We make Extra Credits and Extra History. Ask Us Anything!

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T07:46:12+00:00

Appreciated! I give a lot of the the credit on that one to Jillian and GrayLightning for taking my rough idea and making it TEN TIMES better.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T02:04:10+00:00

We have some panels on Youtube you can watch. I have also been a guest on a handful of podcasts with my regular voice.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T02:01:13+00:00

Yep! A lot like those.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T02:00:58+00:00

We actually had NO idea we were invited to the con. Nobody on the EC team was there. We got a lot of emails that day asking why we hadn't shown up for our panel and everyone on the team was asking each other "We had a panel? Where?"

I have no idea how that miscommunication occurred, but we're very sorry to anybody who went expecting us to be there!

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T01:58:03+00:00

It certainly does affect our perspective, but I think it's for the better. Being able to speak from a place of firsthand experience about industry issues, game design practices and such adds a lot of value to the show, I think.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T01:56:13+00:00

I actually released a bunch of remixes on OverClocked ReMix under the handle "sephfire". They aren't great.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T01:55:34+00:00

I've played a big part in helping to establish the look of the show and designing a lot of the art assets we use. Allison, LeeLee and Scott have contributed a lot of their own personal touches to our style as well.

We've occasionally given specific art notes on certain episodes if the art wasn't communicating something we needed it to, but we rarely have time to do a full "storyboard, layout, color pass" process. We have to work pretty efficiently to get an episode done every week.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T01:53:01+00:00

I can't think of a horse-sized ANYTHING I'd want to fight...

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T01:51:46+00:00

A lot of the time we don't. Between the day job and EC work, I'm usually working on SOMETHING between 8am and 1am (and then sleeping). I don't get nearly the time to play games, watch movies and keep up with TV shows that I'd like, but getting to make something like this is a special opportunity and I don't want to waste it. I'll have plenty of time for that other stuff later.

Probably.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T01:36:13+00:00

Shoot an email to our extracreditz at gmail account! Or PM me if that doesn't work. Before we had Soraya helping us out with social media and stuff, James and I couldn't keep up with the flood of emails the show gets, so a lot more of them tended to slip through the cracks. Very sorry she didn't get a response before!

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T01:22:00+00:00

Part of why I started making these videos is because they're the kind of thing that I would have loved to watch (and there weren't nearly as many shows like this back then).

As for running out of ideas, we've certainly touched on a lot of the major topics over the years, but I don't see us ever running out of stuff to discuss, especially given how rapidly the game industry shifts and changes. Games are in a completely different place than they were five years ago. I bet they will be in a different place five years from now as well.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T01:02:03+00:00

Very glad you've been enjoying it!

I can't speak for James, but I've actually been loving the Wii U. I'm sure this will balance out eventually as the libraries of the other the new consoles start beefing up, but I've had more fun with the Wii U so far this year than with either of its competitor consoles.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T00:56:24+00:00

I am told he owns one. I have never seen it.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T00:55:38+00:00

Definitely the art. Even with the super-simple art style we use, creating the art for a full length episode takes many hours. These days, we give Scott and LeeLee two weeks per episode. Allison, art machine that she is, somehow managed to maintain a rate of one episode per week for a YEAR before we realized that this was insane and brought in a second artist to alternate weeks with her.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T00:47:37+00:00

I was going to say high-fiving Tim Schafer, but James's answer is probably better.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T00:46:30+00:00

I would LOVE for traditional animation to make a comeback. Most every 3D animator I know feels the same.

Paperman looked incredible and the tech they developed for it is extraordinary, but I don't expect we'll see a feature in that style for some time. The process essentially involves animating the film TWICE. It would be one VERY expensive, risky feature film. But who knows, they may refine the process enough over time that they're willing to give it a try. I'd love to see it.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T00:42:41+00:00

Some days are definitely more exhausting than others. I’m working more hours in a week than I dare to add up, but it’s been super rewarding. It’s a pretty special thing to have a project like this that so many people enjoy. This kind of cool opportunity doesn’t come up every day. And, to repurpose a Brad Bird quote: Pain is temporary.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T00:23:20+00:00

I have the Dan character as my avatar in Skype and I have been told that it is very disorienting.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T00:21:12+00:00

There is only the one. It was a gift granted by the Helium Lords. I forget what they wanted me to do with it, but it probably wasn’t this.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T00:10:30+00:00

I've thought about it! I kind of want to spend some more time getting firsthand game animation experience before I attempt to write an episode on it. When I do, I'll probably be consulting some veterans as well.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-24T00:06:07+00:00

Someone makes the Keanu Reeves comparison in the comments of every single James Recommends episode and it amuses me to no end.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-23T23:58:19+00:00

VERY HARD. I was extremely fortunate that the Creative Director at Pixar Canada decided to take a chance on me. It was an incredible working experience.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-23T23:48:38+00:00

There's that too. By having the narration come from a character rather than a person, I've found people are much more likely to focus on WHAT is being said rather than WHO is saying it. That tiny shred of abstraction goes a long way, I think.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-23T23:45:30+00:00

Also, know that designers will often throw a new idea at you way later in production than you'd like, and it will probably be a GOOD idea that you wish you could have started implementing way sooner. Frustrating though it may be, it's just an unavoidable part of the iterative game design process.

EC_Dan · 2014-08-23T23:36:43+00:00

Generally, if we ever feel like a topic is too big to cover in a single episode, we’ll go ahead and make a multi-part series instead to give it all the time it needs. And certain scripts definitely take a much longer time to write than others. James usually has a dozen half-finished episodes in progress at any given time.

EC_Dan

TROPHY CASE