Thinking of Making LPs Soon--Any Tips?

[alleightbits]

So...yeah. I'm thinking of becoming an LPer, and I need some advice and encouragement. Anything would be fine, and thanks in advance.

[Piter Lauchy]

I can't give advice because I'm not an LPer myself, but I can say this: Don't be discouraged if you suck in the beginning. I haven't seen a single LPer who was really good when they started. Talking about interesting/entertaining stuff while playing a game is pretty hard (I assume) and has to be practiced.
Don't do it for recognition. Only do it if it's fun for you.

[pholtos]

Be you.

[alleightbits]

Oh, I'm planning on annotation commentary because I don't own a mic.

[Zpto]

The game that you want to LP is also important, don't start with something really long like a JRPG or something like that
It is also better, in my opinion, to play something that you like rather than try to emulate those that play really hard games so that others can see them suffer. Like, only do that if you really enjoy playing hard games and don't mind showing failed attempts I guess?
Depending on the game, a 100% completion LP may make you never want to play that game again, not even for fun.
Be sure to back up your drive, I read the LP archive on regular basis and I lost count of the LPs that were delayed because the guys toaster decided to give up on them.

I don't know what else to say other than good luck!

[Bean]

For the game: Since it will be your first series, do a shorter game that you like and somewhat know how to play. This keeps you from burning out and helps you get used to editing videos because text boxes (or talking if you ever go that route) take practice to perfect like anything.

For the typing part: Since you're doing annotations, get used to fitting in sentences in small-ish text boxes. I generally go with at least six seconds for a two-line text box, but if they're wider, add some more wiggle room. If you need another line, add a few more seconds to it. You don't always have to say something, either. Having periods of saying nothing is better than putting in "I really have nothing to say here".

Finally, have fun, yo. You aren't going to get many views at first since it's a crowded deal. Just keep that last bit in mind if you ever get frustrated that all the work you put in to getting a video out is resulting in maybe ten people watching your videos overall.

[alleightbits]

Like, I'm thinking of starting w/ "Mega Man", is that okay?

[TheNecroswanson]

I just got back into it a little earlier this year, and I have a long history of character study, so here are some theories I have come up with:
Play games you like for a long time. Not just games that you like, but games that you have a lot to talk about off the cuff. It's hard to do a blind play that is entertaining when you're new at it.
Not only does this give you plenty to fill the void of silence, it gets you into the habit of speaking without a script. Basically you're training yourself to be good at rambling.
Another reason to do games you love is because it becomes evident how much fun you're having.
Emote. Exaggerate reactions, but don't make them hyperbolic. You need them to be apparent enough that the viewer can pick up on them, but not so over the top that you just come off as a Pewdiepie rip-off. You want to help convey the feelings the situations give you. Helps the audience identify with the content.

Be you, or be a version of you that you love.
It's not wrong to put on an act. But if you build a subscribership, they will either be coming for you, or the games. So if you get tired of doing an act, those that came for the character will leave you. This really only applies to subscriber retention, and is only based off of observation, so take with a grain of salt.
Getting back to either being yourself, or a character you love enough to become: it keeps your mind freed up. A lot of LP dialogue is spur of the moment, so if you're having to think too much about what the character would say, it kind of gets in the way. Unless you're Gary Oldman, I would stay a bit away from putting on a character.

Non-sequesters are your friend. They help fill the silence.

Don't sweat the silence too much. Unless you monitor the clock often, a period of silence will always seem longer than it is. However you should at least be mindful of it.

Take breaks. If you record for 5 hours at a time, take a break every 50-60 minutes. It helps keep your brain fresh. And you also want to keep the length of each recording a manageable size. My recordings like to fall apart around the two hour mark, so I restart the recording every hour or so. I'm on an 800 dollar computer with a quad core 3.8 ghz processor, and a 2gb video card, and a solid state drive. So, not exactly a cheap system. Just make you your break them up pretty often when recording to keep them from breaking. You want a system built for processing and writing data.

Rotate saves if possible. This goes hand in hand with short recordings. It helps you to recover if you have a catastrophic loss of data. I have had to recover three hours of recording before. Had I not rotated my saves, I would have had to play an extra 6 hours to get back to where I was.

That's all I can think of for right now.

[Bean]

If one of the Mega Man titles are a game you know and want to do, then yes, it is a good place to start.

[alleightbits]

Where will you post it once you done? In the let's play subforum, I guess?

Definitely!

I just got back into it a little earlier this year, and I have a long history of character study, so here are some theories I have come up with:
Play games you like for a long time. Not just games that you like, but games that you have a lot to talk about off the cuff. It's hard to do a blind play that is entertaining when you're new at it.
Not only does this give you plenty to fill the void of silence, it gets you into the habit of speaking without a script. Basically you're training yourself to be good at rambling.
Another reason to do games you love is because it becomes evident how much fun you're having.
Emote. Exaggerate reactions, but don't make them hyperbolic. You need them to be apparent enough that the viewer can pick up on them, but not so over the top that you just come off as a Pewdiepie rip-off. You want to help convey the feelings the situations give you. Helps the audience identify with the content.

Be you, or be a version of you that you love.
It's not wrong to put on an act. But if you build a subscribership, they will either be coming for you, or the games. So if you get tired of doing an act, those that came for the character will leave you. This really only applies to subscriber retention, and is only based off of observation, so take with a grain of salt.
Getting back to either being yourself, or a character you love enough to become: it keeps your mind freed up. A lot of LP dialogue is spur of the moment, so if you're having to think too much about what the character would say, it kind of gets in the way. Unless you're Gary Oldman, I would stay a bit away from putting on a character.

Non-sequesters are your friend. They help fill the silence.

Don't sweat the silence too much. Unless you monitor the clock often, a period of silence will always seem longer than it is. However you should at least be mindful of it.

Take breaks. If you record for 5 hours at a time, take a break every 50-60 minutes. It helps keep your brain fresh. And you also want to keep the length of each recording a manageable size. My recordings like to fall apart around the two hour mark, so I restart the recording every hour or so. I'm on an 800 dollar computer with a quad core 3.8 ghz processor, and a 2gb video card, and a solid state drive. So, not exactly a cheap system. Just make you your break them up pretty often when recording to keep them from breaking. You want a system built for processing and writing data.

Rotate saves if possible. This goes hand in hand with short recordings. It helps you to recover if you have a catastrophic loss of data. I have had to recover three hours of recording before. Had I not rotated my saves, I would have had to play an extra 6 hours to get back to where I was.

That's all I can think of for right now.

Thanks for the help, but like I said, I'm planning on using annotation commentary.

[alleightbits]

don't want to resurrect, but what other choice do i have?

Alright, I'm just about ready to start. As for the commentary, now I'm planning to just insert text into the video itself so that it can be viewed on mobile. I do have one problem, though: due to school, I can only upload once a week, and that's not really optimal.
e: oh, and there's a good probability that most of my commentary will be just talking about the mechanics and stuff. i don't know what else i could say.

[Truhan]

Oh, hi. I didn't see this thread until now, so I figured I'd just offer a few bits of

joking

advice as a consumer of LP media.

1. Have an awesome voice. I, for one, have the most annoying voice in the history of humanity. It's so annoying, I go months at a time without speaking to avoid suffering it. If you have the same affliction, or just don't have much to say, you can just do what filthy commies do, which is no commentary walkthrough videos instead. Some people, however, believe that this is stealing money from the billion dollar corporations that pour their endless amounts of money hearts and souls into making those games and will render you unable to make money from ads. This leads me to my next piece of advice.

2. Start a patreon. Youtube hates content creators, and the only LPers that get any love are your 3 million+ subscribed channels (your Game Grumps, PewDiePies, Markipliers, etc.), you'll pretty much be forced to use patreon to survive. Be sure to thank your patreon supporters, even before you have any.

3. Avoid topics like politics and religion. If anyone in the comments disagrees with you, don't disable the comments section. Instead, remind them that you're a retired Navy SEAL with over 300 confirmed kills.

4. Threaten to quit making youtube videos forever because of all the negativity and lack of ad money. Don't actually do it, just threaten to. The youtube drama police will pick up on it and throw you trillions of views that will equal out to about $1.18 USD in ad money, just enough (after taxes) to get you a hamburger to survive another day.

5. Talk about Horikawa's time in the Ivy League. That was some seriously interesting stuff, and since she's probably not going to do any more stories about it, you might as well make up your own. Talk about that one time she tried to stop John McClane from saving New York because she's a hippy liberal that believes in things like "due process" and "the Fourth Amendment". Just remember, it's not libel if it's spoken. And it's not slander if it's fan fiction.

6. Use virtual audio cables to split the audio from your music so you don't accidentally let the entire world know your Spotify playlist.

7. Do a review of Nekopara Vol. 2 because this guy didn't :(

8. That's all I have for now.

[alleightbits]

stuff

Ergh, dude, just read the previous posts before posting. I'm not using a mic.
...unless that's part of the joke.
But I will probably get a Patreon once people start watching.

[Truhan]

stuff

Ergh, dude, just read the previous posts before posting. I'm not using a mic.
...unless that's part of the joke.
But I will probably get a Patreon once people start watching.

It's more a joke about LPs in general than anything specific.

[InsaneIntentions1]

No webcam, no catch phrases, be informative, be enthusiastic, have fun

[Willhart]

Those are some really good tips there. I should be more careful not to hum to the music for example.

Also as one more thing, editing the videos is really important. Try to cut away some of the parts you don't make progress in for example. This sould make the videos easier to watch.

Edit: Also make test recordings to confirm that the audio balance and the video quality are good.

[alleightbits]

I'll take both of your advice to heart, but I guess I have to reiterate: I'm using textual commentary.

[Truhan]

I'll take both of your advice to heart, but I guess I have to reiterate: I'm using textual commentary.

Audio balance is still important. You don't want the music to be impossible to hear but the sound effects blowing out headphones.

[Arctangent]

Don't just talk about mechanics or whatever. That's not interesting to people, really. You can do that a BIT when it comes up in a really blatant way (like, a really shitty boss or something - feel free to explain exactly why it sucks), but really do reserve it for those moments.

I would like to add on that this isn't an absolute rule, but it basically is if you aren't presenting the game in a very technical way. However, it goes without saying that if your intention is the break down the game, mechanic talk is a pretty good option as long as you don't repeat yourself - unless you have a reason to reiterate on something, of course.

A good example of this is ResearchIndicate's excellent Let's Play of Jurassic Park: Trespasser, which you can find on the LP Archive. He brought up the mechanics of the game whenever it was relevant, and it fit in really well with how the Let's Play was basically a retrospective on the game and the fact that the game's mechanics had some pretty wonky bits to them. Let's Glitch playthroughs are also good examples of when mechanic talk is pretty appropriate, considering a lot of glitches are exploiting the game's mechanics in unintended ways.