New competitive video series, need community input.

[SMERBECK]

Let me introduce myself! Names Keith, I'm a 26 year old graphics artist from State College, PA and have been playing/getting way too into Pokemon my whole life. Throughout my life I have always been attracted to the 'competitive' aspect of any game I have played. Whether it was Starcraft, Warcraft III, Counterstrike, Team Fortress 2.. what have you.

The thing is though, whereas I love playing in competitive 'matches' in these games there's one thing I truly love more, that's 'shoutcasting/announcing' and analysis. In the RTS community and TF2 community I slowly made my transition from active player to more of a broadcaster of matches/ESPN style segments. Maybe it's my RTS brained background, but I love the mindgames behind WHY people do what they do. Borderline addicted to the thought.

I have noticed with Pokemon videos on youtube or what have you that everyone who attempts to do it caters way to much to just 'calling it like they see it' and repeating the moves people make with no emphasis on anything but play by play. That's not good. We've all played Pokemon, so if you are searching for battle videos on youtube chances are your eyes are going to be able to tell you what's going on without some guy saying the moves/switches as they are happening.

My goal that I have been storyboarding/planning for a while now is to make a show highlighting top tier battles from all the major tournaments and have the production quality/analysis be high-enough quality where it can really start to catch the non-competitive battlers eye. I want to be able to entertain the seasoned veteran and also introduce the noob and noobette like to the wonderful, complex world of competitive battling.

Smogon and competitive Pokemon in general need a high quality show with some good personalities on it, so I have been mega-inspired with this project.

I have a few 'shows' outlined so far, but I just want to ask some questions first of the community. Really what this about is the art style, now I picked the style(s) I did so far because of my background in graphics work/bias towards certain colors and whatnot but that's not what makes something 'special.' The community is what does so I have a BETA screenshot if you will in regards to art-style. I just want some honest opinions on font size, color, composition, or whatever you see. Even if you want me to go get hit by a bus that's cool!

Keep in mind the that the goal of this show is to not only being top-notch quality entertainment but also explain WHY certain strategies work and WHAT certain items do in certain situations. More or less go completely off on exciting analysis.

So, I guess there's nothing else left to say but here is the screenshot so far:



As the match goes on we will pause and bring up certain graphics talking about anything and everything, people just gloss over terminology too often and sometimes even veterans can get confused to a what they are talking about.

Please, shoot me any ideas in regards to art style, or really just what YOU guys are looking for in a serious competitive Pokemon show. Have something to offer me? Talents, ideas, thoughts? Please post away!


Also, if you were curious as to what kind of shows/segments I've done in the past here's one I've done fairly recently for the TF2 community:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhVn4fhacCQ

Cheers!

[Ignismare]

Would love to watch someone focusing a bit more on the tactical side of the game than just desperately trying to keep up with the speed of the video itself. Some people try to pause for a second to explain a complicated thought process, but it doesn't happen a lot. Anyone trying to go deeper into all the mind games should definitely be welcomed with open arms. Also, the art style is really nice. You already have a viewer in me, if only for the cool scarfed Ditto :).
I personally have only one concern:

As the match goes on we will pause and bring up certain graphics talking about anything and everything, people just gloss over terminology too often and sometimes even veterans can get confused to a what they are talking about.

This might get annoying REALLY fast, especially on the beginning. Pokemon has tons of terminology, and trying to explain everything as the battle goes might make it a bit slow, especially for more experienced players who already know a thing or two about competitive battling.You really need to keep it balanced to make it work.
Other than that- pure awesome. It gives players of all levels a thing or two to learn (the basic mechanics for newcomers and a possible strategy base for veterans). So, I personally wish you good luck. I hope you share a link with us when the channel is ready :).