One of the programs we will attempt as the World of Warcraft series continues will be a basic tutorial on capturing and editing gameplay footage. It won't be as light as some of the other programs, seeing how it requires a little more advanced computer know-how. It does, however, seem a very promising addition to our series.
When searching the web for various WoW related topics one will inevitable come across a video or two. Whether it's a how-to for a particular boss, someone showing off their character, or a humorous music video, video capturing is one of the many ways people have managed to take the gameplay to the next level by implementing a little bit of their own creativity.
Due to time and complexity of the subect we will only cover some of the basics in video capturing and editing, but we hope to leave patrons with enough to take home and start their own amateur videos.
We've not yet begun the testing on this, but will begin in the near future as time permits. I've chosen Fraps as the video capturing program to be used, and Microsoft Movie Maker (XP/Vista) will be used to edit the footage. Both programs are free. Anyone with Microsoft Windows should have Movie Maker, and if not, it is available on the Microsoft site for free. The Fraps video capturing software has a free version that lacks the frills of the full version, but will be plenty for a novice user.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
First Program: A Success Story
I really didn't intend the title of this posting to sound like the title of a made-for-TV Lifetime-Channel-Exclusive movie. Meredith Baxter-Birney will *not* be appearing in this post.
The Central Arkansas Library System hosted its first of many planned WoW programs on Saturday, March 21. This was the teen program, and there were five participants, including myself because I couldn't resist. We easily defeated the evil Witchdoctor Zalazane and followed up with clearing Durotar of the hostile Kul Tiras invading forces. The Adult program scheduled for Saturday March 28 will probably try it at level four since there are eight people signed up for that event.
The outline used to direct this program is available in the earlier post Mini-Raid: Event Details. Feel free to use any information contained in this blog, as that is the purpose of this blog.
A great time was had by all. Drinks, pizza, snacks & candy were flowing freely, and there was a healthy amount of discussion between everyone. My co-programmer showed off his collection of rare and discontinued hunter pets, and everyone bragged about certain aspects of their exploits or arcane knowlege of the game's history. Old Man Bob even regaled the youngsters with tales of Ultima Online and EverQuest.
The Central Arkansas Library System hosted its first of many planned WoW programs on Saturday, March 21. This was the teen program, and there were five participants, including myself because I couldn't resist. We easily defeated the evil Witchdoctor Zalazane and followed up with clearing Durotar of the hostile Kul Tiras invading forces. The Adult program scheduled for Saturday March 28 will probably try it at level four since there are eight people signed up for that event.
The outline used to direct this program is available in the earlier post Mini-Raid: Event Details. Feel free to use any information contained in this blog, as that is the purpose of this blog.
A great time was had by all. Drinks, pizza, snacks & candy were flowing freely, and there was a healthy amount of discussion between everyone. My co-programmer showed off his collection of rare and discontinued hunter pets, and everyone bragged about certain aspects of their exploits or arcane knowlege of the game's history. Old Man Bob even regaled the youngsters with tales of Ultima Online and EverQuest.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Load Test Complete
Library staff showed up in droves (if eight is a drove) to help test out the laptops and WiFi connection... but I suspect they were mostly interested in showing off their own l337 sky11z and knowledge. Such a good time was had that we might need to schedule more, uh, "staff training and development sessions". Of course, we have learned not to publish videos of such sessions thanks to our neighbors in Omaha.
For the record, I hadn't downloaded updates to the game in about a month, so the first half hour of the test involved patching. Only one computer crashed all night! Once everyone had settled in, game play moved along at a good pace. It is only a matter of time before our mild-mannered Youth Services Manager will be screaming "FOR THE HORDE!"
Pending confirmation from the Blizzard LAN Events and Location Based Entertainment Site License department, we have found that the 10-Day Free Trials might not work as well as we initially thought. The first three staff members to sign up for a trial account had no problems, however any attempt to create a trial account after that resulted in a curious error. Patrons registering for the programs scheduled for March 21 and March 28 have been advised to create a trial account prior to arrival at the library.
For the record, I hadn't downloaded updates to the game in about a month, so the first half hour of the test involved patching. Only one computer crashed all night! Once everyone had settled in, game play moved along at a good pace. It is only a matter of time before our mild-mannered Youth Services Manager will be screaming "FOR THE HORDE!"
Pending confirmation from the Blizzard LAN Events and Location Based Entertainment Site License department, we have found that the 10-Day Free Trials might not work as well as we initially thought. The first three staff members to sign up for a trial account had no problems, however any attempt to create a trial account after that resulted in a curious error. Patrons registering for the programs scheduled for March 21 and March 28 have been advised to create a trial account prior to arrival at the library.
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