Behind the Scenes: PS1 Glove Controller (110) (Patreon)

One Hundred and Ten episodes... where in actual fuck did that time go? Seriously, that's insane! But let's not waste any time and get into the making-of one of my new favourite videos!

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How did this episode come to be?
For those of you who've been on the channel since 2015 or 2016 may recall some previous gameplay videos I've made using the glove controller. I knew the moment I saw this thing existed that it would make for perfect video material, but I've been saving making an actual review of this thing for a rainy day. This is kind of spoiler-y for future ideas of mine I won't go into too much detail for... but this video actually came to life MUCH SOONER than I was expecting!
I've wanted to make "Weird PS1 Controllers" for such a long time, as there are SO MANY amazing devices out there. I wanted to make that episode and follow it up with the glove standalone episode. Problem is, a lot of these controllers are hard to find and not cheap when you do find them. Initially following Call of Duty: Finest Hour (109), I was considering covering the PS1 Telletubbies game but I felt like it was too obvious of a move, for a game with honestly not a whole lot to really say. I mean of course it's bad, it's a game for babies. So instead I figured, I could come back to weird PS1 controllers some other time as a followup to the glove review and things wouldn't seem out of place doing so.

Also just of note, I have decided to start slowly accumulating some of these controllers on the side ready to make this video sometime down the line. If I finish a bigger video under budget, then it'll sometimes go towards the goal of making that video!

Ideas and pre-production:
Thankfully, there really aren't any videos on this device, at least with what I make. So that for me is a good sign that there is a bit of untapped potential here. Everyone always bangs on about the NES Power Glove and it's painful. But who can argue, AVGN's episode is both the best and possibly even the first. I'm not entirely sure. But as a big fan of that episode and the fact it was mostly improv done live, combined with more structural elements, I decided to replicate the style as a tribute to my one of my biggest inspirations. However, that's not the only reason I decided to combine structure and scripted with live commentary. For one, it's a hell of a lot quicker to work on, which is something I've needed in 2019; making every moment count!

But also for any kind of motion controller or peripheral, gimmick, whatever. I feel like videos can feel incredibly inauthentic without showcasing any genuine moments of playing the games. I've done this previously for Eye Toy but Wii Fit, PlayStation Move and Tony Hawk RIDE/SHRED were all entirely scripted with no genuine gameplay moments. Given it's about how the device performs in action, I thought it would make for a much better critique actually getting to see me play the games.

Filming the video BEFORE writing the script!
Given I need to play anything before I can write the videos, it made a lot of sense to record all of my live reactions first. This allowed me to fully cut up and edit all of these segments together and scan my footage for the best moments, as well as other talking points to mention with more structure later on. The plus side to this is that half the video is finished already, which is really good! And as for the balance of everything, it's a solid 50/50 split between structured and improvisational moments, something I feel I've gotten quite good at over the years with the Game Testing content!

But one of the downsides to this is that not everyone is interested in that content and I'm well aware of that. It could be a turn off but I do really hope it can help to encourage more people to try out that content on the channel. In the end, it's a very different format but I actually love how everything flows in the final product!

Variety and cut content:
I'm always looking for excuses to cover a variety of different, unrelated games under a single theme and this video was perfect for that. Unfortunately though, neither Metal Gear Solid or the two wrestling games worked with the device. In retrospect, the video would have been too long to include them, but I had planned for MGS to be the featured finale. Given I've never played it, trying it for the first time with a garbage controller just seemed like a good bit but, it just wasn't meant to be. I'd also started coming up with ideas for some wrestling jokes I could make that again, had to be scrapped.

The only type of game I couldn't look at was a First Person Shooter. I just don't own ANY on PS1 so yeah, that's disappointing but again, I had plenty to work with anyway.

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That's a WRAP!
This was actually a really swift project to get done. Played a couple of games in an afternoon, edited half the video, wrote a short script and filmed for like 2 hours and then edited the other half of the video. It honestly flew by but I'm really happy with the final product! I'm stoked to be able to offer up something different, on a topic mostly untouched that's an excuse to be a little more relaxed and chill vs. my normal serious, overly critical and wildly eccentric tone. For something made entirely within 7 days, I don't think it shows. And even then, one of those days, I only had a single hour to actually get anything done for it. Considering I've been holding off on making this one, I'm glad it's finally up!

I'm sorry there isn't as much to really show of what went into this one, as it really was a simply video: Game Testing meets Game Review, but I hope you got something out this anyway and I hope you enjoyed the episode. You'd be surprised... the biggest challenge for me on this one was the branding! I spent over 2 HOURS on the thumbnail ALONE! But that aside, I had a lot of fun with this, especially teasing the absolute fuck out of Episode 111 which I'm keen to get started on! But until then, thank you so much for reading and I hope you have a great fucking day. Cheers guys!

 Enjoy this alternate version of the final thumbnail, it was too bright for my liking. Everything blended into itself too much, but the darker variant helped all the main features to POP!