MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

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JohnnyAtlas
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by JohnnyAtlas »

Heyo - registered to post on this.

Local TV producer / editor / writer here, totally down to help with the vid if I don't come across as too much of a prick.

Been lurking around the forums for a while now - DLed Maptools but haven't played a game yet. Tried to learn macros, slow on the programming uptake... dunno if my brain is wired for it :lol:

Comin' at this from a production standpoint, it'd make most sense to wait until 1.3 is out to nail down all the features. Would also be good to sit in on a few games to see all the different ways people are using it (and possibly get B-roll footage).

The way I see it, coming at this from a "I'm new to MapTools" perspective. What gets people hooked is the simple interface, unlimited potential and the awesome custom maps, because they're literally works of art. I'd totally suggest an "official" partnership with Cartographer's Guild or something along those lines.

Also, I think the video stands as more of an "Instructional Video" than a Marketing vid (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Marketing vids are "Ohhhh" "Ahhhhh" fireworks and flash, they play off emotional impulse and mostly focus on the end result - not the process. Also, for a "Marketing" vid - anything over the 2 - 3 minute mark is the kiss of death... depending on your audience's initial buy in. If we're talking GM's, they have an initial vested interest. But if it's just Joe Gamer... I'd be wary of going over three min.

As an instructional vid, I think that there's prolly more room to simplify aspects. I'll go ahead an agree with a previous post about the macro language being too complex. I'd save that for a different vid to carve out your nitche.

Also, coming from production, Brad - you're torturing yourself by going through the dozens of hours of production and waiting until after the fact to get feedback - especially with Camtasia.

If it's truly a community effort, I'd suggest posting the script first - then getting feedback at that point to minimize changes after pre-production.

Also, people love stories, It'd be great to theme the vid or give it an arc to really connect with the audience.

Anyway, not trying to be a douche. Brad you've done awesome work here... definite 10's on the effort and production quality!

-Johnny-

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brad
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by brad »

Hey Johnny. Thanks for posting. Nothing prickish about your post by the way. Just your thoughts and feedback, which is what I am always looking for. I will just work my way down your post.

1.3 is basically done. That only thing that being done at this point is debugging. There is talk of the next build being the final one and I can't see it going past 2 more builds unless some big bugs and suddenly found. So, there is nothing that will affect this video.

While there is not an "official" partnership with the Cartographers Guild, there is a big quite a number of crossover members from this forum to that one. I am a little leery of having nothing but crazy perfect maps in the video. MapTool already has a reputation(most people on this forum including myself don't agree this) in some places as being the sort of the Photoshop of VTTs. Meaning you can do incredible stuff but it is complicated. So, while I was looking to have a couple "WOW look at that" maps I was thinking that having the rest be nice looking but simple was a good thing.

It probably has an instructional flavor to it as I spent many months making instructional videos for MapTool(see my sig). I was trying to hook people on brief exposure to substance rather then just a bunch of wow. I know from a marketing stand point that probably isn't the standard, but I am an amateur.

My target audience actually is more the GMs then Joe Gamer. My experience is that the GM of a group has by far the most influence as to whether a program like this would be used and which program would be used. The GM also does the lions share if not all of the prep work with the program and interacts with it the most during the game, so that is the one you need to convince.

As for posting the script first. Do you think people would be able to visualize what the end product might look like, without knowing what maps and motions I would be using? Also, I did modify the script as I went. Certain things sounded better in my head then when I spoke them. If you think it would save time and that people would be able to give good feedback without seeing something in front of them I would be willing to give it a shot. Though, for this particular version of this video is already up so that was my script.

I am not sure where to start with your idea of a theme and story and all that. I like the sound of it, but like I said earlier I am quite the novice. A year and a half ago there was no documentation and many people were talking about doing detailed video tutorials, but no one was. So, I started that. I had never done anything like this so my learning process was do a couple, post them and ask for as much thoughtful criticism and feedback as possible. Then make adjustments and try again. This new video is again something new and I was just doing the same learning routine.

If you do have the experience, time, motivation, and so on to help tackle this I would love the input or even better a partner. Better quality and someone to share the work load would be great. Videos that are made up of a bunch of pieces like this do take a lot more time then the tutorials I am used to making. Just a warning though. I tend to argue quite bluntly about new ideas and changes. Not that I mind new things or changes(I often like them actually), I just want to understand or be convinced why one thing is better then the other, if the reasons don't jump out at me.

I am thinking maybe one or two videos with more flash and theme like you are talking about and then a dryer one like I have going on already. The community would then have a couple options to link to on the different sites they might be promoting MapTool on, depending on the audience. That is if you are going to help. I am sort of lost on the concept of flash and theme if left to my own devices.
View MapTool video tutorials at RPToolsTutorials.net

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jfrazierjr
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by jfrazierjr »

palmer wrote:
jfrazierjr wrote:If this is concept should be in it's own video, perhaps something like "The least you need to know to use Maptool" with the bare minimum.
The least you need varies based on your intended usage.

Straight up example... the networking functions are not needed if you're using it for a battlemap in a F2F game, but are needed for a remote game.

Facing is important and a minimum for any game using facing (Gurps), but not neede for D&D.

Drawing tools and dropping objects aren't needed for people who use premade maps (Photoshop, DJ, rpgmapshare). Import map isn't needed for those who don't use them.

It's hard to say what is a universal bare minimum.

I for one consider sight and VBL bare minimums (light I can pass on, but not VBL) for pretty much any game
I understand what your saying, but at it's most basic building blocks, it's something like this:

  • Build or import a map(and GM's are free to define their own definition of what a map is), ie, in some way get a map into Maptool.
  • put tokens onto the map to represent characters, monsters, or units of play
  • Provide a way for the players to see the map, either via projector/extra screen or by connecting over a network.


To me, that is the essence of a VTT, and the definition of what a VTT is. Everything else is gravy. Yes, that gravy can be really tasty, but if my point is to be able to replace a rubber battlemap at a local game or to play with people across the country, these are base requirements. You take one of these away, and facing means nothing, VBL means nothing.

I can understand that facing is essential in your game (not in mine and not in many games), likewise, I understand that VBL is essential in your game, but it's not required to play any game since a fold out battlemat has no way to emulate(yes, I use VBL in my games as the GM, but the last session I just did not have time to prepare due to a late nite Vet visit during my normal DM prep time and had to create my map on the fly right before we started and thus I just skipped VBL for this session).

Yes, all the other things Maptool can do is what makes it Maptool, but many people play without many of these features and get enjoyment out of the tool. In essence, people who want to either replace their physical medium or be able to play with friends across the world really just "need" the stuff above. To me, these are the basic features that are "the least you need to know to use Maptool". Everything else is an intermediate(light, vision, basic token properties,etc) or advance(VBL which includes optimization information!!!, advanced macros, etc) usage.
I save all my Campaign Files to DropBox. Not only can I access a campaign file from pretty much any OS that will run Maptool(Win,OSX, linux), but each file is versioned, so if something goes crazy wild, I can always roll back to a previous version of the same file.

Get your Dropbox 2GB via my referral link, and as a bonus, I get an extra 250 MB of space. Even if you don't don't use my link, I still enthusiastically recommend Dropbox..

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brad
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by brad »

A quick heads up for everyone. I am putting the second draft of this video on hold for about 3 weeks or so. Last night, just for fun I decided to check out the tutorial website webstats. I hadn't done that for many months. As it turns out while in 2008 we had about 500 to 2000 unique visitors a month, this year has increased and for the last few months unique visitors have been at 5000 or more a month.

I am not sure how much to decrease it to account for web spiders and the same user visiting the site from different computers, maybe you cut it in half. In any case that is still a lot of people watching only partially useful tutorials, because bits and pieces are outdated. That was sort of a wake up call for me to get the lead out and make some real headway in updating the tutorials. This video is fun and all, but it is to bring in new users. Those new users are then being ill served by the tutorials that I haven't updated.

So, expect the second draft in about 3 to 5 weeks. Sorry, but I felt I had to change priorities.
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torstan
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by torstan »

Yep, from the stats that Trevor put up it looks like there's around 8000 people using maptool a month so around 5000 hits for the tutorials isn't outrageous. I hope the updates go well.

Craig
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by Craig »

torstan wrote:Yep, from the stats that Trevor put up it looks like there's around 8000 people using maptool a month so around 5000 hits for the tutorials isn't outrageous. I hope the updates go well.
Its not outrageous at all, I just took a look at the wiki, last week it got about 800 unique visitors. And I would dare say its expected that the videos would get more visitors than the Wiki (especially when it comes to those new to MapTool).

Interestingly enough though there are still people out there running Internet Explorer 5! :)

JohnnyAtlas
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by JohnnyAtlas »

I'd be game for when you're ready to tackle this again ;)

-Johnny-

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brad
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by brad »

Craig wrote:And I would dare say its expected that the videos would get more visitors than the Wiki (especially when it comes to those new to MapTool).

Interestingly enough though there are still people out there running Internet Explorer 5! :)
I would think, now that the Wiki has gotten filled out with more content, that the Wiki would start getting more hits then the video tutorials. Video tutorials are an easy way for new users to get started and shown how to do things in MapTool. But, sifting through a video tutorial to find that one thing that I forgot, would annoy me. Personally for that I want some nicely organized text. But, I can be the impatient sort. :wink:
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brad
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by brad »

I have my game's framework done and almost all of the essential tutorials done, so I am about ready to get back to other projects like this. I have been toying around with adding some transitions and titles. Here is my first stab at it, using just a few of the chapters. I basically rendered the screencast to a .avi file, so I could import it into the program I bought for my camcorder(Pinnacle). Then I use that one to add the transitions and titles. Then render it in .avi again, though I think Pinnacle is forcing it to a slightly different dimensions, so there is a loss of video quality. Then I put it back into Camtasia and render it into flash.

What are peoples' thoughts? Does this type of thing add enough that I should tinker some more and see if I can find a way to get better video quality? Here is the link to the video.

First Transitions Test
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Natha
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by Natha »

I like the big titles announcing the features.
The video is a little blurry but the pace/rythm is good imho.
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torstan
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by torstan »

Looks good. Glad to see this back on the slate.

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brad
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by brad »

Ha!!! Thought this project was dead didn't you! Well it's not. I have moved across the country and updated my Camtasia. I started working on this again yesterday. I took to heart the comments about my first draft being more of a feature covering video and not a marketing video. So, new feedback please, as it is almost totally new. Also, I am having problems thinking of what might look good with that last 30 seconds of audio. Brainstorming session please. :P

Here is the draft of the new video

http://www.rptoolstutorials.net/videos/ ... Tool3.html

And here is the script.

Code: Select all



	What is MapTool?

	MapTool is a program that allows you to enhance your role-playing games in many ways.  With MapTool you can create eye catching encounter maps in minutes.  MapTool has basic, easy to learn drawing and image tools.  Now combine those tools with the free images and textures that are available and a novice CAN make great maps in minutes.


	Maps you can interact with.  Say you want a troll to throw this log.


	Or you want a door to open.(open door)

	Or you want GM notes embedded right into objects(point at the chest)

	Next are MapTool's vision and light capabilities


	What do the players actually see in that village at night?


	What opponents can you see, shooting at you down that hallway?  MapTool makes it easy.  And with token ownership you can add the dimension of players only seeing what their token sees.


Then there's the crunchy stuff.  The  die rolling, math, and stat tracking in your game.  You can keep it basic and just type in the dice rolls yourself or save a few shortcuts to speed things up.


	Or you can have MapTool do it all from the dice rolling, the math, to health bars, equipment inventory, and the list goes on.


	All of these features can add fabulous depth and new dimensions to your games.  You might use MapTool to display on a TV or projector or use MapTool's networking to connect players from New York, Wisonsin, Arizona, and Hawaii(like my current online game).  In some cases MapTool adds to the fun and in others the fun couldn't happen without it.



	One final aspect of MapTool that cannot be forgotten is that MapTool is both game system and computer system neutral.  So, it doesn't matter what game system you are playing.  MapTool can support it.  It doesn't matter if the computers you want to connect are Windows, Apple, and Linux.  MapTool can run on them all and MapTool can connect them.

	Oh yeah...  And did I mention that MapTool is FREE...  From RPTools.net

	Have fun gaming...

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wolph42
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by wolph42 »

Looks nice!

Let me first give a small manual on how to read my comment:
For the parts that of your work that I don't t comment on, I mean to say "Wow that looks so freaking great that I'm awestruck and can't think of anything to say".

The comment:
- You might want to throw in the FoW and player vs gm view.
- Next to that you could show some of the menu structure, so people get a feeling of what you can do with it (in terms of distance, hex vs square etc etc) though this might be too much...
- And on a more 'matter of taste' note I wouldn't use any of the 'fancy' transitions between shots. I've done a LOT of video editing over the years and well.... its cheasy :mrgreen: Just use FO / FI (well you can keep the first one)
- Personally I would go for circle vision in stead of square, though the square light sources look interesting if you know MT, its looks clunky when you don't (at least IMHO)
- Also you might want to consider to use a more fancy looking charactersheet in the scene you show that, as there are some really great looking ones of those in the FW section
- and finally the last part (1:48+) of the movie is black (on my screen)

All in all awesome job! (I mean that)

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plothos
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by plothos »

Agreed on the square lighting. It's nice for the 4E player to see it, but for just about anybody else it's closer to wtf.
Showing off some of the interactive character sheets would be a good call. If you could incorporate FOW, I would. Maybe show a quick sequence where someone comes around a corner exposes new map with an enemy standing there, they attack it and it get's dropped dead. That'd very quickly show off a lot of features in a very intuitive fashion.

At the end I guess you have the script set but aren't sure what images to show? Maybe there you could throw in short clips that don't need explanation, like using the globe to change maps, or dragging an image from the library to the map. Or something like Lindsay's whisper panel.
Where you talk about PC/mac/linux agnosticity maybe some stills of MT running on all those platforms with their various trademark window schemes. When you talk about it being free from RPTools.net, you could maybe show a clip of you going to the website and into the launch section to start it up?
Drop-In Utilities:
My Spell Manager for D&D3.5 and PFRPG
My Inventory Manager for D&D and PFRPG, but more generally useable than that.
My Message Manager -- My Top-Down D&D Token Images
and my Custom Initiative & Status/Spell-Effect Tracker (work in progress, but functional).

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brad
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Re: MapTool Marketing Video (Call for Help!!!)

Post by brad »

Thanks for the detailed feedback wolph!
wolph42 wrote: - and finally the last part (1:48+) of the movie is black (on my screen)
Yep, that is what I meant by "Also, I am having problems thinking of what might look good with that last 30 seconds of audio. Brainstorming session please." Nothing sprung to mind immediately, so I thought I would ask for ideas.
View MapTool video tutorials at RPToolsTutorials.net

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