Update thread - 9/12/2011

[OrochiGeese]

There's no real schedule

As long as you don't finish the post-PPV Amplitude) before the PPV is up ;D

But yeah, it's awesome you've gotten this done so fast


As for Voltage, I'm a little less then halfway done. All the matches are done but I need to do two more videos. And I need to write most of the show but two parts are already written. Its hard for me to give an estimate but I'm really hoping i can get this done by the weekend of September 6/7th.

[OrochiGeese]

Ok, phew. I just finished a project that was one of the biggest obstacles to Voltage being finished.

What is mainly left at this point is just the write-up and even then, a lot is actually done. Unless anything wacky happens this week, I'm pretty confident I can get the show posted by next weekend

*never rule out anything wacky though

[unimportantguy]

Aug 30, 2008 0:52:57 GMT -5 OrochiGeese said:

Ok, phew. I just finished a project that was one of the biggest obstacles to Voltage being finished.

*dares to hope*

[OrochiGeese]

Well it was actually FOR Voltage itself, i should have been more clear.

Sorry

I'm not doing any further edit work/simming until I get to AT LEAST 2-4 of your edits though.

[OrochiGeese]

Progress has been made and things are looking good for Voltage to be posted this weekend

[OrochiGeese]

Hope everyone enjoyed Voltage

I'll be posting a General's Report soon that will start filling in the PPV card a bit more thoroughly.

Also, I hope to get an updated edit pack up in the next week or so

[Joe Snack Road]

The next OG-Joshi Amplitude show will be up somewhere between early and mid-October - a card will be developed and posted in full by monday or tuesday at the latest.

[OrochiGeese]

I'm still working on getting an edit pack out. A lot of new people are gonna be introduced in the coming weeks so I'm figuring out whether to release the pack soon or after the next LAWL show and Voltage

[Joe Snack Road]

The next Amplitude is made of "Done When Its Done" thanks to Walmart Inventory.

Let me give you advice: Don't ever be management at Walmart during inventory.

[OrochiGeese]

Take your time man, I know things are super busy at work

I have 3 shows to finish (2 of which are almost done) before I get to Voltage. Also, you're on the 4th Amplitude of the "season" while I'm just on the 3rd Voltage. So unless (and even if) you want to do a 5th Amplitude before the PPV, its prob good for you to pace this next one out anyway

[OrochiGeese]

I want to first give a quick update:

With HaLAWLoween now posted, my next order of business is finishing the UBL Open show. I just have 2 matches left to sim for that and then a show which is practically 1/3 already written. After that's done (another two weeks?), I can get to Voltage. It already has a hot promo done and the outline of the show. I don't think it will take long to get the video matches. And writing it shouldn't be too bad.


I know it feels like a while since I've done anything here. Part of that is due to the alternating schedule itself. Honestly, we all know I've spread myself too thin. OG-Joshi has two brands (and while Joe has gallantly taken on the mantle of Amplitude, I still delayed it earlier this year when I still wrote it), UBL has two divisions, and then there's LAWL. I always kinda felt guilty for OG-Joshi cause it was the first and so it was the one affected most by the new fed additions and divisions. (but no subtractions...or logarithms.)

Technically, everything is on "schedule" just cause I've been working an alternating show/fed schedule. Voltage isn't really late in that sense cause I had planned for it to happen after the Open show.

But that's a heap of shit when we take into account actual show momentum. I happen to think the previous Voltage was really a big deal and I feel guilty that I didn't follow up on that momentum. But I also am so into UBL (and dedicated to doing at least 3 LAWL shows a year) that there's really nothing I can do to make things quicker. Throw in the fact that I've been more distracted recently with real life stuff and even just other video game stuff, and things have gone REALLY slow this year. (And that goes for UBL and LAWL as well...poor LAWL only had two shows this year so far). I think some cool stuff has happened in the Orochi-O's feds but it's not been a banner year for consistency or frequency. I'll admit that.

New UBL plans will allow me to move a bit quicker on those shows which benefits OG-Joshi too. I'm even considering doing smaller shows for LAWL for new wrestlers (AmpLAWLitude?) so that the bigger shows can be reduced in size and not be 4 week production undertakings. (seriously). So I'm hopeful that things can ramp up a bit, especially as the PPV is coming up (after the next Voltage, its just one show away). And I still have huge plans for the next year, really kicking into gear after the PPV and ramping up considerably.

This isn't as much an apology or an explanation as it is just my honest need to talk about this. I was up front last year about taking things off a set schedule so its not like this is a surprise, but I'm still a bit disappointed in myself that I've been SO infrequent. Especially considering that e-fed stuff still occupies a VERY large piece of real estate in my mind. It's just that, when it comes to sitting down and writing all of it and especially video simming it, things don't always go according to plan. Also, since so much of this is in my head, sometimes I forget that it isn't in the head of you guys. I know where stories are going and some of you do, but not to the same extent...at least not without seeing it in show form. To say I have regular Holly/OG and Alicia/Thunder Strike dialogues in my head is both true and disturbing...but a lot of it happens for future plans so it's not like I can really use it to get things done faster.

So yeah, I'd like to thank those who have been patient (i.e. ALL of you). I'd like to think that, even with shows taking longer, I'm still as receptive to ideas and communications as I usually am (even if those ideas take months to implement ) I'm always open to suggestions for how to run things quicker but I'm still trying my best to keep the emphasis on the stories and not short change anyone by decreasing the depth of story. But sometimes that can lead to things taking longer and momentum taking a hit. It's a double-edged sword when we're not all getting paid to keep this running more frequently, I suppose ;D

I'm hoping I can get things running more smoothly by 2009 and into it

[motosada]

While I certainly won't point the finger or tell you what an awful person you are for delaying a couple shows (hell, it's taken me three months so far to finish the last half of a Maelstrom), a bit of an update is nice. Honestly, you may want to consider lightening your load altogether. I'm sure handing the reigns of Amplitude over has been helpful, have you thought about seeking someone to do Open shows?

[OrochiGeese]

Thanks for the feedback, Moto

I think Open shows will be a bit easier now then they have been just cause I've re-organized things. That will go into effect after this current show. Now most Open shows will be text-only and the whole process should go faster. More info on that on the UBL boards if you haven't checked. So the outsourcing idea was good (and has worked here) but I think I want to try things this new way to see how it goes.

I don't think there's really an optimal plan right now just cause I find myself with 3 feds - 2 of them being rather large in scope, roster, and plans. Add to that the fact I have other distractions then I used to and things are just really slow. I do think I can speed them up but I just had to be honest with myself and everyone with what has happened the last few months...or more accurately, WHY. I think I've been pretty good with giving small updates at least once a month but really, it was just basic schedule stuff. So i felt it was time for more of a comprehensive "State of OG-Joshi" vent/"mea culpa" then anything else just so you guys knew what was going on inside my head (the non crazy stuff).

I like using videos but FPR simming can just be too unpredictable and cost me way too much time. SO many great matches end up unusable for shows cause of the wrong winner and I don't want to abandon the approach of predetermined winners for most of my matches. THe reason the Open show has taken so long is cause FPR has been uncooperative. I've spent enough time to sim 4 shows. It's not the fault of any edits, its just FPR - no way to determine winners and competitive matches at the same time. I don't want to abandon videos altogether but I do believe I can get shows done faster and even have certain stories done better with more text shows. I think I just need to be more flexible and aware of which matches benefit better from video vs. text and abandon "video only" guidelines for Voltage and other similar shows. I just gotta go with what works and think more about how I can use write-ups both better and more efficiently.

I guess one of the problems is that I tend to plan so far in advance so I tend to be very strict in setting things up. I'd probably be better off sometimes having a slightly more flexible schedule with occasionally smaller shows. I could still get to the end point but it wouldn't hurt me to do it in a more dynamic way, especially if that meant content was actually being posted! Whether smaller Voltages or less videos or whatever, I think it's time for me to break away from practice - admittedly, not a strong point for me.

Really, I have a great opportunity to do so around the time after the next PPV due to storyline reasons. So maybe I'll just keep Voltage in traditional format until the next PPV and then I'll be able to play around with presentation around then. Though honestly, Voltage has only been like 1/5th of my show load this year so I obviously have to make changes in the other shows too in order to run OG-Joshi and the other feds better. But with the new UBL plans and some more thought about smaller LAWL shows, I could be on to something.

I actually have a very cool event planned next year which is pretty much all Joe's idea. I won't say what it is but it will likely trounce the OG-FPD style PPV in scope and importace. So I think if I start running smaller but more frequent shows across all 3 feds, that big event will end up being even cooler when we get to it.

[gbomber]

here's an idea - have you seen how Pro Wrestling SHAFT runs it's shows? I was part of it for a bit, and I like their presentation.

sample: pwshaft.com/shows/implosion/implosionx12/Match1.htm

check it. point being is that you don't have to give up visuals, and it's a lot easier to tell the 'story' sometimes when you're just working with screenshots. of course, I like the videos.

maybe you don't like it, or won't like it, but again, just a thought.

[OrochiGeese]

Thanks for the heads-up on that I do like the presentation though I've actually found pics to take longer for me to do then videos. That's the only reason I haven't done them before. I enjoy reading shows with pics (PW-W and NDP have both done that in the past) but I find it takes me a bit longer to do so. Though I think for certain text matches, a few pics might be a good idea. It's something for me to think about

I'm starting to wonder if when I do video matches and get the wrong endings, i should just find a way to edit in the right endings. It would require people to just kinda "accept" any odd transitions and perhaps a different time on the FPR timer (cause i hate having to wait like 18 in-game minutes to put a new ending to an existing 18 minute FPR match). I mean its all worked anyway (no one is being "cheated" since i simply wouldn't accept the match with the wrong match as it is) but i feel people might have an opposition to me essentially ending one match with another match without some kind of angle explaining it. At least this way it allows us to preseve the videos up until the ending when the wrong person wins. And it also allows me to put an ending in that makes sense with the match and storyline. I'd still TRY for a full match with the correct winner but after like 5-10 matches of frustratingly seeing a great match end the wrong way, it would be nice for me to at least use that match and end it the right way.

I've done this before, actually, but I've always had a distinct angle to interrupt the match and give me the smooth transition. (an example would be this match at HaLAWLoween). But without an angle, its a bit more difficult to do smoothly and so I'm wondering if people would be turned off to it.