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Forum Event: Hack Chat

Just watched it. Like the idea of it. Needs some work. I'm kinda in a rush, but I can just offer like a short checklist of what I believe needs improving if you guys decide to do a second episode.

  • Add background music because the silence becomes very apparent in between pauses. Also adds personality to the podcast.
  • Cut out the long pauses in editing. Or at the very least shorten it. That and no background noise becomes very clear when pauses do happen.
  • Add pictures. Something to liven everything up outside of the bland Pokecommunity splash. Adding more personality. Even if it is a Podcast. Those listening/watching on Youtube need something to look at. Trust me. Anything other than a splash adds dimension. Maybe not. More of a suggestion.
  • Coherency? Seems as though the conversation was all over the place. Which is a good thing. It makes it sound authentic. BUT it could come as weird and disjointed if you go off track for too long. Maybe just a peeve of mine.
  • Volume. I know not everyone has access to the best voice recording software, so it's hard. But I had times where I didn't understand anything and had to go back.
  • Have certain segments? This is more of a suggestion. I know you're already planning on having specific topics to cover, as evidenced by the first post. My only problem is that it felt... lifeless. It's maybe me being spoiled, but podcasts are usually energetic. Just my opinion, but this podcast had no... personality. That may just be me.

I think that's it. I really want to see Hack Chat become better. Those were my gripes. Now I go and do other things. Good job getting this off the ground!
 
I feel like there's kind of a lack of momentum, but maybe I'm just used to rapid fire coffee fueled comedian podcasts I usually listen to.
You guys are talking about stuff people would be interested in but it seems like there's a lack of focus with the topic hopping. The first fifteen minutes are a bit hard to listen to because of the somewhat awkward aimless conversation before you start talking about hacks, and I think it's going to turn off some listeners. My suggestion would be to come in outlining what you're going to be going over in the podcast, make the host introductions, the guest introduction, and then spend 15 minutes bantering before sliding into an interview. And interviews can always be spotted with observations, opinions, banter as long as it all feeds into the overall point.
A 3-5 minute tips and tricks expo at the end would be appreciated by us novices as well.
I don't mean to offend you guys, since I owe each one of you something when it comes to hacking, but your podcast could use some sharpening. Not that it outright sucks, but it could be a lot crisper. I also think 30 minutes isn't enough when half of it is lost in topic-jumping random convo. If it were me, I'd get a good hour and a half of material and trim it down to an hour or 45 minutes in post.
You guys should get hackers on to interview-that is, hackers that release completed/mostly completed/critically acclaimed hacks (such as Drayano and LaZ), tool developers, and the legendary HackMew. Ask them pointed questions like what got them into hacking, how their best-known project/tool came about and how long, how much work, how much help went into it, what their favorite hack is (past/present), what they think about the current state of hacking, etc. Ask HackMew why he was such a dick about not releasing his methods and stuff-Pokémon may be a friendly community by and large but playing it safe makes for a boring interview. And maybe interview the up and comers, the ones who get nominated for hack of the year, previous nominees, the DS hackers, the GBC hackers, the hackers who are using Pokémon as a base for non-pokemon games, and the fakemon hackers too.
A final suggestion would be to have some video playing in the background, relevant gameplay footage and stuff. I look forward to your next effort.
 
hackmew hasn't been around for years lol, gl getting an interview with him

haven't watched it myself yet but timestamps might be a good idea so we can see what has been discussed in the episode, wouldn't be too hard since it's only 30 mins
 
I love feedback, keep it coming! This may sound weird but I kind of wanted the first episode to be an incoherent mess and just use it to introduce ourselves etc. Everything will be taken on board as we move onto future episodes :). We are definitely going to start introducing new segments (interviews, tips/tricks etc.) in future episodes, episode 1 was purely introduction and to gauge reaction.

Thanks to all who have listened so far!
 
hashtag said:
I love feedback, keep it coming! This may sound weird but I kind of wanted the first episode to be an incoherent mess and just use it to introduce ourselves etc. Everything will be taken on board as we move onto future episodes :). We are definitely going to start introducing new segments (interviews, tips/tricks etc.) in future episodes, episode 1 was purely introduction and to gauge reaction.

Thanks to all who have listened so far!
Click to expand...

Why did you cut out the most interesting part of the podcast? :c
 
Danny0317 said:
I watched it, was pretty solid. Only suggestion I'd have is to trim the length of those awkward pauses.
Click to expand...

I haven't listened to it yet, but this is a major pet peeve of mine that leads me to not watch youtubers, listen to most podcasts, or really any amateur content. The pauses, umms, ahhs, and other useless fillers drive me crazy and can waste a significant amount of time. If I'm going to sit and give my attention to something for half an hour, there better be at least 29 minutes of actual, meaningful content in it. I can also read much faster than people talk, so I try to go for transcripts instead of videos/audio most of the time.

You should strive to maximize the amount of "stuff" you're getting across to the listener while minimizing the amount of time it takes to do so. Especially because longer-than-standard pauses don't really give you anything in podcast form. At least with video, you could pack the "information void" with gestures or facial expressions to give a long pause a point.

Either way, I'mma fire up the podcast and give it a listen. I'll report back with actual feedback once I've formulated some.
 
Last edited:
Okay, just finished it. Let me start off by just saying what every other non-Brit is thinking. Dat accent, *swoon*. Now that that's over with...

I really enjoyed the podcast overall. I appreciated about 80% of the meandering that was happening. It was interesting and along the lines of what I wanted to hear in the Hack Chat. I think that the DCs and asking what happened should've been cut out, and I appreciate that Hashtag made no effort to rehash when they happened. I also appreciated FBI's insight into various things, as well as Lostelle and Hastag's insight into the community at large, sort of putting the pulse on it. Again, you have to shorten those long pauses though, and edit out the really long umms and ahhs (I noticed FBI doing this a lot) if it can be done without the listener noticing. They're infuriating. The shorter ones that flow quickly and directly into the next words are fine. Lostelle, I thought, was kind of quiet and a bit overpowered by everyone else. Like, I feel like maybe Lost had some lag and didn't get to jump in everytime he wanted to, because the listener gets the impression that he interrupts FBI/Hashtag to say his piece (which may have been lag).

This is the first Hack Chat, so I know that there's going to be some growing and squirming to get into the right size and spot for the topics and such. What I would like to hear are more in-depth analyses about why you think the hacking community is smaller. Why the overall quality of hacks has gone down. What can be done for the community in the long run? I feel like you brushed the surface of the topics that I was interesting in hearing about and then it just kind of stopped. I'd like to hear opinions and analyses about the general game design things that we have to consider while hacking, which I think would be more helpful for newbies than the general tips section. Sort of the theory behind a quality story, a quality map, quality content. Pacing, flow, etc. I have a ton to say about these game design-y particular things and how they could be applied in a hack; and would love to hear more from others or see a discussion sparked.

I'm probably in the minority, but I don't want to spend ten to fifteen minutes hearing about the hacks that the hosts like, unless it's in reference to a particular quirk or mechanic or example of something that they did right as a reference for the current topic. We all know what the popular hacks are. There's less than half a page of actual content in each hack release subforum. If I was interested in a hack, I'd look at its thread and save myself the listening time. The bit about Eclipse's sidequests would've been better served within a broader topic about the "thickness" of a hack's content, for example. That sort of thing. For all the time spent gushing about Gaia, there was surprising little that was actually said. You all didn't get into the meat of why you thought Gaia was good, just the superficial things. The hacks that you wanted revived was an interesting topic, but I wish some links to the hack threads and archived screenshots were included in the description. I remembered all of the hacks that were mentioned, but there are people here that will not. I'd also like to hear some of the things that you would've done differently in your favorite hacks. Like, maybe the hosts of the next Hack Chat could have some homework: they need to play through or replay a popular hack that's available, and then talk about the things that they might've done differently.

I think that refocusing the discussion to opinions and analyses of what is working and what isn't in our community, the theory behind game design that is pertinent to hackers, and less "I like this hack" and more of "Here are three things that made me like this hack and why, here are the things I would've done differently," would lead to a much more interesting and more passionate discussion from the hosts. I'd love to get involved if you want some ideas about what format these suggestions (if you want to run with them!) could take, or if you want a guest that has thought a lot about these concepts.

Admittedly, I had my doubts about how this was going to pan out initially, but I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the result. I genuinely hope this keeps up and has the time to mature into its full potential, because there is a ton of potential here.
 
Deokishisu said:
Okay, just finished it. Let me start off by just saying what every other non-Brit is thinking. Dat accent, *swoon*. Now that that's over with...

I really enjoyed the podcast overall. I appreciated about 80% of the meandering that was happening. It was interesting and along the lines of what I wanted to hear in the Hack Chat. I think that the DCs and asking what happened should've been cut out, and I appreciate that Hashtag made no effort to rehash when they happened. I also appreciated FBI's insight into various things, as well as Lostelle and Hastag's insight into the community at large, sort of putting the pulse on it. Again, you have to shorten those long pauses though, and edit out the really long umms and ahhs (I noticed FBI doing this a lot) if it can be done without the listener noticing. They're infuriating. The shorter ones that flow quickly and directly into the next words are fine. Lostelle, I thought, was kind of quiet and a bit overpowered by everyone else. Like, I feel like maybe Lost had some lag and didn't get to jump in everytime he wanted to, because the listener gets the impression that he interrupts FBI/Hashtag to say his piece (which may have been lag).

This is the first Hack Chat, so I know that there's going to be some growing and squirming to get into the right size and spot for the topics and such. What I would like to hear are more in-depth analyses about why you think the hacking community is smaller. Why the overall quality of hacks has gone down. What can be done for the community in the long run? I feel like you brushed the surface of the topics that I was interesting in hearing about and then it just kind of stopped. I'd like to hear opinions and analyses about the general game design things that we have to consider while hacking, which I think would be more helpful for newbies than the general tips section. Sort of the theory behind a quality story, a quality map, quality content. Pacing, flow, etc. I have a ton to say about these game design-y particular things and how they could be applied in a hack; and would love to hear more from others or see a discussion sparked.

I'm probably in the minority, but I don't want to spend ten to fifteen minutes hearing about the hacks that the hosts like, unless it's in reference to a particular quirk or mechanic or example of something that they did right as a reference for the current topic. We all know what the popular hacks are. There's less than half a page of actual content in each hack release subforum. If I was interested in a hack, I'd look at its thread and save myself the listening time. The bit about Eclipse's sidequests would've been better served within a broader topic about the "thickness" of a hack's content, for example. That sort of thing. For all the time spent gushing about Gaia, there was surprising little that was actually said. You all didn't get into the meat of why you thought Gaia was good, just the superficial things. The hacks that you wanted revived was an interesting topic, but I wish some links to the hack threads and archived screenshots were included in the description. I remembered all of the hacks that were mentioned, but there are people here that will not. I'd also like to hear some of the things that you would've done differently in your favorite hacks. Like, maybe the hosts of the next Hack Chat could have some homework: they need to play through or replay a popular hack that's available, and then talk about the things that they might've done differently.

I think that refocusing the discussion to opinions and analyses of what is working and what isn't in our community, the theory behind game design that is pertinent to hackers, and less "I like this hack" and more of "Here are three things that made me like this hack and why, here are the things I would've done differently," would lead to a much more interesting and more passionate discussion from the hosts. I'd love to get involved if you want some ideas about what format these suggestions (if you want to run with them!) could take, or if you want a guest that has thought a lot about these concepts.

Admittedly, I had my doubts about how this was going to pan out initially, but I was pleasantly surprised and happy with the result. I genuinely hope this keeps up and has the time to mature into its full potential, because there is a ton of potential here.
Click to expand...

There's quite a bit of insightful criticism here, which I can appreciate so thanks for that. I dc'd about 9 times the entire podcast because I kept kicking my ethernet cable, sadly... It was very much like a young school girl learning to handle the swings in a park for the first time. I'll be sure to not do that next time. As for the pauses and the "uhh" and "ahhs", I'll try to organise my thoughts before speaking!

This was pretty close to improvised, so I didn't have time to think about answers to some of these questions. Ultimately, my lack of practice with professional speaking started to show. It led to pauses and sounds while constructing an insightful answer, it's a personal flaw which I'd have to work on for future endeavors. I think the podcast, as many has mentioned previously, would do well with an overview of topics we'd cover & potential questions we'd answer. As for your suggestion regarding game design, I don't think any of us are professionally qualified to talk about that objectively. It's a very hard topic, and I feel like one person's ideal design may be flawed for a different person. In the end, we'd be able to give advice on things we think would make a good hack, based off of our own experiences, but I think an in-depth analysis about the topic (which sounds like what you're looking for) is hard to do. If that's OK with people, and the rest of the cast is up for the task, I don't see any issues :)

The first Hack Chat definitely had some rumbling around, and seemingly forced topic hopping. I believe these things will improve as it continues onward. Similarly, a lot of the host opinions on favourite hacks and such would be reserved only for the first episode. We wouldn't be talking about something like that every episode, as you'd be able to imagine. Part of the reason the Hack Chat episodes came out so brief was because we reckoned that the series wouldn't have any longevity if we covered too many bases at once. I think that idea would still stand true, but people seem to prefer we talked about certain things in more depth and for longer than we did. Doing that in conjunction with timestamps, we'd be able to keep relatively detailed discussions about topics and allow listeners to be able to tune into sections they're interested in hearing the most, while skipping sections which don't interest them.

Overall, a lot of good advice from everyone. All taken to heart, and I'll personally try to address the criticisms aimed at me in the coming episodes. Thanks for the feedback, and I'm glad many people have a lot of things to say about it!
 
FBI said:
There's quite a bit of insightful criticism here, which I can appreciate so thanks for that. I dc'd about 9 times the entire podcast because I kept kicking my ethernet cable, sadly... It was very much like a young school girl learning to handle the swings in a park for the first time. I'll be sure to not do that next time. As for the pauses and the "uhh" and "ahhs", I'll try to organise my thoughts before speaking!

This was pretty close to improvised, so I didn't have time to think about answers to some of these questions. Ultimately, my lack of practice with professional speaking started to show. It led to pauses and sounds while constructing an insightful answer, it's a personal flaw which I'd have to work on for future endeavors.
Click to expand...
That's what the magic of editing is for! I umm and ahh a ton while speaking in unfamiliar situations. I don't think that it's a host problem, as sometimes it's necessary to do a long umm to let your thoughts catch up. Those moments just have to be edited out, and a ton of podcasters and youtubers will do just that for unscripted content.
FBI said:
I think the podcast, as many has mentioned previously, would do well with an overview of topics we'd cover & potential questions we'd answer. As for your suggestion regarding game design, I don't think any of us are professionally qualified to talk about that objectively. It's a very hard topic, and I feel like one person's ideal design may be flawed for a different person. In the end, we'd be able to give advice on things we think would make a good hack, based off of our own experiences, but I think an in-depth analysis about the topic (which sounds like what you're looking for) is hard to do. If that's OK with people, and the rest of the cast is up for the task, I don't see any issues :)
Click to expand...
I would venture to guess that no one here is professionally qualified to talk about game design, which is why I suggested a sort of bridge to indirectly talk about it, with the "what I'd do differently" and "what's not working with the community" topic suggestions. I think that gamers (and by extension hackers) have a base-level intuitive knowledge about what is good design and what isn't. I don't expect a professional-level examination of these topics. I mean, we're hobbyists, but we should each have our own perspective and understanding at some level already when it comes to this. You don't need to be an actual game dev to share your insight, and the opinionated nature of how this will end up coming across from the hosts will probably spark interesting discussion within the podcast as well as hopefully cascade into discussions on the forums.
FBI said:
Similarly, a lot of the host opinions on favourite hacks and such would be reserved only for the first episode. We wouldn't be talking about something like that every episode, as you'd be able to imagine. Part of the reason the Hack Chat episodes came out so brief was because we reckoned that the series wouldn't have any longevity if we covered too many bases at once. I think that idea would still stand true, but people seem to prefer we talked about certain things in more depth and for longer than we did. Doing that in conjunction with timestamps, we'd be able to keep relatively detailed discussions about topics and allow listeners to be able to tune into sections they're interested in hearing the most, while skipping sections which don't interest them.
Click to expand...
Good to hear. I think that there's a lot of longevity here, but I think the key to that is not to skim over several topics per episode. Pick one or two topics that may spark an interesting discussion with the hosts and milk them for half and hour.
FBI said:
Overall, a lot of good advice from everyone. All taken to heart, and I'll personally try to address the criticisms aimed at me in the coming episodes. Thanks for the feedback, and I'm glad many people have a lot of things to say about it!
Click to expand...
I'm one of the people that likes your no-holds-barred criticisms of everything as well as your confidence in what you're saying. The only real problem I had with your sections were things that should've been edited out. I also would like an episode going more in depth about the hardware things you brushed over, but I know that that will have to come much later once you're all more comfortable with how this works.
 
That was an interesting listen. Happy I gave it a shot.
That FBI guy doesn't come off as a very likeable person, but it's good to have a guy like him on the podcast. It's always interesting to hear different viewpoints on podcasts like this one.
Also, I'd recommend perhaps telling the hosts/guests(whatever you call the people talking on the podcast) about what topics will be discussed or questions asked beforehand. Just so they can be more prepared to respond.
I'm looking forward to hearing a variety of topics being discussed. Keep it up.
 
Crizzle said:
You should probably update your first post, hashtag.
Click to expand...
Done :)

Deokishisu said:
Okay, just finished it. Let me start off by just saying what every other non-Brit is thinking. Dat accent, *swoon*. Now that that's over with...
Click to expand...
My accent is awful, proper farmer hahaha

Danny0317 said:
I watched it, was pretty solid. Only suggestion I'd have is to trim the length of those awkward pauses.
Click to expand...
Appreciate it.

Thanks for all the fantastic feedback so far, hopefully we can only improve from here. I shan't go too in depth with my replies as I feel all bases have been touched already for me. I really do appreciate it all and would love to see it keep coming, even one person having listened to us ramble and enjoy it is enough for me to keep going.

Definitely want to get someone in to interview for the next episode. Is there any in particular you guys would like to have a listen to? Really would appreciate some suggestions.
 
I really like the idea of having guests in the podcasts. Maybe you should invite some popular hack-creators?
 
Episode #2 recording date is now confirmed as 10/04/16. If there is anything, or anyone, you'd definitely like to see in #2 now is the time for final submissions! I've been toying with the idea of possibly also livestreaming it as we're recording, obviously it wouldn't be as polished as the finished article but it's an idea I'd like to throw out there.
 
I don't think a livestream would attract enough viewers to make it worthwhile.
 
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