Anyone make “Let’s Play” videos a lot, and can share some tips on improving mine? Figured I’d do these to rekindle my interest in gaming, which has really started to wane. I’m not some super awesome video recording expert, so the quality is kind of shitty. Using Bandicam on low settings so a short video doesn’t pwn my nearly full HDD.
Thinking of investing in a method to do commentary/video from my consoles. I’ll consider streaming if and when I get a following.
make sure you are actually competent at the game before you play it. blind LP’s suck and are hard to make entertaining.
if LP’ing an RPG, please for the love of god do a screenshot LP. there’s far too much grinding for video LP’s to really be good, and screenshots let you focus on the important bits that your readers actually want to see.
do NOT use a camcorder. no one will watch the garbage you create with it. you can get lightweight recording software for just about any computer setup, so run some cables through your consoles to your computer and work with it. if the video you get comes out as anything less than crisp and easily visible, scrap it and try again. grainy, blurry, and distorted video are a huge waste of time for the viewer.
comment on the video after it’s recorded. Please, for the love of God don’t comment as you play. your commentary comes out shitty because you’re trying to focus on the gameplay at the same time, and you’ll just be tripping over your words. when recording, expect to do multiple takes, because as i’ve found, the first take you do will sound forced, and you’re also giving yourself more time to think about what you’re going to talk about at each specific point. i find it helps to write up an outline of things i want to mention, then just have some fun between each point.
other than that, have fun. you wouldn’t believe how many LP’ers i’ve seen that sounded bored with what they were doing. don’t LP for its own sake, do it because you legitimately want to.
Wow, I could not disagree more. The fun for me in watching an LP, are the reactions from the player as he plays the game. That’s why I only watch completely blind LP’s with live commentary.
So yeah, do what you feel like OP, there’s no “right” way to do it really (besides video/audio quality of course).
because watching someone stumble around for 40 minutes on the same puzzle is entertaining, right?
blind LP’s can be fun, but it’s much much better to have already built up a sizable viewer community before you attempt one. I’d much prefer to watch a competent player playing a game they know and are good at than to see someone dying to the same boss for 6 videos in a row.
Yeah I do find that entertaining. I think it’s fun to hear the player’s thought process when he’s solving a puzzle, experiencing a plot twist or going through a difficult area/boss for the first time. It makes me think back to playing the game for the first time. You might find it totally annoying and a waste of time, but there are people who enjoy it. That’s all I’m saying.
Retsupurae is a fantastic reference for how to not make a good LP video. just watch a couple of their videos, you’ll see just about every mark of a terrible LP at some point. learn from those mistakes and don’t make them yourself.
video editing is extremely important. but not having to cut enormous segments of footage out because you had no idea what to do is definitely ideal, and something too many LP’ers aren’t aware of needing to be done.
I generally dislike most LP’s because most people who do LP’s try to be the star of the video: too busy trying to be funny, hip, and/or witty. The star of the video is the game, not the person doing the video. Not to say one can’t be lighthearted and crack jokes, but in moderation. Be more like Ron Jaworski and less like Howard Cosell.
Spooky is a great example of quality LP as he is informative, understandable, and knows when to stop talking and let the game speak for itself. But he also keeps it entertaining too.
if the game you’re LP’ing has a plot of any sort with cutscenes (and especially voice acting) please don’t talk over those scenes. if the CS is done entirely in text, please don’t read it. assume that your viewer has some level of intelligence and can read the text for themselves. Just move at a slower pace forwarding through the text, so that slower readers can keep up (but not too long, video players have a pause button for a reason).
but really, any sort of talking over a cutscene is distracting. Your comments, even on the scene itself, can wait until you’re moving your character again.
I personally dislike commentary unless it’s something insightful or causes me to consider something I would otherwise not. Also, 720p is must. Skill is a must.
You don’t have to be brilliant at a game, you only need to provide entertaining content
e.g “Two best friends play” are good at this
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Yeah, man, I make videos all the time and upload them to youtube. I dont say anything though. No tips for you…I just use Fraps to record and Avidemux to edit that shit.
I also stream sometimes too…I dont think anyone watches that shit though, hell, I dont think many people watch my recorded videos. I dont really care, it gives me something to do.
Really the main reason I do that, besides just giving me something to do, is so that a dozen or so guys (on another forum I frequent) can see some games they might not even know exist. I dont really post my videos or stream link anywhere but there. Sometimes I will post a video of mine here…
edit - I do make sure all my videos can be viewed at 1080p…
That is the reason I don’t talk/do commentary…because I don’t like it when I watch videos. I just want to see and hear the game, not listen to some random dude.
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