posted by Doyes,
Brian Calland from Wronchi Animation, the creative mind of the well-known Dota 2 Reporter, walked through his creative and technical process behind Dota 2 Reporter on the Defence of the Patience podcast earlier today, and his inspiration for making the show. Brian also discusses the future of the show and other projects he has planned. For those unfamiliar with the Dota 2 Reporter, the series focuses on the eponymous Dota 2 reporter as he learns the various mechanics of the game, while at the same time pointing out the absurdity of them in a real world context. The series has reached 57 episodes with the conclusion of the 3rd season on the horizon.

The first episode of the Dota 2 Reporter


Brian Calland on what inspired him to create the DOTA 2 reporter
When asked about what inspired to create the show, Brian stated that it dates back to his teenage years. "When I was 14 I visited Newgrounds.com a lot, and for some reason there I was like 'what if I made stupid things like that' (...) I saw a bunch of video game parodies when I was there, and I was like 'Ya I'll do a video game parody' (...) Eventually, I don't know why it was in this format of like a reporter in the middle of the game but I did an original Star Craft reporter in 2006(...) I made it and it was terrible obviously. I guess from that cartoon I thought that putting a static neutral character in the middle of the game and comment on the absurdity of it all."

Brian Calland on his history with animation
Brian has no previous experience with animation outside of Flash. However, he did mention that he went to film school. "I went to film school thinking about being a director but then I realised if I stuck to doing the Dota 2 Reporter, I have 100% control over everything and no one can touch it."

The two man team behind the show
When writing the script for the show, Brian describes his approach to scriptwriting as "unconventional". "Id compare my appraoch to that of South Park, where I start a script for that week only and then just make it and hope that it works." When asked if he has the scripts pre-written and then proceeds, he answered that none of the scritps are pre-written and starts fresh every week.

There are only two people who work on the show, himself and his friend Mike. "There are 2 of us doing the voices. Mike does the lower register characters (...) He does a very good Tidehunter. He doesnt know anything about the game which makes it really funny to work with him." Outside of that Brian does all the heavy lifting alone, which includes the animation, scriptwriting and sound editing.

One of our personal favourite Dota 2 Reporter episodes

Brian's extended break from Dota 2 and what it means for the show
Brian mentioned that he was taking an extended break from the game since he felt that it was becoming more work than play. When asked if he saw the show as work, he had this to say: "I enjoy doing it, and I am happy to be doing it, it's just that sometimes I have this thought in the back of my mind where I dont play the game as much aanymore, Im sure I will eventually since I am on my extended break, but I still like the characters that I guess you can say that I made them.I like to write, I love to make the things happen, I just... when Im trying to think of a ways to end the episode Im just like 'umm... ummm... they destroy a building'"

Season 4 might follow different format from previous seasons
Brian briefly talked about the future of the show when asked if there will be a fourth season. "Theirs going to be... something. I'll address it like this; I dont how much Im going to follow the format as I have been with like seasons and further episodes not making any sense if you hadnt seen the other ones. So maybe I'll do some stuff where its more like "Oh you can actually see other heroes then the 10 I've locked in here for over half a year".

He also briefly mentioned what he might be doing in the future outside of the Dota 2 Reporter. "Ive been contemplating having a side channel for like gameplay and stuff, nothing that takes like 2 weeks to do, just some fun stuff to do"

For the full podcast from Defense of the Patience featuring Brian simply click here. Brian's section starts from 22:45. You can also visit their website to listen to recent episodes feature Workshop artist Anuxi and Dota 2 personality SirActionSlacks.

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