Post by Survivor Guy 886 on Dec 13, 2009 15:14:27 GMT -5
Oh my! Online Survivor 4 was just... amazing, lol. As the first five seasons of Online Survivor were created, they continued to get better, and better, and better. If you liked Online Survivor 3, you'll love Online Survivor 4. I hate to increase his ego even more, but this season would have been nothing without one person... Prince.
However, I digress. Online Survivor 4 was created in quite a unique way. I was on vacation in Ocean City, Maryland, with my parents. We were in the middle of OLS qualifying, so I had brought along my laptop, hoping I would find some way to get online. As I stepped out of the car at our hotel, I looked around. The plaza had names for each building, most notably "Oahu" and "Lanai". I was thinking, "Hmmm... almost sounds like tribe names for a Survivor: Hawaii. Blue vs. Yellow, I'd say." Perhaps some day I'll use those names if I need some, considering their historical significance to this game.
To make a long story short, I did find internet access (through a phone modem, lol) and actually finished the ENTIRE casting process inside the hotel room. I even divided the tribes there. I then turned to watching TV (They had digital cable, which was crazy expensive and unheard of at the time), and saw the Game Show Network (now GSN) for the first time in my life. I saw so many new game concepts that they inspired me to start planning the game inside the hotel room as well.
Due to the overload of game shows I saw, you'll see a plethora of GSN games from the early 00s, the last time that I ever put a significant amount of literal game shows in the game as challenges. In addition, I planned the rest of the challenges and twists, and almost had the entire game planned before I returned home. Did I even bother going to the beach or anywhere else for the vacation? I don't really remember. I'm not much of a beach person, lol.
As for changes to the game itself, there weren't many. Online Survivor 3 had pretty much set the precedent for how the game should be formatted. There were only two major changes, at least that I remember off the top of my head. First, for the past two seasons, tribes had met at 5:00 and 5:20, with challenges at 5:40. I found this usually gave the second tribe an advantage, considering their meeting ran directly into the challenge, giving them momentum. Starting this season, I had both tribes meet at 5:00, and I would visit both camps randomly. This ensured everyone had to be held to the same accountability.
The other change came with the SP system. For the past two seasons, SP ONLY determined who got the absent juror votes. Since all jurors were present in OLS3, that effectively rendered SP useless. Starting with this season, I inserted small advantages in certain challenges for people who had more SP, ensuring that it would still have some purpose, even if all the jurors showed up.
Other than this, I DID, for the first time, attempt a few twists. Albeit, they didn't really change much of anything. So what, you may ask, is so different from Online Survivor 3 that we would want to watch this season? Let me introduce you to Prince...
Prince, known as DaFRO in past seasons, made himself known to the entire ORG community with this game. You'll want to keep a very close eye on him during the entire game. Why, you may ask? Well, suffice it to say that in OLS1-OLS4, everyone's primary concern coming into a game was making relationships, playing challenges well, and staying alive. From OLS5 to the present day, everyone's primary concern coming into a game has been finding out if Prince is in the game, and if so, eliminating him before he can do any damage.
It being the early days of Survivor, I became very frustrated with Prince, and actually started to subconciously alter the game to help others because of his dominance, simply out of inner frustration. I would never do this blatantly on purpose, especially today, but, well, watch the game and you'll see what I mean, lol. In the current Survivor world, where villains are more loved, my opinion probably would have been different. Love him or hate him, Prince's influence over this game and the remainder of the OLS series cannot be denied; and rest assured he will be littering this section of the forum with his comments.
But enough about Prince. As far as the episodes themselves, Online Survivor 4 kept the same basic format of the last two seasons, but continued to get cleaner and more refined. I can't say much more than that. If you liked the format of OLS2/OLS3, you'll get the same basic thing here. If not, well, there are a few improvements, but nothing big enough to mention, sorry.
As for the music, I started using "themes" this season. That is, I would pick a video game, movie, etc. and make about 75% of the music from that. For this game, it's Final Fantasy IV. As of this season, I really started to get a sense of what music worked, and what music was just plain annoying. There are still a few "bad" music choices, but overall, this season is where the background music really started to give the perfect Aura of what you were reading happening. Some music had become mainstays by this point and wouldn't be changed, regardless of theme. Again, here's the recurring music in case you're wondering...
Main Page = Final Fantasy IV - Overworld
Recap = Final Fantasy IV - Tower of Bab-Il
Preview = Final Fantasy IV - Giant
Theme = Final Fantasy IV - Overworld (Fast Version)
Tribal Council = Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Final Night
Voting = Super Metroid - New Brinstar
Voteout = Final Fantasy IV - Ending
Last Words = Secret of Mana - Theme
In closing, Online Survivor 4 was epic. You MUST watch this season. If for nothing else, than to see what all the fuss about Prince was about. I apologize for bringing so much publicity to only one person, but when you watch this season, you'll see what I mean. GREAT SEASON. Watch it. You'll love it.
However, I digress. Online Survivor 4 was created in quite a unique way. I was on vacation in Ocean City, Maryland, with my parents. We were in the middle of OLS qualifying, so I had brought along my laptop, hoping I would find some way to get online. As I stepped out of the car at our hotel, I looked around. The plaza had names for each building, most notably "Oahu" and "Lanai". I was thinking, "Hmmm... almost sounds like tribe names for a Survivor: Hawaii. Blue vs. Yellow, I'd say." Perhaps some day I'll use those names if I need some, considering their historical significance to this game.
To make a long story short, I did find internet access (through a phone modem, lol) and actually finished the ENTIRE casting process inside the hotel room. I even divided the tribes there. I then turned to watching TV (They had digital cable, which was crazy expensive and unheard of at the time), and saw the Game Show Network (now GSN) for the first time in my life. I saw so many new game concepts that they inspired me to start planning the game inside the hotel room as well.
Due to the overload of game shows I saw, you'll see a plethora of GSN games from the early 00s, the last time that I ever put a significant amount of literal game shows in the game as challenges. In addition, I planned the rest of the challenges and twists, and almost had the entire game planned before I returned home. Did I even bother going to the beach or anywhere else for the vacation? I don't really remember. I'm not much of a beach person, lol.
As for changes to the game itself, there weren't many. Online Survivor 3 had pretty much set the precedent for how the game should be formatted. There were only two major changes, at least that I remember off the top of my head. First, for the past two seasons, tribes had met at 5:00 and 5:20, with challenges at 5:40. I found this usually gave the second tribe an advantage, considering their meeting ran directly into the challenge, giving them momentum. Starting this season, I had both tribes meet at 5:00, and I would visit both camps randomly. This ensured everyone had to be held to the same accountability.
The other change came with the SP system. For the past two seasons, SP ONLY determined who got the absent juror votes. Since all jurors were present in OLS3, that effectively rendered SP useless. Starting with this season, I inserted small advantages in certain challenges for people who had more SP, ensuring that it would still have some purpose, even if all the jurors showed up.
Other than this, I DID, for the first time, attempt a few twists. Albeit, they didn't really change much of anything. So what, you may ask, is so different from Online Survivor 3 that we would want to watch this season? Let me introduce you to Prince...
Prince, known as DaFRO in past seasons, made himself known to the entire ORG community with this game. You'll want to keep a very close eye on him during the entire game. Why, you may ask? Well, suffice it to say that in OLS1-OLS4, everyone's primary concern coming into a game was making relationships, playing challenges well, and staying alive. From OLS5 to the present day, everyone's primary concern coming into a game has been finding out if Prince is in the game, and if so, eliminating him before he can do any damage.
It being the early days of Survivor, I became very frustrated with Prince, and actually started to subconciously alter the game to help others because of his dominance, simply out of inner frustration. I would never do this blatantly on purpose, especially today, but, well, watch the game and you'll see what I mean, lol. In the current Survivor world, where villains are more loved, my opinion probably would have been different. Love him or hate him, Prince's influence over this game and the remainder of the OLS series cannot be denied; and rest assured he will be littering this section of the forum with his comments.
But enough about Prince. As far as the episodes themselves, Online Survivor 4 kept the same basic format of the last two seasons, but continued to get cleaner and more refined. I can't say much more than that. If you liked the format of OLS2/OLS3, you'll get the same basic thing here. If not, well, there are a few improvements, but nothing big enough to mention, sorry.
As for the music, I started using "themes" this season. That is, I would pick a video game, movie, etc. and make about 75% of the music from that. For this game, it's Final Fantasy IV. As of this season, I really started to get a sense of what music worked, and what music was just plain annoying. There are still a few "bad" music choices, but overall, this season is where the background music really started to give the perfect Aura of what you were reading happening. Some music had become mainstays by this point and wouldn't be changed, regardless of theme. Again, here's the recurring music in case you're wondering...
Main Page = Final Fantasy IV - Overworld
Recap = Final Fantasy IV - Tower of Bab-Il
Preview = Final Fantasy IV - Giant
Theme = Final Fantasy IV - Overworld (Fast Version)
Tribal Council = Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Final Night
Voting = Super Metroid - New Brinstar
Voteout = Final Fantasy IV - Ending
Last Words = Secret of Mana - Theme
In closing, Online Survivor 4 was epic. You MUST watch this season. If for nothing else, than to see what all the fuss about Prince was about. I apologize for bringing so much publicity to only one person, but when you watch this season, you'll see what I mean. GREAT SEASON. Watch it. You'll love it.