New Podcast Pilot Episode: Action Button One-On-One with Tim Rogers (and Guest Ben Starr)

Hello! Remember when I said, towards the end of my last Patreon update, that I'd "recorded a lot of podcast episodes the past two years"? Well, here's one of them. Action Button One-On-One Episode Zero, featuring Final Fantasy XVI's own Ben Starr, the (canonical!) voice of protagonist Clive Rosfield.

It's here where I reveal that the "I" in this post is, in fact, a facade, a farce. A fata morgana. A false front. Behind the keyboard of this very post is none other than discord dot GG slash actionbutton's very own "becky goop", sometimes known as goop lord, occasionally as @neuroshmancer. You have her word that once this sentence ends, forthcoming first person pronouns will refer honestly to the woman behind the wheel.

Alright! Now that I'm correctly embodied, we can begin in earnest. You'll have to forgive my intrusion - Tim's a little busy at the moment. Probably working on, like, twenty videos at once, or something.

Much like the Action Button Reviews project, Action Button One-On-One will evolve, coming into itself as it continues. The idea is to create a sort of conversation-interview hybrid, a semi-guided chat. Ideally, we create circumstances where certain soundbites can be clipped for relevant use in future Action Button Reviews. I expect to grow more comfortable with my own role as "producer" (as well as in front of a camera) as we iterate through future episodes. Since that role implores I be concerned with the show feeling like a "finished" "product" for people to "enjoy", I feel the need to qualify its neotenous structure, so allow me an attempt: Episode Zero takes the shape of a friendly conversation. These guys are fans of each other's work! The whole thing runs about two hours, forty-three minutes, and thirty-one seconds. Topics of conversation between the two gentlemen include the meaning of the term "role-playing game", the contents of their algorithms, their Final Fantasy fandom, Ralph Ineson, and, of course, their dogs. Really, the show is just the two of these guys enjoying each other's company. It's charming! For a pre-show of sorts, this Episode Zero begins with a short vlog of Tim and I debriefing about our experience of shooting the thing. During an intermission in the middle of the show, you'll find a larger chunk of the same vlog, spiced (not spliced) with a story from Tim about visiting Carnegie Hall with Ben, Masayoshi Soken, and Koji Fox. I hope you enjoy the show! We have several candidates for future guests, the mention of at least one of which stunned me. Take heart that no matter who comes immediately after, it's likely the conversation will occur in the very same set.

The reason for that being, recording this thing was spackled with not-our-fault technical issues. The studio (located in Times Square within the same building that houses the Screen Actors Guild offices!?) came equipped with a pretty solid three camera setup, excellent lighting, and a tech on staff to live-edit the thing together with a nifty little macro pad I was a little jealous of. Unfortunately, whatever they live-edited it to was a 30FPS file, and the individual cameras were recording at the eternal digital cinematic standard of 23.976 FPS. Thankfully the final product remains watchable. The real reason we are likely to return is the fact that we were promised full recordings from all three cameras - and after the first thirty minutes, the files for those recordings cut off! This ended up making my job as editor significantly easier, although I felt bad for the guy who had to deliver the news. As I understand it, an error this significant was enough to guarantee us another free session should we choose to return.

It's traditional for numbered shows like this to have some kind of established release cadence. As a contractor of Action Button LLC it would probably be gauche of me to make any promises in that respect. I will mention that I quite enjoyed poring over the footage of Tim and (SECRET CO-HOST) chopping it up for the two currently recorded episodes of Action Button Monthly that exist. Their dynamic is as entertaining as it's ever been! And the video files are even longer than this one! Really, it's obscene. I hope they can get back in a room together again soon.

Well, it's been nice to make your acquaintance! That's about all I have to say, I think? I've got dogs to walk and Unity projects to poke at. I might even get my hands on UFO 50, or that Metaphor demo.

P.S. If you need more Ben Starr in your life, I learned in the course of typing this post that he's just had a chat with Matt Mercer for a new Square Enix podcast called Party Chat!

(editor's note: hello. it is me, the editor--of this blog, not this video. you can guess my real name if you'd like. i just wanted to clarify that this podcast is currently video-only and backer-only. we'll have an audio-only version available to the general public on actual streaming platforms soon. if you find yourself desirous of an audio-only version right now, why not rip it old-school from youtube using 4KDownloader? i use that program to basically rip everything from youtube. you can even tell it just to grab the audio. or whatever you want, carl.)