Looking for some YouTube channel advice ^^ How do you like to watch 'Let's Plays'

Neat Games

Neat Games

Planter
Hello all!

I recently started a YouTube channel with the premise (Play Indie Games & Make Indie Games)
I have been making small games for 1 year now, and it's been super fun! My Development Logs (Devlogs) are pretty popular~
For my Let's Plays I started with the most famous solo dev indie game I always wanted to try... STARDEW VALLEY and I love it!
I hope to play it on my channel for a lonnnnnng time, so I hope to build a small group that watch them regularly. I'm curious about your opinions.
  • When/if you watch Stardew Valley on youtube, how long do you like episodes to be?
    • I feel like since the game is so awesome and long, perhaps I should start doing like 2 hour episodes instead of 1 day.
  • Do you like lots of editing to speed it up? Or do you enjoy the relaxing raw footage.
For me I like to sit back with a cup of coffee and watch raw gameplay footage because its like relaxing game asmr haha.
Please check out my channel below to see my current style :D Any tips or suggestions welcome! (non-spoiler of course hehe)
 
Odin

Odin

Moderator
Staff member
For me a 20-30 minute video is a good length, much longer and I might pass over it. That said, I don't watch that make let's plays, so I may not be your target audience :P
 
cloudkitteh

cloudkitteh

Greenhorn
Personally I love when lets plays have a certain narrative/wholesome spin on it! For example, I loooved to watch Seri Pixel Biologist's lets play because she was so engaging with Stardew Valley. 20-30 minutes as was said above, and also just doing things at your own pace and being conversational. :laugh:
 
Septima

Septima

Farmhand
I agree with the 20-30 minute timeframe! Not too much, not too little. The amount of editing and really just engagement depend on the game, but with Stardew Valley I would love a mix of pure footage and a certain theme about it - the roleplaying-ish aspect mentioned sounds about right, and since I love impromptu and similar, watching someone just go with the flow sounds super fun. Terribly excited to see your future videos; I'll subscribe!
 
greyfoggyday

greyfoggyday

Farmhand
I did gaming videos, tutorials, and blogs years ago on YouTube, long before HD content was possible to create by the average gamer/user, or be even uploaded to the service. I still have fond memories of making layouts and altering colours of my YouTube page like it was bloody MySpace. However those days are long gone, and although I have thought about doing a video series on some games, especially Stardew Valley, I haven't...yet.

But I can offer up some advice.

1. Re-watch Your Content
I cannot stress this one enough. No matter how many times you edit something, no matter how many takes/clips you add/remove to a video, when you export the rendered file watch it over. This way you can avoid mistakes, hiccups, and have all your grounds covered for a quality upload.
2. No Dead Air
This one is more common with people who stream, and turn the stream into a re-watchable video later on, but I have seen it pop up in Let's Plays a lot as well. Keep talking, be engaged, write a script or note if you have to. Me personally? If I was going to start a video series today I would record my video and gather my content, and do voice over work. That way I know what I am going to be saying when I want to say it.
3. Be Yourself
A problem I am facing with my minor son right now, he wants to be a famous YouTuber, like all these big names uploading and streaming now. But therein lies the problem, he wants to BE like them, he doesn't want to be unique. When you set out to record your content, do it for the love of creating something you can look back on and admire. Don't create content just to try and put numbers next to your name. I tried my son on a few test recordings and he repeated the phrases "please like, share, and subscribe" more than a dozen times in a 7 minute take. Far to many YouTubers do this. I have always been of the mindset that if your content is good, you shouldn't/don't need to say this over and over again, because if you make something people like? They'll follow you for more.
4. Keep It Simple
Not everything needs to be insanely complex and over edited. If it doesn't require it, don't do it! Pretty easy, but these days I see so many videos (not just in gaming) that just have insane amounts of over editing tossed in. Like, for christ sake skippy you're reviewing a mouse and keyboard I don't need to see every bloody transition featured in Final Cut.
5. Don't Force It
Don't force content. If you aren't in the mood to record or edit content, than don't do it. Having a schedule is nice, but if you're not feeling it, it will reflect in your content. I relay this one with experience, recording, and editing a video when you're angry can have some dire consequences. By Odin's beard.. how many times do I reflect back and rethink a lot of the old stuff I made that was driven by mixed emotions all outside of creativity.

Other than that, good luck. I followed the link in the signature, and I'll be watching.
 
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