Tara Babcock Casting Practice #3!

On September 20 2012 00:27 FFW_Rude wrote:
Hi,

To state some things that i didn't want to do in the PM i sent you (because not really on topic).

You have kind of good basics. I watch a LOT of Starcraft II by a LOT of commentators. You lack a lot of stuff but that's just something you can improve.

I'm no master or GM so i can't say much about your analysis. But what you can do to improve your cast is cast some games that pro casters did. If you can find a match that been casted by TB,Hysky AND Day9 you can compare what you said wrong or misjudge. Why those casters ?

Because TB is totally a play by play caster with not a great level in Starcraft (but it's really enjoyable).
Because Husky is kind of better with analysis but stays mainly a play by play caster.
And Day9 is really analytic and not really play by play.

Just giving my two cents. Hope it's a good enough advice and people will cooborate or not what i say.

But finding a game that they all casted might be difficult. You could search for other casters.

Husky or HD are almost the same when comes to analysis (i guess). (Crota maybe is at the same level).
Day9 alternative could be Appollo ?
And for TB i don't know someone as good as he is for play by play (and he improved a lot in analysis).

Kind of hard to "rate" the caster level. But i think you get the idea.

On September 20 2012 00:54 wo1fwood wrote:
Hi Tara, I haven't seen you on TL before, but welcome to the community. I hope you enjoy your stay. If you want to get more into casting I would suggest you maybe try to contact a known caster like Day[9] or maybe Apollo as they are very prepared casters (though they are busy guys, worth a shot imo). If not, even dissecting their casting style and what they focus on could during casts could help.

Regarding the vocabulary and game knowledge, if you're not familiar with stuff or feeling slightly overwhelmed just realize that your lack of experience as either a player or caster will develop with practice and time (both in casting and playing the game). Look at some of the early casting of some of the big names and compare them with today and you'll note a marked difference.

I think the biggest thing that struck me overall (and you mention a desire to improve upon) was a lacking knowledge of playing styles, strategy or build orders, or at least the specifics (something like 14 pool 16 hatch vs. hatch first on 15 in zvp and why the player does this, or another being the gas timing for zerg in general). Most of that I think would be gained by reading awesome guides here on TL or LP, or watching games/playing yourself so you gain more knowledge.

Other than that it's a good start. Keep at it, and work knowing that there will always be something to improve upon and you'll get there.

Edit: I'm silly, apparently you've blogged before so some of my thoughts may be redundant.

On September 20 2012 01:10 Zrana wrote:
Well i watched #3 and quite liked it. I'm no expert but here are some random thoughts:

- Occasionally we hear sounds like you breathing in or sniffing or something. It's nothing to be too worried about, everyone makes these sounds when they speak but it's not noticed unless it's broadcast or recorded. I tried some casting a while back and everyone could hear like the sounds my lips made when i opened my mouth, which is pretty weird to listen to. Anyway it's an issue with your microphone settings. I don't know more about how to fix it but in professional casts with high-end equipment it doesn't happen so there must be a way to avoid it somehow.

- Excitement factor. From an analytical point of view it was a great cast. I knew what was going on and there was some humour there as well, but i never really cared about the game that much. Injecting excitement without seeming fake is incredibly hard to do so definitely check out the well known names and note exactly the kind of things they say and when. Like in battle situations, where there units engaging and firing at each other you're often talking more about the overall game situation than the play-by-play details. If a lot of stuff is happening then talk very quickly to describe it all. You notice tastelesss doing this during exciting moments, his speech accelerates and increases in volume proportionally with the amount of action that is happening on screen.

To be super-critical for a moment; during the final battle, you're talking more about supply and upgrades and saying, "oh my god" and, "this is amazing" than actually talking about what's happening, and when you do mention something like a storm or the banshees doing some nice damage it's often after it's already happened and we've seen it. It's true we can watch the battle for ourselves so why do you need to talk about it? Well I don't really know lol but it just seems better that way.
We saw the battle, and we know who won but i feel what was lacking was exactly how the battle unfolded. That one was pretty hard to do as it was basically just naama playing drunk or high or something and you don't want to just be criticising a player, but you could have said something like, "The collosus and storm are slaughtering the marines so hard! They barely had time to do anything useful - but they absorbed enough damage to keep the tanks alive and they're doing great splash damage to the protoss army from behind that point-defense drone. That immortal not quite able to do anything there. Now the banshees are pushing in, trying to finish the job - but there's still some collosi alive and Naama has to be careful of these new stalkers being warped in - all of his banshees on critical health right now with no scvs left to repair."

With the analysis, i felt it was a little off, you were right about upgrades being important but there was a bit more to it. At the battle, naama micro'd quite poorly, several times he ate nearly a full storm duration which i don't this is normal for a player at his level. He needed to fight a defensive battle, to lure protoss into his siege tanks and bunkers but wasn't able to because of the bunker's placement in range of collosus in the main and the fact that protoss had storm and extended thermal lance and a 3rd. I felt he could have used his viking and banshees more effectively in regards to forcing protoss to come to him rather than the other way round. Naama wanted Daisy to come out and fight him but Daisy had no incentive to do so. Probably you shouldn't let protoss get a 3rd if you're doing that build. Also maybe Hi-sec Tracking would be something to consider getting as terran in that situation.

Finally, decimate means to reduce by 1/10th! gaah! (sorry i'm a massive pedant)

This might have come off as over-critical or rude so i'm sorry about that and feel free to disagree with my opinion, certainly you can cast better than i could. Overall i enjoyed the game. Your voice is quite nice to listen to which is a major bonus as some casters are quite annoying just by speaking ^^. So tl'dr version: imo talk more about the little details of what units are doing and why. Rest seems good

On September 20 2012 01:37 meteorskunk wrote:
Good enough for me to watch. Things like the double gas indicating banshee and then the three forge for faster 2-2 show that you know your stuff and have a deep(ish) understanding. great stuff. One reason i prefer amateur commentary is simple things that high level players understand intuitively are actuallythought through . A lot of the professional casters fail to see what does not occur to some people. You do in some cases. Genuine thinking out loud as if you are just with a friend trying to portray your excitement is good! if it was taeja you'd tell a complete noobie friend "this guy is the best". this way of thinking is better than "ok i want to be professional and make this a great show like "oooh myy wooow!".. we don't want your appreciation .. we want to see if what you are appreciating is worth us appreciating.

So, I say maybe just stop saying you're practicing and just be a regular youtube caster? if you do this though, saying THings like "oh big error, i'm not going to restart, sorry" will be an issue. probe deaths were missed but thats honestly fine. you saw that the worker counts were weird and you told us. as long as we know the status of the game missing something is fine. "could have been a helion drop in the main or banshees in the main" is enough, really. That is assuming it wasn't a pimpest micro play or soemthing.

Speaking of Micro, the last battle was just super micro intensive to me. The tanks were to be kept in range to hit stalkers, the turrets were to get the observers so banshees were less vulnerable, scvs were to wall and repair. Daisy did a great job spacing everything in little groups and moving back from the area that was really good for tanks before losing too much. The storms were good. Also that was a super weird style but i was excited by it because i could see the idea behind it.

If i was dual casting with you i'd have asked you some questions like "so, tara, why do you think they are staying on two base?"

"what do you think the best thing to do with these banshees is? is the banshee play intending to catch daisy off guard?"

Anyways, congrats. i'm actually surprised you reached a level i can watch without getting bored and exhausted. Just remember WHY a player does something is the greatest thing you can do. Also think less within the bounds of what you learn from others. you learned of this "cheese" play where if something does not work a player loses. who cares... use your own words.. you know?

On September 20 2012 06:22 puppykiller wrote:
I think that you should act more confident. If your all like "oooh am i making mistakes? do you guys like me? I know that I'm bad T.T" no one has any reason to watch your videos. Just play really hardcore for a bit and learn the game at a level suitable for casting (imo that's high masters but you can choose the level that you like I really don't care), and act like a boss. I know when you first came in you acted more confident and you got a little negative reaction because you didn't really know anything about sc, because you presented yourself attractively and because you said a few things that came across as condescending. In short you acted like you were to good for everyone and this was your little joyride through sc2. Since there is already an abundance of casters and an even larger abundance of nobodies that want to cast really your only advantage is your image. If I were you I would act more down to earth and more confident, and come across as the sort of girl that if the vastly male viewers met in real life, they could probably never get but maybe if they were really really lucky they could. That's what sells best considering that if you act too good for everyone, they are going to hate you and not listen to your casting (what initially happened) and if you act really weak, any attention you get is going to be through sympathy and no one will acknowledge you as a face in the scene (what is happening now).

On September 20 2012 10:27 TroW wrote:
My general impression is that your basic understanding of the game and how to cast is passable, but the specifics that separate mediocre casters from good ones could use more work. (Though you are doing precisely what you ought to be doing in order to improve; namely, putting yourself out there and getting feedback on what you can do better.)

Specifically, there were a few claims you made that were a bit suspect. For example, when you see a protoss throw down 2 forges on 2 bases while teching to colossus it does not mean that the player will be going for a timing attack with 2-2. That is one possibility, and perhaps even a common tactic, but it is by no means the only option. It seems even more common at the professional level to transition onto a third base, get templar tech, and try to smash the terran nearer to a maxed army with 3-3 and psi storm finished.

The other one that stuck out in my mind was that, as Naama pushed into Daisy's natural you said that because Daisy has the third base he was "economically ahead." This would make sense if the nexus at the third was finished and it was being mined from, but at that point in the game it was only half complete and did nothing whatsoever to bolster his economy. I would also suggest you try to glance at the mini map more often so that you don't miss important events like banshee harass, but that is mostly a habit you will develop over time (assuming you make an effort to do it until it becomes natural).

I think you have plenty of potential as a caster, though. You have a good voice for it and you seem eager to learn more about the game. If you don't already I suggest you watch the GSL Code S regularly and really pay attention to how Artosis and Tasteless commentate battles, talk about tech choices, and generally approach the flow of the game. These two have incorporated a lot of subtleties in how they speak, what they choose to focus on, etc. that set them well above most other casters. Good luck!

On September 20 2012 12:02 a176 wrote:
the first thing you probably need to do is learn to fill the long gaps between your sentences

someone mentioned TB earlier and his play-by-play style, indeed, there is rarely any pauses in his commentary. husky is another example of this. you can also rely on other things like, recent games/results by the player, or other generic knowledge of that sort, to fill those gaps.

once you gain more game knowledge, you can transition into that to fill those gaps.

lastly, consider getting atleast a headset, if not a dedicated mic. the webcam mic becomes distracting with background noise and general low quality.

On September 20 2012 11:48 TaraBabcock wrote:


This posts sounds a little hostile to me.

I don't think anyone thought that I was acting better than anyone, and you have to remember, I have been streaming 3-4 days a week for the last 2-3 months with a pretty decent viewership... I think the community gets what I am about and generally likes me once they get to know me. I think the compliment I get the most in eSports and modeling scenes alike is that I am down to earth.

Confidence in a cast is important, but these are practice casts, and I want to convey to you guys the things I am insecure about, and show I am acknowledging were I am lacking. Of course if I am casting GSL things are completely different.