So i’ve been kicking around the idea of starting something like a blog here, probably updated a couple times per week. The focus will be split between technical combo ramblings and match strategy observations, along with a few surprises thrown in. I’m not the toppest player around and i’ve never won a tournament, but sometimes i notice stuff that other people don’t. Since i’ve been around the tournament community for a while, maybe my viewpoint will be interesting to players who came to SRK hoping to understand fighting games better.
The only catch is that in order to justify the amount of time this demands, i’ll have to install some ad banners and such on the website. I’ve been producing multimedia content for the fighting game community for almost a decade now and i’ve never tried (or wanted) to make any money from it. In fact i honestly doubt i’ll ever break the minimum wage barrier. But it would still help to balance out the sacrifices i always make to work on a video or research an article.
Um… Is that cool with everyone? What do you guys think?
Everything about this section of Sonic Hurricane will probably change dramatically over the next few months, including the content, the layout, the subject matter, and the presentation, until it turns into something that works well. Hopefully it’ll gradually become more convenient and organized. Ad placement and content will change a lot as well. (I’m not even sure whether anyone in the SRK crowd bothers clicking on web ads, so i wouldn’t be surprised if everyone left me out to dry and this experiment turned into a disaster. But that’s no longer a good enough reason not to try.)
So … here goes nothin’ …
I’m definitely down for technical *anything fighting games* babble, that’s a big part of the ticker-tape that runs through my head all day. Hope nobody hates you for critiquing their match strategies ;D
That’s funny. I never even considered that as a possibility. Do people really get upset over others critiquing their match performance?
Either way it’ll be a long while before i do anything of the sort. There’s just so much to talk about in terms of general concepts that i feel aren’t explained properly. Fighting games can be amazingly complex yet still elegantly intuitive if you know how to approach each puzzle.
Good luck. I always enjoy reading what you put up.
Bookmarked :)
Regarding match analysis, I’m interested in the strategic differences between tournament and casual play. And regarding tourmanet strategy specifically, it would be nice if you could give commentary or subtitle to match videos as they play. I know that sometimes these ideas go over my head, and I’m sure there are people even worse than me at grasping and utilizing concepts & words. Would be nice to have visual aid.
Looking forward to new content.
Match subtitles is a helluva advanced idea. I might give it a shot further down the line. A lot of key points in matches happen in short bursts so i’d probably have to pause the video to explain three or four important decisions taking place over the span of two seconds. But i think i should start by writing articles about general match strategy to build a foundation of knowledge before i attempt that, although i’ll try to include examples whenever i can.
Regarding the tournament vs casual dynamic, believe it or not i started writing an article about that a long time ago. I’ll try to finish it and post it in about a week.
Nice.
Perhaps rather than pauses, you could have a frame by frame replay of the “short burst” while commenting on it.
Looking forward to the article.
Also, the ramblings of a newer SRK member made me realize there’s an interesting dynamic between arcade/online players. Me and… I think Pharei… were talking about there is little sacrifice, effort and appreciation in simply pushing start, as opposed to making a trip, waiting in line and spending a quarter.
Anyway, I’m very glad you have this website. SRK is down and I’m freaking out.
Well, frame by frame is a bit much. Probably the best way to do it would be to imitate Magnetro’s combo explanation clips, though it would take a lot more work to analyze a three-minute match than a thirty-second combo. Plus i’m not even sure if people would be that interested because i’d probably start with my favorite tournaments. At the top of that list is Valle vs Choi at B3 playing SFA2, which isn’t exactly popular with the kids these days.
Anyway i think the first strategy article i write will be about getting into Street Fighter and then the second one will talk about tournaments. I’m aiming for Saturdays.
In all honesty, I haven’t come to SonicHurricane in about 3 years. It was my one stop shop for awesome Cvs2 goodness back in the day. I can (kinda feel shameful to about saying this) say that after your explosion after the recent SF4 Tool Assisted Combo Video brought me back…Sorry that I haven’t been one of those faithful members :(
I will however say that I personally know what it’s like to maintain a website that produces constant good content for the community that it branches out towards. I know what it’s like for people to click on ads, and I will say that I WILL start clicking on your ads from time to time…like I said I understand how it helps.
Sorry to not have been that faithful member who has stuck with you through good and bad. However I know great content when I see it, and anyway (even if it’s clicking an ad every once in awhile) that I can give back I’ll be sure to pull through :)
Quick note: I think you should DEFINITELY get into match annotation Maj. Concerning the VAlle vs Choi B3 grand finals…we at seattleversus loved that video big time and even made an article on it just a few weeks ago to show the newer community their roots. It aint too popular with them, but it was definitely popular for us, so just to let ya know…there are still some people who care!
What have i done in the last 3 years? Did you see my Evo2k7 Guile video and Evo2k9 Ryu video? That’s about it, really. I mean, those two projects have kept me busy the entire time, but the website was fairly silent meanwhile.
Until i started posting regular updates in August, there was no reason to check my website. Everything was always announced through SRK threads so it kinda worked itself out that way.
And i really appreciate the support but you don’t have to go out of your way for me. I don’t think ad revenue is a viable stream unless i can get a million visitors per month, which would be a 75,000% increase from what i’m getting now.
Maybe u2b ads are the way to go, but i’ve been waiting on them to approve my partnership application for weeks. It’s kinda frustrating because they never bother explaining their decisions.
I’ll give it everything i’ve got until the end of the year, then look at the numbers and decide how much time i can spare to continue working on updates. I’d love to do this as a full-time job but based on the figures so far, i probably have a better chance of winning the lottery. But it is what it is. Can’t expect the entire community to change for me. No sense in forcing things either. Kinda feels like there are more people trying to make money off of SF4’s success than there is money to be made.
Maj – updating SH.com is the best thing you’ve done in a long time. You never cease to amaze me with the things you discover and share with the fighting game community. It’s seriously impressive stuff. It’s the closest I get really to being there, I don’t live in CA or NY or any other state with a big fighting game community (I’m in Oregon, it’s practically doesn’t exist.)
Keep up the good work.
Thank you sir. Even if i can’t find a way to continue updating, this has been cool simply for giving me a chance to get through old lists of things to do – like writing those footsies articles, bringing some technical points to light, and telling a few stories.