skoolmunkee
I think the one we recorded today ended up about 45 minutes. We're tending to talk longer about the features, and are perhaps getting a little more critiquey of them. I also kinda feel like we're rambling a little sometimes. :I I guess that's okay, we're still getting used to these and what to talk about and how we pace against each other. I've just had a worry in the back of my mind from the beginning that the podcasts would end up being long rambly boring things and have felt like I need to make sure they keep moving along.

I'm comfortable making some casual comments about comics, but I'm not sure if I'd ever really be comfortable doing more intentional/focused critique… both because that kind of thing can be time consuming and difficult, and also because I don't think I want to be known as a “comic reviewer.” For some reason I'm just averse to that. Maybe because I don't consider myself an expert or all that knowledgable about comics and comic techniques really and would feel pretty pretentious evaluating other people's efforts on a platform as ‘big’ as the podcast.

Then again, before we started these we were worried about how we would EVER fill up 10-15 minutes. Now they're like 45 minutes and take up to 3 hours of my week. :]

We are working on setting up our first interview but it might take a week or two before it airs!


Thanks for all the feedback so far, it's useful to have and we've been trying to respond to it. We're operating in a bit of a vacuum really, doing stuff we hope works, so hearing if it does or doesn't is good. We want the podcasts to be something people will listen to, so it's important we know what that is. :]

My brain goes into fecking idiot mode on occasion… Quackcast 10 will feature some really classics from me unfortunately -_-

I personally think long rambly podcasts can be a little bit tedious to listen to. Is it “friendly rapport” people like more than ramble?
Also, self referential stuff is the easiest thing to talk about (always), but unless that has a wider implication that applies more generally (like comic making), I find that deathly dull to listen to in podcasts or on the radio. Hahahaha! So I'm going to try and stay away from too much self reference because I don't want to inflict that on others.

Just listening and the advice on gaining popularity seems pretty good, I do most of those things.

As for filler… depends on the nature of it, extra art can be good but rehashing rubbish however, not so cool.

I think episode #10 is definitely the best in the series so far. The popularity section alone was really good. I think filler art is only really necessary to let your readers know you're still here, or if it contains important info about the story which hasn't been included in the story. One thing, Ozone talks about the legend of the Monkey king, he even mentions SON GOKU but no word of Dragon Ball?!

Numbah 10 was the best so far. Some really great advice in there.

As said above the point is to do a filler page which really isn't a filler page. A page that expands the story telling experience as opposed to just filling up space. Like I'm one to talk. lol!

Thanks for the feedback everyone. :] I think we will be comfortable making these longer than the 20-25 minutes we originally started with, just so we can fit in more of the things people are saying they like. Advice and whatever.

Next week's quackcast will be super special! We've done an interview (not telling who yet) and it's so long it will be split into 2 parts, the next 2 podcasts.

After that we'll have a quackcast about how people can make use of the comic review forum even if they're not having their comic reviewed, dig out advice, talk about how to give/receive criticism, etc.

After that, dunno yet!

Yeah people need to get their asses to the review forum. Taking the time to review comics that re listed there is a good way to read something that you might not have bothered with otherwise. I discovered Project GTH and air raid robertson like that. I also checked out comics of people that reviewed mine. it's kind of cyclical.

LOVED the popularity discussion, really wish that went on for a lot longer. In addition to what was already mentioned, I've noticed the top 10 comics average about 400 pages per book! Now that's what I call commitment.

The Lost In Transition feature discussion got me thinking about how hard it is for most people to write the opposite sex. If I had a scene with a female character she'd probably be vengefully emptying a semi-automatic into a crowd of bearded midgets wearing nothing but a g-string.

Anyway great stuff, episode 10 is definitely the best so far.

I agree, 10 is my favorite. so far. And I also liked the advice re: popularity. I had noticed several of the items you mentioned, but hadn't consciously strung them together.

And, thanks for indulging the wacko request ( mine :D ) for a date stamp of sorts. I just found it interesting because I only listened to 10 yesterday, which was -what?- 13 days after your taping. So for example: when you taped, Christopher was No. 1. Yesterday he was no longer among the top 10.

That's a useful note, ayes. I admit I didn't quite get why we should include the date, but making it an easy reference for when we're talking about timely stuff makes sense. I guess I just assume that the second it's released a million people download it and listen to it with excitement.


Glad that discussion was interesting and useful to people. :] We'll definitely keep that in mind when it comes to future topics! We do want these to have practical information on advice (not that we are experts about everything), not as platforms for our own interests or whatever.

Yeah I think it would be great if the shows were uploaded immediately after recording. Keeps it current and gives people more time to leave feedback before recording the next episode.

Yeah, unfortunately Oz and I don't have any control over that. Wowio is the one who takes the audio feeds, edits them up and whatever and releases them. I'm not sure why it takes 2.5 working days, perhaps it's just a scheduling thing. But I can ask about the possibility of moving it up a bit. That may become more possible once we have things a little more streamlined, currently we're trying some different things to get the audio to sound better. Wowio is the one doing all the work though, Oz and I haven't had to mess with that (thankfully).

BTW, episode 10 should sound better too, since we are doing the audio differently. :]

Edit: \/\/\/ Ever since the initial 5 or 6 week delay we've been conscious that we should be careful when talking about stuff that has a deadline. The cintiq was a bit risky because the auction was going to end on the day of release, but no one bids before the last day anyway, so. :] But it's a good point that people listening at some point in the farther future probably would want to know a specific deadline date rather than “a few weeks” or whatever. So we'll have to keep that in mind too! Thanks.

Yeah darthfurby, especially if they're mentioning something that has a deadline. I kept thinking to myself what if the cintiq wasn't still for sale like they were talking about. I'm sure they have the reasons for the wait. The audio for that last one sounded better to me(especially when they were talking about me!) so cheers. There was a tiny echo though.

Well keep up the good work.

Thankyou again guys for posting feedback here. It's invaluable to us and we love it all!
We need it to improve.

One thing I think I'm getting is that info that generally applies to making webcomics and just stuff about being a webcomic artist is what people want to hear- tips and tricks sort of stuff, not just "this is how I do it" but useful info for everyone!
To that end I'm thinking along the lines of special guests who might have a good perspective on various aspects of that… maybe?

You guys are incredibly kind. The podcast emanates niceness. That being said, I really liked how in this latest ‘cast the gloves kinda sorta came off and y’all got down to some old-fashioned constructive criticism. Got some intelligent peeps with some ear-worthy opinions behind them mics. I would love (love) to see you guys expand the show by getting some guests all up in your pod. Do some interviews or get a round-table for topic discussion or something. Just keep up the good work.

Expanding on the stuff about a round table discussion thing, that would work well for reviews, it might encourage you to open up a little about your real opinions. perhaps discuss the latest comic up in the review forum… which happens to be mine :}

I dunno how you would choose who to get on for it, maybe just mods and admins.

Also help people plug their stuff, maybe one for each podcast pick out a comic from the hey look at what I did section. It's often the first place new dd'ers go to plug comics and may help them along a bit.

I think one of the bigger reasons why I'd be wary of introducing more reviews into the normal schedule is because we spend a good bit of time talking about the features already. I kind of feel like spending too much time on specific comics might be alienating, if people aren't interested in those comics or whatever. Like… more general topics might be more widely useful, like the popularity advice. :] I'm not trying to discourage suggestions, so please do keep suggesting things you are interested in. If everyone starts saying they want us to do more reviews I guess we should probably do that (as much as I don't want to be a reviewer). I don't know, is that suspicion inaccurate?

I don't think we've worked out yet how to more easily have guests on, arranging the upcoming one took a bit of time, and it was just lucky they were able to do our normal time. With the new audio arrangements we have to ask the guests to do a couple of things on their end too, not sure how accomodating everyone would be to those. Still, more guests is something we want to do- we'll probably just be a bit slow on the uptake for them.

The roundtable is an interesting idea, and it might be easy to introduce something like that as long as we can make it up of prerecorded clips or something (not eager to try and organize times for THAT many people… mine and oz's timezones make it hard enough). We'd have to be judicious about which comic we talked about though, picking one at random seems a bit strange for that much effort, but the features and top ten get so much already. So maybe you're onto something with the comic currently under review in the review forum.

How about more in depth discussion on community projects? Like how oz didn't get Nergal's competition other people may not really get some of the community projects and games and discussing how they work may help encourage others to get involved.

or if you want to draw attention to lesser known comics… perhaps pick the comic that is equal to placing to the number of the quackcast on the day of recording. Every week. Can't see you going for that.

How about expanding on the budget resources thing, discussing the programs etc. You could also go into the tips and tricks thing and pick up on peoples advice and discuss how techniques compare with your own.

Perhaps further promotional advice, external to drunkduck maybe.

Genejoke
You could also go into the tips and tricks thing and pick up on peoples advice and discuss how techniques compare with your own.

Perhaps further promotional advice, external to drunkduck maybe.

Yup. That's one of the things I've got on the table. The whole thing about “making” webcomics from start to finish. Not just technical, but all the stuff about spreading the word, getting links out there, using stuff like counters, different types of advertising… deciding why you're even doing them and what your objectives are:
Is it about fun? Is it to get famous and have people talk about you? Is it to improve your skills? Is it a social thing? …and so on, and if so; what are some things you can do to make that happen? …with examples of how other people did it.

Perhaps also cover the steps to getting started, something I see a lot of is people who want to make comics but aren't sure about getting started. It was a stumbling block for me that's for sure.

Genejoke
Perhaps also cover the steps to getting started, something I see a lot of is people who want to make comics but aren't sure about getting started. It was a stumbling block for me that's for sure.

Tell me about it! Took me a whole year before I started posting regularly on DD.

Good idea! :)

Do you think you guys could give some pointers for writing comic descriptions in the next episode?

Genejoke
How about more in depth discussion on community projects? Like how oz didn't get Nergal's competition other people may not really get some of the community projects and games and discussing how they work may help encourage others to get involved.

I second this. I still don't know how Mafia works and it is so much easier to hear it rather than read about these things. I'm sure there are also some other projects that I'm not aware of or don't really know if they're accepting things so it is always good to hear stuff about them.

skoolmunkee
I think one of the bigger reasons why I'd be wary of introducing more reviews into the normal schedule is because we spend a good bit of time talking about the features already. I kind of feel like spending too much time on specific comics might be alienating, if people aren't interested in those comics or whatever. Like… more general topics might be more widely useful, like the popularity advice. :]

I agree with this too. I certainly click on more of the features now after hearing you guys elaborate on them. Talking about even more comics might just be overload and take away from the features of the week. Plus I'd have even more comics to be jealous of then.

I like the general topics especially ones that apply to comic making and reading. How about more listener/DD community feedback? Sort of like how you mention things said here but on more specific topics. I'm thinking of like a poll or question asked for the next podcast that can shed some light for comic makers. For example there was a thread before asking which days of the week people read comics the most. Or “What makes you click on a comic?” and stuff along those lines. I think it's good that we get your views and advice about these things but it might also be nice to hear what the community thinks as well. Just an idea. I guess in a sense you'd just be reiterating what can be read in the forum already but again I always like hearing things instead.

Skool and ozone may be in bed already, but in case you hadn't heard, this week's newest ep is up and it features two very special guest interviews: Amelius and Evil Emperor Nick!

Edit: Forgot to mention that from now on, we're going to try and release an “enhanced version” of the podcast via iTunes. So if you're subscribing to the podcast through that method, you should be able to see a slideshow of artwork throughout the podcast relevant to the discussion at hand, starting with this week's episode!

just listened to part one, very interesting even though I don't read either charby or cwens quest. In fact it almost made me want to go and catch up with charby, maybe next week.

What I found really interesting was the talk of collaborations, having done fair number myself it was interesting to her someone elses take on it.

Yup, it's up now, with my amazing newspost to introduce it!

OUR FIRST interview!
Chary the Vampirate creator Amelius and Cwen's Quest writer EENick! Big names on DD people. Big names ^_^

I'm proud of that newspost.

Haha, my heart's bursting outta my chest I'm so nervous, I hope youse all enjoy the show! We had a lot to say, and we probably could have gone on and on and on… oh proper elocution, why must you evade me so? Blast my stuttering! I always think of a better way to have stated something long after the fact! I'm such a geek, haha!

But it was fun, Oz and Skoolmunkee are super nice and I look forward to the interviews with other DD members!


I wonder who will be next…

Nergal

Genejoke
How about more in depth discussion on community projects? Like how oz didn't get Nergal's competition other people may not really get some of the community projects and games and discussing how they work may help encourage others to get involved.

I second this. I still don't know how Mafia works and it is so much easier to hear it rather than read about these things. I'm sure there are also some other projects that I'm not aware of or don't really know if they're accepting things so it is always good to hear stuff about them.

I would really like to know about TD High

@Amelius, Your avi is freaky

Amelius
But it was fun, Oz and Skoolmunkee are super nice

I am avoiding listening back to this one because I don't want to relive that embarassing “I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU” moment. (I am still really sorry)

Nergal
I second this. I still don't know how Mafia works and it is so much easier to hear it rather than read about these things.

Sounds like a cue for me.