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 Quick Links: SSLP Test Poster • Rules • LP Archive • Master List • Tech Support Fort 
 Welcome the Let's Play Sandcastle! This thread is for general discussion of any topic not covered elsewhere in the forums regarding Let's Play threads. It's also the place that you can make a test post to see if there are any issues to resolve with your LP thread before posting it. Even if you think you know this all and you've read previous versions of the thread, give this post a quick read. I promise it won't take long.  SSLP Test Poster This handy tool is how you avoid filling up this thread with page after page of fascinating screenshots of your favourite JRPG. It supports the same bbcode as the forums, so you can paste your OP into there. It provides a handy link for you to post in here. Rules Everyone posting in this forum should read this thread, for obvious reasons. The rules cover everything that will get you banned or probated so make sure you have read them. Any questions can be sent to Geop or Chip Cheezum. The Tech Support Fort The Tech Support fort is the place to go if you have any technical questions about the mechanics of how to make your LP. If you want to know how to use your recording software, or what recording or editing software you should get - post in here. The sandcastle is generally only for the more subjective aspects of your LP, or for any more general and high-level questions. LPix An LP-specific image host, oriented to keeping separate updates and things. There is a rightload plugin available here, for which you will need the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable installed. Set your username and password and (optionally) a gallery in the options. If there are any problems with it, post in this thread or contact baldurk (email). The Let's Play Archive The archive is a large set of LPs that have been preserved in their entirety and as close to the original format as possible, to be kept forever. You can find a much more wordy explanation here. Archive issues - anything that is related to the archive can be posted about here in the sandcastle or here in a specific thread. If you have any questions, comments, bug reports or feature requests they can all go in there or direct to baldurk. The Master List The Master List contains as complete as possible a list of all Let's Plays that have been started on this forum. It was written to provide all the functionality needed for locating and updating information about Let's Play threads. If you want to find a thread, you can browse or search - but be aware that by default, abandoned threads have been hidden. If you want to find out if a game has been done before, make sure you search for it, in case the previous thread was abandoned - and thus not on that list. In order to update out of date information on the list, you can log in with the login: SALP / snatched. If you notice any vandalism on the list, feel free to fix it. If you don't know what it should be, or there is a significant amount of destruction, contact baldurk (email) and he can fix it. Master list issues - anything that is related to the master list can be posted about here in the sandcastle or here in a specific thread. If you have any questions, comments, bug reports or feature requests they can all go in there or direct to baldurk. IRC Channel This is a well-populated IRC channel with members of this forum. If you need to ask a question or want to interact with people in real time, this is the place to go. Do note however though that it is not official, and IRC drama shouldn't be brought onto the forums. Recommendations, Requests If you're interested in reading rather than making LPs - these threads are for you. The first allows you to post or read recommendations for past LP threads you have read and enjoyed. Read the thread OP to make sure you know the rules for recommendations. The second allows you to request an LP that hasn't been done - make sure you check the master list to see if it has been done before.   : What is a Let's Play (LP) thread? : It's a documented playthrough of something that, at the very minimum, resembles a game; how the author chooses to present it is incredibly varied. Some use screenshots, some use video. Some let the readers make decisions, others plow on through and use the thread for discussion. Some are serious and informative while others are parodies. For some examples, see the LP archive - details above.: How can I ask if anyone is wanting to see me LPing this game? What is an interest check?: There's no point in posting an interest check without something to show for it. An interest check is just asking whether people want to see an LP without actually putting forth some significant sample content (more than just an OP).For the most part, people won't really care if you LP the game or not, and it's very difficult to judge whether an LP would be interesting or not without seeing an actual update of it. If you want to know if people are interested, make a test post - don't just post "Would anyone like to see an LP of this game?". This applies no matter how much you have to decide before starting, or if you're unsure about how to LP the game. If you're not willing to put in the effort to trying different ways to see what you and other people like then don't bother posting at all. : I hate my voice so I'm doing this LP with subtitles! / I think screenshots are boring so I'm going to VLP this game.: This isn't a question but it comes up often enough to be addressed, especially the first case. First off - your voice probably isn't nearly as bad as you think it is, and almost certainly isn't bad enough to be an issue. Trust me.Secondly, when you're LPing a game you should consider what format works best for the game. Does the game not really work with group commentary? Does it need subtitles or voice? Is it more appropriate for screenshots? This is a subjective call and you can make arguments for different ways on the same game. What is a really lovely argument though is that you don't feel like or don't want to do a game one way. If you really don't want to do voice commentary, then tough luck - that means there are some games you just plain shouldn't LP. Justify your choice of format based on what makes a good LP, not what you are capable or willing to do. You wouldn't use a camcorder to record an Xbox 360 game if you couldn't afford a capture device... would you? : Can I have my thread archived? What about this thread I really like, but I'm not the author?: Any thread which has been completed can be archived - just email baldurk with the link to the thread, and he'll sort out the rest from there, getting any information from you if you're the author. If you have any specific requests or instructions feel free to include them in the email.It's recommended but not required to include an archive blurb - a 160x120 image and a paragraph short enough to fit next to it without overflowing, see the top of the front page of the archive for examples. : What is a test post? Why should I make a test post?: Let's Play threads take a lot of work. There are a lot of unforeseen problems that can crop up with your threads so it is best to make a test post - it costs you nothing but a little time, and lets you gauge how people are going to feel about your thread. This is especially true if you have not done an LP before and have no experience of what issues may come up, but a test post is almost always useful to some extent no matter how much experience you have.A test post can vary depending on the LP, but usually will consist of an early update. This means it isn't just your OP - since that usually doesn't tell people anything more than what the game is about. It's useful to post your OP as well to give the first update some context, but make sure you post an update. Also consider that if your first update will not be representative of the whole game (due to excessive tutorial sections or other reasons) then pick a later update and post that. The idea is to give people an idea of what your thread will be like so they can point out potential problems. The other benefit is that you can tell if people are going to enjoy your LP thread. Of course there's no point in doing an LP that you won't enjoy, but it's equally true that there's no point in doing an LP that everyone else will hate too. Make a test post, and see how it goes, and maybe people will suggest some improvements you didn't think of. It also gets you an idea of just how much work an LP is - and if you can really finish it. You should use the Off-site Screenshot test poster to post your test post if it's an SSLP, so that pages of this thread don't get full of loads of images. However, even with all the above applying, test posts are not a requirement. Just a very, Very good idea. : Has anyone LPed game XYZ before?: The answer to this can be found in the master list - details are above. However it is worth noting that there is no rule nor stigma towards LPing a game that has been done before. Don't rush to LP a game in case someone beats you to it - no one will care. However do consider how your LP is going to be different or similar to the previous one. If you don't have anything to offer or a different take, one more LP of mega man X isn't really going to set the world afire.: I'm not the OP in a thread. Can I contribute my own playthrough?: The short answer is, maybe. It is generally considered good practice to ask the OP for permission, in case he has plans that you may interfere with. Certainly you shouldn't show any content that the OP has not already covered without his permission. Most people and most thread posters will appreciate the bonus content which may show off something the OP had no plans to cover.If the thread has been abandoned by the OP, go wild - it's no longer theirs. There have been plenty of cases of LPs being successfully recovered by another poster after the OP abandoned it. : Is there a rule against X? Am I allowed to do Y?: This isn't the rules thread. Ask a mod - more details are in the rules thread. Here is a specific note about ROMs, emulation, etc. (Reprinted with permission.) Louisgod posted:1. Do NOT talk about how you acquired a ROM, where you got the ROM, when you got it, and so forth. Just because you're posting in Let's Play! doesn't mean you get immunity from any kind of warez discussion. : What image formats should I use?: Although this is technically the ground of The Tech Support Fort this is restated here for emphasis. Read this guide before posting images in this forum. You will learn things - learning is good.: Waffleupload doesn't work anymore, is there an alternative?: Waffleimages is dead, but try Rightload, it has a plugin for LPix. See above for more details on this, or the TSF for alternative image hosts.
Somebody fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Mar 19, 2015 |
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May 17, 2012 18:09
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Reserved for future use.
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May 17, 2012 18:10
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Don't mean to ask a stupid question but how come you closed the other thread?
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May 17, 2012 18:22
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KDavisJr posted:Don't mean to ask a stupid question but how come you closed the other thread? It was getting big and old.
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May 17, 2012 18:25
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Well it's about time. Just a couple notes about the IRC channel: If you do IRC drama on the forums we'll ban you from the channel for a long time. If you're awful we'll ban you but for less of a long time. If you just want to ask questions or say dumb things or idle then that's cool. There are no rules except those and the whims of the IRC bosses. We don't talk about LPs much so don't be surprised. One useful resource in IRC is Rirse. He knows lots of things about lots of LPs and has personally archived many videos. His dedication is baffling and impressive, and if you can deal with his weird grammar and fascination with really old LP drama, he should be your go-to. For technical assistance there are many people who can walk you through AVISynth scripts, computer hardware, recording hardware, streaming logistics, etc. Because we're a global community (and/or nerds who stay up til 4am) chances are good that someone will be around at any given hour. Trin Tragula is a cool dude. It's not official. Nothing that happens in there has any bearing on these forums. I don't know what that means exactly but it sounds right and good. There is no shadow LP cabal or IRC hitsquad or anything like that.
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May 17, 2012 18:28
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Kung-Fu Jesus posted:It's not official. Nothing that happens in there has any bearing on these forums. I don't know what that means exactly but it sounds right and good. There is no shadow LP cabal or IRC hitsquad or anything like that. There is in fact a LP Illuminati though.
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May 17, 2012 18:58
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Oh hey, new Sandcastle. Was probably about that time.
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May 17, 2012 19:08
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Okay, two style questions and one technical question for the new Sandcastle, all relating to this test video; Style 1 -- This is the most effort I've put into fancying up a video ever. Is it too much? Is there too much happening? Style 2 -- I know the timing is too short to read all the text, but I really wanted to use that music. My rationalization was that people familiar with IZJS and FFT would have significant crossover, so the people who already knew the content of the video could watch it straight through and enjoy the reference, and the people who didn't wouldn't feel cheated by having to pause. But is it too annoying to pause and read the text anyway? Technical -- I really don't like how YouTube downsampled this video. It looks great locally. Would increasing the bitrate help at all, or will YT pare it down to this level no matter what? P.S. ivantod if I do not graduate on time I blame you.
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May 17, 2012 21:05
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BrainWeasel posted:Technical -- I really don't like how YouTube downsampled this video. It looks great locally. Would increasing the bitrate help at all, or will YT pare it down to this level no matter what? The big way you get a break from youtube there is to upload HD video, which isn't always an option. Still, your video is currently defaulting to 360p out of 480p. There's some url hacks you can use to configure the url to default to 480p, but that gets overridden by someone's user configuration if they're logged in so it's not perfect.
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May 17, 2012 21:27
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BrainWeasel posted:P.S. ivantod if I do not graduate on time I blame you. Haha, so you ARE going to play the IZJS version then after all, huh?  I had no idea what I was starting with that little innocent comment!But anyway, looking forward to this for sure! P.S. Small technical comment: sound level seems a little bit loud, but maybe it's just me.
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May 17, 2012 21:47
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"The franchise is dead!" That's the sentiment that erupted through the web like a Power Bomb blast as gamers got their hands on Metroid: Other M for the first time. The game ruined nearly everything that anyone ever loved about Metroid and left a bitter taste in their mouths, so the pessimism wasn't exactly unwarranted. But this is Nintendo we're talking about here, and Nintendo never lets a good franchise die. Heck, they never let a bad franchise die. Or even a sort of mediocre one that no one would have even rememebered if it wasn't for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. So there's hope yet. But where do they go from here? How do they even begin to repair the damage? If I were on a team assigned to come up with concepts for the next Metroid game, the very first thing I would do is dust off the old NES/Famicom and play this:  Originally released in 1986 for the Famicom Disk System in Japan and later in 1987 for the good ol' NES, Metroid was an incredible fusion of two of Nintendo's most successful releases: Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda. The caverns were huge, the enemies were deadly, and the hero was like no other. Players were put in control of Samus Aran, the "cyborg space hunter" and most powerful being in the entire universe. Except she didn't have any of her powers yet. It was up to the player to explore the fortress world Zebes, collect cool and unique power-ups, and use them to destroy the Space Pirate leader Mother Brain, her army of life-sucking Metroids, and her lieutenants, Kraid and Ridley. And it was awesome. Players who completed the game quickly enough were rewarded with the knowledge that the character they had been playing as for those 5 or less hours was a woman, something that was unheard of in videogames at the time. Players who finished it really fast were rewarded with images of Samus in greater stages of undress, with the best ending unlocked only by players who completed the game in less than 1 hour. Others, who didn't care as much about 8-bit partial nudity, spent their time exploring the depths of Zebes searching for every last item they could get their hands on to see just how much of a badass Samus could be. Some did both, and that led to some seriously cool stuff down the line, like under 2-hour 100% runs of Metroid Prime. For this LP, we'll be playing the game both ways. First, a segmented run in which we collect all of the items scattered throughout Zebes. Then, we'll go for a single segment run through the game using it's "New Game +" mode that lets you play without the Power Suit and with all the basic upgrades you collected throughout the game. The mission? Complete the game in 1-hour or less and see the best ending. I like to call this the "Super Swimsuit Speedrun". But wait, there's more! We'll even find out who out there can beat the game legitimately (that's killing both Kraid and Ridley) in 1 hour or less of real time (without the "New Game +" feature) and find out who can steal the most poo poo from Zebes in some Metroid races (And there is a lot of poo poo to steal. Thanks to hawk16zz for making this pretty awesome script! Full rules to come later.) And if I'm feeling really adventurous, and the technology is willing, I might even do a live romhack challenge. Now, without further ado: 100% Run 1. Alone.
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May 17, 2012 22:09
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Who's up for a good argument?
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May 17, 2012 22:33
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Vicas posted:Who's up for a good argument? Sure, why not? Best to get these things out of the way early. What does it pertain to, Vicas?
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May 17, 2012 22:34
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Should we go ahead and get the inevitable "Subs vs. Voice" argument out of the way now?
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May 17, 2012 22:41
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Maybe I should post the pony-themed Pokemon LP. That'd be a thing to argue about!
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May 17, 2012 22:43
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Personally some nerds voices I like and some I don't
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May 17, 2012 22:47
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Highway Traffic 
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BrainWeasel posted:Style 2 -- I know the timing is too short to read all the text, but I really wanted to use that music. My rationalization was that people familiar with IZJS and FFT would have significant crossover, so the people who already knew the content of the video could watch it straight through and enjoy the reference, and the people who didn't wouldn't feel cheated by having to pause. But is it too annoying to pause and read the text anyway? Personally I found it annoying to pause to finish reading the text because I enjoyed the music and having it interrupted every time a large text block appeared made it less enjoyable.
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May 17, 2012 23:12
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Artix74 posted:Should we go ahead and get the inevitable "Subs vs. Voice" argument out of the way now? Doesn't that come after the screenshot vs video argument?
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May 17, 2012 23:24
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BrainWeasel posted:Okay, two style questions and one technical question for the new Sandcastle, all relating to this test video; I understand you want to get the music in, but this seems to me like something that should just be in a post. It's not actually an LP video, to be honest. You could even put the music up as an MP3 with that post, but the post gives plenty of time for people to read at their leisure.
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May 17, 2012 23:41
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A LP should be about showing off a game not advertising or pushing forward your online persona or unnecessarily named LP group.  BrainWeasel posted:Okay, two style questions and one technical question for the new Sandcastle, all relating to this test video; Also if you want to try to get better quality on Youtube you could try resizing the video to a 720 resolution; people have said they've noticed some quality upgrade by doing that and it wouldn't hurt to see how it works out. KingEffingFrost posted:Metroid
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May 17, 2012 23:43
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KingEffingFrost posted:Metroid I've been wanting to see a good Metroid LP for a while now, this seems pretty good. I liked the video, my only complaint is the autoducking is jarring. I recommend just not autoduck altogether, since having the game start blaring chiptunes into the ears whenever you stop talking just hurts. Also speaking of backtracking, will you be editing that out once it gets particularly bad?
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May 17, 2012 23:46
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Vicas posted:Who's up for a good argument?
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May 17, 2012 23:56
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Your voice is probably not as bad as you think it is, let your audience/sandcastle decide subs/voice, don't LP Minecraft/Pokemon, etc, etc. Is that all the sandcastle issues/arguments out of the way now? Let's move on. All hail the ivory sand tower.
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May 18, 2012 00:01
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Niggurath posted:Also if you want to try to get better quality on Youtube you could try resizing the video to a 720 resolution; people have said they've noticed some quality upgrade by doing that and it wouldn't hurt to see how it works out.
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May 18, 2012 00:22
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Niggurath posted:A LP should be about showing off a game not advertising or pushing forward your online persona or unnecessarily named LP group. Here's a hypothetical question related to that. I run a little video game related website on the side, just a personal hobby for writing and video making while I'm in school, maybe someday I'll use it for my resume or do something more with it. Anyways I always loved LPs since I found SA and wanted to do one, and would love to share them here as well as on that site. Is it totally taboo to have the website and/or logo anywhere in the video/description? I've assumed yes and not wanted to come off like I'm shilling myself over the games, but I'd still love to show off the game, with traffic to my site being more like a bonus if people like the videos.
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May 18, 2012 00:29
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Coolguye posted:Yeah you definitely get better overall quality out of youtube with the HD versions, I think that is one of the biggest arguments for recording and uploading HD video. As far as resizing goes if you need to do that though, isn't Gaussian resizing basically considered to be the best standard filter in AVISynth right now? I know I've had great luck with that but I don't have a need to resize my videos that often. Some people in here recommend Spline36 resize. To be absolutely honest, most of the time Gaussian is fine. Even a basic Bicubic resize is probably enough. I don't think most of the footage in here is going to encounter ringing artifacts.
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May 18, 2012 00:31
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Me_Game posted:Here's a hypothetical question related to that. I run a little video game related website on the side, just a personal hobby for writing and video making while I'm in school, maybe someday I'll use it for my resume or do something more with it. Anyways I always loved LPs since I found SA and wanted to do one, and would love to share them here as well as on that site.
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May 18, 2012 00:43
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Well I probably wouldn't watermark them, more like have a link/logo at either the beginning or end of the videos and in the description (for Youtube). There wouldn't be any sort of donation advertising, but as it is a matter of etiquette I would rather not ruffle feathers here since the primary reason for doing it would be to make enjoyable videos. It's also hypothetical because I have no planned LP to make, but it something I've wanted to do at some point so I figured I would ask. You're right there are definitely other ways of directing traffic without being so blatant, just wondering if there was anyway to do it without coming off wrong, or if it was generally just considered inappropriate every time.
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May 18, 2012 00:59
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Me_Game posted:Well I probably wouldn't watermark them, more like have a link/logo at either the beginning or end of the videos and in the description (for Youtube). There wouldn't be any sort of donation advertising, but as it is a matter of etiquette I would rather not ruffle feathers here since the primary reason for doing it would be to make enjoyable videos. My take is that anything in the video is a giant no-no, but the description is fair game.
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May 18, 2012 01:03
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Me_Game posted:Well I probably wouldn't watermark them, more like have a link/logo at either the beginning or end of the videos and in the description (for Youtube). There wouldn't be any sort of donation advertising, but as it is a matter of etiquette I would rather not ruffle feathers here since the primary reason for doing it would be to make enjoyable videos.
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May 18, 2012 01:24
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Niggurath posted:Honestly I've only seen two LP's that really do this, one was Faceguy's Paper Mario LP's (and no one really cared cause they were just references to the game itself) and then there was the LoadReadyRun LP of Dante's Inferno which was clearly just advertising their group name (and they claimed was there to make sure no one stole the videos or some such nonsense). So I'd say if it's more about the game than about yourself it's still a bit of a gamble whether or not people will want to see it at the start of every video; either way they could just skip it or they could see it in the first video and belittle you from then on. Fair point. It seems like this: njsykora posted:My take is that anything in the video is a giant no-no, but the description is fair game. would be a better solution then. Thanks for the input, I agree that putting the LPer over the game is really obnoxious and especially taboo here, so it seems better safe than sorry.
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May 18, 2012 01:50
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If you want to put a gigantic ASCII version of goatse in the description, I don't loving care. But keep it out of the video. Actually I very much support a description consisting of nothing but ASCII goatse
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May 18, 2012 02:37
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That kind of conversation would make you like a total rear end.
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May 18, 2012 02:41
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I came here for Serious LP Issues, not for jokery and guffaws over Sheepfornica or whatever you people are talking about. So Serious LP Issues #1: Is it time to remove the ban on Pokemon LPs? (No.) Discuss. (Don't bother.)
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May 18, 2012 05:50
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I'll just throw this in here. This is a javascript method to download youtube videos as a bookmarklet: the code: code:
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May 18, 2012 06:00
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Gummy Joe posted:So Serious LP Issues #1: Is it time to remove the ban on Pokemon LPs? (No.) Discuss. (Don't bother.) If every loving Pokemon test post wasn't the same old boring poo poo we've seen a thousand times we wouldn't need the ban. I wouldn't care if someone did something actually interesting and unique with Pokemon. Maybe a My Little Pony mod.
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May 18, 2012 06:25
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Me_Game posted:Fair point. It seems like this: I'd say it'd probably be easier to just have a self-hosted video mirror on your website, and then just a link to the main page above the player. If they're already on the site, it's not really advertising, is it? I mean, they're already there.
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May 18, 2012 06:30
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Proteus4994 posted:I wouldn't care if someone did something actually interesting and unique with Pokemon.  But my Pokemon LP is of a romhack!(I probably shouldn't even joke about that.) If there wasn't a ban I would like to do something interesting and unique with Pokemon but I'd rather not risk getting banned on an account I've only had for a month
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May 18, 2012 07:52
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ungulateman posted:If there wasn't a ban I would like to do something interesting and unique with Pokemon but I'd rather not risk getting banned on an account I've only had for a month To be fair you won't get banned AFAIK, just yelled at. If you REALLY think your idea is cool and unique, post it here Edit: VVV ah right, yeah do that. It's been a while
Monicro fucked around with this message at 08:07 on May 18, 2012 |
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May 18, 2012 08:01
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Monicro posted:To be fair you won't get banned AFAIK, just yelled at. If you REALLY think your idea is cool and unique, post it here I thought the proper form was to e-mail Slowbeef before posting any Pokemon thing here?
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May 18, 2012 08:05
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