quebert
High Hand
TL;DR - want to have high quality videos made to use as poker timers
I'm one of those guys who likes animations and high quality sound effects and fancy, but clean looking graphics. I've looked into every poker timer software I could find. The best I've found still look just pretty decent. Most remind me of something a jr. high student would make in computer art class when they're learning Photoshop. Eye candy isn't at all important to making a tourney good. But a good game + eye candy would be a win/win for me. Poker timers are a very niche thing, and the popularity of Hold 'Em has dropped so much, there's basically no chance of one with visual pizzazz and high presentation value ever being made. I have some graphic design abilities, but I have zero programming skills. I thought about this, and all I could come up with hiring a programmer with the know how to do it. But that could cost, well I don't even have a slight clue. Except it would be far more than I'd ever be able to afford. I would like something that shows the table + players + real time info in addition to the poker timer. But outside of having somebody code it, there's no possible way. I know it could be accomplished in HTML5, but it would be far beyond my grasp of it. And the amount of work probably needed it would cost more than I could imagine lol.
So today I came up with this idea, go on Fivver and find artists/people to create video content for me. If you don't know what Fivver is, it's freelance artists, videographers, models and other media related fields. They list what they can do, and what they charge. There are a ton of really talented people on there, and many are in far away countries where $20's basically as much as $500 here.
So here's the skeleton of my concept, this is just a few hours of thought put in it. So any feedback would be wonderful. The idea's to have videos shot for everything, that way no programming is needed, and everything out there can play video. My thinking's nice 4k broadcast quality video, which could be viewed fine on a 720p or 1080p screen with separate down sampled versions. Any modern phone, even a $50 throw away one should be able to play 1080p fine. A lot of TV's have USB ports and could play the files/playlists directly off a USB stick. And tons of TV's support Chromecast or Airplay. Also a lot of 3rd party apps on Android, and iOS will cast videos or mirror the screen.
A generic, but high quality intro to the tourney video that plays just before it starts. And people could have their own intro's made if they want something personalized.
a few different nicely animated time clocks.
Animations for pre game/between rounds/breaks. Stuff that would be similar to what you see on NBA/NFL games. Subtle, but slick looking lower third and/or full screen animations.
Similar to MMA and other combat sport events, have some videos of "ring card girls" announcing round & blind amounts before a round starts. Optional of course, as some people won't want that sort of eye candy in their game lol. Was thinking of possibly getting 2 or 3 different models so you could switch things up game to game.
Professional voice overs for the start of the game, rounds and breaks. Someone on here commented that Norman Chad from the poker TV shows does stuff like this. So that seems pretty doable. Probably not so doable, but a thought would be to get the god himself Doyle Brunson to record just a single line. Also a selection of much higher sound effects than the normal boring BEEPS found in every other poker timer out there.
Since not all games run exactly the same as far as round lengths and blind amounts. There will be a bunch of short video clips shot, which can be made into a playlist so they fit your games structure. So the idea's to shoot X amount of "round X blinds are XXX/XXX." videos. And the round clock videos and the visual blinds videos both being transparent overlays so they can be used with different background image videos. Or even just a static background image of whatever you like, a favorite picture or logo if you have a poker club, etc. There wouldn't need to be many videos, round lengths are typically 15,20,25, and I guess something shorter for a turbo tourney, And even with a bigger, longer game there aren't that many blind variations.
Everything I mentioned there's hundreds if not thousands of people on Fivver who offer it. Now having all this done by an actual company or freelancers in the US would cost a boat load. But like I mentioned many on Fivver live in a country where their monthly rent's probably equal to the price of one Big Mac combo costs in the US. And as long as I have the source project files I could mix and match animation videos with the round overlays (timers, blinds) so anyone who has a game could get exactly the structure they need.
I'm looking for a presentation similar to the quality of an NBA or NFL broadcast. Where even if they're in a 1 table home game, they feel like they're on TV WSOP playing for a bracelet.
I know most here couldn't care less about this level of detail, but for anyone who is, I'm open to suggestions. And even if you wouldn't want to use the timers, you might read this and have a suggestion.
I'm one of those guys who likes animations and high quality sound effects and fancy, but clean looking graphics. I've looked into every poker timer software I could find. The best I've found still look just pretty decent. Most remind me of something a jr. high student would make in computer art class when they're learning Photoshop. Eye candy isn't at all important to making a tourney good. But a good game + eye candy would be a win/win for me. Poker timers are a very niche thing, and the popularity of Hold 'Em has dropped so much, there's basically no chance of one with visual pizzazz and high presentation value ever being made. I have some graphic design abilities, but I have zero programming skills. I thought about this, and all I could come up with hiring a programmer with the know how to do it. But that could cost, well I don't even have a slight clue. Except it would be far more than I'd ever be able to afford. I would like something that shows the table + players + real time info in addition to the poker timer. But outside of having somebody code it, there's no possible way. I know it could be accomplished in HTML5, but it would be far beyond my grasp of it. And the amount of work probably needed it would cost more than I could imagine lol.
So today I came up with this idea, go on Fivver and find artists/people to create video content for me. If you don't know what Fivver is, it's freelance artists, videographers, models and other media related fields. They list what they can do, and what they charge. There are a ton of really talented people on there, and many are in far away countries where $20's basically as much as $500 here.
So here's the skeleton of my concept, this is just a few hours of thought put in it. So any feedback would be wonderful. The idea's to have videos shot for everything, that way no programming is needed, and everything out there can play video. My thinking's nice 4k broadcast quality video, which could be viewed fine on a 720p or 1080p screen with separate down sampled versions. Any modern phone, even a $50 throw away one should be able to play 1080p fine. A lot of TV's have USB ports and could play the files/playlists directly off a USB stick. And tons of TV's support Chromecast or Airplay. Also a lot of 3rd party apps on Android, and iOS will cast videos or mirror the screen.
A generic, but high quality intro to the tourney video that plays just before it starts. And people could have their own intro's made if they want something personalized.
a few different nicely animated time clocks.
Animations for pre game/between rounds/breaks. Stuff that would be similar to what you see on NBA/NFL games. Subtle, but slick looking lower third and/or full screen animations.
Similar to MMA and other combat sport events, have some videos of "ring card girls" announcing round & blind amounts before a round starts. Optional of course, as some people won't want that sort of eye candy in their game lol. Was thinking of possibly getting 2 or 3 different models so you could switch things up game to game.
Professional voice overs for the start of the game, rounds and breaks. Someone on here commented that Norman Chad from the poker TV shows does stuff like this. So that seems pretty doable. Probably not so doable, but a thought would be to get the god himself Doyle Brunson to record just a single line. Also a selection of much higher sound effects than the normal boring BEEPS found in every other poker timer out there.
Since not all games run exactly the same as far as round lengths and blind amounts. There will be a bunch of short video clips shot, which can be made into a playlist so they fit your games structure. So the idea's to shoot X amount of "round X blinds are XXX/XXX." videos. And the round clock videos and the visual blinds videos both being transparent overlays so they can be used with different background image videos. Or even just a static background image of whatever you like, a favorite picture or logo if you have a poker club, etc. There wouldn't need to be many videos, round lengths are typically 15,20,25, and I guess something shorter for a turbo tourney, And even with a bigger, longer game there aren't that many blind variations.
Everything I mentioned there's hundreds if not thousands of people on Fivver who offer it. Now having all this done by an actual company or freelancers in the US would cost a boat load. But like I mentioned many on Fivver live in a country where their monthly rent's probably equal to the price of one Big Mac combo costs in the US. And as long as I have the source project files I could mix and match animation videos with the round overlays (timers, blinds) so anyone who has a game could get exactly the structure they need.
I'm looking for a presentation similar to the quality of an NBA or NFL broadcast. Where even if they're in a 1 table home game, they feel like they're on TV WSOP playing for a bracelet.
I know most here couldn't care less about this level of detail, but for anyone who is, I'm open to suggestions. And even if you wouldn't want to use the timers, you might read this and have a suggestion.
