What is League of Studio’s Five Months of Gaming?

This project is only possible thanks to the extraordinary support and encouragement of League of Legends fans and viewers. During this five-month project, I want to produce 100 days of gaming media. What would these 100 days of gaming media involve? Well, I currently run a Web Series by the name of The Studio Daily (which you can check out here). In this web series, I create analyses on replays from the game, League of Legends. The analyses are designed to improve game play and to help viewers understand the in-depth metagame of League of Legends. In addition, I also want to take a closer look at holistic processes behind gaming, such as the emotional thrills we feel, how they affect us, and the introspection involved in improving oneself in the modern gaming environment.

Recently, gaming content has grown to become its own unique beast. There are so many topics to explore in gaming. I am working on this project to expand the scope of the Studio dailies to include new daily topics, casted games and tournaments, and meaningful streaming. To me, meaningful streaming is spending time to show how the game is played in a certain style, explaining what is going on as you play, and answering questions after the game.

Some Project History

           A Studio Daily from March.

This project started in January of 2012. I posted on the Something Awful Forums and made a comment about how there was no Day9 equivalent for League of Legends (Day9 is a famous caster in the video game scene who does work similar to mine for Starcraft 2). The response I got was, "Why not you?" I thought of a million reasons for why it would be an impossible task and asked myself for one good reason why I should do it. Then I thought, "Why not do this?”. At the time, I had lost my financial aid at school and was not doing anything. It was then that I had decided to start producing Studio Dailies.

          That is a picture from the first Daily and latest Daily respectively at the time of this writing. The show has been improving in many ways from day to day and week to week. In large part, these improvements are due to the support of the gaming community, who through hundreds of Reddit and YouTube comments, e-mails, and forum posts have given me tons of feedback on how to improve and evolve. Comments ranging from "Keep doing this!" to comments on areas of improvement in critical analyses are what keep me going.

What are we actually getting?

I bet you're wondering about the specifics, or at least, what is going to be the result of the project? So, the 100 days of content will be divided into the following categories:

The Daily: There will be a show three to five times a week depending on weekly circumstances. This will be the backbone of the project and what League of Studio currently accomplishes now. In-depth game analyses will be the focus of the series, as well as improving oneself as a gamer and as a learner. There will be some laughs of course, but this is mainly for us to critically examine and improve at the game.

Casted Games and Tournaments: Casting games doesn't allow for the same level as analysis as a Daily, but the games are being played live. I want to help you understand everything you can possibly understand in a tournament that I cast. Why did that player make that move? Did the other team see it coming? What could they have done to stop it? These and many more questions will be answered during the casted games and tournament sessions.

Streaming: Streaming is mostly supplementary to the Daily and casting. I love playing games and talking about it, but when your brain is processing the action, it's not easy to give clear, consistent commentary as you play. Streaming will also involve other games, particularly a few classics where you can really appreciate the strength of an old game. Having a bunch of helping hands from a stream chat can make this a communal enjoyment (For example, Another World is a game I have in mind to stream).

A Look at Maintaining a Gamer Life: This will not be a common topic, but I think it's important to take a look at how we live as gamers. From cleanliness to our diets, there are many aspects to a stereotypical gamer’s life that are unpleasant and can negatively impact your quality of life, including your ability to play online. We will work to improve on these life skills, from loading dishes into a dishwasher, to making a dinner that doesn't involve a drive-through or a microwave.

Now that's only a preview of what’s to come. At the end of five months, there will be at least 4000 minutes of content. That's about three straight days of gaming media content; however, I know I'll be able to do more than that with my full attention focused on this project.

A Special Celebration For Success

I will be holding a 24-Hour stream if this is a successful endeavor. I'm not including this celebration in the 100 days of content, but I do want to give back something awesome for your amazing support. This stream will include game play from League of Legends, analysis of a League of Legends replay, other games (to be decided), special guests, and possibly some real life cooking. Think of it as a day where I will devote all of my energy and time to making gaming media. And of course, there will be shout-outs, a British man, and a few special surprises.

What's the funding going towards?

Unfortunately, as much as I love working on the Studio Dailies, the startup costs for doing this kind of work isn't exceptionally cheap. As a result, the funding will be used toward the cost of five months of streaming, including: building a computer strong enough to stream at 1080p, recording space, internet connection, and other costs..

Breaking Down the Rewards

Lessons take approximately two hours. A normal lesson for me is broken up into three parts:

• Replay Analysis Before the Lesson - I'll take a look at your replay and focus on your own play from the match. This is similar to how I do a Daily and I will analyze the replay, taking notes so that when the lesson starts, I have an idea of what's going on. 
• Custom Game Practice - After speaking to you about the replay, I'll ask a few questions, let you know what I've written in my notes, and we'll enter a practice game to work on any issues from the replay. Furthermore, we'll both experiment and I'll look for any blocks you may have while playing and talking. 
• Normal Game - To improve, you must play. We'll hop into a normal game, secure your role, and I'll play in a style more oriented towards supporting you. If it's AD we're working on, I'll go support. If you're mid, I might jungle, etc. Afterward, I'll review to make sure you know what you're working on and how to improve. And we'll continue with more custom or normal games until the two hours are up! 

The League of Studio T-Shirt

The t-shirt is currently in design and will be made available in all sizes. Expect this to be a casual, day- to-day shirt you can feel proud to wear as a gamer. Designs will be up soon! 

Logo Space

If you decide to advertise your logo or message, a small portion of the streaming window will be devoted to your logo or message. All logos and messages will be rotated.

• In Streamed Games (Not the Daily) – your logo or message can be advertised on a portion of space that is normally not used, such as the Champion Portrait. 
• In Dailies – the advertisement will be placed in a corner of the screen, and help supplement whatever random item is in the background. There will be no logos or messages displayed during the gameplay portions of the Dailies to preserve the focus of the Dailies. 

The Let's Play

A Let's Play is when a game (including other games besides LoL) is played through with commentary. Let's Plays can be informative, funny, angry, etc. A significant portion of a Let's Play will occur during the 24-Hour Stream and the rest will be completed after winding down from a long day's LoL. I've done a couple in the past, but this would be an experience that would be streamed and will take a considerable amount of time and effort, if the game is long enough. Depending on your available hours, the LP can be completed with you as a guest commentator on the streams and videos.