The Freelance Astronauts is a nerdy, video-game themed comedy show that is broadcasted live every Saturday night by a few close friends. While they play around for a few hours, they discuss game history, news, tips, and general information, engage in back-and-forth banter, and perform improvisational sketches (think Mystery Science Theater 3000). Although the content tends to be relatively juvenile and absurdist, the site itself employs and seamlessly integrates a number of sophisticated web-based technologies.

The designed site is a direct reaction to being surprised by success — recorded video content, initially an afterthought, was spread around various web video hosting services (due to length, quality, and content restrictions). However, with fans of the show contacting my friends looking for an easy way to watch videos in sequence, they asked me to create a resource that would centralize all of the produced content and make it easier and more convenient to view.

The homepage provides a quick overview of all the site's activity, with navigational prompts to move to deeper content. A quick overview of who the Freelance Astronauts are and what they do is presented, as well as what game they are currently playing. Recent video updates are presented, as well as fan-created art (fanart) submissions.

A scratch-built Content Management System (CMS) was created to control and publish content. Video content updates are broadcasted through RSS, allowing users to receive alerts in their web browser or email client instantaneously. The Astrocast, a specialized Twitter account, gives out alerts pertaining to the broadcast schedule (delays, special guests, etc.).

The process of video creation is a rather complex one, but the site and its employed technologies makes it a snap for users to access content. To start, game footage is captured and recorded, while voiceover audio is mixed in realtime. While recording, the footage is simultaneously streamed live via the video streaming service Ustream. A content module on the website allows users to view the stream live as it is broadcast, and an integrated chat window allows them to interact with my friends and each other.

Following the live broadcast, the recorded video content is encoded, edited into short, easily watchable segments, and uploaded to a video hosting service. Hosted video is then embedded back into the Freelance Astronauts site, folded into its relevant game category, and presented in order. From there, updates are automatically sent out to users who have subscribed to one of our multiple offered content subscription services.

Edited videos are organized by game. Each game possesses a "landing page," where quick information about the game itself (developer, publisher, console, etc.) is presented, as well as bonus, fan-created content and cross-linked related video categories. Each individual recorded video is also presented in order, with the option for the user to quickly expand each video entry to view descriptive content for easy reference before viewing.

On the video-level page, users are presented with a flexible content area that can accommodate embedded video from any number of sources. Options for navigating through each video in sequence are available, saving the user from having to navigate back up to the game-level "landing page." A social networking widget is presented, letting users quickly share videos to over 50 popular social networking services.

The Stream page centers around an embedded content module that lets users easily view video and audio as it is broadcast live.

The content module also provides a small chatroom, allowing users to interact through the duration of the broadcast.

Embracing Social Networking technologies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Ustream, the site's userbase has grown steadily. Launched in April of 2009, the site now pulls in ~2,500 unique hits per day, jumping to ~5,000 during the days live broadcasts are streamed.

An audience spanning every continent on the globe has provided over two million unique pageviews, primarily through direct traffic and from other referring sites — not bad for a weekend hobby.