How-To of Lets-Plays?

[Vorpalbob]

Hey, fellow playgounders, I am trying to find info on how to do a Let's Play.

The idea intrigues me, and I have seen/read a few before, and now I want to do one myself (perhaps of the original Fallout?).

All help appreciated!

[LurkerInPlayground]

Hey, fellow playgounders, I am trying to find info on how to do a Let's Play.

The idea intrigues me, and I have seen/read a few before, and now I want to do one myself (perhaps of the original Fallout?).

All help appreciated!
You post screenshots and add commentary.

Commentary can be roleplay or simple humor. Or simple observation.

You may also stop to ask the audience what decision/style that they want you to play out in the game. Maybe your audience votes that you play "stealthy" in Deus Ex rather than playing as a "shoot-everything-on-sight" character.

Other than that, not so hard.

[chiasaur11]

How to do one?

Well, first read a few. Or a lot. Helps understand things, shows how the bits and bobs work.

Then, decide on a game and an approach. Humorous or serious, narrative or describing the game, snarking on bad game mechanics, that kind of thing. (The just commenting on the game and analyzing themes bit has been done quite well lately in the Neverwinter Nights 2 LPs by Lt. Danger at the something awful forums. Seriously, worth looking up at some point)

Decide if you're having tons of audience participation. That slows things a bit, but it can have payoff.

And then?

Make a post, take some pictures, ideally with a built in screenshot button, and do your best.

[Rutskarn]

Honestly, just screw around, play the game, and see what happens. I'm currently 34 entries into my Morrowind one, or about 90 pages, so I'm...

...wait. 90 pages? Jesus Christ.

Sorry, off topic. Anyway, it's not rocket science. Read an LP that you like, figure out how to take screenshots (I use a trial version of Fraps), and go nutbar.

[chiasaur11]

Fallout 1's easy. Screenshot function on F12.

Just find an upload site and you're good.

[Inhuman Bot]

I reccomend useing Fraps to take screenshots, and either imageshack or photobucket to host the pictures.

[Vorpalbob]

You may also stop to ask the audience what decision/style that they want you to play out in the game. Maybe your audience votes that you play "stealthy" in Deus Ex rather than playing as a "shoot-everything-on-sight" character.

What's that game? I've never heard of it!:smalltongue:

Anyway, thanks! I'll start a LP of Fallout 1 in a few days, once I learn how stuff works.

[Shpadoinkle]

LP a game you're familiar with, or, at the very least, read the damn manual. I've seen some truly awful LPs of people playing games they'd never so much as heard of before where they bumble around like morons.

Now, if discocovery and/or straightforwarwad gameplay are intrinsic in the gameplay (IWBTG for example, is very straightforward, just incredibly hard) then go ahead and do a blind LP. Otherwise I really have to suggest you do something that you've finished at least once. Which isn't to say blind LPs can't be entertaining, but they probably won't be vey informative to your audience (except maybe as an example of how to bumble around like a moron.)

[Cubey]

The most important thing isn't what game you LP, but how you write about it. Whether your comments are serious or humorous, they must be written well. A dry "X happened", then "Y happened", etc. Will only bore potential readers.

As for the choice of the game - plot heavy ones are harder to LP, because you need to take more pictures and comment on more stuff that's going on, so you can get bogged down. Not that it slowed some people, see how chiasaur RUSHED through Fallout for example. But games with minimal plot, like GalCiv or X-Com, are easier to Let's Play - you can make your own plot as it fits your needs, or even skip some material when nothing terribly exciting happens.
Comedic LPs are easier to do than serious ones, but it might be just me and my appreciation for MST'ing. However, it doesn't mean comedy games are easy to LP - they make all the jokes for you so you have (usually) nothing to add!

[Domochevsky]

Also don't forget that, unlike what other posters seemingly want you to believe, LPs can be done in video format as well. (ex, directly recorded and cut together with voice-over or added subtitles in post-edit. Recommended for that are Camstudio, VirtualDub and a videohoster like youtube, vimeo or viddler.) :smallwink:

It's more difficult than screenshot LPs, but some games just have to be experienced that way to do them full justice. :smallsmile:

[Starbuck_II]

I saw a text LP, but it was the only one I've seen since (it was pretty decent as well).

[chiasaur11]

As for the choice of the game - plot heavy ones are harder to LP, because you need to take more pictures and comment on more stuff that's going on, so you can get bogged down. Not that it slowed some people, see how chiasaur RUSHED through Fallout for example.

Hey, as a great man once said " Run before you walk! Fly before you crawl! Keep moving forward! Because if we fail, I'd rather fail really hugely. All or nothing!"

[Cubey]

Also don't forget that, unlike what other posters seemingly want you to believe, LPs can be done in video format as well. (ex, directly recorded and cut together with voice-over or added subtitles in post-edit. Recommended for that are Camstudio, VirtualDub and a videohoster like youtube, vimeo or viddler.) :smallwink:

It's more difficult than screenshot LPs, but some games just have to be experienced that way to do them full justice. :smallsmile:

Two words: Deceased Crab.

[Gralamin]

Two words: Deceased Crab.

Cubey speaks much truth.

I've considered doing an LP, but ultimately decided it wasn't for me. Unless I can find a sufficiently good game.

[chiasaur11]

Cubey speaks much truth.

I've considered doing an LP, but ultimately decided it wasn't for me. Unless I can find a sufficiently good game.

Or a sufficiently bad one?

That's the thing though. Quality and LP ability ain't the same thing. At all. Some good games wouldn't be at all easy to handle (Ben There Dan That! at minimum) some very bad games would go quite well if you can resist strangling yourself.

[Raroy]

I wouldn't suggest your first lp to be a game you dislike. It's difficult to motivate yourself to continue.

You can also learn how not to lp, just take a look at what I'm doing. You'll learn so much of what not to do, you can' possibly fail!

[Domochevsky]

Two words: Deceased Crab.

What about him? :smallconfused:

[The Dark Fiddler]

What about him? :smallconfused:

He's a good Video LPer, I guess?

I prefer SirRonLionHeart, myself. Although I don't quite know why... :smallconfused:

[Gamerlord]

Also: Make sure the game works with the image-capturing software you want to use, I never got to do my Mafia LP because for some odd reason it refused to work with any sort of image or video capturing software.

[ZeroNumerous]

Also: Make sure the game works with the image-capturing software you want to use, I never got to do my Mafia LP because for some odd reason it refused to work with any sort of image or video capturing software.

I use Screenhunter Free myself. Works in the background real nice and easy like.

[13_CBS]

I get the impression that making a good LP is not a very easy task.

A video LP will require a high quality computer, especially if you plan on recording yourself playing something more resource-heavy than an emulator game. So if you're trying to record yourself playing, oh, Fallout 3, you'll need quite the rig since you'll have to be able to play Fallout 3 on the computer with decent graphics while also recording at the same time--both activities put a lot of strain on your computer. For quality video LPs, you'll also need some video editing software at the very least, maybe even other software to clean/compress/what have you with your recorded stuff. Check here for technical info. (http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3022910)

A screenshot LP will be much less resource draining, but since you're using only still pictures, this may diminish much of the intensity and immersion of relatively fast-paced games (most FPS games, for example). For slower games, particularly turn-based ones, this isn't too big of an issue. In either case, however, you're going to have to be able to manage and keep track of lots and lots and LOTS of pictures.

This is just the technical stuff. Beyond that, you'll also need the following:

1) At least some skill at playing the game. Some people might enjoy watching you fail miserably, but many others (like me) will be annoyed if, say, you pick very questionable choices or mess up a lot. Most LPers tend to play on the harder difficulty settings. Basically, be good enough at the game so that your skill won't be a hindrance.

2) Be entertaining. People watch LPs to be entertained. If you're boring, then people won't like your LP. There are many ways to be entertaining: Seorin's Arcanum LP and Jerusalem's GTA and Total War LPs spun good yarns, Proteus and Suspicious' Daikatana LP were exercises in hilarious sadism, Scorchy's KOTOR II LP provided lots of information and literary analysis of the game, Johnny Law's Myth LP demonstrated great skill accompanied by relaxed, amusing commentary, etc. You can MST the game, you could educate the readers/viewers about the game, whatever. Just don't be boring.


I'm going to have to be the wet blanket here and warn you that doing a GOOD, fun LP is not going to be easy. It's not quite as simple as getting a bunch of screenshots or a handful of videos and posting them somewhere.

[The Glyphstone]

Dedication. If you forget to update for a month or so, you'll lose your entire audience and it'll be hard to get a new one. I am learning this lesson right now.

[chiasaur11]

Dedication. If you forget to update for a month or so, you'll lose your entire audience and it'll be hard to get a new one. I am learning this lesson right now.

And if you update every day, you'll find yourself expecting to update every day, soon trapped in a web of your own devising, slowly leading to madness.

And, oddly, improving skills for Alien Vs. Predator on skirmish.

[Demented]

A screenshot LP will be much less resource draining, but since you're using only still pictures, this may diminish much of the intensity and immersion of relatively fast-paced games (most FPS games, for example).

Or conversely, it may diminish the sheer badness of the game you're trying to mock.

On the other hand, screenshots are a much easier format for allowing margin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margin_(typography))al comments.

[LurkerInPlayground]

What's that game? I've never heard of it!:smalltongue:

Anyway, thanks! I'll start a LP of Fallout 1 in a few days, once I learn how stuff works.
Stealth pistol sucks.

It does.

It's worse at head-shotting than the vanilla pistol because it does less damage. And the silencing seems to have no effect because if you fire the other pistol at any reasonable distance, nobody will notice. If you kill one mook in front of another, they'll notice anyway, silencer or no. Stealth pistol also has a shallower magazine compared to the vanilla pistol.

Pound-for-pound. Stealth pistol is inferior.