March-June update: Making the Sly Trilogy Retrospective- Part 2

The last couple months have been a hell of a ride.

So I actually wasn’t planning to make the Sly 2 video so soon. I had another couple of projects I was writing and nearly done with, stuff that still seems to be working out for the most part- but the demand for the next sly video was huge and, honestly, I realised that there was a lot of good information that had come my way that I wanted to act on while it was fresh in my memory. What I didn’t quite anticipate was just how long it would take to put it altogether- and that process began way back when I started putting the whole retrospective concept together.

The first video was about establishing Sly’s creation and wasn’t really intended to go through the games points in sequential order. I had very deliberately, however, decided to mimic, in some small way, the games structure. I would weight the early part of the video, for example, with clips from earlier on in the game when making a point, even though I was cutting back and forth occasionally. I would tentpole a beginning, middle and end too- Start with the prologue and talk about the kind of story it establishes, go into the very memorable Mz Ruby mid point to heighten the interest, and then close it all out with the Clockwerk section, which I knew was going to help lead into Sly 2’s way of storytelling.

That became even easier when I settled on the structure of discussing ideas from most basic to most complex- start with sly and his controls, then build outward to the rest of the world around him. That kind of reflects the feeling of a story, starting with the lead character and then using that to discuss the obstacles they face, which really helped to strengthen the storytelling theme of the retrospective and make sure it all came back to being a useful lesson rather than ‘hey, look what else they did btw lol’.

Now as it turns out that actually did help me a lot with creating the second video. It might have seemed restraining, but it laid out a few rules that I felt the rest of the videos should follow to feel consistent, while also allowing each to stand enough alone to be entertaining and informative. Sly 2’s story is, however, much more elaborate and important, so I made sure to hit its key beats where I could in-between general points. I knew that the first half needed to gradually build to a rapid, excitable discussion of Jailbreak to reflect the intensity of that section, and then cool down in the same way the game did switching to Canada by discussing the gentler world building mechanics.

I employed a few tricks to keep the impact of those beats in place where possible- when discussing Sly patronising his enemies, I knew I had to use the clip where he criticises the Contessas education- but in that clip, she’s fully in frame, and I didn’t really want the audience to see her until Jailbreak was on the table, even if just to subconsciously recreate the feeling I had playing the game originally. To that end I swapped out the visual for another clip from the same scene (luckily it’s easy to lazily fake the lip syncing thanks to Sly 2’s animation style). This also showed that, even if it’s just in the background, I hadn’t forgotten totally about using clips of Prague until it was absolutely necessary, and for anyone who might have been paying attention, I then made sure to put both of those borrowed clips at the end of the Jailbreak section to show that I’d deliberately been messing with them. 

The problem with all that stuff is that, because it’s so story heavy, I was worried about losing the density of information I had on the original video. I didn’t just want to recap the story, I needed to show how it was created and why it worked, and unfortunately the interviews and information is either mostly useful to discussing the original or just way too technical to really apply to all the specifics being introduced from the story. Discovering anything to do with Nate Fox had been key number one on the first video and I made sure to do extensive research on him when discussing the sequel. I thought I had all the information together- and then the Sly Cooper wiki Discord got in contact.

I tell you, the work these people do is stunning. They have this archive in the discord, lovingly labelled ‘the Cooper Vault’ and it houses a treasure trove of info on the series history. From scraps of Magazines, to concept art, to ads, to beta footage from old E3 demos and more, they had a bundle of things for me to sift through and underline. One interview became my bedrock, discussing their approach to the game after the first was done and revealing that amazing fact about Neyla once being Rajan’s daughter. It gave me loads to work with, and of course plenty to rewrite. 

Rewrites were the biggest issue this video had and my overall issue when making videos. I did a full write up and early edit near the end of June, thinking it would be out really early after, but instead I found myself really unhappy with the way things had been worded and, to my shock, finding even more information when I went to double check a couple of things. It doesn’t matter how thorough I think I’m being, there always seems to be something that slips by me, and I knew I couldn’t release the video until that was all taken care of. Messaging Jordan kotzebue, for example, gave me the crucial info that Kathy Anderson was the background artist, a fact I had initially attributed to Augie Pagan, the artist who created backgrounds for the comics. I do think it allowed me to loosen up a bit and come up with a few more gags which I knew were crucial to both breaking up the pace of the video and putting out a few things I’ve carried with me for years. ‘Guess-what-you-fucked-up.’

I decided to be more ambitious by trying a few new things out- the hilariously ghetto dissection I put together of the 6th level was my attempt to be like a cut rate game makers toolkit, and I figured would visually make things a little more interesting and really express the technicalities being described. Then there was talking about the comic- having been made by the company and the specific artists who worked on the series, it was more than a bit of promotional work and I wanted to give it some focus that felt substantial. Getting in voice actors was the way to make sure you guys could get a better idea of how they even sounded like they were caught between the evolution of the two games. Also gave me an excuse to try a tiny bit of voice direction and editing the performances together, something I would like to maybe carry into other BP projects on a slightly larger scale in the future. 

There’s still some annoying mistakes going on though. I think I need glasses- Final Cut Pro X uses a black backing on a dark grey interface so it’s really hard to sometimes see exactly where clips cut off if I need to resize them. I think some of my cutouts are tatty and the audio doesn’t have any real gain control, plus the distant sound of a noisy fan in one or two parts. Patreon money will probably now go towards some audio engineering to see that improve, be it my own microphone or even getting someone else to edit it and make it sound much better than it does. Oh, and when I talk about the reviews calling the game too short- one of them is upside down. I checked the video six times, and I was still too snow-blind to catch that one. 

I hope that gives you guys a better idea of some of what this went through. I have tried so hard to get more videos out on a monthly basis, and even though I don’t think it’s backbreaking work per se, I am exhausted. I never realised that keeping a monthly schedule would feel like such an impossibility, and I’m considering making BP bi monthly, or at least making sure at least one video appears bi monthly. I have projects that just seem to be too big for my own good, no matter how much I try to keep them short, and that means rewrites and real life heavily affect a lot of forward momentum. Even so, I work on writing these videos every day, and I will try my best to get as many out this year as I can manage. I’m also considering some better rewards still, potentially a podcast, so keep your eyes open for what else might show up.

Thanks for the understanding, and for continuing to support this channel. I really didn’t think this would grow, we’re five dollars away from hitting that Musical goal which I will attempt to start drafting now we’re so close, as well as alert the people who could help me out. I still, as I’ve said before, got loads of other videos planned, and getting Sly 2 out of the way is a huge relief. I’m officially halfway through those videos, though I don’t plan to give 3 any less attention than I gave 2, and then, eventually, I will talk about how much, no, really, how MUCH Sly 4 makes me want to drink chlorine. 

Catch you all soon, gang!

- B