How do YOU make a (video) "Let's Play"?

[Dagron]

What video recording software do you use? Is it free?
Well when I record an SNES game I just use ZSNES's recording thing along with Audacity to record the commentary and Virtual Dub to put it all together. And when Im not recording an SNES game I just use Fraps. (Camstudio never worked for me.) Also everything is free except for Fraps.

Is there any "special" set-up you have? Do you do anything that you'd consider "out of the ordinary"?
What type of microphone do you use? If applicable, do you suggest a different brand (for price or clarity reasons)
The only thing out of the ordinary would be my microphone as it was made by my dad.

Do you have a developed fanbase? If applicable, how did you accquire one?
I just recently started so no I dont.

Where do you upload your videos to?
Youtube

Do you like to talk a lot during your videos? If so, what do you ramble on about? If not, what in-game situations do you deem "talk-worthy"?
I try to talk as much as possible but usually just go off on something completly unrelated.

[TheChrisD]

Well, this sure will be an interesting comparison given how much different the way I do things.
Mainly because I LP Pokémon on the DS. And I may as well list how I'd do it if I were to be playing something on the PC.

1. What video recording software do you use? Is it free?
I actually record my DS using my Canon HF100. So not free or Xfire for retail games. Yes, it's free :)

2. Do you use a seperate program to record gameplay audio, or does the feature come with your video capturing program?
A cable goes from my DS's headphone jack to my camera's mic input jack! or Would come with Xfire if my sound card supported it. :(

3. Do you use a seperate program to record from your microphone, or does the feature come with your other programs?
Audacity. or Xfire records my mic input, except to record gameplay audio I have to take a cable and hook it up from my computer's headphone port to the mic port...

4. Is there any "special" set-up you have? Do you do anything that you'd consider "out of the ordinary"?
You probably don't want a picture, but my camcorder is placed in front of my DS, with me sitting behind the camcorder playing the game with my fingertips with my laptop beside me. or Other than muting everything else on the computer, nope.

5. What type of microphone do you use? If applicable, do you suggest a different brand (for price or clarity reasons)?
I use the microphone on my Steelsound 4H headset.

6. Do you have a developed fanbase? If applicable, how did you accquire one?
*looks at subscribers* - I think not :(

7. Where do you upload your videos to?
YouTube.

8. Do you like to talk a lot during your videos? If so, what do you ramble on about? If not, what in-game situations do you deem "talk-worthy"?
It really depends. For me it's just an extension of the worthless crap I mumble to myself while playing the game!

9. What's your opinion on the last question? Do you like people to talk a lot during an "LP", or do you wish they would let the game speak more for itself?
I dont mind. It's a balancing act between commentary and just having the game play out.

[Dagron]

Well when I record an SNES game I just use ZSNES's recording thing along with Audacity to record the commentary and Virtual Dub to put it all together. And when Im not recording an SNES game I just use Fraps. (Camstudio never worked for me.) Also everything is free except for Fraps.

How do you change the ZSNES file to a regular video file? Do you use Virtual Dub to convert it?

What I did was download Mencoder and put mencoder.exe into the same location as ZSNES, that converts movie into a regular video file while ZSNES dumps it. You might also need to download LAME, a mp3 compresser, i'm not completly sure. PM me if you want me to help you find the files.

[Mecheon]

1. VirtualDub
2 - 4. I've somehow managed to glitch my microphone and the program to work in perfect harmony, recording my rantings and the game audio at the same time. It only works with this one microphone, and I'm sure I'll never be able to ever get it like this ever again. The game audio is a bit low, but its hearable, and the sound effects... Well, they're loud as all hell for some reason
5. A rather bad one
6. I have people who watch my videos. That might be a fanbase! Of course I just post 'em on SA, so...
7. Dailymotion, and occasionally Youtube
8. I ramble about EVERYTHING. But mostly about enemies. Oh god, I can go on for hours about frigging trilobites and Welcome to the Machine
9. Depends on the game and the LPer. Some games, it works for, like Mario. However, something like Eternal Darkness? Go and use subtitles

[Michael]

This could be helpful for a lot of people, including me when I started out. Good idea there, good sir. (even if you need help yourself)

1. Camstudio 6. Completely free, easy to use. Maybe not the most powerful though, but...here, if you ignore the "I'm-so-awesome-that-I-upload-videos attitude in my video, it's almost good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJewiNJe0uE

2. Camstudio captures audio too, so no problems there.

3. Refer to question 2, but I have a slightly odd angle of doing that. I record my commentary on a microphone along with game audio from my speakers (both on the microphone). Works surprisingly well.

4. Well, the audio capturing is the only thing that I consider "out of the ordinary". The softwares I'm using is not sophisticated (sp?) enough for that.

5. I use whatever I can get my hands on. Can't recommend anything, sorry.

6. Fanbase? Sigh...next question.

7. Youtube, of course ^^

8. I try to stay on course with the game and I often take a very serious approach to game puzzles or difficulties, but I'm mainly very silly and says things that doesn't make much sense. Sorta like raocow, now that I think about it, but of course our commentary style differs a lot, but my weird rambling is sometimes somewhat close to raocow-level. I also talk about interesting things that happened in my real life, if they're silly enough.

9. I don't really know, but I love the silly weird approach that raocow has, laughing is my main criteria when watching LPs, but if someone doesn't talk all that much but says really interesting things, I don't mind. But for the most part, randomness melts my heart every time.

10. Please acknowledge the fact that I'm relatively noobish. I'm barely have any subs, and play really stupid things, but darn it I'm trying my best. A good idea is to set goals for yourself, for example, my goal is 200 subscribers on YT, and although I'm probably never going to reach that goal, it's nice to have it.

I wish you the best of luck in your LPing, and if you ever get around to it, please PM me. I would love to watch your videos (if there is going to be any, that is), since your determination amazes me. And who knows, maybe you're good. Just PM me here on talkhaus or on my YT channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/mickey0433

[Madacaek]

3. I tried the limited version of FRAPS to see if it was worth the $37, but it creates such large files (like 10mb/sec) and my computer can't handle it, so there's a lot of slowdown present ingame.

Huh, that's weird. The reason fraps makes huge files is because it doesn't compress on-the-fly, which I would assume makes it LESS taxing on your computer. Perhaps I'm wrong?

[KishiScott]

Wee! I wanna try.

1. What video recording software do you use? Is it free?

I use Camtasia Studio 7, it's... free if you look in the right places!
Otherwise I think it's like, super expensive, but man is it worth it. It's by far the best ever.

2. Do you use a seperate program to record gameplay audio, or does the feature come with your video capturing program?

Camtasia Studio 7 does all the work.

3. Do you use a seperate program to record from your microphone, or does the feature come with your other programs?

Hooooorahhh Camtasia Studio 7.

4. Is there any "special" set-up you have? Do you do anything that you'd consider "out of the ordinary"?

I put one of those dictamicrophones next to my lappytop, even though my laptop has a mic in it, I find the microphone on the laptop awful and the dictathingy more bester.

5. What type of microphone do you use? If applicable, do you suggest a different brand (for price or clarity reasons)?

A Logitech somethin' or other. It's amazing, I love it.

6. Do you have a developed fanbase? If applicable, how did you accquire one?

I gots the few fanatical fans who comment on like, every video. I think they mostly came from Kirby LP, which I posted when the DS game came out.

7. Where do you upload your videos to?

Youtubes.

8. Do you like to talk a lot during your videos? If so, what do you ramble on about? If not, what in-game situations do you deem "talk-worthy"?

I just talk about anything that pops into my head that seems relevant.

9. What's your opinion on the last question? Do you like people to talk a lot during an "LP", or do you wish they would let the game speak more for itself?

Depends on if the person is talking about stuff that's interesting as a whole, or just to themselves.

[thefakepsychic]

1. What video recording software do you use? Is it free?

Depends on how I feel really, I have Camtasia Studio, Hypercam 2 (registered) and Fraps, but none of those are free.

2. Do you use a seperate program to record gameplay audio, or does the feature come with your video capturing program?

I normally turn up my speakers and record the audio through the Mic.

3. Do you use a seperate program to record from your microphone, or does the feature come with your other programs?

Nope

4. Is there any "special" set-up you have? Do you do anything that you'd consider "out of the ordinary"?

Not really, I generally have my screen arranged with the game in the top left hand corner, a timer beside it, and Notes on the game I'm playing below it

5. What type of microphone do you use? If applicable, do you suggest a different brand (for price or clarity reasons)?

Currently: Cyber Acoustics Headset, but I don't really like it. It picks up excess crackle.

6. Do you have a developed fanbase? If applicable, how did you accquire one?

Not really. Out of my nine subscribers, 3 of them are people I know.

7. Where do you upload your videos to?

Youtube and Viddler

8. Do you like to talk a lot during your videos? If so, what do you ramble on about? If not, what in-game situations do you deem "talk-worthy"?

I'll ramble about random things that happened during a test play, or if it's blind, I'll ScreenDraw my train of thought with Camtasia's feature.

9. What's your opinion on the last question? Do you like people to talk a lot during an "LP", or do you wish they would let the game speak more for itself?

A good balance, which is very hard to achieve. Unless you are raocow, then he can talk all he wants, because he normally has something good to say.

10. Any additional comments that you'd like to add can be placed here.

By no means am I a perfect LP'er I personally think I suck. But at least I grasp the basic concepts more than other 13 year olds.

[Kristian]

I use CamStudio Free
And Windows Movie Maker.

I make ZSNES or whatever emulator I am using, to not full screen so I can end the video easily.

I also use audacity to record sound.

My Mic is built in to my laptop.

My fanbase is quite AMAZING, and by amazing, I mean 26.

It seems like the easiest thing to do.

EDIT: I didn't really follow the steps that the thread states...
Uh. Eh. *Runs*

[Suma]

I would say, most important thing to have in mind when LPing :

1. Be patient when it comes to viewers, theyll come, its amazing how, but everyone mostly started off with 0 viewers, just do them, dont wait for viewers to come, be strong even raocow started by talking being boring, mundane and just kinda bad at commenting (he even acknowledged this in a video, the 5 facts video)

Just keep on with your LPs, don't stop even if nobodys watching

You're gonna get better if you keep on the track and gain experience, stay calm, dont TRY to be funny, just try to be relaxed and speak out your mind!

Camstudio is free, its best to use that, with the camstudio lossless codec 1.4
(Theres enough tutorials on that.)
Get yourself a cheap headset

dont let the mic be in your breathing area, it makes your LPs sound shitty
keep it real, peace!

[ShodanWiiReture]

1. What video recording software do you use? Is it free?
2. Do you use a seperate program to record gameplay audio, or does the feature come with your video capturing program?
3. Do you use a seperate program to record from your microphone, or does the feature come with your other programs?
4. Is there any "special" set-up you have? Do you do anything that you'd consider "out of the ordinary"?
5. What type of microphone do you use? If applicable, do you suggest a different brand (for price or clarity reasons)?
6. Do you have a developed fanbase? If applicable, how did you accquire one?
7. Where do you upload your videos to?
8. Do you like to talk a lot during your videos? If so, what do you ramble on about? If not, what in-game situations do you deem "talk-worthy"?
9. What's your opinion on the last question? Do you like people to talk a lot during an "LP", or do you wish they would let the game speak more for itself?
10. Any additional comments that you'd like to add can be placed here.

1. I use Camtasia Studio. No it isn't free.
2. Comes with my video capturing software/and or my computer. For consoles: I use ATI TV Wonder. For Computer, I use the Wave Out Mix in Vista.
3. Comes with my computer.
4. Nope.
5. The microphone that came with Dragon Naturally Speaking 10. It's fine, I got it for $30 at target including voice software.
6. No.
7. YouTube.
8. I don't ramble. Sometimes I don't even use my voice.
9. I do, because when they make it funny, I'm more interested.
10. No additional comments unless you want to ask anymore questiosn! ;)

[KF91]

1. What video recording software do you use? Is it free?
2. Do you use a seperate program to record gameplay audio, or does the feature come with your video capturing program?
3. Do you use a seperate program to record from your microphone, or does the feature come with your other programs?
4. Is there any "special" set-up you have? Do you do anything that you'd consider "out of the ordinary"?
5. What type of microphone do you use? If applicable, do you suggest a different brand (for price or clarity reasons)?
6. Do you have a developed fanbase? If applicable, how did you accquire one?
7. Where do you upload your videos to?
8. Do you like to talk a lot during your videos? If so, what do you ramble on about? If not, what in-game situations do you deem "talk-worthy"?
9. What's your opinion on the last question? Do you like people to talk a lot during an "LP", or do you wish they would let the game speak more for itself?
10. Any additional comments that you'd like to add can be placed here.

Thanks for reading, I'm excited to hear other's opinions.

1. I use Camtasia Studio. It's not free.
2. Camtasia has the option to record what comes out of my speakers. But I usually record gameplay sounds from what catches on my mic.
3. Camtasia records my mic.
4. I make sure I have the right settings for my video codec and my audio options. If I don't check these, the recording might turn out wrong and I might have to re-do it -.-
5. I just use a crappy stick microphone; I generally try to stay away from headsets while recording, because it tends to pick up on breathing noises(?)
6. I wouldn't say a fanbase. lol I guess people who like to watch my videos. I make videos for my enjoyment and the enjoyment of others. I don't really think about making a big fanbase or something like that.
7. Only YouTube.
8. I try to make my commentary half and half. I talk about what's going on within the game I'm playing, but I ramble on sometimes to fill in the void between normal gameplay commentary.
9. I don't care if people talk alot or not at all. The point of an LP video is to enjoy it; so whatever you have to do to keep the audience's attention and make sure they're enjoying the video.
10. Make sure you're having fun while making videos. I think that if you're not having fun making videos, and it feels like a chore, you shouldn't be doing it.

[kilon]

What emulator do you use and which version?

Because I have ZSNES 1.51 but many still use 1.31 or something. In what aspect is that one better for example?

[Trelior]

1. What video recording software do you use? Is it free?
2. Do you use a seperate program to record gameplay audio, or does the feature come with your video capturing program?
3. Do you use a seperate program to record from your microphone, or does the feature come with your other programs?
4. Is there any "special" set-up you have? Do you do anything that you'd consider "out of the ordinary"?
5. What type of microphone do you use? If applicable, do you suggest a different brand (for price or clarity reasons)?
6. Do you have a developed fanbase? If applicable, how did you accquire one?
7. Where do you upload your videos to?
8. Do you like to talk a lot during your videos? If so, what do you ramble on about? If not, what in-game situations do you deem "talk-worthy"?
9. What's your opinion on the last question? Do you like people to talk a lot during an "LP", or do you wish they would let the game speak more for itself?
10. Any additional comments that you'd like to add can be placed here.

1. For my LPs, I use Debut Video Capture Software, it's free and works really well.
2. Nope, Debut records my audio for me.
3. See #2
4. The only "special" thing I do is swap emulators for certain games.
5. Surprisingly enough, I use my on-board mic on my laptop, there's a tiny bit of environment noise, but the quality is still pretty good.
6. Fanbase? Uh... I don't think I have one yet... Been at it since January and I only have 29 subscribers, most of them fellow LPers
7. Youtube, my name there is ditto of here.
8. My commentary is usually random crap... At least it was for my first 3 LPs, then when i moved onto Golden Sun for LPs 3 and 4, my commentary warped into "walkthrough mode" and now I'm kinda warping back to random ramblings. :o
9. Well, that all depends on what you mean. I like to read the dialog of the characters, especially in RPGs, because that allows me to express how I think the character's emotions are being projected (and I kinda pride myself on my voice acting ). As for letting the game speak for itself, it's kinda hard when I play like an idiot (to quote our friend raocow) sometimes, and my commentary usually ended up filling boring time in exploration.
10. The only thing I can really add now is this: When you start up, let me know, because I want to see a new and rising LPer.

[Ozland]

What emulator do you use and which version?

Because I have ZSNES 1.51 but many still use 1.31 or something. In what aspect is that one better for example?

I guess 1.31 lag less ? Or not, correct me ^^

[CSM60]

1. I use Camtasia studio to record my let's plays. It is not free.
2. I use Camtasia studio to record my voice aswell, as it has a microphone recording feature built in.
3. As i said in question 2, the program has a voice recording feature built in.
4. No, there is no real special feature that i have, just an average setup.
5. I use a headset microphone.
6. I don't really have a developed fanbase, but i do have fans, be it just a few.
7. I upload my videos to good old YouTube.
8. I do tend to talk quite a lot in my videos, ya know, let's plays and all i just say and do what ever comes to mind, if i feel like singing i will do that, i sometimes beatbox, i will sometimes talk about subjects seperate from the game (like the weather ).
9. I prefer people to talk a lot in an lp, because i believe this is pretty much the whole point of an lp, to express yourself and your opinion on the game.
10. My additional comment - Feel free to visit my channel to see me in action - http://www.youtube.com/CSM60

[EclipseTen]

1. What video recording software do you use? Is it free?
2. Do you use a seperate program to record gameplay audio, or does the feature come with your video capturing program?
3. Do you use a seperate program to record from your microphone, or does the feature come with your other programs?
4. Is there any "special" set-up you have? Do you do anything that you'd consider "out of the ordinary"?
5. What type of microphone do you use? If applicable, do you suggest a different brand (for price or clarity reasons)?
6. Do you have a developed fanbase? If applicable, how did you accquire one?
7. Where do you upload your videos to?
8. Do you like to talk a lot during your videos? If so, what do you ramble on about? If not, what in-game situations do you deem "talk-worthy"?
9. What's your opinion on the last question? Do you like people to talk a lot during an "LP", or do you wish they would let the game speak more for itself?
10. Any additional comments that you'd like to add can be placed here.

1. Fraps...it works well on slow comps like mine. Full version isn't free, but it can be ;)
2. Fraps...I use my mic to record myself talking and the sound coming right outta the speakers.
3. Same program.
4. Nothing special...I try to keep it simple. I use Camtasia Studio 5 to edit and to compress to WMV format.
5. It's a desktop mic...brand: Dynex...only desktop mic they had at BestBuy lol
6. I can count all my subs on one hand and I got them from advertising myself in forums like this one.
7. Youtube
8. I talk in my vids. I'll research the game (like on wiki or whatever) and use that info to talk about, also the background, the music, the enemies, and even just making sounds "ahhh" "uhhh" "whaaa".
9. When I think Let's Play I think commentary...without talking I think Play Through or Walk Thru
10. Have fun that's the most important thing...and don't take anything too serious...there will always be people that are negative to you but screw them and just keep doing what you do.

[Average Man]

1. What video recording software do you use? Is it free?

Thanks to Trelior's suggestion, I got Debut Video Capture Software. It was indeed free and easy enough for someone who's not tech-savvy... like me. =P

2. Do you use a seperate program to record gameplay audio, or does the feature come with your video capturing program?

Can't tell because I have the microphone close to the speakers.

3. Do you use a seperate program to record from your microphone, or does the feature come with your other programs?

Can't tell because I have the microphone close to the speakers.

4. Is there any "special" set-up you have? Do you do anything that you'd consider "out of the ordinary"?

Nothing special... I think

5. What type of microphone do you use? If applicable, do you suggest a different brand (for price or clarity reasons)?

I use a USB microphone that comes with the Karaoke Revolution games. It has Logitech on it, so...

6. Do you have a developed fanbase? If applicable, how did you accquire one?

I had a very small fanbase already due to some other videos. A couple "fans" suggested I should do some LPs, so here I am.

7. Where do you upload your videos to?

YouTube

8. Do you like to talk a lot during your videos? If so, what do you ramble on about? If not, what in-game situations do you deem "talk-worthy"?

I try to, but I'm not on the same level as raocow. But then again, who is? I do speak characters' parts when applicable.

9. What's your opinion on the last question? Do you like people to talk a lot during an "LP", or do you wish they would let the game speak more for itself?

It varies. If there is voice acting, the player should let the game speak for itself. However, comments during pauses is good. Other than that, as long as you can be funny and/or informative, it's all good.

10. Any additional comments that you'd like to add can be placed here.

10. The only thing I can really add now is this: When you start up, let me know, because I want to see a new and rising LPer.

To Trelior and anyone else interested, I am LPing ALttP.

http://www.youtube.com/AverageMan

[TheNonBeliever]

10. The only thing I can really add now is this: When you start up, let me know, because I want to see a new and rising LPer.

To Trelior and anyone else interested, I am LPing ALttP.

http://www.youtube.com/AverageMan

good quality i subbed

[BlackDS]

Alright so would this set-up theoreticlly work?
CamStudio20
Windows Movie Maker
This Microphone
http://cgi.ebay.com/Clip-Computer-PC-He ... 286.c0.m14

[t0rment2004]

If I ever find/make me another PC*, I'd like to try Let's Playing.

I'm thinking of how my setup would work. I've got this USB microphone with a full stand. It's meant for music recording and worth 50 bucks. That and I've got a Saitek USB controller, same one MoltovMarioWorld used until he broke it into pieces. I'd then get Camtasia and a game. It'd probably work okay.

* - I've currently got a mac which can surf the internet, but is way too old/crap to play games.