Proposal: Official construct Showreel

I suggest no vote, or only votes from editor submitters, and Construct creators for clips chosen. The people that do the work should make the decisions and reap the reward for their efforts.

Nothing worst than people that want a say and do no work.

I agree with Guyon usual democracy in this case isn't good choice in my opinion.

And for the rules 25-30fps and any common codec without any sounds would be best but it's only my opinion

I also vote for the "exes submitted to an editor" model. It'll ensure much more consistent recording and video quality.

I also volunteer myself as an editor, since I have lots of experience in the fields of video capturing, video editing, video processing and video compression.

I also suggest that when people submit their exes/caps they can say what they'd like to be recorded in it if it's not obvious what the thing is demonstrating.

A quick scan of this thread makes it look like it's seriously at risk of coming to nothing because nobody can even decide how to organise it (45 replies and still debating whether to submit clips or EXEs?). Too many cooks etc. AFAIK herobash did it alone and nobody complained the wrong bit of their game is shown. IMO someone just needs to say: "I want to make a video, send me your EXEs here" and then go ahead and create the video (multiple people could do this as well, no issues with more than one video).

Community organised = unorganised. For example, when was the last time you saw one of those "community-made MMORPGs" that actually got anywhere?

IMO someone just needs to say: "I want to make a video, send me your EXEs here" and then go ahead and create the video (multiple people could do this as well, no issues with more than one video).

I totally agree with Ashley on this one. If people have to record their own clips and stick to certain rules with the video, chances are this won't get made. Would be much wiser to have one video editor record and edit this from EXEs.

I don't have a problem with one person doing most of the video, but if the person is going to be recording video from an exe anyway I don't understand what's wrong with sending the person video to begin with. Why can't we do it either way?

Edit: Not directed at Arima who posted just before me dammit lol.

No.. the problem is nobody is reading anything, there's a thread already been put up for submissions, with the rules, and the deadline. Anything other than that is just discussion. But at least you guys are discussing it in the RIGHT THREAD. *glares at deadeye, 6fix and Quazi* Hehe.

So yeah, the option of exe OR video is there because there will always be people who can't do one thing but can do the other. There's a set format to use, mpeg, which is available to everyone with win2k and above (so no excuses at not being able to use it), there's a set resolution to use so the quality remains consistent in the video, and it's the lower end of the HD formats, so fewer will have issues with it, there's no requirement to include audio, which makes grabbing at a decent frame rate far easier, and also smaller files.

Ashley, quit being so negative

I don't understand your insistence to use an ancient outdated codec when there's a better alternative that's a standard and used everywhere. I understand you don't want to mess around with a lot of esoteric codecs, but as long as it's either MPEG-1 or h.264, why does it matter which a person uses?

Besides, I tried to post an MPEG-1 on the forms a while ago, and there were people who couldn't read that either. :/

I don't understand your insistence to use an ancient outdated codec when there's a better alternative that's a standard and used everywhere. I understand you don't want to mess around with a lot of esoteric codecs, but as long as it's either MPEG-1 or h.264, why does it matter which a person uses?

Besides, I tried to post an MPEG-1 on the forms a while ago, and there were people who couldn't read that either. :/

I could have said divX too

But it's cool, I'll change the rules in the submission thread to allow for any codec.

Will only one person create and edit the video? Or everyone can try to make his own version of the showreel?

I've previously worked in an advertising agency, made video ads and presentation films. And I have some ideas about what the final video should be. <img src="http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae352/constructgame/ge.gif">

Well you certainly have the eye.

And it looks like we have a volunteer.

Hi.

I like the idea too! But have a few questions:

?Record at 25fps at 720p HD resolution? ? what should be the screen resolution? 1280x720 (16:9) ? And what if the original game is 640x480 (4:3)? Capture it in 640x480 (4:3) or remake the game in 1280x720 (16:9)? Or simply run the application in the fullscreen mode and capture as it is (4:3)?

?Use the standard MPEG format? ? MPEG 1 or MPEG 2? May I use MPEG 4?

?Don't include the audio? ? I would advise to leave the sound without music, i.e. original game sounds (sound of jumping, shooting, etc. ) + main musical theme which you will select for the showreel. I think it will keep the atmosphere and make the video more fun.

Will only one person create and edit the video? Or everyone can try to make his own version of the showreel?

I've previously worked in an advertising agency, made video ads and presentation films. And I have some ideas about what the final video should be. <img src="http://i987.photobucket.com/albums/ae352/constructgame/ge.gif">

Well if you'd like to make the showreel from the submissions, go ahead.

Hello.

Well, recording videos would ensure that the person recording videos doesn't miss anything cool

I absolutely agree with you!

People who want to show some specific moments should have the opportunity to capture their own video.

there's a set resolution to use so the quality remains consistent in the video, and it's the lower end of the HD formats

Once again I would like to clarify about the 720p. As it is written here (link to wiki):

"720p is one of the HDTV video modes, which has a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, a vertical resolution of 720 pixels and a horizontal resolution of 1280 pixels"

For example, I'm going to capture video from my Christmas Puzzle Game (see screenshot below).

(click on it to open in fullscreen)

This game is in the resolution of 640x480 (4:3). How do you propose to capture it in 1280x720 (16:9))?

Version 1: Stretch the game to the size of 1280x720 (16:9). Then the game will be distorted (see screenshot below).

Version 1:

(click on it to open in fullscreen)

Version 2: Cut the top and bottom and stretch it to 1280x720 preserving the original aspect ratio. Then we get that the field and the clock will be cut off (see screenshot below).

Version 2:

(click on it to open in fullscreen)

Version 3: We just capture a video and simply insert it in the center of HD resolution, but then there will black space on the edges of the screen (see screenshot below). And still we have to stretch the vertical height from 420 to 720 (almost 2-fold).

Version 3:

(click on it to open in fullscreen)

I think it's an important issue and we need to resolve this before people start to capture video from their games.

IMHO: we don't need to use HD format (720p) because most of the games created with Construct has a resolution of 640?480 (4:3). I don't see any reason to stretch the game to 1280x720 and make it widescreen (16:9) ? this will only worsen its quality (pixels will be visible in full screen). I think the recorded video must have the same resolution as the game. Afterwards when an editor will process the video he will set the optimal for the most games screen resolution.

If you think otherwise and still propose to record video in 720p, then we will have to remake our games in the appropriate resolution to avoid loss of quality in full screen. Or you do not agree with this?

You should pop into chat sometime to discuss the ideas, curious what you have in mind. Plus more tends to get done there than on the forums.

Alas, but I'm not fluent in English and it takes me a lot of time writing one sentence. So I'm more convenient to communicate via the forum.

Yeah, true.. unfortunately it comes down to either the widescreen games lose a part of them, or the none widescreen ones get black bars. Whatever direction is taken, one will suffer, and I think the black bars is the least harmful as nothing gets cut off of anyones videos. I know, it doesn't look very pretty but it's a common issue 4:3 aspect ratio has these days in a 16:9 world.

Could always fill those black bars with a plasma effect (also done in construct, heh) so they're not so dull looking.

Otherwise the problems you listed above could be directed at widescreen games too, so I thought about it before suggesting 720 and figured at least with the black bars, nobody will lose part of their game, it would be the least damaging, avoids zooming (which will spoil some vids), avoids cropping or having to do the whole pan and scan thing, or even shrink the widescreen ones until they've got black bars on the top and bottom. Hmm.. you just gave me an idea actually for a thread!

Oh, before anyone wonders too. The one I was planning to submit would be 1024x768, so the 720 thing isn't some personal preference aimed to make my own look good. It's more to do with the fact that it's going on youtube and that's the format they use for HD and 4:3 aspect ratio is gonna get black bars once it's on there anyway

Course, being aware of that, and knowing we'd be providing video for 16:9 aspect ratio. We could fill in the gaps We'd get otherwise, such as sticking our site urls in there etc. lol.

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As for the exe vs video "discussion" that seems to be going on in the thread, I suppose I should explain that. The whole reason I allowed for a choice, was knowing not everyone would be able to record their own games as video. It does take some horsepower to record at a decent framerate, and for those not able to do it, they'd have the alternative with providing an executable instead, so they weren't left out. My personal view would not even be to allow executables (I have major issues with constructs ability to delete files without alerting the user). Video's however, as Mary Jane and Arima have pointed out, would ensure the best bits are seen, and that it'll look exactly how the user intended.

But yeah, only included the option to make it fairer for everyone, sorry if that upset anyone, lol.

If you're worried about programs deleting files, I recommend sandboxie. http://www.sandboxie.com/

You could always put black bars on the widescreen submissions since there will be fewer of them. Movies have always used this method. It doesn't even look bad.