A Long Overdue Status Update on FOE Radio Play - Episode 2

Greetings all,

A kind wanderer contacted me on reddit to ask why we have been silent for the past 5 months. It got me thinking, “Why hasn’t there been an update?” It’s a bit unorthodox for me to get into the specifics of our operation, but I feel that our listeners deserve a proper explanation.

WARNING: This is a long post, but it is shorter than the original wall of text.

What is with the silence?

First and foremost, this was an oversight on my part. I expected Episode 2 to be produced significantly faster than Episode 1, and it seemed like we were going to be set for a pre-Christmas release. I should have made a similar status update in the first few weeks of January. For that, I apologize.

A month and a half between Episode 1 and 2 would not necessitate a status update, and we would have announced the broadcast several days to a week in advance. Realistically, it would have been a 4-6 week delay after Episode 1’s release. Unfortunately, we are subject to holidays, sickness, college finals, technical derpiculties, and general life complications (See: Setbacks).

I feel, however, that we need to take a page from Pony in a Box and be a bit more open. We are now past the concept and beta phase of the project, so a different approach is necessary.

So when will it be released/What is the status?

To answer the number one question on everyone’s mind, Episode 2 is currently in the SFX stage of editing. Once completed, the audio will pass to Composition and Mastering. Generally, it is preferable not to give a projected date until we are sure we can reasonably expect to meet it. It is too early in the production process to tell at this point.

Setbacks

This is one of those touchy subjects, but the next section will explain how we intend to improve. It should be noted that none of the people referenced here are seen at fault within the team, and I would ask that you direct your grief at me instead of them.

To understand the setbacks you need to understand the production process and where the weakest link is. Historically, we followed a linear production pipeline. Scripting -> Casting -> Assembly -> SFX -> Composition/Music -> Mastering; One episode at a time. This model works OK if the cogs keep spinning, but sometimes the cogs stop for an extended amount of time. Sometimes a VA gets sick. Sometimes there are finals/college/work getting in the way. Sometimes equipment breaks. Most of us are college-aged, on college budgets, and have occasional real world problems.

In this case, it was bad timing. After Thanksgiving, schedules become chaotic. We’d rather release our team to enjoy the holidays and concentrate on school than have them stress over their parts. If they were able to do stuff, awesome. If they didn’t, no problem. We got the ball rolling as soon as Episode 1 was launched. A good chunk of the work was done, but a couple of parts were not turned in before Thanksgiving or the Holiday Season ended.

A New Approach

After re-evaluating our options, we decided to try non-linear production. Non-linear production is working on multiple components for multiple episodes at the same time. Instead of doing a full-stop, we could have a buffer. Not a buffer of episodes, rather, a buffer of components. If a team member performs their work for a few episodes, there is enough flexibility to work around life and keep the cogs spinning consistently.

Managing a project this complex is a bit tricky. Working on more episodes at once adds to that complexity. To alleviate much of it, we are evaluating project management tools and techniques. Project Management is already done to an extent, but it needs to be on a proper platform understandable to our staff.

Conclusion

We need to reduce our dependencies. With a move to non-linear production, the major cause of delay should be eliminated for the most part. There will still be certain dependencies, but reducing the highest occurring issues are our first priority.

Episode 2 is along the way. Soon, it will be in for the final stages of editing. Coordination with radio stations and making the release package will happen soon after. Stay tuned, and thank you for all of your support and patience!

Misc

Please be sure to Follow us on Twitter and Subscribe to our Youtube if you have not already. I usually retweet our fans’ projects, and there are a couple of interesting animations using scenes of Episode 1 in the works. Our official episode releases are hosted on Youtube. If we get enough of a twitter following, I might also tweet random snipits from our team chat.

- The4thaggie