Just a recap here for context: Last year when I did the VGDM GOTY ep, it was a massive drain to put together. I wrote it early December when it became obvious the 1UP Pod gang wouldn’t have time to record our traditional GOTY episode. I recorded it late in the year, but ahead of Christmas, but then I needed to write and re-record whole sections because I finally played Alan Wake II and needed to rework numerous categories.
I recorded and edited in those bits after Christmas when I was knackered and overwhelmed with indulgence, so the energy was all off. It took me until new year’s day to finish editing it. I was never that happy with the episode. Felt like I’d missed the mark on what I envisioned, some jokes needed changing during recording and editing because they didn’t work, and some jokes that made it into the episode didn’t work either. And I disliked how disjointed I sounded throughout. An idea that I loved but it just didn’t work.
To avoid this issue, the 2024 episode had been in the works for over a year. I plotted it out at the same time I was making the 2023 episode as I always knew it was going to be a direct sequel. It was a sketch of an idea but very close to the final product.
I wrote the script for the story portions halfway through the year. I had been updating a separate awards section script as the year progressed and I played more games. I recorded the main story as soon as I released the Christmas episode and started editing that section with placeholder audio for the nominees.
I locked in my final picks once I’d finished editing the bulk of the story, just before the TGAs were announced funnily enough. I was hoping that I’d get a chance to get to Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth by that point, to give the awards more Yakuza representation, but it was not meant to be. I knew I needed to be ruthless with my cut-off date.
I recorded the nominees, edited them together, and spliced them into the existing episode over the Christmas period. Zero pressure, really easy to do. Wrapped the entire thing on the evening Christmas Eve while I was on a late shift at work (getting paid double to boot!).
The 2024 episode was a way more complicated narrative, it took longer to plan and produce, and had way more steps involved, and yet it was so much easier than last year’s 11th hour mad dash. So there’s a New Year’s resolution for ya. Plan ahead.
Overall, I was really happy with how the episode turned out. All the scenes worked pretty much as I imagined them. I was especially happy with how the ‘meeting me from the future’ scene played out. I’ll admit my suffocating to death sounds were distressingly believable at first so I tried to dial the volume down to take the edge off it. Can’t do a convincing scream but can suffocate to death in harrowing detail, what a useful talent to have.
For the robot assassins, I used voice changers and I was very happy with the end results but won’t be making a habit of using them. Obviously if I ever return to this storyline (I still haven’t locked in my GOTY 2025 story yet) then I’ll use them again but there aren’t too many scenarios where that tech will enhance a scene.
Despite saying I haven’t finalised in my GOTY 25 story yet, I do have some ideas, and I’ll be locking that idea down in the next few weeks so I still have a lot of prep time like with this episode.