Cup of Jones - April 12, 2021
Added 2021-04-12 16:57:48 +0000 UTCThere are lots of calls today to bring back old shows and review games we haven’t covered yet. I feel confident in our current content output following the big list that was signed off by our supporters during EZX (writes down more notes for the puppet show) but it’s always difficult to say no to fun ideas. In a year that could hopefully see us returning to our studios and a bunch of things we were forced to put on hold, we’re wary of starting new commitments when we’ve already got stuff like Achieve it Yourself and Mini-Game Champions in continued production. But I’m writing it all down, allies! Keep ‘em comin’!
Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gub-9oxMIkg
- Brandon
DISCLAIMER: I take questions from the post comments on the previous week’s episode here on Patreon. You can ask a business-related question which I may answer live, or a personal question which I may answer below. If your business question was not answered live, I either replied to it in the comments, or referenced the answer in a recent episode. Feel free to inquire why your question wasn't included, or ask the same question a second time if you think I may have missed it. I will edit your comment/question before reading it live to ensure the show moves as quickly as possible. I typically grab all the questions by midnight (PT) the night before each episode.
Comments
Hello Jones! When the moment comes and you can go to the studio again, will people be able to send fan mail to your P.O. Box again? Will you perhaps wait with that a bit longer? Or can fan mail be send to you again as soon as the Jones-household is vaccinated, even if the studio is still a bit in the distance? I ask this, because I'm itching to send you cool stuff. And I'm sure many people in the community can't wait to send you cool stuff either. But since international mail can take several weeks, it would be appreciated if you give us the green light as soon as possible, so we have a chance to send out mail for the first group stream back in the studio. Also, what is the situation with the fan mail that has piled up at your P.O Box over the last year? Will we have a giant unboxing stream when you return to the studio? (Maybe a dedicated video?) Or has that stuff been send back by now? Obviously this isn't the highest priority issue that concerns your company right now, but I think the community would love to return to this tradition as soon as possible.
Snowcone Guy
2021-04-19 11:58:56 +0000 UTCHey Jones! Not sure if this is the place to put this but It is about a tower defense game so I figured this was the best place to make sure you saw it. With the closing of the PS3 store coming up, I was just going through my library and i remembered I had a Final Fantasy tower defense game on there called "Crystal Defenders". I just thought I would shout it out in case you wanted to make any last minute purchases on your PS3 if it still works. I played a ton of it when i first got it and it was very jolly vibes, and has really great FF sprite work. Anyway, that's all I wanted to mention! Cheers from Canada, Garrett (aka gbzmr in chat)
gbzmr (Zamora2Podcast)
2021-04-18 22:18:46 +0000 UTCHeya Jones, Oh sure, I totally understand. I'll certainly consider that in the future. But when Easy Allies is so full of joy that all kinds of music starting pouring out of it, does it consider itself a brass band, a harpsichord, a clarinet, the Philadelphia Orchestra, or a modern jazz quartet?
Asbo Zappruder
2021-04-18 20:54:46 +0000 UTCBrandon Jones, I’m not really sure if I can post this in the Cup of Jones since it’s not a question, but a suggestion. But before I make my suggestion, I want to tell you that I really enjoy the Cup of Jones show. You make business questions sound cool, but the best is the honest and nice way you present them and your personal stuff. Love it! Also I think you are making a good job on the podcast. Well, since you will play the excellent Mass Effect trilogy, (three of my favourite games of all time), for the first time when the Legendary Edition is released and will even streaming it, (nice!), I would like to suggest you, to read the prequel novel, Mass Effect: Revelation. If you can find some time. Even though, I’ve already played the Mass Effect trilogy, two times before, I have only finished reading the book some weeks ago, for the first time, in preparation for my Mass Effect: Legendary Edition playthrough. I think it’s a good read and I really enjoyed it. It serves to fill in much of the background details of the game and will probably make you enjoy the early stuff, more. Also, it will save you time by reading the in-game codex (encyclopedia). What made me read the book, even though I’ve already played the trilogy before, was because I’ve read the two Mass Effect Andromeda prequel books, before even starting playing the game, and it made me really enjoy the game more. Many people say that the game was not very good. It’s not as good as the original trilogy but it’s also very good. Some of the things people complain story wise, was in my view, because they didn’t have the background of the books. The trilogy doesn’t have this problem. The book is not as essential to enjoy, but it will make you start it the right mood. I remember that Michael Huber have mention, in the podcast, I think, that he read the book before playing the game back in 2007. You asked him if you needed to read the book and he said, not really. I’m not really a book reader, but I used the Mass Effect books to kickstart my interest in reading more, and I can say that I’ve enjoyed reading them. I know the game is less than a month away from release, but the book is not a big read. Just a suggestion. Cheers!
Nelson Medeiros
2021-04-18 20:39:25 +0000 UTCHey, Jones. Do you feel reluctance to let us know when some of you have been vaccinated? Is the plan to just be back in the studio after all the allies are vaccinated without having kept us up on the goings-on? Just wondering if you all have talked about the transition period to the studio and how exactly that is going to happen.
Josh Read
2021-04-18 20:08:32 +0000 UTCSafety Post
Happy Gaming
2021-04-18 00:46:22 +0000 UTCHey there Jones, This isn’t exactly a question, but I had thoughts and comments regarding some of the things you brought up on last week’s Cup of Jones. Feel free to skip this if you’d prefer, I just wanted to be sure to bring the thoughts to your attention. I wanted to follow up on last week's Cup, as I really do like the idea of constructive criticism for certain comments or games put into Love and Respect. As someone who takes time to make games, it would be very helpful personally to know when one I've made is something you'd like to come back to another time, and when it feels too complicated for a panel of people to learn quickly and should be replaced the following week. That being said, an issue I've thought about in replying to posts is the appearance of favoritism, for example if one person gets a reply that they should repost and another doesn't. I honestly don't know if in these instances it would be better to shortly reply to ALL the posts, or if it's okay for some to receive feedback while others can simply try again in the future. On a separate note, I feel like sometimes there's another issue that I'm unsure of a fix for, which is the topics being discussed on the podcast itself. It feels sometimes like L&R segments are chosen based on their relevance to the week's topic. While not all follow this rule (as switching things up and pulling submissions for better flow during that section is something you do very well as a moderator in my opinion), knowing which topics are going to be discussed ahead of time may help lead people to submit more relevant segments, and therefore have an easier time being chosen. It would also allow for more relevant games to be made on my, and others' parts. As it stands now, it feels like a gamble of getting in first, but hoping a big news story doesn't drop after you posted, rendering your question or comment somewhat irrelevant by comparison. A downside I see to this is that if everyone submits a plethora of posts about a single topic, you'd lose some of the flow and variety I mentioned earlier. On top of that, I don't know if you necessarily always know what you're discussing at the time of the L&R posting, and it might be unfair to shoehorn you into one given that news can happen at any point throughout the week. Sorry for rambling, just wanted to get your thoughts, Brian from Happy Gaming
Happy Gaming
2021-04-18 00:45:40 +0000 UTCSafety
Morgan Mohalla
2021-04-16 14:21:15 +0000 UTCAdditional side question, for the Community Showcase my comment was deleted again. Should we be informing you? Patreon? Should we all just add a safety post for each tiered comment? Should there be EZA PSAs in the posts cautioning patrons?
Morgan Mohalla
2021-04-16 14:21:09 +0000 UTCSafety.
Morgan Mohalla
2021-04-16 14:17:31 +0000 UTCMr. Jones, I had an idea for improving community engagement. During the Q&A there have been times when not all questions get in. More recently, you have been getting them all. Why not count the total questions and divide the time in minutes for the Q&A so that all questions get equal consideration and nobody gets left out? Example: 30 questions this month, 120 minutes for the Q&A, provides roughly 4 minutes per question or shorter for transitions. The host keeps a timer on the side and keeps things moving. Respectfully, Morgan Mohalla
Morgan Mohalla
2021-04-16 14:17:19 +0000 UTCHello Brandon. Can you give us an update on Together We RPG? Is it still in pre-production or was it cancelled?
Alexander Zyryanov
2021-04-16 13:29:28 +0000 UTCHaving E3 actually be "a thing" will definitely change our options, but so far what we know is pretty limited. Any previews publishers might do are still going to be scattershot and likely restricted to different times. But if there are like 5-10 games that are all embargoed for the same day, maybe it would make more sense for us to do more E3-style impressions than individual videos. -Bloodworth
Easy Allies
2021-04-13 17:02:52 +0000 UTCSup Jones, With E3 almost on the horizon, are there any plans to differentiate this year from the general reactions? Now everyone loves the reactions but assuming you guys will be vaccinated and back in the studio by then maybe streams like the Trailer Hype Fest and the Awards could make a return this year, as E3 sort of feels like a closed-off thing now. Maybe if there are enough back-door previews available for the allies online, you could bring back the multi-day impressions whether it's E3, Summer Game Fest, or something else. Those extra streams always were unique from EZA and since you likely won't be exhausted from running from booth-to-booth this year, the allies might enjoy them even more. Just a thought before we get too close to E3 to think about. Thanks for all you do!
Ivan Ndahiro
2021-04-13 12:42:56 +0000 UTCHey Jones, Listening to the gamescom question I had an idea. Why don't you guys put a Patreon goal at whatever dollar income it would enable EZA to go-to gamescom and cover it in person. And maybe some other events that require more of a budget. It will be nice to have patreon goals to aim for again. #2 have you guys considered having merch be part of a tier. For example sub at 25 dollar tier for 4 months for a Patreon exclusive shirt or whatever. Figure out a tier that would make it profitable for the allies as well as keep people subbed for longer. Hopefully rooster teeth could help with the logistics of it
Faraz Rizvi
2021-04-13 01:35:42 +0000 UTCI'd love to see Tabletop Escapades come back on Slack.
Daniel Ray
2021-04-12 23:41:05 +0000 UTCHey Mr. Jones! I think you may have addressed this before, but I’m not entirely sure so I thought I would ask another reviews question, or more specifically a reviewer question: This year has been understandably slow on the reviews front with not as many to come out plus all the EZA focused projects the Allies have been working on, but looking at the release calendar for the coming months and things look like it’ll start coming out at a decent pace (pending delays of course, speaking of which thanks again for having my factitious delay question on the podcast a couple weeks ago). I was curious if it was at all possible to let us know via Cup who would be assigned which review after you all have had the monthly meeting during the Schedule portion of the episode? While I’m not asking to let us know when review code comes in nor am I asking to break anything embargo related, I think it would be fun to announce, “Heads up everyone, this month, Huber will be taking on the Resident Evil Village review, while I’m taking the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and Ben will be tackling Biomutant, and they’ll be released as soon as everyone can respectively get them out, but we’ll try to reach embargo.” (these are just examples I pulled from the release calendar and no, I randomly made the pairings and understand they may not be reviewed by listed Ally or even at all… well, admittedly expect for Resident Evil ^.^) Totally understandable if you don’t to keep it a surprise, and I also understand there have been times where Allies have had to take over reviews from others for various reasons, but with the upcoming games, it seems informative to know what Allies are working on which games. Thanks again for reading and have a wonderful rest of your day! Cheers! QUESTION: Is it at all possible to let us know via Cup who would be assigned which review after you all have had the monthly meeting during the Schedule portion of the episode? For example, “Heads up everyone, this month, Huber will be taking on the Resident Evil Village review, while I’m taking the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition and Ben will be tackling Biomutant, and they’ll be released as soon as everyone can respectively get them out, but we’ll try to reach embargo.” However, if even telling us who would take what review long before you get the review code would break embargo, or if the nature of reviewing needs to be kept a surprise or if Allies need to take over reviews for various, I totally understand. It’s just something I feel could be informative much like the schedule is at the top of these episodes.
Brandon K Gann
2021-04-12 18:04:54 +0000 UTC
