Volitions Advocate on 20/9/2017 at 07:19
I know that some of you guys here will throw a game related video on youtube from time to time (Henke, I loved your FC3 Wingsuit video), but has anybody thought about putting some extra effort into creating some sort of a Twitch or YouTube channel for game related stuff?
Honestly It kind of boggles my mind that some people can make so much money doing it. There must be a huge disconnect between the newest generation of gamers and us older gamers (seriously, I’m only 33, my first game console was an SMS and my first computer an 80X86, I never even played a Commodore or an Atari, I’m hardly an old fogie yet), if enough of them want to WATCH people play rather than play themselves. I have a friend who used to play D&D with a guy who has a twitch channel which apparently does rather well. He told her that if she would just stream on twitch she could probably make gobs of money because all of the neckbeards would want to see a girl gamer play. I don’t know how true that is, but I’m not that surprised that I kind of believe it.
So.. Lets Play, Walkthroughs, Technical stuff, Reviews, “Games Movies”… Some or all of the above?
About a year and a half ago I decided to try my hand at a “Game Movie” because I was kind of bored, and back sometime between 1999 and 2004 I had made a few AMV’s so I thought I might be able to hack it. I wanted to do a Dead Space movie, but it seems to have been done a handful of times already, so to make things different I decided to make one that included more of the extended universe from the other IP related releases. I like working within limits, so my rule was that I would make it as chronologically accurate as possible, even if it meant spoilers early on. SO I used a scene or 2 from DS2 and 3 for exposition, then I used nearly all of the animated comics mixed in with a bunch of scenes from the Downfall movie and heavily edited gameplay from the Wii game Extraction, and DS1. It clocked in at about 5 ½ hours but YouTube wouldn’t publish it because of copyright junk. I suppose I could h-flip the entire movie and see if it makes it past the robo-censors but…
Anyway…. I’ve been getting the itch again and I have a new idea. Now that I have a Vive and VorpX I thought I would do some videos where I would use the 3rd-party VR on some of our favorite immersive sim games. Like DX and SS2 and some newer ones that fit the bill, like Prey 2017 and a few others that almost sort of fit the genre (or non-genre if you prefer). I would make it more than just a lets play or a walkthrough, but talk about the game in terms of why I chose to play it that way and do a bit of pretentious long-form style pontificating about it, as well as do up a guide on how to set the game up to play in 3rd-party VR. And showing some extended game play scenes a few minutes long each without grating on like a lets play with terrible commentary.
Just a thought.
But what about you guys? Anybody spent some time trying to do up a channel? I’m not interested in trying to do it for money, I just like being creative now and then. Usually when I have too many important things to do and could never responsibly spend the time on it.
TL;DR
Post up your twitch / youtube channels and tell us about it/them?
henke on 20/9/2017 at 07:42
(
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClLPoTcj-7GfGHw-JYFOPJg?view_as=subscriber) My channel. I have 208 subscribers! Somehow! I've never really tried to make it a big thing, never tried to make money of it, I just upload stuff when the urge to make something hits me.
I think to be successful you have to be a lot more focused than what I am. Have a clear branding and theme for your channel. And upload regularly.
Though one thing to keep in mind if you're gonna make a go of it on youtube, is the recent ADPOCALYPSE (!). Basically, back in the olden days youtube would slap ads on anything as long as you had the Monetization checkbox ticked, but in more recent times ads have become more targeted, with brands not wanting their commercials to be played on just ANY videos. You can thank Hezbollah and Pewdiepie for that.
Via (
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2017/09/18/adpocalypse-2017-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-youtubes-demonetization-troubles/#1db955e76c26) Forbes:
Quote:
The 'Adpocalypse' began over two separate incidents. The first was when it came to light that terrorist groups like Hezbollah were using YouTube to upload and monetize videos promoting terrorism.
The second occurred when Felix 'PewDiePie' Kjellberg made a video that included men he had paid to hold signs that read 'Death to all Jews.'
Volitions Advocate on 20/9/2017 at 07:44
209 Subscribers :D
henke on 20/9/2017 at 07:51
Casey Neistat, eat your heart out!
Jeshibu on 20/9/2017 at 08:19
(
https://www.youtube.com/user/Dongulator/videos) Here's mine. 108 subscribers, but a lot of those are probably because I uploaded a (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlAf3YVMlag) Midori music video to show friends once when I couldn't find it anywhere on the internet. Guess those people are in for a disappointment.
The few videos I did edit were low effort cut and paste jobs without any timing to music or stuff like that. I find the editing process boring enough as it is.
Speaking of editing, has anyone tried Sony Movie Studio 14? It's temporarily discounted for owners of 13, but I don't know if it'd be that much of an improvement.
Volitions Advocate on 20/9/2017 at 08:32
As a grad student I get the entire Adobe CC suite for something like 17 bucks a year. So currently I use Premiere Pro CC. I haven't had much experience with anything else, I used to pirate Premiere back in the day.
Nameless Voice on 20/9/2017 at 08:44
Quote Posted by Volitions Advocate
He told her that if she would just stream on twitch she could probably make gobs of money because all of the neckbeards would want to see a girl gamer play. I don't know how true that is, but I'm not that surprised that I kind of believe it.
One thing I've noticed is that female streamers always seem to have a much larger portion of their streaming screen taken up by the webcam. This actually puts me off watching their streams because, while sure they may be attractive, I'm actually watching streams primarily to see the
game, not the player.
There's also streamers who put the stream chat over a large portion of the screen, which are just as bad. Then there's the ones with a huge fanfare every time someone subscribes, again interrupting the game itself.
So, in my meandering way, I'm saying if anyone does decide to do some streaming, don't be one of those people. Keep the game you are playing as the most prominent thing in the steam, and don't obstruct it too much with other meta-information.
To be fair, while I've watched enough streams to have come across such things, I don't actually watch them all that often. I tend to only be interested in streams of games which I play myself, so I used to watch Starcraft 2 and League of Legends streams.
(
https://www.youtube.com/user/NamelessVoice) My YouTube channel also has 109 subscribers for some reason, even though I rarely upload anything, and my uploads tend to be about wildly different things.
I suspect people subscribed because I uploaded a short clip of the "nuke the entire site from orbit" line from Aliens.
Malf on 20/9/2017 at 09:05
Quote Posted by Volitions Advocate
As a grad student I get the entire Adobe CC suite for something like 17 bucks a year. So currently I use Premiere Pro CC. I haven't had much experience with anything else, I used to pirate Premiere back in the day.
So the industry standard editing software for TV and movies is Avid Media Composer. While the main product itself is priced "professionally" (ie. it's expensive to the everyday enthusiast), they have just released something called (
http://www.avid.com/media-composer-first) Media Composer First for free. We've had a play with it in the office here (we provide support for Soho post houses), and we're really impressed with how feature rich it is. It's basically Media Composer but missing a bit of functionality, most of which the minor individual creator doesn't need access to.
To explain the difference between Media Composer and Adobe / Final Cut Pro, Media Composer is an attempt to virtualise the film editing process. You have "bins" for your clips and sequences and the timeline is a visual interpretation of the linear layout of a film reel. It's heavily based on the concept of three-point editing, and is driven to a large extent by the keyboard. It's a completely different paradigm to the Adobe tool palette driven interface, although in recent years they have added some functions to accommodate people more familiar with Adobe products and FCP.
If you give Media Composer First a shot and get used to it, I can safely say you'd be comfortable working with the full-on product.
The major advantage Avid has over any of its competitors is media management. It's incredibly easy to take projects and media from one location to another thanks to their robust media database system. That and collaborative workflow, but that's high end stuff :)
Yakoob on 21/9/2017 at 18:17
I don't really Stream/YT, mainly just use it for trailers / gameplay videos for my stuff. Many people recommended I stream my design process and I've been considering but... I donno, I feel like there's already lots of other devs doing that, who'd want to yet another weirdo poking at code?
That and there's also (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaarkAzw-Ak) this 30 second spoof of Metal Gear Solid I did way back when I was a fatty :laff:
Quote Posted by Volitions Advocate
Honestly It kind of boggles my mind that some people can make so much money doing it.
Don't be deceived though - much like most industries, it's horribly unbalanced. There's a few people making millions, and thousands struggling to even meet the minimum YouTube payout amount. Same as indie devs, rockbands, TV stars, etc.
Quote:
There must be a huge disconnect between the newest generation of gamers and us older gamers ... if enough of them want to WATCH people play rather than play themselves.
Heh SouthPark did a whole spoof episode on that. And you are right, I already feel like a dinosaur and part of me forcing myself to play modern games (blah mobile games) is just to stay on top of the game (pun not intended) as an indie dev :| Gotta evolve to survive...
Quote Posted by henke
I think to be successful you have to be a lot more focused than what I am.
Aye. Back when I was managing a small YT channel for a client I did some research, and also been talking to a few YTers I patreonize about what works. Basically, having a regular video out 2-3 times a week maximizing trending topics/tags is really the key here, with watch duration trumping like vs. dislike scores. Unless that all changed past adpocalypse of course .
Quote Posted by Nameless Voice
I'm actually watching streams primarily to see the
game, not the player.
There's also streamers who put the stream chat over a large portion of the screen, which are just as bad. Then there's the ones with a huge fanfare every time someone subscribes, again interrupting the game itself.
Yea I feel you, but I'm afraid we are in the minority. Most watch for the streamer, aka the "entertainer" where the game is just a backdrop for his "act." That being said, I can't stand the fast-talking/screaming/high-pitched shtick 90% of YTers seem to be doing (coughpewdiepiecough).
But it works... :|
Malf on 22/9/2017 at 14:18
More on topic, about as close as I get is watching the occasional Angry Joe review. He's pretty goofy and affable (and I like that he's obviously having fun with his friends doing this), he puts in the effort (I'm quite fond of his goofy cosplay sections with other Joe), and he's not as grating as someone like PewDiePie. He's also distinctly non-political compared to a lot of his contemporaries (although he does get irate about things that affect his revenue stream).
And he actually talks about gameplay systems. Maybe not in-depth, but enough to give a good idea of what to expect from a given game.
I don't go so far as to watch his streams. Why would I watch someone playing a game when I could be playing it myself?!
But I suppose that's the point of this topic. I personally don't get the attraction while the younger generation seem to be all about it.
I am officially old.
As to doing it myself, I've occasionally toyed with the idea of putting stuff up on YouTube, but host a channel on the basis of my personality?
Yeeeaaah,
nope.
I'm honestly befuddled by Neistat's ongoing success. I've tried watching his stuff, but while slickly produced, none of it stands out. In fact, it all begins to feel a bit masturbatory. Reality TV Mk. II.
Alice Donut (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCjkVdsSFek) sum up my feelings up quite well in their song (
http://lyrics.wikia.com/wiki/Alice_Donut:Tiny_Ugly_World) Tiny Ugly World.