This thread will answer several of the more frequently asked questions regarding Let's Plays, will help you set up your recording equipment, and will provide some general tips for Let's Playing. You can also use this thread to ask any Let's Play-related questions not covered by the guides in this post.
1. What is a Let's Play?
A Let's Play (often shortened to LP) is a narrated playthrough of a game. LPs come in many shapes and sizes - some aim for 100% completion, while others simply complete the game and others still try interesting gimmicks (from completing The Legend of Zelda without ever collecting your sword to showing off your talent at playing through a game with only your feet). Most choose to do the playthrough in video form, but for certain types of game, such as long, slow strategy games, screenshot LPs are often preferred. In short, if you're playing through the game and providing your own unique commentary on top of that, you're doing a "Let's Play".
2. Which game should I do a Let's Play of?
The best LPs are generally from people who know and love the game that they are playing, and are passionate about the game. These LPs not only have the most interesting and natural commentary due to the LPer's excitement in wanting to share the game and share the experiences they had with it, but are also the most likely kind of LP to actually be
finished.
In the LP community, it's generally frowned upon to LP a game on release, and the general rule is usually to wait about 3 months. This is for multiple reasons - firstly, without the guideline in place the release of a popular game leads to LPs of the same game from many of the people you're following all at once. I still remember when Portal 2 came out and I had to deal with about 10 of the channels I was subscribed to starting the same LP all on the same day. Setting a time period before being able to LP a game also gives the LPer time to play through it a few times first and determine whether or not they actually like it, which pretty much halves the abandoned LP rate singlehandedly.
As for whether an LP should be of a popular or unpopular game, both have their advantages and disadvantages. While a popular game is recognisable, if other people are doing the same LP you're splitting your viewer base with them, as not everyone is willing to follow two LPs of the same game, and you're also causing direct comparisons between the two LPers, which can pressure you. An unpopular game on the other hand has the advantage of little competition, but the disadvantage of, well, being unknown and thus less likely to initially bring people in. In the end though, what matters is the quality of your LP - if you're entertaining or informative enough, people will want to watch your LPs, whether you're LPing Ocarina of Time or your friend's homemade game Hipster Paradise 2, so the best bet is to just pick a game you love.
3. But how can I make a good Let's Play? I'm just not as good as _____!
First off, while of course it's a good sign that you're wanting to make your LPs better, trying to be exactly the same as another LPer can stunt your commentary and make it seem unnatural. For example, while I've seen some really great snarky/sarcastic LPs making fun of games, I've also seen many LPs that are clearly
trying to be that kind of sarcastic LP but aren't really pulling it off because it's clear that rather than it being something that comes naturally to them it is something that they are "presenting", in the same way that you can tell that a bad actor sounds "scripted". The reason the original LPer's videos are entertaining in that way is because that's just their style - that's what comes naturally to them.
Just sit back and enjoy the game, making observations and jokes and giving background information about things as if you're sitting on the couch playing next to your friends and you really want to show them all about the game. If you listen to one of your videos and it's in the kind of voice you'd use to present a slideshow about the black plague to a class, rather than the more personal and relaxed kind of voice you'd use to talk to your friend with while playing a video game, then practise and get rid of that habit and it should help your LPs. If you're enthusiastic about the game, it will show and it will make other people enthusiastic too.
Probably the best advice I was ever given in regards to Let's Playing was "you don't need to be talking all the time". It made me realize that I was desperately trying to fill in every little gap between commentary and that it was noticable. The fact is that an LP isn't a radio show - it's fine to have a few seconds gap between commentary. You don't need to read out every line of dialogue (people can read for themselves and reading it out takes a lot longer than just letting them do that, which in text-heavy games could mean you're making the LP 30% longer than it needs to be) and it's fine to let cutscenes speak for themselves.
4. That sounds great, but also sounds like it needs a lot of setup. How do I actually create and record a Let's Play?
Basically, you need three basic things - a microphone/headset to record your voice, a capture device/screen recorder for recording the game, and an editing program to actually put together the video (or if it's a screenshot LP you basically just need a keyboard). Rather than go through everything myself, I will link to some helpful resources for the technical side of LPing.
This thread is perhaps the greatest resource for LPing on the entire internet. It covers everything, from hardware to software to even which sites to host your video on. Go through the site and look through the options to find what's best for you.
LPer DarkMindedSith also has an easy to understand explanation of his recording methods here in
this video.
If you have any questions that aren't answered by a) the resources here and in the linked threads or b) Google, feel free to post them here and we will answer them the best we can.
10-15-2011, 07:36 AM
And it's not stellar quality.
