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berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.

Paingod556 posted:

It's doubly annoying because theres also voiced stuff at the same time. :eng99:

Subtitles? As in, can you see if the default text is large enough to read, and if not, make your own subtitles that are large enough?

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Sally
Jan 9, 2007


Don't post Small Dash!

anilEhilated posted:

Hey folks, I'm aware this is kinda skirting on the borders of an interest check, but it's more of a case of "can this work" regarding the game; not fishing for potential popularity, just a question whether a thread like this can work with this particular game.

Here's the deal: La-Mulana 2. I've managed to somehow bumble past the third boss and I'm lost with too many options; on the other hand the game is really entertaining and really loving unforgiving. I am thinking of doing a (semi- since I've played a bit of it) blind LP with the premise of "guide an idiot through this obtuse puzzle-platformer". The premise is that I post a live-commented video of me trying to progress and figure stuff out on my own (undoubtedly missing a lot of poo poo) and near the end ask for hints regarding the stuff I missed or directions to where to move next. Potential for participation and misdirection aplenty. Repeated fuckups and prolonged periods of nothing happening will be edited out.

My real concern is whether the game can be possibly beaten that way given how crazy some of the puzzles in the first La-Mulana got - basically if this is a viable format for LPing this particular thing.

Any thoughts?

Could make for an interesting experiment! You could always :justpost: and see how it goes. If you find it isn't working, well heck, at least you tried. Audience participation in the direction of an LP is always fun.

klafbang
Nov 18, 2009
Clapping Larry

anilEhilated posted:

Hey folks, I'm aware this is kinda skirting on the borders of an interest check, but it's more of a case of "can this work" regarding the game; not fishing for potential popularity, just a question whether a thread like this can work with this particular game.

Here's the deal: La-Mulana 2. I've managed to somehow bumble past the third boss and I'm lost with too many options; on the other hand the game is really entertaining and really loving unforgiving. I am thinking of doing a (semi- since I've played a bit of it) blind LP with the premise of "guide an idiot through this obtuse puzzle-platformer". The premise is that I post a live-commented video of me trying to progress and figure stuff out on my own (undoubtedly missing a lot of poo poo) and near the end ask for hints regarding the stuff I missed or directions to where to move next. Potential for participation and misdirection aplenty. Repeated fuckups and prolonged periods of nothing happening will be edited out.

My real concern is whether the game can be possibly beaten that way given how crazy some of the puzzles in the first La-Mulana got - basically if this is a viable format for LPing this particular thing.

Any thoughts?

Might be better suited for a stream? Perhaps combined with editing for making an LP afterwards (SGF’s LP of Mode did this). Khad did something closer to what you’re suggesting. That was a bit of a train wreck (but not 100% in a bad way)

Carbon dioxide
Oct 9, 2012

I agree. Either make it a stream or have some live-commentators during recording who can give you hints on the go.

Reason I'm saying this is while blind LPs can be fun, to me at least it becomes less fun when someone spends 30 minutes bonking their head at the same puzzle or missing something that is obvious to me. A co-commentator can ask if you want a hint after a couple minutes of being stuck.

On the other hand, I've seen quite a few people who seem to love people stumbling around for who knows how long, so maybe disregard this post in favour of them.

anilEhilated
Feb 17, 2014

But I say fuck the rain.

Grimey Drawer
The plan is to cut out long periods of nothing happening unless there are entertaining deaths or eureka moments; I would definitely be cutting out the trips to hot spring (oh god so many trips to the hot spring). Guess I will whip up a test and see how it goes, thanks for all the input.

edit: Invoking Khad kinda worries me, though; somehow my memory blocked him out. We'll see.

anilEhilated fucked around with this message at 19:55 on Aug 23, 2018

Paingod556
Nov 8, 2011

Not a problem, sir

StrixNebulosa posted:

My immediate thoughts:

- Do not read it outloud. Provide transcripts of the dialogue in the post with the video, spoiler tagged and timestamped. Mention that if viewers cannot read the text, you have transcribed it.

Leave it onscreen so people can read it, but don't overwork yourself via editing it for easier reading.

Editing it shouldn't be too hard, once I'm done with work I can bash out an example. Also noted, my main thought was that just leaving the paragraph or more of text (there's a ton between story missions) would be a bit much dead air, which I can't edit around/out. That between-mission stuff I may shift to the LP posts and transcribe, and just summarise in the videos.

berryjon posted:

Subtitles? As in, can you see if the default text is large enough to read, and if not, make your own subtitles that are large enough?

That bit was more slight frustation that HBS decided to have characters have text only and voiced dialogue right next to each other, not put in voice lines for all plot mission dialogue. The voiced bits do get transcribed on screen when they happen, so I don't need to throw in subtitles.


Thanks guys, got a mostly complete plan now. Should have this rolling pretty soon, and hopefully finish it before the DLC drops. Which is a useful kick-in-the-arse to get it done.

HereticMIND
Nov 4, 2012

So I've been gathering test shots for my first LP. Also been watching The Expanse. And been playing way too much Stellaris.

~~~~~~~~




Viva la Republique!: Let's Play Stellaris


-----

Ok, so who the gently caress are you?

Glad you asked! I'm HereticMIND, and I will be your guide to the stars for the duration of this LP. This is my first LP, so please be patient and be gentle with me because my rear end in a top hat can only be stuffed with so much I really haven't done this before. I hope you enjoy what I have in store for you!


What's Stellaris?

Basically Paradox's attempt to break into the sci-fi 4X/Grand Strategy market. If you've played Crusader Kings 2, Europa Universalis IV, or Hearts of Iron IV, chances are you have a pretty good idea about how Stellaris works mechanically if nothing else. You find resource and planets to exploit, you make trade deals that you eventually go back on when it's advantageous to do so, you play "oh-god-oh-god-why-am-I-not-getting-enough-resources-I-am-so-hosed" with your economy, you research new techs to keep you ahead of the laughably large curb...it's basic 4X 101.

Basically, you choose your government type, your ethics, and what makes your species unique. Standard stuff, really. Nothing fancy here.


Ok, so who are you playing as?

Well I'm glad you asked! Hang on, lemme put on my "epic narrator" voice for this...



When Earth stood on the brink of societal and economic collapse due to various wars and shortages in 2042, the archaic United Nations roused itself from its slumber and took control away from the numerous nation-states in the name of survival and prosperity. However, its age as a 20th century institution in a 21st-going-on-22nd century world and solar system was painfully apparent and it needed to be restructured in order to fully embrace its destiny as a cohesive polity. After establishment of the Luna Colony in 2075, the UN began to enact one of the many reforms it needed to survive the transition from governing a single planet to stewarding potentially thousands of worlds by chartering the Geneva Accords. These Accords dictated what offices were available for elections, who could run for those offices, how long their terms would be, and for what reasons those serving in those offices could be deemed in violation of their duties and duly impeached. They also laid down the foundation for an interstellar navy and survey corps as well as outlining various economic policies.

In 2087, the first of many Martian "test" colonies was constructed and proved that the new "Federal Solar Republic" was much more than a pipe dream in that it could feasibly function as the UN's desperately needed successor within the next few decades, but it still had a long way to go in terms of becoming a reality. After adding the Martian Referendum, which allowed the UN (and eventually the Republic) to appoint sector governors in place of the Secretary-General (and eventually the Premier), to the existing Accords, the UN further bolstered its progress along the long road to becoming a truly extra-solar governing body. The colonies were eventually dismantled and their colonists relocated to Earth after their objectives were achieved (the ratification of the Referendum).

Finally, in 2148, the UN fully completed its long awaited and long needed transition into the Federal Solar Republic by meeting in the old United Nations building, laying down the articles for and then ratifying the Constitution of the Federal Solar Republic. And humanity rejoiced, for at last they could claim the stars as their home.

The year is now 2200. Humanity, armed with the best and brightest minds they can assign to such a task, now begins to take its first steps into the vastness of space...



TL;DR: Earth went to poo poo, UN stepped in, realized it had its work cut out for it, and then got to work getting Humanity's poo poo together so Humans can gently caress hot alien space babes get to exploring and exploiting space. There's more to it (such as what crises led to the UN stepping in) but that's the basic gist.


Now, for audience participation!


Wait, audience participation? For your first LP?

Yes! It's really quite--


Are you masochistic or something?

Well...not really.

Anyway, how it works is thus. When the time comes to vote for various decisions (such as where to explore/survey first, who to elect as Premier, how to structure the fleets, etc.), I'll put it to a vote with a couple of choices (usually two or three, maybe four if I'm feeling saucy). You guys debate/argue/call each other mean names and then vote on what to do. Easy as that!

Also, this SSLP will be somewhat narrative in nature, with the occasional OOC snark here and there.


And now, Let's Play!

~~~~~~

Test posts will be incoming...as soon as I figure out how to work the test poster again. (Dammit, it really should have a "preview" button so I know what I've done so far!)

Maple Leaf
Aug 24, 2010

Let'en my post flyen true
A couple of days ago, my good friend Olive Branch visited me, and among the activities we did, we completed a blind Let's Play of Kirby: Star Allies for the Switch. We recorded the whole thing, front to back, and I'll soon be ready to make its thread, but I'd like some input on the audio.

Namely, it was recorded with two guys sitting on chairs in a basement, so the commentary sounds a little echo-y. I've uploaded two test videos: this one has no effects and just has some level balancing/ducking, while this one has the commentary with a high-pass filter on top of the same balancing.

Basically, what I'm asking is, which sounds better? The first one sounds a little more "authentic" and is easier for me to make out but it keeps the acoustics from my basement, while the second one removes the acoustics in exchange for sounding more 90's radio. Is there anything I could do to make the commentary any better? Obviously, we can't really redo our takes.

TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe
I think the second one sounds a little better, but that's just me reacting without really having any understanding of why I'm reacting that way. I would however boost the volume on the commentary track (or make the game audio ducking stronger) a bit if you went that way.

Admiral H. Curtiss
May 11, 2010

I think there are a bunch of people who can create trailing images. I know some who could do this as if they were just going out for a stroll.
I like the first one better. Couldn't explain why though.

Paingod556
Nov 8, 2011

Not a problem, sir

I'd also say the first, the second sounds a bit tinny and it kinda mumbles your words. You're both a lot more understandable in the first version. As for the echo, not sure if that can be corrected beyond altering how it was recorded, unfortunately.


Turns out it's real easy to blow up the dialogue box so it's a lot more legible on YT. And you can get an idea how much time will be given to these kind of conversations mid-mission.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EyNi8kPBU8


EDIT- I should have included what they originally look like, so heres a screengrab-



I had a look when resized to YT, it does blur a bit, so I think doing this is best

Paingod556 fucked around with this message at 03:33 on Aug 25, 2018

HereticMIND
Nov 4, 2012

Funny thing: I just realized that I forgot to take a starting screencap of my home system and the surrounding systems, so I have to scrap my entire test post and (potentially) start a new save file. Boy, I love having to do more work! :v:

Sorry to everyone who was waiting to suggest stuff for my LP. I'll do better, I promise!

Maple Leaf
Aug 24, 2010

Let'en my post flyen true
Most people I've asked agree that the first example sounds better: they'd rather take the echo than the tinny, tin-can-with-a-string quality. Thanks for the input!

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!
Could anyone with experience screenshot LP'ing a JRPG (or just a long RPG in general I guess) give me a little insight into their workload? I'm interested in doing an LP myself, but I'd like to get an idea of how much time people generally spend on putting updates together. Screencapping, transcribing, editing, that whole process.

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

Psycho Knight posted:

Could anyone with experience screenshot LP'ing a JRPG (or just a long RPG in general I guess) give me a little insight into their workload? I'm interested in doing an LP myself, but I'd like to get an idea of how much time people generally spend on putting updates together. Screencapping, transcribing, editing, that whole process.

My immediate thought is that you should try to put together a test update yourself, just to see what the flow is like. I put together a test post for Conquest of Elysium 4, and it's more work than you'd think - although it would've been less if I had used the oft-recommended method of recording my gameplay and pulling screenshots from that.

Zanzibar Ham
Mar 17, 2009

You giving me the cold shoulder? How cruel.


Grimey Drawer
Also check if there's a transcript of the game somewhere. If there is that'd cut down on the workload immensely.

Mega64
May 23, 2008

I took the octopath less travelered,

And it made one-eighth the difference.
It depends on a lot of factors, like the type of game, the amount of stuff you're showing off, the amount of research you're doing, how many GIFs/videos you make to supplement stuff, the amount of work it takes to make character portraits, and so on.

Typically making screenshots can take 15-30 minutes, though with my current LP (Chrono Trigger) I'm reaching closer to an hour because I'm sometimes making 20-something GIFs for one update (though I never really had even half that in previous LPs, so this is more an anomaly due to playing a very expressive game). Writing the update can take 1-2 hours, again this LP taking a bit longer because even though a lot of my commentary is automatic at this point, I'm always double-checking things and sometimes spend time trying to word why I love a certain aspect of game design or storytelling the way I do.

I also spend a lot of time researching for gameplay, whether to figure out how I want to tackle certain content (more important in nonlinear games, of course) and decisions like what characters to have in my party for the best dialogue, and to make sure I don't miss any content since I generally try to show off everything I can.

And of course the game has a huge effect on that. I had much quicker updates on something like Sim Ant, where the mechanics are simple and there's no dialogue than I did something like Phoenix Wright, which took forever due to a massive amount of dialogue and many scenes needing GIFs for full effect.

The first several updates will be the longest because it'll be all about figuring out your process, learning how to integrate your writing style into a Let's Play format, working out any technical issues, and so forth. Once you have your work process down and have figured out how to streamline things, it'll be faster and you'll have a better system down.

I've written up my workload cycle in the past but it needs some updating, and I'd love to find ways to speed up some things in the future as well. Biggest tips though are to record your gameplay and take screenshots from the video, get an idea of how much work an update will take before deciding to go all in on doing the Let's Play, and be willing to adjust your process as necessary. It's a lot of work, but there's definitely some joy in seeing all that come to fruition, or at least I have to tell myself that repeatedly to justify spending hundreds of hours on this hobby.

Kanfy
Jan 9, 2012

Just gotta keep walking down that road.
90% of my LP making time is trying to come up with commentary that's at least remotely interesting or entertaining because I'm Extremely Bad at it, otherwise it's not so bad once you have the tools and workflow figured out.

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


Here's my workflow for SSLPs:

- Record a couple of hours of gameplay video (enough for several updates)

- Open the recording in Premiere and use the screenshot function to capture the frames I want as PNGs (every line of dialogue so you can transcribe it, every slightly interesting thing that happens even if you end up not showing it off in the actual update)

- Batch resize images to 900px wide in Irfanview, convert from PNG to JPG if necessary (if the LP requires using PNGs, optimize those at this point)

- Make and upload any new character portraits that may be required

- Upload images to LPix using ShareX or Rightload, preferably ShareX because the LPix plugin for Rightload is outdated

- Write the text of the update (I use Notepad++), include relevant BBcode tags, and link to the images. You can use something like RightloadURLAutoReplace to cut your workload by quite a large amount when it comes to linking your uploaded pics. For transcribing, you can find a script of the game or use some sort of OCR software like Capture2Text... or you can type it out manually, but I do not recommend that if you're playing something like The Witcher! (Incidentally, The Witcher's script doesn't seem to be available online, and the game does not play nice with Capture2Text :shepicide:)

- Once you're done, copy-paste your update into the SSLP Test Poster to see that everything looks okay and there are no duplicate images (it's pretty easy to accidentally put in the wrong filename for the autoreplace plugin) or any other huge obvious mistakes. This is also the point I'd add any music links or such.

- When everything looks decent-ish, copy-paste your update from the test poster to your thread

As you might imagine, all of this eats up a lot of time, even when you don't count the initial gameplay recording. My updates would regularly take up to 8 hours in total to put together, you may be able to do it faster if you're better at coming up with entertaining or interesting commentary than I am but you are still looking at several hours of work for each update that covers maybe 30 minutes of gameplay. And you have to do all of this 40 or 50 times per LP, maybe more than a hundred times if you're playing something really long.

DMorbid fucked around with this message at 16:53 on Aug 25, 2018

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

StrixNebulosa posted:

My immediate thought is that you should try to put together a test update yourself, just to see what the flow is like. I put together a test post for Conquest of Elysium 4, and it's more work than you'd think - although it would've been less if I had used the oft-recommended method of recording my gameplay and pulling screenshots from that.

Yeah, I'm just trying to get an idea in advance. I know the game, but I'm holding off on trying a test post until September. Haven't had any job luck since I was laid off, so I'm going back to university for another degree. I'll try putting together a test post then to see if I have the ability to balance writing an update and school work.

Which I know is kind of a stupid idea, especially since I've been out of college for like 6 years and am definitely rusty, but I need a hobby to unwind with.


Zanzibar Ham posted:

Also check if there's a transcript of the game somewhere. If there is that'd cut down on the workload immensely.

I haven't checked yet, but I am really hoping it exists for the game I have in mind (or that I can extract it from the game itself).


Mega64 posted:

It depends on a lot of factors, like the type of game, the amount of stuff you're showing off, the amount of research you're doing, how many GIFs/videos you make to supplement stuff, the amount of work it takes to make character portraits, and so on.

Typically making screenshots can take 15-30 minutes, though with my current LP (Chrono Trigger) I'm reaching closer to an hour because I'm sometimes making 20-something GIFs for one update (though I never really had even half that in previous LPs, so this is more an anomaly due to playing a very expressive game). Writing the update can take 1-2 hours, again this LP taking a bit longer because even though a lot of my commentary is automatic at this point, I'm always double-checking things and sometimes spend time trying to word why I love a certain aspect of game design or storytelling the way I do.

I also spend a lot of time researching for gameplay, whether to figure out how I want to tackle certain content (more important in nonlinear games, of course) and decisions like what characters to have in my party for the best dialogue, and to make sure I don't miss any content since I generally try to show off everything I can.

And of course the game has a huge effect on that. I had much quicker updates on something like Sim Ant, where the mechanics are simple and there's no dialogue than I did something like Phoenix Wright, which took forever due to a massive amount of dialogue and many scenes needing GIFs for full effect.

The first several updates will be the longest because it'll be all about figuring out your process, learning how to integrate your writing style into a Let's Play format, working out any technical issues, and so forth. Once you have your work process down and have figured out how to streamline things, it'll be faster and you'll have a better system down.

I've written up my workload cycle in the past but it needs some updating, and I'd love to find ways to speed up some things in the future as well. Biggest tips though are to record your gameplay and take screenshots from the video, get an idea of how much work an update will take before deciding to go all in on doing the Let's Play, and be willing to adjust your process as necessary. It's a lot of work, but there's definitely some joy in seeing all that come to fruition, or at least I have to tell myself that repeatedly to justify spending hundreds of hours on this hobby.

Thanks for the write up. I used to RP when I was younger, so I have some experience with the work that goes in to some of those pieces,but I realize that doing an LP is still a different beast entirely though.

I can certainly see the joy in it. I know I've had a lot of fun reading LP's, so I'm hoping that running one will be just as fun (in spite of how much work it takes). I don't want to blindly rush in though, so any insight into the inner workings is appreciated.

Edit:
@Kanfy - Yeah, I could be right there with you. The other worry is whether or not that commentary will hit home or completely whiff with people.

@Doc M - Solid work process, thanks. When it comes to music\video linking, do you upload that stuff to personal accounts (YouTube, etc) or just link to wherever you can find it?

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 17:07 on Aug 25, 2018

TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe
Doc M's workflow sounds basically similar to mine, except my SSLPs were made in OSX so I just wrote my own (hacky, terrible) scripts for interacting with lpix. But yeah, it takes awhile to write an update, especially if you're including your Witty Banter (a.k.a. fanfic) alongside the game's writing.

One piece of advice I'd give is, once you've written an update, wait a day and then reread it. If you have buddies who are willing to proofread your drafts, that's also a big help. Lots of dumb things can slip through during writing. Not just typos, but also bad phrasing, logical gaps, failure to explain things adequately, etc. It's hard to notice that stuff when you've just written it because your brain still has the context that makes it seem like it makes sense.

Arist
Feb 13, 2012

who, me?


My workflow goes as follows, though I'm far from the best at this and I've still got some quirks to iron out:

-Record multiple hours. It's just easier if you don't have to work with separate files for each update. You do not under any circumstances want to try to get the screenshots while you play, it's just not tenable.

-Capture shots. I don't actually capture every line of dialogue anymore, which was a huge timesink and drain on me, but I capture any time anything of interest happens, including very important lines. The game I'm playing has a fuckload of text and comparatively little character motion though, so that's why. This generally takes anywhere between 30 minutes and an hour for me, but I do long updates. My general feel is about 70 shots minimum, 150 absolute maximum. I often run up against the character limit if I go too long. That said, you're almost certainly going to want shorter updates. I'd say 70 is a good median number for an update, especially for a beginner.

-Create gifs. This is only if you can't capture a moment in a single shot and it would be awkward to do it in multiple or write it out. I generally save these for critical moments to not eat up data. I used to not really do these at all, but they really help get moments across that need motion.

-Upload with Rightload and copy the BBcode links into a word document. Then, copy that into the LP test poster so I can view the images more easily. Then I have the video open in a third window and I transcribe from there.

-Copy character portrait image links over from a separate document. I didn't do this with my aborted first LP (because I hadn't named them correctly making them too hard to sort through easily) and it was part of the reason I abandoned it. Transcribe as you do this. This will easily be the most time-consuming part if your game contains any notable amount of text, especially if the script isn't available.

-Double-check. I am supremely bad at this.

Depending on how much transcription this generally takes anywhere from 3 to 10 hours, though the latter number may be an outlier.

DMorbid
Jan 6, 2011

Hello! I see you.


Psycho Knight posted:

@Doc M - Solid work process, thanks. When it comes to music\video linking, do you upload that stuff to personal accounts (YouTube, etc) or just link to wherever you can find it?
I try to upload all my own video stuff, but for music I usually just look for existing Youtube uploads and link to those. If there's a track I can't find on Youtube, I upload it to Clyp or lpix if the filesize isn't too big.

I kinda want to get back to SSLPing at some point (which, I assure you, has nothing to do with the fact basically nobody watches my VLPs :v:) but the workload really starts to get to you after the first few updates.

TheMcD
May 4, 2013

Monaca / Subject N 2024
---------
Despair will never let you down.
Malice will never disappoint you.

My workflow is pretty similar, though there's one critical difference from what I'm seeing.

I never, ever would be able to take all screenshots first and write later. I always have the video source I use to take screenshots open and write the update as I watch the video, taking screenshots as I go along and inserting the placeholders I will be replacing later. To me, it's just so much more efficient, and it reduces the chance of making an error with filenames when you're entering the filename twice in a row right after each other.

I have one particular thing to say though. For the love of God, do your research into tools before you start. There are so many things that can make your work easier if only you know about them. These include but aren't limited to:

- GIF Movie Gear (editing and optimizing GIFs)
- RightloadURLAutoReplace (automatically replacing placeholders with links)
- Capture2Text (optical character recognition, automatically making characters that can be pasted into an update out of an image that has text)

Using the right tools can make your workflow significantly more efficient, and can make you much less likely to burn out.

I know they've been brought up before, but it just can't be understated how important it is to know your tools.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

One piece of advice I'd give is, once you've written an update, wait a day and then reread it. If you have buddies who are willing to proofread your drafts, that's also a big help. Lots of dumb things can slip through during writing. Not just typos, but also bad phrasing, logical gaps, failure to explain things adequately, etc. It's hard to notice that stuff when you've just written it because your brain still has the context that makes it seem like it makes sense.

That's good advice, thanks. It also seems like a good way to weed out colour commentary that may have sounded great when you thought of it but that you think is terrible upon further reflection. I guess having buddies to proofread it would be better in that regard, but I don't have a network of friends willing to read my crap and give feedback.

@Arist - Capturing is kind of the reason I want to start with a JRPG. Sure those are longer, but characters talking to each other usually has no (or little) motion. Seems a little easier for capturing and getting practice on GIFs.

@Doc M - I'll keep that in mind. I don't see myself pulling off a VLP personally. I tried that poo poo years ago using a crappy laptop, a PS2, a VHS-to-DVD capture box, and a copy of Xenosaga I. The result was piss poor and something that nobody would ever want to see. I've got a radio voice, except without the ability to animate it, so I sound like a robot. SSLP is the only way I'm going to (hopefully) entertain anyone. Kudos to you and everyone else that can put those together.

TheMcD posted:

My workflow is pretty similar, though there's one critical difference from what I'm seeing.

I never, ever would be able to take all screenshots first and write later. I always have the video source I use to take screenshots open and write the update as I watch the video, taking screenshots as I go along and inserting the placeholders I will be replacing later. To me, it's just so much more efficient, and it reduces the chance of making an error with filenames when you're entering the filename twice in a row right after each other.

I have one particular thing to say though. For the love of God, do your research into tools before you start. There are so many things that can make your work easier if only you know about them. These include but aren't limited to:

- GIF Movie Gear (editing and optimizing GIFs)
- RightloadURLAutoReplace (automatically replacing placeholders with links)
- Capture2Text (optical character recognition, automatically making characters that can be pasted into an update out of an image that has text)

Using the right tools can make your workflow significantly more efficient, and can make you much less likely to burn out.

I know they've been brought up before, but it just can't be understated how important it is to know your tools.

That seems more like my kind of style. Taking all the screen shots first seems like it would be easier to wind up with too long of an update. I can see the benefits of screen shotting first however, namely in terms getting the dialogue in place and then filling in your commentary later, while you read. I may try out both styles to see which is easier\produces better commentary.

Thanks for the summary of tools as well. I see a lot of people bringing them up, so it's nice to have it listed out. Everyone seems to have their own preferences.

Psycho Knight fucked around with this message at 22:48 on Aug 25, 2018

Commander Keene
Dec 21, 2016

Faster than the others



As for VLPs, you don't always need to talk over them in order to make them work. Subtitles are always an option. TooMuchAbstraction, above, did a subtitle LP for the romhack thread (Super Metroid Eris), and DoubleNegative is currently running a subtitle LP of A Hat In Time.

Psycho Knight
Jan 19, 2017

"Being a fangame and not bound to a rating, Pokemon Reborn is able to expand more on topics such as death and the extreme dangers Pokemon could pose. These topics...are treated with the respect such a subject deserves."

Let's throw a Medicham into a volcano and make it give the T2 thumbs up!

Commander Keene posted:

As for VLPs, you don't always need to talk over them in order to make them work. Subtitles are always an option. TooMuchAbstraction, above, did a subtitle LP for the romhack thread (Super Metroid Eris), and DoubleNegative is currently running a subtitle LP of A Hat In Time.

I didn't even know that was thing. I haven't checked out any VLP's since I got into the habit of reading SSLP's at work.

I'll check some out and see what the format is like.

berryjon
May 30, 2011

I have an invasion to go to.

Psycho Knight posted:

I didn't even know that was thing. I haven't checked out any VLP's since I got into the habit of reading SSLP's at work.

I'll check some out and see what the format is like.

Here's a list on the LP Archive..

Of the ones that aren't mine, I would recommend Monument Valley by Trenchfoot as something short and quite enjoyable. Geop's Shadow of the Colossus for being a good game by a good LP'er, and Typing of the Dead Overkill for being one of the two best Subtitled VLP's that I've ever seen (the other hasn't hit archives yet).

Paingod556
Nov 8, 2011

Not a problem, sir

berryjon posted:

Here's a list on the LP Archive..

Of the ones that aren't mine, I would recommend Monument Valley by Trenchfoot as something short and quite enjoyable. Geop's Shadow of the Colossus for being a good game by a good LP'er, and Typing of the Dead Overkill for being one of the two best Subtitled VLP's that I've ever seen (the other hasn't hit archives yet).

I'd throw in Homeworld Cataclysm as well, but that's mostly because that game is amazing. He made a good call to not take away from the music or the voice acting.

nine-gear crow
Aug 10, 2013

Psycho Knight posted:

I didn't even know that was thing. I haven't checked out any VLP's since I got into the habit of reading SSLP's at work.

I'll check some out and see what the format is like.

ArclightBorealis did a good subtitled LP of Metal Wolf Chaos, again to not take away from one hint of that game's amazing crazy. JohnOfOrdo3 also did a fantastic subtitle LP of Little Nightmares which did some creative things with the subtitles at certain points too.

Lacedaemonius
Jan 18, 2015

Rub a dub dub
I'm seriously considering doing a LP for Q3 Defrag and need some opinions from y'all on a few things.
https://files.catbox.moe/paya2r.mkv
Would you rather see a sequence of failed attempts that build-up to the successful run with accompanying commentary, or just the runs themselves?

Is the music too up-tempo? Defrag's tense to play but very chill to watch, and I'm not sure what angle to take with accompanying tunes.

How's the vid quality? It seems like there's a lot of artifacting and I'm wondering if I should crank up the bitrate.

Commander Keene
Dec 21, 2016

Faster than the others



What I've seen people do most of the time is they show the successful run first, then a "failure reel" of deaths.

ultrafilter
Aug 23, 2007

It's okay if you have any questions.


You can also show off deaths that are interesting in some way, but do that sparingly.

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.
I'm trying an LP of Soul Blazer but it's been a while since I tried editing emulated footage - how does this look/sound?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-CrNAfCL84

DoubleNegative
Jan 27, 2010

The most virtuous child in the entire world.

BioEnchanted posted:

I'm trying an LP of Soul Blazer but it's been a while since I tried editing emulated footage - how does this look/sound?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-CrNAfCL84

I would lower the game's volume in audacity a smidge. 34 seconds in and it's been in danger of overpowering you in a couple places.

With that said, I would watch the poo poo out of this.

BioEnchanted
Aug 9, 2011

He plays for the dreamers that forgot how to dream, and the lovers that forgot how to love.

DoubleNegative posted:

I would lower the game's volume in audacity a smidge. 34 seconds in and it's been in danger of overpowering you in a couple places.

With that said, I would watch the poo poo out of this.

THanks, I'll rebalance and reupload.

How is this version? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTHIH9tuYH8

BioEnchanted fucked around with this message at 18:07 on Aug 27, 2018

Geemer
Nov 4, 2010



lurksion posted:

I think most of the embedded youtube links in https://lparchive.org/Fire-Emblem-Radiant-Dawn/ are broken.

Videos are still there, the embed link is just broken, e.g.
Broken link/embed is
code:
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/nSh8xvG08J0&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6
While it still exists at
code:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSh8xvG08J0

My friend is also seeing this in the Quest for Glory LP. He said "probably because the old LPs use http, but YT now uses https." And sure enough, if you change it the embed to https through the element inspector it shows up.

Should be a simple matter of search and replace whenever Baldurk finds the time.

chlorophylls
May 8, 2013

I'm gonna kill you.
Hi all. I've been entertaining the idea of doing an SSLP of Fate/Extra, so I cobbled together a test post here: https://lpix.org/sslptest/index.php?id=151909

I'm mostly looking for feedback on:

- Update length: Is the current length okay? In this particular update, it's just the very beginning of the in-game tutorial week, but it's Fate/, so things are bound to get wordy at times.
- Images: Size is native PSP resolution, so not sure if they're too small. I also ran some post-processing sharpening on my raw caps for text clarity's sake. Are the screenshots fine and readable?
- Commentary: Too much, too little, or just right? I don't plan on interjecting often (and when I do plan to, it's not sarcasm so much as "just here along for the ride"), since this game is basically a VN with boring gameplay segments so I'd rather let the script speak for itself for the most part.
- Any unspoken SSLP faux pas I might've committed, etc.

But I'd also appreciate pretty much any suggestions, advice, etc, too.

Sylphid
Aug 3, 2012
Is baldurk still reachable at the admin@lparchive.org address? I sent an archival request about a month ago but I still haven't heard anything.

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TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe
baldurk's still around, they tend to do archivings in batches, maybe 4-6 times a year. Give it time.

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