Extra Credits

Extra Credits
Allison Theus, Daniel Floyd and James Portnow in the show's art style.
Genre	Edutainment Video game and industry analysis
Created by	Daniel Floyd James Portnow
Written by	James Portnow
Starring	Daniel Floyd James Portnow Allison Theus
Opening theme	"Penguin Cap" by CarboHydroM
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
Distributor	YouTube The Escapist (July 2010 - July 2011) PATV
Broadcast
Original channel	Internet: Extra Credits on PATV
Original run	February 17, 2008 (2008-02-17) – present
External links
EC Network

Extra Credits is an ongoing webseries presented by game designer James Portnow, animator Daniel Floyd, and artist Allison Theus. The series of videos discuss issues pertinent to video games and game studies, particularly: discussing issues concerning the development of video games, addressing the legitimacy of video games as an art form, and creating intellectual discourse on important issues in the video game community. The show is currently published on PATV, a distribution channel hosted by the creators of Penny Arcade.

History

Beginnings

The series began in 2008 when Floyd created two video presentations for his art history and media theory classes at Savannah College of Art and Design. Floyd states that the style of his presentations was "loosely modeled after Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw's Zero Punctuation reviews.". Floyd then contacted James Portnow, who was referenced in the early videos, and they agreed to work together on the series (untitled at the time) with Portnow attaching episodes to his articles on Edge. One episode also features journalist Leigh Alexander from Gamasutra in a discussion about video games and their female audience. In July, 2010, an announcement was made that the series would be a featured series for The Escapist, where weekly episodes of the series began, as well as the introduction of the new title, Extra Credits. Since Floyd had started working at Pixar Canada at the time, Portnow also enlisted Allison Theus (a colleague of his) to handle the art.

In May 2011, Extra Credits hosted the first annual Extra Credits Innovations Awards at Login 2011, which was meant to praise developers who were willing to take risks and push the boundaries of video games as a medium. Awards were intentionally nonstandard compared to other awards frequently awarded to other award series, focusing on ingenuity rather than success, including categories such as: Innovation in Game Design, Innovation in Narrative Delivery, Most Unbelievable Awesome Fun, Genre Buster Award, Positive Impact Innovator, LOGIN Special Award for Innovation in Multiplayer.

Dispute with The Escapist

Around the end of July 2011, there was a dispute between The Escapist and Extra Credits. The dispute was over how the remains of a charity that was to pay for artist Allison Theus's surgery should be used. Portnow planned to create a game publishing label with the money, where the revenue would go directly into funding subsequent projects. The Escapist stated the money should have been used to create more episodes of Extra Credits for The Escapist and to compensate Themis Media for donation incentives, such as premium memberships and T-shirts. As a result, Extra Credits broke ties with The Escapist, and after a brief four-week stint posting directly to YouTube, the show has since aired on Penny Arcade's PATV network.

Format

Extra Credits is written by Portnow, narrated by Floyd, and the art is primarily made by Theus. Videos are presented in the style of a lecture hall, and address the topic of the week with "doodles" and random imagery from various sources on the internet, with a strong focus on visual puns and ironic counterpoint. The tone of the videos are generally light-hearted and often humorous, but always didactic, intended to educate the audience and begin to foster dialogue on the presented subject. Generally, the show is presented from the perspective of a game designer rather than the average gamer.

While Extra Credits discusses new topics every week as they apply to games, there are some topics which are more frequently addressed than others, including: poor narrative creation, level design, gamification, tangential learning, sexuality and gender discrimination both within games and in the gaming community, and diversity in games (including gender, sexuality, and racial diversity). The show is also frequently critical of the triple-A video game industry. Extra Credits is also a big proponent of independent developers, although it has frequently stated that they don't want to see only "art house" games either. "No one on this show wants every game to try to be gaming's Ulysses or even gaming's Blood Meridian. But we really would like to see a few more Mass Effects, Portals, Bioshocks, even Call of Duty 4s."

Episodes

Season 0

Season 0 consists of episodes Floyd uploaded to YouTube, which were released sporadically, before moving over to The Escapist, and are currently only available on YouTube on Floyd's personal account.

Total	#	Title	Air date
1	1	"Video Games and Storytelling"	February 17, 2008 (2008-02-17)
Talks about storytelling potential of video games. Originally created as a project for Daniel's art history course at SCAD.
2	2	"Video Games and Sex"	May 29, 2008 (2008-05-29)
Talks about mishandling of sexuality in video games. Incorrectly flagged for mature content on YouTube.
3	3	"Video Games and Learning"	September 8, 2008 (2008-09-08)
Introduces concept of tangential learning and its applications in video games. First video to include James Portnow.
4	4	"Video Games and the Uncanny Valley"	November 1, 2008 (2008-11-01)
Talks about the uncanny valley in relation to video games.
5	5	"Video Games and Choice"	April 19, 2009 (2009-04-19)
Talks about the difference between problems and choices in relation to game design.
6	6	"Video Games and the Female Audience"	June 28, 2009 (2009-06-28)
Talks about the female demographic of video games. Features Gamasutra editor-at-large Leigh Alexander as writer instead of Portnow.
7	7	"Video Games and Facing Controversy"	September 6, 2009 (2009-09-06)
Talks about controversy and how the game industry should face it. Includes clips from a debate video concerning Six Days in Fallujah.
8	8	"Video Games and Moral Choices"	April 16, 2010 (2010-04-16)
Talks about how moral choice gameplay should be improved.

Season 1

Total	#	Title	Air date
9	1	"Bad Writing"	July 28, 2010 (2010-07-28)
Writing in video games and the importance of narrative is discussed.
10	2	"The Future of MMOs"	August 4, 2010 (2010-08-04)
The team talks about the current state of the MMO genre and where it may go in the future.
11	3	"Innovation"	August 11, 2010 (2010-08-11)
The Indie and AAA branches of the game industry are contrasted, and joining forces to help them to drive innovation is discussed.
12	4	"Where Did Survival Horror Go?"	August 18, 2010 (2010-08-18)
The relative shortage of "true" horror games and why the genre has deteriorated is discussed.
13	5	"No Redeeming Value"	August 25, 2010 (2010-08-25)
In a spin on the usual format, the team deconstructs the God of War series and its triumphs and failings in storytelling.
14	6	"Free Speech"	September 1, 2010 (2010-09-01)
The team discusses the then-called Schwarzenegger v. EMA case (upcoming at the time) and what it could mean for the future of video games as a medium.
15	7	"Enriching Lives"	September 8, 2010 (2010-09-08)
Taking deconstruction a step further, the team discusses a moral choice sequence in Mass Effect 2 and the power video games have to teach people about themselves.
16	8	""Gamer""	September 15, 2010 (2010-09-15)
The term "gamer" and the problems associated with its current usage are discussed.
17	9	"Video Game Music"	September 22, 2010 (2010-09-22)
The team takes a look at the way video game music has evolved over the years, and compare the strengths of today's game music with the chiptunes of gaming past.
18	10	"Project Ten Dollar"	September 29, 2010 (2010-09-29)
EA's post-market "Project Ten Dollar" is discussed and some alternatives are suggested.
19	11	"Kinect and Move"	October 6, 2010 (2010-10-06)
The Kinect and PlayStation Move peripherals are discussed, and their chances for success are speculated on.
20	12	"Diversity"	October 13, 2010 (2010-10-13)
As an opening to an ongoing episodic discussion, the team look at the lack of proper diversity in video games (and outlines numerous episode topics to come).
21	13	"Mailbag #1"	October 20, 2010 (2010-10-20)
The team goes over some of the more common requests in their email inboxes, including why there is a lack of FPS innovation, how to enter the game industry, what the team's game industry experience is, a brief analysis of the current state of PC gaming and JRPGs, and others.
22	14	"Symbolism 101"	October 27, 2010 (2010-10-27)
For Halloween, the team explores the use of symbols and psychology in horror games.
23	15	"Facing Controversy"	November 3, 2010 (2010-11-03)
The team reiterates the Season 0 video about how the industry should be facing the various controversies surrounding video games.
24	16	"So You Want to be a Game Designer"	November 10, 2010 (2010-11-10)
The team goes over some key points for those desiring to become a game designer.
25	17	"Easy Games"	November 17, 2010 (2010-11-17)
The team discusses why games appear to have gotten easier over the years.
26	18	"The Skinner Box"	November 24, 2010 (2010-11-24)
Operant conditioning (via the "skinner box") and its overuse in modern game design are discussed.
27	19	"Sex in Games"	December 1, 2010 (2010-12-01)
Before building upon sexual diversity as introduced in an earlier episode, a previous episode from the pre-Escapist era was remade to discuss the current state of sex in games.
28	20	"Sexual Diversity"	December 8, 2010 (2010-12-08)
To demonstrate the benefits of sexual diversity in games, the characters Kanji Tatsumi and Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4 are analyzed.
29	21	"Narrative Mechanics"	December 15, 2010 (2010-12-15)
Missile Command is deconstructed to demonstrate how games can express an idea using only their mechanics.
30	22	"A Season of Hope"	December 22, 2010 (2010-12-22)
The team takes a break from the "art and design" talk to appreciate the Child's Play Charity Dinner Auction.
31	23	"Choice and Conflict"	December 29, 2010 (2010-12-29)
The team discusses what "choice" is, and how the use of conflict separates it from the often-substituted "calculations".
32	24	"Mailbag #2"	January 5, 2011 (2011-01-05)
The team once again goes over some of the more common requests in their email inboxes, including the (over)use of gritty realism, the widespread poor translation of movies to games (and vice-versa), e-sports, Minecraft, the decline of Sonic the Hedgehog, and others.
33	25	"Non-Combat Gaming"	January 12, 2011 (2011-01-12)
The potential for game experiences that aren't combat based is explored, particularly exploring the game Echo Bazaar.
34	26	"Piracy"	January 19, 2011 (2011-01-19)
The team carefully explores piracy as it affects games and the industry.

Season 2

Total	#	Title	Air date
35	1	"Amnesia and Story Structure"	January 26, 2011 (2011-01-26)
The team talks about Three-act structure, In Medias Res and amnesia as a plot device in games.
36	2	"Playing Like a Designer (pt. 1)"	February 2, 2011 (2011-02-02)
In the first of a two-part discussion, the team explains how a designer analyzes games as he plays.
37	3	"Playing Like a Designer (pt. 2)"	February 9, 2011 (2011-02-09)
In the conclusion of the two-part discussion, the team explains how a designer analyzes games as he plays.
38	4	"Achievements"	February 16, 2011 (2011-02-16)
The winner of a Child's Play auction for the topic of a complete episode, ostensibly Sparrow the Cat, requested that the team discuss Achievements and their influence in games today.
39	5	"An Open Letter to EA Marketing"	February 23, 2011 (2011-02-23)
The Extra Credits team calls out EA on their recent marketing campaigns.
40	6	"Ludus Florentis"	March 2, 2011 (2011-03-02)
The team discusses a big paradigm shift that they see on the horizon of the game industry.
41	7	"True Female Characters"	March 9, 2011 (2011-03-09)
As a continued look at sexual diversity in games, the team discusses how to design strong female characters.
42	8	"Tutorials 101"	March 16, 2011 (2011-03-16)
As foreshadowed in a previous episode, the team goes over how to build an effective tutorial.
43	9	"Tangential Learning"	March 23, 2011 (2011-03-23)
The team reiterates the concept of tangential learning, which involves the exposure of educational topics to facilitate learning rather than directly educating.
44	10	"Gamification"	March 30, 2011 (2011-03-30)
The team discusses how the principles of a game can be applied to various fields, related to tangential learning. Erin Siegel stars as the series' first guest artist.
45	11	"Metrics"	April 6, 2011 (2011-04-06)
The team discusses the increasing focus on metrics in the game industry, and the possible results this trend might have, for better or worse.
46	12	"Consoles Are the New Coin-Op"	April 13, 2011 (2011-04-13)
The team speculates that consoles are speculated to be going the way of the obsolete arcade, and why this may not be a bad thing.
47	13	"Games You Might Not Have Tried (Or Heard Of)"	April 20, 2011 (2011-04-20)
A list of games is compiled that the members of the team feel are important or influential, but not necessarily popular or even good. Includes Fate of the World, Knights in the Nightmare, Europa Universalis III, Victoria II, Hearts of Iron III, Valkyria Chronicles, The World Ends with You, King's Field: The Ancient City, Demon's Souls, Radiant Historia, Desktop Dungeons, Super Crate Box, Dissidia Final Fantasy, Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Today I Die, Every Day the Same Dream, One Chance, The Company of Myself, The End of Us, Freedom Bridge, Passage, Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes, SpaceChem, Ilomilo, Dungeon Fighter Online, and Minecraft (technically disqualified as "everyone has already heard of it").
48	14	"Learning from Other M"	April 27, 2011 (2011-04-27)
Metroid: Other M is deconstructed to analyze its shortcomings, especially as pertains to gender roles.
49	15	"Gamifying Education"	May 4, 2011 (2011-05-04)
Expanding on the previous gamification discussion, the team elaborates on how education could specifically benefit.
50	16	"Graphics vs. Aesthetics"	May 11, 2011 (2011-05-11)
The difference between the often-confused "graphics" and "aesthetics" are discussed.
51	17	"The Myth of the Gun"	May 18, 2011 (2011-05-18)
The team attempts to identify why the U.S. has always produced more first-person shooters than Japan.
52	18	"NOT a Security Episode"	May 25, 2011 (2011-05-25)
Following the aftermath of the 2011 hacking of PlayStation Network, the team discusses the changing relationship between corporation and consumer, and the trust that relationship is going to require.
53	19	"Anonymous"	June 1, 2011 (2011-06-01)
The team takes a quick break from all the games talk to discuss the internet group Anonymous, and whether or not they were actually behind the PSN outage.
54	20	"Our Oscars"	June 8, 2011 (2011-06-08)
The team talks about the need for video games to have their own "Oscars", and what that show might look like.
55	21	"The Role of the Player"	June 15, 2011 (2011-06-15)
The team gets into a little bit of video game theory, discussing the creative contribution of the player to a game.
56	22	"Game Reviews"	June 22, 2011 (2011-06-22)
They talk about reviewing games, how to pursue a game reviewing career, and how game reviewing might be improved overall.
57	23	"Race in Games"	June 29, 2011 (2011-06-29)
The team finally get around to talking about racial diversity and discrimination in games, thanks mostly to the release of L.A. Noire.
58	24	"Sharing Our Medium"	July 6, 2011 (2011-07-06)
The team discusses how challenging it is to introduce others to video games, and offers some tips for how to successfully do so. Erin Siegel returns as guest artist.
59	25	"Microtransactions"	July 13, 2011 (2011-07-13)
The team discusses microtransactions and how they are not fulfilling their potential within the games industry. Erin Siegel returns as a guest artist.
60	26	"S.978 and Operation Rainfall"	July 20, 2011 (2011-07-20)
The team shares some of their thoughts on the S.978 bill and Operation Rainfall.

Season 3

Total	#	Title	Air date
61	1	"The Pre-Production Problem"	July 27, 2011 (2011-07-27)
The Guest Art Marathon is kicked off with a discussion on why games really need to start making time for pre-production. Features guest artist Molly Maloney.
62	2	""Art" is Not the Opposite of Fun"	August 3, 2011 (2011-08-03)
The team addresses a common claim that advancing games as an art means making them less fun. Features guest artist Annelie "Gab" Kretzschmar.
63	3	"The MMORTS"	August 10, 2011 (2011-08-10)
The team addresses the potential for the MMORTS (massive multiplayer online real-time strategy) genre, as well as the reasons why making one seems to be such a difficult challenge. Features guest artist Cat Sze.
64	4	"Game Addiction, Pt. 1"	August 17, 2011 (2011-08-17)
The team begins a two-part series on the much-debated topic of game addiction, properly referred to here as "game compulsion". Features guest artist Hyunwoo "Mac" Ko.
65	5	"Game Addiction, Pt. 2"	August 24, 2011 (2011-08-24)
The team concludes the two-part series on the much-debated topic of game addiction. At over 25 minutes long, the video is a drastic departure from the usual format of the series, as it consists of a live-action recording by writer James Portnow as he shares his life experiences as an example of game compulsion. Features guest artist Hyunwoo "Mac" Ko.
66	6	"Let's Talk About Publishing"	August 31, 2011 (2011-08-31)
This episode discusses how the excess money from the fundraiser regarding artist Allison Theus's surgery would be put into a fund for indie games. Features guest artist Andrew Gregoire.
67	7	"Pacing"	September 7, 2011 (2011-09-07)
The team discusses proper pacing and it's influence on game design. Features the brief return of Allison Theus.
68	8	"Cutscenes"	September 14, 2011 (2011-09-14)
The role (and frequent misuse) of cutscenes in video games is discussed. Features guest artist Shannon Meissner.
69	9	"Pro Gaming"	September 21, 2011 (2011-09-21)
The team considers the reasons why professional gaming hasn't really yet caught on in the West. Features guest artist Miel Daroqui.
70	10	"Games You Might Not Have Tried #2"	September 28, 2011 (2011-09-28)
The team expands their list of recent video games worth mentioning, but often forgotten. Daniel Floyd additionally takes over art duties for this episode.
71	11	"So You Want to be a Producer"	October 5, 2011 (2011-10-05)
The team takes a close look at one of the game industry's less-appreciated roles: the producer. Features guest artist LeeLee Scaldaferri.
72	12	"Propaganda Games"	October 12, 2011 (2011-10-12)
With the return of Allison, the team considers the unfortunate potential games have as tools for propaganda, and the potential to terribly misinform their audience in a similar way.
73	13	"Call of Juarez: The Cartel"	October 19, 2011 (2011-10-19)
The team further examines the "lazy design" briefly discussed in the previous episode by picking apart Call of Juarez: The Cartel.
74	14	"Zombies"	October 26, 2011 (2011-10-26)
To commemorate Halloween the same week, the team talks about zombies in video games.
75	15	"Working Conditions"	November 2, 2011 (2011-11-02)
The team looks into the working conditions of the game industry.
76	16	"The Uncanny Valley"	November 9, 2011 (2011-11-09)
The team reiterates their pre-Escapist video on the Uncanny Valley and its use in games.
77	17	"The Diablo III Marketplace"	November 16, 2011 (2011-11-16)
The team considers the intended goal (and possible results) of Blizzard's plan for a "real money" marketplace in Diablo III.
78	18	"Deus Ex: Human Revolution"	November 23, 2011 (2011-11-23)
Deus Ex: Human Revolution is picked apart to identify what makes it appealing.
79	19	"The Singularity"	November 30, 2011 (2011-11-30)
The team begins a two-episode "science distraction" derived from the previous episode by looking at what role games might play in the path to technological singularity.
80	20	"Technobabble"	December 7, 2011 (2011-12-07)
The team concludes the two-episode "science distraction" by examining the common "technobabble" cliche in video games.
81	21	"Playtesting"	December 14, 2011 (2011-12-14)
The team explains the value of playtesting one's game, and offers some tips on how to get the best data possible.
82	22	"Puzzle Games"	December 21, 2011 (2011-12-21)
Departing from the usual deconstruction format, Bejeweled 2 is instead analyzed on the surface with actual data points (in segments so the viewer can do so as well) to show just how complex and elegantly designed even a simple game can be.
83	23	"Skyrim's Opening"	January 11, 2012 (2012-01-11)
The team deconstructs the first several minutes of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and compares it to an early part of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare to demonstrate the importance of a game's introduction.
84	24	"SOPA & PIPA"	January 25, 2012 (2012-01-25)
The team criticizes the SOPA and PIPA bills in their various forms, rather than try to keep up with its legislative status. Released 2 weeks after the last episode, as the skipped week instead held the release of an affiliated video calling for game developers and journalists to protest E3 2012 as part of the anti-SOPA protests.
85	25	"Mailbag #3"	February 1, 2012 (2012-02-01)
The team once again goes over many questions that have piled up since their last Mailbag episode. The questions include how to become a producer in the game industry, requesting a look at other fields in the industry, how to start an independent studio and the reason for region locking in games.
86	26	"Mailbag #4"	February 8, 2012 (2012-02-08)
The team does a second mailbag to clear up more questions with Erin Siegel aiding in the art once again. They go over questions such as the show's resources for information, how to pitch an idea for a video game and what game design books are recommended for designers.

External links

• Official Website
• Extra Credits at PATV
• Extra Credits' Twitter feed