PC Gamer has just released an article summing up an editor's thoughts on Valve's upcoming Dota 2 documentary titled "Free-To-Play". The 926 words review also mentioned that hyhy will still be included in the documentary despite the fact that he has left Dota 2.
Chris Tursten, an editor for PC Gamer, visited the Valve office last month and he was treated to the world's first screening of the upcoming Dota 2 documentary titled "Free-to-Play". The documentary has been in production for almost two years now and Valve has recently announced private screenings of the movie in their headquarters for feedback.
Today, Tursten wrote his personal opinion about the movie and how it could be improved prior to the undisclosed official release of the documentary. The extremely detailed 926 words review shed light on his thoughts and also some hinted on what we can expect from the documentary.
Besides that, Tursten also hinted at the inclusion of Benedict 'hyhy' Lim, ex-captain of Team Zenith, in the Dota 2 documentary. Tursten wrote, "They didn’t just sit down players in front of a greenscreen and get a few soundbites: they followed players as far apart as North America, the Ukraine and Singapore, seemingly for weeks if not months
Many concerns were raised if the Singaporean player will still be included after hyhy switched to League of Legends shortly after Zenith's 5th-8th place finish at The International 2.
Without further ado, here's an excerpt of the article on PC Gamer.
They’re using lots of inventive ways to explain Dota 2, but could take this further
The film opens with a montage of people explaining Dota: its history, its popularity, and what you actually do in the game. It’s compared to basketball and chess, and at one point a speaker describing the game as branching network of decisions is accompanied by a diagram illustrating the kinds of choices players make over time. Interviewees range from pro players, community members like TobiWan, developers, and fans outside the games industry.
To illustrate the game, they’re using a mix of in-game footage, new Source Filmmaker animation work, off-screen footage from the International and other tournaments, and even parts of the Gamescom trailer from 2011. At the time I told Valve that I thought this approach was a little scattershot: if the film was your first introduction to the genre, it might be difficult to tell exactly which footage was from Dota 2 and which wasn’t. That said, it’s exciting and emphasises Dota’s legitimacy as a sport, which is important.
Their access to players and their families is really impressive
The bulk of what I saw was concerned with establishing the stakes leading up to the first International. In part this is handled as you’d expect: the history of competitive DotA is covered in order to set up the reveal of the tournament’s astonishing $1m prize pool, and there’s even a montage of shocked YouTube comments from the day the figure was announced.
The heart of the film, however, are Valve’s interviews with players and the people around them. They didn’t just sit down players in front of a greenscreen and get a few soundbites: they followed players as far apart as North America, the Ukraine and Singapore, seemingly for weeks if not months. To give one example, the film covers not only Dendi’s homelife but his childhood and relationship with his parents and siblings. There’s also close attention paid to the attitude of different players’ families to their chosen sport and what success means to each of them. It’s affecting and, crucially, it’s very human – exactly what e-sport coverage needs to achieve to find a wider audience.
There’s also footage of Dendi dancing around during a school play. So you’ve got that to look forward to. The guy, unsurprisingly, can dance.
