Goat Simulator - Behind The Scenes (Patreon)

How the video ended up happening:

With this video I felt like going back to making a proper video for April fools again. 

In 2017 I made a properly edited, sound effect riddled goofy "review" all about Overwatch. (except it wasn't Overwatch, it was Battleborn) and the whole thing was barely even a review, but I'm still happy with what I did at the time as I used some cutting room floor footage I'd taken while on holiday the previous summer, and had a jester hat prop...

It was fun!

Last year I did a frankly poor attempt at an April fools video, by making a quick joke at Fortnite's expense, and it was one that I made in a single afternoon for the sake of having a video out on the day.

To this day I'm still not happy with how I went about it, so I made sure to fix that for 2019.

The original plan:

I was torn between doing Goat Simulator and I am Bread. I did eventually settle on doing both as a surprise back-to-back April Fools gag in and of itself but... yeah, obviously that never ended up happening.

I kept thinking of things I could do for Goat Simulator and eventually it just sort of overshadowed I am Bread. Maybe next year!

The impostor arrives:

I've been thinking in my head about having a secondary character for my videos for a few months now, and as I'm awkward and most of my friends are at work when I'm free and vice versa a puppet seemed like the next best idea.

In fact, for a while now I've felt like eventually I'd change my camera segments to something else entirely, like Garry's Mod or Source Film Maker animations but... I don't have the skill or patience to learn how to use those things well enough... AND it'd mean all of my camera equipment I've bought would go to waste so nah.

I wasn't sure what to do to introduce this puppet character at first, as I just sort of dumped a load of ideas onto a piece of paper, some of which included me outright becoming the puppet for a while in a sort of Doctor Who-esque regeneration sequence...

But it was randomly putting my clothes on him that make me think of him simply being the channels equivalent of "player 2" and having him just pretend to be me for this video!

I thought not even remotely hinting towards this prior to the video airing, and going into the first on-camera shot with little to no build up would be funnier than telling people ahead of time so hopefully people liked it...!

The future of the puppet:

In my own head I'm sticking with the impostor idea for now, with him having his own voice later down the line... but it just so happen he does a really really good impression of me!

This way I'm thinking he can host the occasional short video every now and then, and I won't have to do a silly voice which could put people off right away...

Honestly, judging from how the filming went for this April Fools video...

...Using the puppet is much easier to do on-camera stuff with, as I'm not having to remember my lines in bulk while still concentrating on whatever I'm actually doing on screen.

I had the script with me the entire time for this puppet shoot, so it was much easier in that regard!

Maybe he can become the host of whatever I do for shorter videos from this point on. A spiritual successor to Today's Topic, perhaps...? Either way I intend for shorter videos sooner rather than later (I'll explain at the end)

How the video changed during production:

Most of the changes for this video were before I'd properly started everything production-wise. Things like trying to figure out the best way to introduce this character was the main thing, which I've already mentioned.

Anything else was just the usual amount of bad takes, and the very occasional cut line to keep the flow of the video up.

The on screen gag where Tim Curry says "SPACE!" was originally going to be just the audio, with the puppet there instead, against a green screen... but the effect didn't look great.

Ironically, I specifically went for the purple puppet as it has the least amount of green on him compared to the other colors available. I'm not salty about that.... I promise...

What comes next, and when?

At the moment my focus is going to shift back towards this illusive 5 Year Anniversary plan I've had fora while. This does mean they'll likely be a bigger gap between videos for a while but im hoping the final result will be worth it.

In the mean time I'll attempt to make some shorter videos on other games I've been playing in my spare time.

Crackdown 1 and 2 are candidates for example, and I might make these shorter videos be the puppet's job instead of my own (obviously not reeeally, but presentation-wise, yeah) just so I can still have fun filming, but take less time with them overall.

It's a bit up in the air to be honest. I'm also dealing with a problem regarding the actual rooms on the upper floor of our house at the moment which will slow things down even further so... yeah, not an ideal situation video-wise from now on for a while.

As was the case last time a big gap was incoming I'll be sure to adjust the Patreon Page should I disappear for too long, as I don't like the idea of charging per month if I'm not actually giving anything back in return.

Thanks for your support, and your patience!

- Pete