneDain also a energy bar for attacks, your base attacks use none of it, while your specials use it this kinda forces the player to stop and use the basic attacks at times especially since they are often less powerful and require a little more skill to hit with out being hit.
One issue I saw was that sometimes it encouraged you to just use hit and run tactics, always avoid having anything to do with the boss until your special attack is primed (particularly with Brevon's second mutant). With most bosses, they kept you in enough trouble that you wanted to attack just to end the fight before your health ran out, and couldn't wait for your special metre to refill.
This game is more Sonic then anything Sega has done for the past 15 years.
So Sonic is only Sonic if it is a 16bit side scroller.
CornishCreamtea07 pretty much yeah, Sonic 3 or is not Sonic "ewww green eyes DX" ...we're a bad fanbase :c
CornishCreamtea07 Not entirely. There have been some great games since 3D. Some people just get mad at anything Sega does that's not 100% like the orignal three.
TheMasterfulDork Yeah, for example Sonic Heroes..
TheMasterfulDork Well what do you expect, Sonic splits its fan base up too much with all of its radical gameplay changes, many of which aren't even good changes. Just because something does something different doesn't mean it's a good change.
Im surprised nobody talks about this one change that freedom planet made to its design that no other 2d platformer has done, and that is remove touch damage, in freedom planet an enemy has to actively attack you to do damage and if they don't then you can run right past them. This solves that classic sonic problem of being blindsided on your first run through by every enemy, and i hope it becomes standard.
It's one of my favorite additions to the game as well! And while I'm also surprised James didn't mention it directly, it is tied in with the attack button system that he was talking about. By choosing to have an attack button, the developers chose to make the combat hit box based - like a fighting game - rather than collision based - like Sonic, thus giving them the freedom (hehehe) to make enemies that attack rather than walking no fly zones. And James did mention that part by talking about enemy variety.
Also, he wasn't kidding about the pace coming back at high levels of play. You should see a speedrun of this game, it's crazy!
Speedruns are beautiful and something to aspire to if you get into the game, definitely.
The enemy hit box thing also lends itself well to maintaining flow. I know he talks about combat like it breaks up your speed, and sometimes it does, but people tend to forget how often Sonic would come to a screeching halt from daft enemy or spike placement, especially in the first entry. I never attained a real sense of intentional speed outside of the intentionally reckless confines of a time attack mode in any traditional Sonic game simply because I'd never feel safe enough to go berserk through a stage.
On that front, another solid decision: there is no Chaos Emerald / Bonus Stage equivalent.
Sonic's emerald acquisition murders any confidence in booking it, because you either need to hold onto your rings at all costs (until the end of the stage, or until a checkpoint that _despawns the entry_ if you go by it too fast, as added incentive to not take advantage of the game's speed) or find hidden stage entries off the beaten path. If you're after Super Sonic, or even just a good ending as the case was in a couple entries, everything has to come to a screeching halt, and the game becomes a much slower experience overall for it.
***** Another important change to note is that there are almost no bottomless pits and the few that are there are made obvious (Airship level, Airlocks in the final stage, etc). Too often in 2d sonic you'll being going fast only to accidentally fall into a pit that you couldn't anticipate, much like the enemies. You aren't punished for going fast.
Also wished James talked about the other genesis influences that this game takes from (Ristar, Rocket knight), particularly the TREASURE games (Gunstar heroes, Alien Soldier, Mischief Makers). Boss fights in this game are very much inspired from these games and are so awesome for it.
***** I think a lot of people are just so used to avoiding touching enemies in 2D platformers that they just automatically do it in Freedom Planet anyway and never notice the change.
Warbot Yay, exactly what I was going to comment. One of the bosses also reminded me of the first boss of Vectorman.
This works, bro; don't break your back lugging around ridiculous filming equipment, this works.
The Super Best Friends guys did a really fun play through of Freedom Planet a little while back that is worth checking out if anyone is interested in this game but wants to see it in action first.
***** the hypest gameplay on youtube
***** I'm also doing it fresh myself! Just started last week, hehe. It's been pretty fantastic so far.
***** I was wondering if someone would mention them. I learned so much about what makes this game great just from watching that video.
***** Also, the last playthrough Deceased Crab completed was of Freedom Planet, and now he's close to completing a playthrough of Hand of Fate.
Best game I ever funded a kickstarter for. It felt like a sonic meets friendship is magic crossover with a touch of jazz jackrabbit :D
And that's soundtrack, THAT SOUNDTRACK is pure bliss. So much of the game just hitts all the right notes.
The iPad camera set up is working perfectly fine for me.
That camera delivers the vid in a perfectly okay format and the whole thing is fine.
Out of all your setups I like this the most. I hear less echo, the quality is totally fine and the framing is better than a camera placed a long way away. Please keep this.
If this is an easier way to make a video for you then I am all for it. This works perfectly fine and I'm glad you can do them.
I think it's been pointed out a lot already, but Sonic being about flow and continuous movement only really came about with Sonic Adventure or Sonic Adventure 2, and it didn't become the main thing until the Sonic Boost was introduced in Sonic Rush. The original 16-bit Sonic games had level design that, while branched and vast, didn't really let Sonic move too fast except in specific moments. Rather, it was more about exploration: Finding hidden power-ups, entrances to Special Stages, new paths, shortcuts, bonus stages, and sometimes weird Easter eggs (like the angel fountain in Sonic CD's Wacky Workbench--incidentally, I think Wacky Workbench is the single best example of an early Sonic stage being about taking it only a bit faster than Mario). Even Classic Sonic's stages in Sonic Generations were designed with this slower pace.
Freedom Planet's design is closer to that of Dimps's Sonic games, which are more characterized by nonstop running and action, sticking to the ground when you're at top speed regardless of the orientation of the floor (allowing for external loops and such), mid-air dashes, and springs that activate as you walk into them rather than having to jump onto them.
Nevertheless, I had been having Freedom Planet at the top of my list and it'll likely be the next game I get. I cannot say no to a game Gashi-Gashi did artwork for. He's one of my favorite Japanese artists.
I actually dig the angle. Your voice is clear, we can see you clearly and there's room for the gameplay screen.
The fluidity of those character animations looks amazing
It's so great to see GalaxyTrails' little gem see more recognition with time, and as a player of Freedom Planet since SomeCallMeJohnny's review back in December of last year, I can say that your fascination towards the game is spot-on, but very incomplete.
There's a lot that makes Freedom Planet a fun game, and a mistake that many people make while talking about it is describing their game from their playthrough with Sash Lilac alone. Don't get me wrong; gameplay-wise, Lilac is the most fleshed out, and her roots to Sonic make her a selling-point to most potential buyers. But the rest of the cast is fun too in their own right, and it kinda feels like they get left out in the cold while Lilac basks in the sun.
Carol and Milla work almost against the style of play that Lilac encourages. Carol can jump up walls that might've hindered Lilac's path, leading to heavier emphasis on exploration instead of high-speed antics, while Milla's incredible defensive capabilities, making up for her slow speed, challenges players to strategize and understand the way enemies attack you, whereas Lilac could've plowed straight through them without skipping a beat.
Another brilliant design, which I hope more developers take note of, is that instead of taking damage by touching enemies, they must actively attack you for them to hurt you. No matter how short, all enemies and bosses have tells and patterns for what they're about to do, and understanding this is key when approaching this game's fantastic boss battles. Bosses here are large and in charge, and they won't hesitate to show you why. They're easily the highlight of every level, and do a great job teaching you how to take advantage of your capabilities in direct combat, and in combat with platforming elements mixed in.
Speaking of platforming, the blend of combat and platforming in Freedom Planet is great as well. Players who've mastered the mechanics can come out of a battle just as easily as they started it. And this is good because the moves that your characters- Lilac in particular- perform also double in platforming abilities. Lilac's Cyclone attack works as a double jump with slowed descent, and her Dragon Boost can be shot either straight-forward or at a diagonal to gain sudden speed and height if your pace got interrupted. Milla's shield is great for blocking projectiles, but bursting it towards the ground can give you some extra upwards and sideways momentum to make trickier jumps.
There's a lot more that could be discussed, and everything mentioned already is REALLY broad, but if James' short look couldn't convince newcomers to open up to this game, hopefully this brief comment can. If it isn't obvious enough, I love this game dearly, and have high hopes for GalaxyTrails Studios as a developer to expand on their ideas and make good on their ambitions for a sequel. Just, give it some time. This isn't Five Nights At Freddy's here.
In short, for fans of the platformers of old, Freedom Planet is a great gameplay experience that pays homage to the games that made the platformer genre great to begin with; not just Sonic. Narrative-wise, it's a mixed bag, but the joy and adrenaline from the gameplay alone makes this more than worth the asking price. Rock on, GalaxyTrails Studios.
The cam is acceptable, thank you for the effort you put into the channel!
Finally someone talking about this great and awesome game! :D
The camera angle could be better but the quality is fine.
The quality was totally fine James.
I second the recommendation here! One thing I should mention is that they included these "card" things in the levels that really reward exploration. While they didn't originally give you anything other than completion, an update now ties them to several pieces of audio clips and development art, and with 10 in every level, that's a LOT of behind the scenes stuff!
For some reason, I actually like this camera set up BETTER than the normal one. Maybe because I'm not distracted how "professional" everything looks and it feels more organic.
Also, I think you missed out on a major point, that this game isn't _just_ an homage to Sonic. The game also draws inspiration from Mega Man X, Gunstar Heroes, and even Super Mario Bros. 2. The game is really a love letter to classic 90s action games as a whole.
One last thing, to anyone who thinks that an attack button can't be integrated well with a fluid platformer haven't played the recent Rayman games!
Glad to hear this channel finally talk about Sonic. The genesis era especially is VERY rich with great design.
Back on Freedom Planet, I agree, the attack button changed the flow. I think this came with the fact that they didn't want to a knock-off, but a new IP in a similar, but not identical, style.
The quality for this video is awesome James. Way better than a lot of your previous videos, especially the sound quality.
Keep using the iPad, it works pretty damn well man!
Thanks for bringing more attention to this James, more people need to check out this game. I'm just hoping for a sequel.
You know James, you keep rambling about the camera but personally I don't even see what's bad.
The best indie game you've never heard of, Because of the stigma of furries and everyone being too busy being hype about shovel knight
***** dido with Dust: An Elysian Tale
***** Yeah, but Shovel Knight's incredible.
I'd agree, except the internet gets a hard on for anything that looks or sounds like a nes game
***** I never owned a NES; it's just a well designed, well scored fun game with a lot of charm and good art. It's just awesome. It could've been done with real art, or 3d models, or 16 bit and I still would've loved the shit out of it.
This and Shovel Knight are both great games,IMO.
i want to know how james keeps finding such cool and nice and fancy backgrounds for these videos. he is like, yeah traveling around the world, but i need my dosis of fancy, because i am like a vampire and live on that stuff
Camera seems fine, but maybe a supplemental audio setup (since the voice is played over the game footage) would be good to look into.
Your I-pad recording is just fine, James.
Man! This game looks epic. I've been designing an endless runner which would be just as epic, but I'll try not to aim TOO high just yet.
Honestly, so long as the game footage looks fine, you can film yourself on just about anything.
That video record quality is entirely fine for your purposes, james.
I love hearing this game get talked about from a designer's perspective. It's really cool, especially since I hadn't played it until recently - I started playing it for my channel, actually, and it's been REALLY, REALLY good!
The setup you are using is fine. I do a bit of film work (indie lighting, gaffer, sound, camera op. etc). Feel free to disregard if I am telling you things you already know.
Here are my recommendations:
1 - Get a Senheizer lavaliere. It will plug directly into your ipad, and gives great sound for this kind of setup. Also comes with a fairly decent lavaliere mic out of the box and is a really lightweight kit.
2 - A single LED or CFL light panel would be plenty for a lighting setup, even better if there is a dimmer on the light panel so you can dial it to get you a nice smooth dynamic range on the ipad.
3 - Get a lightweight aluminum c-stand and some arms for it. You can probably set up a mount for your ipad and the light panel on one c-stand.
4 - Also try out your cell phone as a camera. You may be surprised at the results, even though the ipad is larger I have found that we tend to replace our cellphones a lot faster and the camera tech on them is scaling faster than the ipad in general. This is also a lighter kit.
5 - Get a collapsing white reflector. These fold up for easy carrying, and even if you don't bring a light panel with you you can use the reflector to give you a nice bounce to even out the light and shadow on your image. Because the ipad tends to use a dynamic range stretching (it modifies the way it records the light off of the sensor based on the total amount of light) you will get much better results if you even out the light levels on your primary subject.
6 - Alternatively, grab a BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera. They're extremely cheap and extremely good picture quality but weigh about the same as an ipad2. The lenses are of course another question, but with a Kippon EOS to M4/3 adapter you can easily find a cheap 25mm or 50mm lens to pair with it.
Feel free to message me if you want any specific product recommendations or links etc. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has responded with recommendations of course.
Also check out this link:
www.zacuto.com/revenge-of-the-great-camera-shootout-2012
If you haven't seen it yet, it pretty much puts to bed the idea that a really expensive rig is necessary to get a good product, though it never hurts :)
I would say that having a separate attack button (which may be more cumbersome at first) could provide a more fulfilling experience in the long run. Instead of being adorned with seamless movement right off the bat, the player would have to learn their own rhythm and create their own patterns for attacking and conserving momentum. I haven't played through this game yet, but I know that in other games (i.e. Dustforce and the like) learning how best to move through the environment is a fun challenge in itself. It can be a bit to get accustomed to at first, but once one has reached the level of fluidity found in classic Sonic games, the game would provide a distinct feeling of accomplishment.
I picked this game up a week or two before the episode and have been having a good time with it. I"m glad to see you giving it a push!
Man this game is the most video game video game I've ever played lately. Its so refreshing to just pick up a game at be thrown straight into the meaty goodness that is fun gameplay.
Seriously one of the best games I've played lately.
iPad cam is more than good enough for a vlog style video like this. I liked it.
This setup works! We don't need all the fancy bells and whistles. The sound is clear and the video isn't corrupted or laggy at all. Use this on your travels!
Came here because I remembered this episode and I wanted to check it out since it is this month's IndieBox.
Now I am SUPER excited and want my box now D:
This set up works great James! No need to buy and carry equipment just for this :)
Quality is absolutely fine for movies like this. I wouldn't worry...
Quality for me was perfectly acceptable, especially for this type of video.
THANK YOU FOR RECOMMENDING THIS! This game is so good but like no one knows about it. I love this game soooo much.
Camera Setup totally works for me, James :)
Wow this looks so amazing! I will try this! thanks James!
Well, you can attack as you move (cyclone on the ground, dragon rush, IIIRC you can slash as you move). And most enemies don't hurt you just by touching you (only by attacking you), so you can move right through them if you're skilled enough. I think the attack button doesn't even interrupt flow much. Instead, it allows you to keep horizontal momentum going rather than occasionally jumping and interrupting it.
To me, the most interesting thing about this game is still the expanded moveset, but more as it relates to level traversal. The double jump and multi-directional dragon rush really open things up and allow them devs to get away with peppering their levels with these satisfying secrets and speedy paths. And the addition of an energy bar for these moves was brilliant, because as iconic as the spindash is, it kind of trivializes a lot of the momentum mechanics of Sonic. Not being able to spam the dragon rush to get through obstacles all the time means the players has to think about how their speed interacts with the environment much more frequently than in a Sonic game, which is a much-needed breath of fresh air.
Also, the health bar manages to keep things tense in a way the rings don't.
Plus, I appreciate all the Genesis influences beyond Sonic (to Sparkster to Ecco to Treasure, all that goodness).
The video quality is just fine for the purpose of this series.
It's like Sonic + Megaman? I LOVE IT
This setup works great, James!
The attack system made the boss fights super fun and challenging, you really had to make use of the correct moves for the type of situation the boss forced you to be in. The trade off in terms of gameplay fluidity was worth it for me, no question.
My favorite part of this game is that there wasn't collision damage. You only got hit when an enemy was attacking, not when it was just idle. It allowed for the flow of the game to keep going without sudden interruption.
Thank you for reminding me that this game exists, James. I ran into it one day, and then never heard about it again. So that was an instant-buy. : )
Just stick with this, it's perfectly nice. I'm not looking for high-end production quality - I watch for the James games! So glad we have this series. I just don't have time these days to keep track of what's worth my time to try out.
The video quality here actually looks better than in the older James Recommends videos lol.
oh no! only 720P?! how am i supposed to watch james talking about a game without it being the highest form of high definition! god save us all
Hey, the setup works fine ! This works way better than the ones where you sit farther away from the camera.
I agree with comments below. Quality is fine, but audio quality seems to have improved!
Great vid, love the show.
I think your recording for this episode was quite good, honestly.
This camera and sound is better than normal
I'm glad you guys are covering this game.
The story might be cringeworthy, but the assets on display in this game as nothing short of astounding fo rthe size of the team.
This is an indie game to be impressed by. I wish more people were aware of it, so thank you for pimping it out.
Love it when james recommends something ive already been play i get the warm fuzzies.
Keep up the great work homie your videos are always best no matter the quality!
Never would have thought Freedom Planet would end up on James's list of stuff. But hey more publicity for this glorious game is all the better =3
That being said, I'm really surprised you chose to talk about the attacking of all things. I would have thought the lack of enemy collision damage would be a more interesting point, since that, combined with the attacking thing is what makes Freedom Planet half as fun as it is.
One of Sonic's biggest issues for me has always been the fact that if you move to quickly, youll slam into something that will completely disrupt the flow of the game and bring all the momentum you had up till then to a screeching halt. An enemy most likely.
By needing to have enemies actually attack you most of the time in Freedom Planet, it makes it so that even if you run through them by mistake, you can still maintain your speed and blast through the level, which, to me anyways, makes Lilac feel radically faster than Sonic ever was.
Not to mention that no enemy collision, combined with the attacking button, makes actually fighting them a lot more fun. A good example is using Carol without her bike. Pouncing back and forth and using her Wild Claw attack as you dive through and around bad guys is one of the most satisfying things ever. It's not that they're easy, it's that your movement is totally unrestricted, that makes it so good.
Good stuff James, super happy you brought this one up :D
Don't forget the fact that enemies have to attack you and don't hurt you at all when not in attacking animations. This makes things very different from the standard "touch this and you die" mechanics of the Sonic Series.
I'm okay with the camera quality but I higher angle in the shot would be nice. Thanks James! Btw loving the dark souls play through
This is fine, love these videos, man! Keep makin' um!
Good, this game deserves as much recognition as possible.
The way James talk about this reminds me of RFC's talk about Sonic
IIRC, the Sonic Advance series (and many other Sonic games on handheld) have separate attack buttons. This design decision is most likely influenced from those Sonic games.
i wish he brought up lack of touch damage because that really is a big concept to wrap your head around.
Looks awesome.
Great episode, and, to be honest, I actually didn't mind the way James recorded the episode on his Ipad (or tablet or whatever).
It's funny that you mentioned the attack button actually. Because I played through the first half of the game before I realised there actually WAS an attack button!
I do find it funny, looking back on it, that the game was made in such a way that, that was actually posible.
Sparkster (Rocket Knight), Sonic, Mega Man, Gun Star Heroes, Ristar, this game has a lot of inspirations, and impressively managed to incorporate them without making a mess. I can say that this game was really made with love, something many games are lacking today, and that it deserves all the praise one could give it. So try out the demo, and see if you want to buy the game (the demo sold me almost at once).
Thanks for talking about this game. I'm not even a huge fan of Genesis Sonic, but I fell in love with this game. My wife is a Sonic nut and she did too, so I think that speaks to its quality and broad appeal.
I think that the variety allowed by the designated attack button did wonders for this game's overall appeal. I've always thought that the way Sonic 1 broke up speed segments with puzzle elements was a terrible design choice, but that Sonic 2's concentration on nothing but fluid movement could get boring quickly. Freedom Planet's combat did what Sonic 1 couldn't do by making the slow portions as heart-pumpingly fun as the rest of the game.
It really looks like a throwback to the original Sonic games.
Hey James! The iPad camera looks absolutely fine for these kinds of videos! =D
Extra Credits your fine James, with the video quality.
If you want another opinion about the game, Woolie and Liam from the Super Best Friends Play did a full playthrough of Freedom Planet. You can feel the sheer joy they experience from playing right from the very first levels
I've seen this game several times before, but for some reason this video has really made me want to play. Maybe someday I will...
Looking forward to this, been waiting for it to hit the WiiU.
The bonus facts are a cool inclusion btw.
James is love, James is life.
I'm okay with this setup. Seeing you is cool however being to hear you clearly is the main thing and hearing about new games is what we are here for.
Hi James, the quality is totally fine by me, to tell the truth I couldn't tell the difference, I'm all for you adopting an iPad for your James Recommends series or any other :-)
The quality seems good. I'd still watch if the videos looked like this.
You started this not as a high production project, but as something for your fans. Speaking as a fan, this is totally good enough. I don't need to be able to count your nose hairs, I'm just happy to learn about interesting game design features in games that aren't necessarily super widely known.
Looks like a really fun experience, just by adding that one thing. It's amazing what a big difference a few small changes can make. That is actually one of the things that used to frustrate me about the original Sonic games: no attack other than jumping/rolling. I think I would definitely give this a try. Also, I often watch videos on TH-cam. When I do I prefer to watch them in 1080p. Stay hungry for the high quality, my friends. Hahaha! Seriously, if it's easier for you and it looks that good from an iPad, go for it! Now you won't need a team of people to haul all that stuff around. Yeah!
I feel as though the attack button addition was a really good choice. While game developers once had to worry about the gaming illiterate, these days most people that play games have some level of literacy with them. So while the button simplification was rather necessary with Sonic to keep the flow adequate, the hesitation most players will have with this new set up will be pretty brief and they'll be running jumping and attacking like an expert pretty quickly.
For the "flow of Sonic games" topic... I feel like that was only ever true for the first couple levels of each game. Not that you couldn't sprint through each level that way if you had them all memorized, but that was all higher level play. The first time through each level always felt more like a mix of exploring and watching for traps, as all the random pits, spikes, switches, etc. really made you slow down and watch what you're doing to keep from getting killed, and there were a lot of cool secrets to find all over the place if you wanted to take the time.
In that regard, I feel like Freedom Planet did really well at keeping that kind of flow, while actually giving the later levels traps and enemy swarms that pushed the need for skillful speed a lot MORE than the classic Sonic games, in spite of their attack system seeming like it should slow things down.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention!
It looks like a ton of fun, and hopefully it's better than the dreadful stuff the Sonic Team has been putting out lately
Sonic Team barely put anything out lately
Samir Malik you know what I mean
Nikolaj Lepka Let me put it this way. This game is better than any sonic game out there. It is easily my 2014 GOTY, beating out Shovel Knight even.
Lord Baldur Well in that case I'll get it! thanks!
Nikolaj Lepka one last thing, start with lilac, her moveset is very much like sonic's, with a double jump that acts as an attack, the dragon dash which bounces off walls and grants invincibility during it's charge and use, and some new tricks made for maintaining momentum, namely an uppercut for taking out foes in the air, a dropkick for approaching the ground with speed, and a hair flick for rushing through foes.
One thing I'd note about the original Sonic is that gameplay wise it's a lot more about maintaining momentum than running really fast. Yes, the game serves as a tech demo to show how fast the Mega Drive/Genesis can go (And the special stage is, as I understand it, pure tech demo)... But outside of Green Hill and Starlight Zones (There are areas of other zones that allow this, Spring Yard zone in particular, but for straight zones, those two are the highlights for speed), the game doesn't actually provide much opportunity for pure speed. Marble Zone is pretty much a case of precision platforming (And hilariously placed - Yeah, this game that's been advertised on speed and where we gave you a taste of the speed the game would be playing at in the first three levels? Have a level where you need to wait for the marble block you've just slowly shoved into lava to get to where you need it to be in order to make the jump while you slowly, so slowly, ride upon it, and your protagonist gets impatient with you because you're having him just stand around on this floating block for a while. Hilarious bit of trolling in game design, that, sticking the slowest feeling set of levels in the game, outside of the underwater stuff, second, in this supposedly fast paced platformer that advertised itself on speed and showed off a little of that promise in the first set of levels), but but throughout you always want to maintain a constant forward momentum - your attack ability is weaker the less forward momentum you've got, and there are obstacles (Spring Yard Zone's spinny spike balls especially) throughout the game where losing momentum can be fatal, or at least make the obstacle harder than it should be, and with some elements in stages seemingly designed purely to cause the player to lose momentum rather than actually hurt the player directly (The fans in Starlight Zone being the obvious example there)
Sonic 2, on the other hand, most of the level design seems to be pretty much all about showing off Super Sonic and how much faster Sonic is in his DB homage form than he is regularly.
It's always fun when EC mentions one of the games I've played and enjoyed.
I've never beat the game story, though. Some of the bosses... uurrrgh, they feel impossible to beat! Dealing the finishing blow to those **stards sure feels sweet.
Weirdly enough, I think this was a BETTER recording than your old equipment.
Jamesmeister this setup works pretty well. It's not bad and it gets the job done. If this makes it easier for you then yeah dude, use it~
The audio is the only thing that needs work. -- Video for these is fine on the iOS decive your using.
iPad is totally fine, thanks for another great episode James x
The quality is totally fine for what the videos are (honestly if it wasn't for the necessity of gameplay footage these would be find as podcasts imo). That said, would it be possible to get some small lavalier mic and use that? All the little audio annoyances would go away and it probably wouldn't make your setup much harder.
Quality seems fine, James.
Huh, well it does seem like most of those separate attacks are also specific ways of moving the character, like a double-jump, slowfall with horizontal movement, or quick dash forward, so I can certainly see them getting woven into the continuous movement style by players once they get enough familiarity with them and how they interact.
Honestly: I think the audio quality improved. I know your audio quality is varying with the room your recording in, but if this partially due to the iPad: I prefer good audio over video quality. This series is all about you and your experience. So, hearing your voice clearly is key to me. The video quality is good enough in a positive sense: James recommends or even extra credits as a whole is not about "flash bang production quality", it is about the content your put in so much work into. What makes the process of recording for you more convenient, makes you and your team more relaxed in general and focused on the subject in particular. Streamline your production process so that you can focus on content and let other aspects like video, audio and animation be "good enough" to not intrude the content for us viewers should be the target - but good enough is literally good enough. No need to aim for "perfect video and audio" - but aim for the best content. That´s way I am here. Video, audio and animations are just tools to convey the message.