BTS - Every Crash Bandicoot Level Ranked! (132) (Patreon)

Hello everyone, let's not waste any time and take a look at the Making-of: Every Crash Bandicoot Level Ranked... now one of the BEST performing videos in the channel's history!

--------------------------------------

How did this episode come to be?
After being inspired by Tony Hawktober and wanting to create a ranking video for every single level in the series, as an evolution from my plans to simply do a Top 10, I started brainstorming heavily over the course of 2018 what this format would look like. The more thought about it, the more I realised that this type of video would work for a lot of different series. And as doubt crept in that the Tony Hawk episode wouldn't be a popular debut for the format, I decided that sticking by my definitive franchise would serve as a perfect introduction of the format.

Original Plans and Delays:
Without debate, the video needed to be completed and public PRIOR to any new Crash Bandicoot games, as the focus was on his first 10 year run as the first era. So sitting on the idea until 2019, the announcement of CTR: Nitro Fueled seemed like perfect reason to make the video while the topic was white hot. However due to serious time constraints in 2019 thanks to other projects, it had to be pushed back until a later date. However... the entirety of the video WAS FULLY WRITTEN before the end of June 2019!
So while Tony Hawk was the first Every Level Ranked, Crash was the guinea pig for planning and writing.

First step was to rank the levels of each game separately, in preparation for level by level comparison from worst to best through process of elimination until everything was included. However, both the TOP and BOTTOM positions were decided on before starting this process.
This still allows for things to change as you work through, but it helps the videos structure to know where you're starting and where you're trying to go.

Returning to the Project in 2020:
With all the hardest work already completed, the script simply needed to be revised and tweaked. Once that was done, all of the video and voice over work were completed in a single session, taking an hour long break every so often to save my voice.

With a script 3 pages shorter than the Tony Hawk script, I knew the episode overall would be slightly shorter. But I was shocked when the RAW VO file was a mere 3 hours, 15 minutes... this is compared to Tony Hawk's OVER 5 HOURS of uncut voice over!

Graphics and Logos:
Back in 2019, I had played around with nameplate options for each position on the list. The actual design remained mostly unchanged in the final version, but deciding to go with less text to keep things simple was the best option in the end. Below you can see some of the alternate versions:

Now for the actual logo for the episode, going with the original Crash Bandicoot logo seemed like the best move. It's a logo I haven't made before, as I first reviewed the original game long before I was making these for each new episode. But it was also the simplest design: Yellow text on a wooden plate object, so it stands out. This was a very quick job to create but I'm very happy with the results!

FREECAM Level Coverage:
Now this is one of the best details of the episode, I had access to a free camera type tool for the original Naughty Dog games, as well as camera options within the Dolphin emulator. This allowed me to get nice clean shots moving through locations, as well as stills to use in the thumbnail and promotional material for the episode. It's something that significantly improved the production quality, especially when it came to highlighting the Top 10 levels of the video.
This was something I'd planned to include in the Tony Hawk episode!
Using a fan mod known as THUG PRO, it's possible to gain access to a free camera for many of the Tony Hawk levels. However due to time constraints, I simply opted to forget about it. This was a decision I regretted immediately as the slower, clearer look at the locations really helped to convey a lot of my points, as well as give the viewer a rest from the constant gameplay in their face. So I was very excited to get this included within the Crash episode and I hope in the future, that this can be a staple of all Every Level Ranked videos.

But how did I do this?
The tool is an open source fan creation I was exposed to, that comes with a level viewing tool. **I believe the focus of this is more in the realm of potential level editing, I'm not sure!** But for my purposes, you can load up levels, boss arenas and even cutscene environments in full without culling. (Culling is a developer technique heavily implemented in the Crash Bandicoot games, where only the necessary visible polygons and objects are rendered at any given time. This is how Crash's iconic levels on the PS1 are able to achieve such lush environments.)

Unfortunately, this tool as far as I know, doesn't allow for any interactive objects such as crates or enemies to be visible, so I had to work around that. But again, the nice clean look really helped to add emphasis to certain locations on the list.
It's something I tried to use very sparingly, only when it made sense, as this type of gimmick can grow incredibly tired and is easy to overdo. In the end, I think it was definitely a highlight of working this project; getting to explore these levels like never before. So enjoy some screens I captured that didn't work for the thumbnail.

-------------------------------------- 

That's a WRAP!
With the early concept and pre-production phase taking roughly 2-3 weeks to actually figure out, the revisions, filming and editing of this episode in 2020 also only spanned 2-3 weeks, making this a 6 week project max (ignoring the many hours over months and years to play and capture all of the gameplay).
I had a lot of fun compiling this list for my favourite series and it's got me very excited to explore some other classics in this format in the future. But no question, seeing the amazing response has meant so much to me, I can't even think of words.

So thank you for supporting the project and I hope this was an interesting read. If you've got further questions, I'm always happy to answer! And until next time, I hope you have a great fucking day, cheers! 😁

Pictured here is the FINAL timeline for the project, that's a pure 8 days of editing work right there!