Astroneering with Brad and Vinny: Episode 11 [Vinny's View]

Vinny, please don't become an overlay person. The initial view looked great, you don't need to put a graphic that takes up so much space on the screen. I'm willing to give up 5% of a corner of the game view if it doesn't sacrifice 15% of my screen.

Thank you so much for this series, this has been my clear & completely unexpected favorite all throughout lockdown! Any previous appearance of this game on Giant Bomb, it didn't really pique my interest. Neither was I immediately pleased when Astroneer ended up getting played here for the second time; originally assuming the series was about trying a variety of building / construction games, something different each week. Boy did it grow on me though, and pretty fast.

I held off until this Steam Summer Sale to finally pick up the game for myself, making this "automation update" version the only one I ever played. And play it I did, hundreds of hours in a couple weeks. It was only last night I felt accomplished and feeling I could now take a break from it, having wrapped up the final single-player achievement (it being activating all the gateways on the surface). With the later start for this week's episode, this was also the first time I could watch it live from start to finish.

Really just thank you again for giving me the bug and addiction to this game, and this series of videos. Such a joyous fun time! Obviously much credit to the game itself but, if we are honest, I never would have given it any second thought without Brad & Vinny, and this video series. Apparently it was also on Game Pass, or still is(?), and I never noticed or cared to try it.

I'll keep some hope alive for a couple more episodes, after all, there are still some secrets to uncover, and some sweet cosmetics to unlock for Brad. All those crashed probes unlock a unique color scheme, and there's a unique suit for getting them all– and there's only a single one per planet. I was a bit let down by the METAL GEAR unlock with the EXO Request platform, but you've already started on it, so why not wrap it up? And so on…

That said, even if this was the final episode, thank you again. This has been wonderful.

@400lb_gorilla: I agree, don't fall into the Zoomer lyfestyle

What a great series this has been. Enjoyed every single episode.

Also, the background image and webcam border didn't bother me at all. There are quite a few more steps before it becomes the chaotic nightmare Jeff created for his streams. That's overdoing imo. This however isn't. It added a bit of extra visual personality, without being distracting. It fits quite well.

Agreed. It doesn't add anything useful to the presentation (neither does Jeff's). Very few streamers (that I have watched) ever use one, and the ones that do only use it to show Twitch chat in the stream while searching for a match (when they play games of that type). There may be streamers out there that do have an overlay on the whole time, but I know I'd never watch those streams.

As a side note, I don't find face cams add anything, either. Especially in a stream that's on a pay-site behind a pay wall. Sure, it shows what you look like, but anyone watching this already knows that. I can see using it on whatever stream goes out to Twitch for sure. And I am fully aware that face cams are not ever going away.

All that being said, I bought this game because you guys played it, so thank you. I'm not "done", and probably won't watch the end of today's streams until I am, but thank you for showing me this game. Easily my favorite feature of Lockdown 2020.

Not that it's the worst thing ever, but if there's one thing you could learn from some professional streamers is non-intrusive overlays...

@400lb_gorilla: The frames looked just fine. It's not obtrusive, and mixes it up a bit. I think there's a happy place between nothing and a Jeff-Gerstman-Level frame (although I don't mind his one bit). The facial expressions of the streamer bring a lot to the stream and having a larger camera view is better than what was there before. Without it, it looks like just another "Let's Play" on YouTube.

Vinny, the frame looks great. I want to see your face while you play :) and the stream was great, as usual

The borders are fine. I don't get the problem. I tend to use one when I stream.

I wanted to make chemistry jokes, but all the good ones Argon.

This framing is better for me than just a facecam because it covers less of the gameplay and I can just move closer to my TV for it to be the same size in my field of vision. It doesn't add anything, though, since I just tune it out visually. I dislike borders and overlays and stuff, but I dislike facecams even more. I guess this is a compromise.

I’m not saying to remove Vinny’s webcam, just don‘t waste part of my screen with a useless jpeg. Just have the stream like it was at the very beginning before he switched to the overlay. That was perfect.

People whining about overlays are wrong.

Overlays are good. Let Giant Bomb be how Giant Bomb wants to be.

I'm gonna jump over to Brad's view I think. This isn't Jeff-bad, it's fairly innocuous, but it just doesn't add anything.

Honestly for this stream you folks don't even need to bother with face cams.

Counterpoint to all the people above that hate fun: The overlay looks nice. Do whatever you want Vinny.

The overlay was fine, you see more of the game this way. Nice job on this series, definitely one of my favorites on the site.

I liked the frame. but i also watch these in a window in the corner of my desktop while i work about the size of a tablet screen, so if i need to make the video bigger to adjust for the 5% of lost screen real estate i can just by expanding the window size. but its a nice look. Anyway- sad astroneer is for the most part over! except for maybe one more fun exploration episode. what brad and vinny building game do we have to look forward to next??

Great series, enjoyed every episode

Me last week - Man I was a fool for going to the core on foot with a giant tether instead of a drill/paver rover

Me this week - Man I'm glad I went to the core on foot with a giant tether

edit: regarding the overlay, Vinny's looks good. Clean and simple. Jeff looks like it's from Idiocracy and that overly busy and "stuff for the sake of stuff" is a bit much for me.

This overlay, too, is phat

Vinny I appreciate you and this wasn't boring thanks for making it.

Thank y'all so much for this series! This is certainly the one I looked forward to most over lockdown, and I look forward to what comes next!

I also add a vote of indifference to the great overlay question. Do whatever you want, s'fine.

Yo - This isn't boring. Just a FYI.

Hey @vinny as a fellow digital artist I like your frame but as someone who also enjoys the same OLED that we seemingly all bought what do you think about lowering the brightness of static full-length frames for new videos across the whole site to help thwart OLED burn in?

I'd prefer no frame at all personally, or maybe if it's possible a really slow moving procedural noise that animates across it so it's not static? Maybe it's possible to do in OBS instead of having to do it in post. Not sure what your production pipeline is like and if everything goes through Premiere (I would think not?) but maybe it's possible to generate a looping rgb noise that you could apply as a template overlay that you use for the same video series. A cursory search seems to say animated frames are possible so maybe you could make something without any post work but haven't looked too far.

Thanks for considering. I enjoy your graphics but anytime I see something that stays on screen all the time I wince a little.

Love the frame Vinny, don't listen to the boring haters.

The disdain for facecams in this thread was shocking to me. I strongly feel the opposite - I get real bummed out when a stream is just the game.

I like the larger facecam, but if I may provide some criticism, I think the background in this video is a bit too bright and busy. Lowering the brightness and saturation might be better.

Great series! I hope you two can find another game to play together as this was a blast to watch!

Thank you for the content.

Thanks for this, Brad and Vinny. Love the show, and can't wait for the epilogue.

As for the next series, I would love to see you two tackle No Man's Sky together.

Love the frame. The face cams and stream layout for office giant bomb is what drew me in to giant bomb, so anything that helps return it to that kind of presentation is much appreciated. Would like for multicast streams to adopt the layout you used for the tabletop simulator streams.

This was a great series (not counting the epilogue yet of course)! It was often exactly what I needed, thank you guys.

Favorite moment of these streams: Vinny’s small rover slowly falling off the cliff and dragging everything else with it.

As always peeps have different opinions but I love this overlay. It looks so slick and clear and actually enhances the viewing experience for me. Loved this series. Such a great host of goofy moments and as well asintricate, sophisticated moments. You and Brad have really grown into this series. Gonna miss them.

Hey I just wanted to drop in and mention how much I’ve enjoyed this series.

I’ve actually yet to watch the final episode. There’s so much great content to watch and I’ve kinda been saving it. Looking forward to it.

And don’t let an s comment bring you down, because there are so many people that appreciate your work.

For me, the first episode was funny & calming, and every episode since has been so, too.

Brad and Vinny play No Mans Sky next?

Loved this series, it got me playing the game again on my own time.