I know I haven’t posted in a while, but I’ve just been taking time to find things and I’ve been playing lots of video games. I thought, since Let’s Play videos are a great way to have fun and show your support for games, I’d chuck an 8 step process plus some helpful tips here so that you can get to making a Let’s Play video as soon as possible!

First off, what is a Let’s Play?

A Let’s Play thread, or LP, is a thread in which one person plays through a video game and chronicles their progress by posting videos, screenshots with accompanying text, or a mixture of both. Let’s Plays are usually accompanied by the player’s commentary, though sometimes the accompanying commentary can be a narrative from the main character’s perspective or the like. Unlike a game walkthrough which explains how to complete a video game, a Let’s Play’s commentary usually is more for comedic purposes, though many Let’s Plays are highly informative despite, or in addition to this.

Let’s Plays as they are known now began in the Something Awful forums in 2006, when some goons created threads about Oregon Trail in the Games subforum. These Threads acted as the template for the screenshot Let’s Plays that followed, being screenshots of the playthroughs, accompanied by text. On January 19th 2007, the first video LP was created by slowbeef, a playthrough of Super Metroid for the SNES. Its formula proved popular and ended up changing the face of Let’s Play forever. In 2007, Something Awful gave the Let’s Players their own sub-forum. On the 2nd of Febuary, 2007, the LP Archive was created by Something Awful goons to preserve older Let’s Plays from Something Awful.

Urban Dictionary defines Let’s Plays as:

One or more people, usually from message boards, that record themselves playing video games through screenshots or captured video (Mostly the latter). This can be any game, from Doom to Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

The most popular of the Let’s Play videos come from the extremely difficult Super Mario World hack titled “Super Kaizo World”. Usually Let’s Play videos consist of jokes (Good, bad, and/or corny), frustration, and bewilderment by the ones playing. Some also explain gameplay, easter eggs, and general trivia pertaining to the game being played.

And here is the tutorial that I promised that the start.

TUTORIAL

1
Choose a game. Like Red Dead Redemption, or Little Big Planet

• Pick a game you’re good at and love playing.
• Avoid games that are used frequently for LP’s. An oversaturated audience is a bored audience. You also run the risk of your LP video getting lost in the mix.
• Avoid repetitive games.

2
Find the best way to record your videos.

• For recording PC games, you’ll want to get a video capture program. A few examples are listed below.
• Free Downloads: Camstudio, Wegame, and Fraps (free version only records for limited time and uses a watermark on the video).
• If you want better production values and features, consider purchasing something like Camstasia.
• To capture footage from a video game console, you’ll need a capture card, a video card with video inputs, a DVD recorder, a Firewall/USB converter, or a camcorder with AV inputs that you can connect directly to the console.
• Gamestop.com has written up a detailed article about the pros and cons of various methods: http://www.gamespot.com/features/6148616/p-3.html
• To record the best audio, use an audio editor like Audacity and a decent microphone.
• Don’t talk with your mouth too close to the microphone. Your voice will sound muffled or distorted.
• ‘Live-commentary’ (creating commentary while playing the game) is difficult – especially if doing a ‘blind’ run. If your commentary is not confident or easily turns to dead air, consider ‘Post-commentary’ (recording the game footage, performing editing and then adding the commentary) instead.

3
Record an introduction.

• Greet the viewer, tell them your screen-name, and give a brief summary of what is going to happen in the video.
• Giving a brief recap of what happened in the last video can also be included.
• Keep the introduction short.

4
Be engaging while playing the game.

• Have a sense of humor, especially when you make a mistake.
• Share useful tips or hacks.
• Don’t simply recite what is happening on the screen or go long periods without talking.
• Take the narrative approach by creating your own story or sub-story.
• If you’re having fun, chances are your audience will have fun as well.

5
Record a conclusion.

• Pick an appropriate place to end the video; do not end in the middle of a cut-scene or fight.
• Give a quick summary of what is going to happen in the next video.

6
Edit your video.

• Windows Movie Maker (for PC) or iMovie(for Mac) provide some basic features, but getting a more extensive video editing program is recommended.
• Cut out excessive mistakes or deaths.
• Make sure your commentary is in sync with the video.
• Watch the video through after editing to make sure there are no problems.

7
Upload your video.

• Websites like YouTube, blip.tv, Veoh, and Dailymotion are great places to upload your videos. You can also upload your videos to your website or blog.
• Watch the video after uploading to make sure everything uploaded correctly. If not, re-upload the video or re-encode, if necessary.
• Take pride in the quality of your work. Never upload or keep a video that has obvious problems.
• Consider using a program to compress your video, like DivX, MediaCoder, AVISynth, etc. If done right, there is little impact to video quality and it reduces file size, upload time, and space used on your hard drive.

8
Join a Let’s Play message board or community and spread the word about your video.

• Posting your video to a Let’s Play community allows you to get helpful feedback.
• You can learn new and useful information from message boards and other players.

Tips:

• Do not use video capture software that leaves a watermark (such as Unregistered HyperCam 3) on your video. Either pay for full software, find a free version, or use a different program that does not leave a watermark.
• In-game sounds may be quiet or loud compared to your voice. Use Audacity or your audio recording program of choice to record your voice separately. Your voice should be a little louder than in-game audio.
• Avoid doing a ‘blind’ Let’s Play unless you have a lot of experience and know you are capable of being funny or interesting ‘on the fly’.
• Singing to background music is not recommended. This takes experience and practice.
• Keep your commentary focused on the game. Do not bring up unrelated topics, like how much you love your cat.
• Do not talk over dialogue in video games with voice-acting unless you are good at riffing on (mocking or making jokes using) the in-game cut-scenes.
• Do not narrate on-screen text unless you can do a good imitation of that character or have a funny voice for it – your viewers can read for themselves.
• If doing post commentary, do not act as if it is live commentary unless you happen to be a good actor. Acting as if your commentary is done live can come across as fake very easily.
• If using subtitles instead of audio commentary, make sure the subtitles are readable and stay on the screen long enough to be read.
• Crop videos to remove the computer desktop, emulator window, or letterbox boarders. This can be done easily with the free program Virtualdub.
• Do not re-size the aspect ratio of the video.
• Hard games may need a lot of editing to get the filler out.
• Don’t upload a video if you think it is boring. Instead re-record the gameplay and/or redo the commentary
• Do not upload a video in HD that has no capability of taking advantage of HD – this includes all console games from the Gamecube/Xbox/Playstation 2 and earlier. It only serves to inflate the video file size far beyond what is necessary.
• The best length for videos is 10-25 minutes,depending on the game and video content. If the video runs a lot longer, then it is probably best to split the video into two or more parts.
• Avoid simply aiming a camera at a TV screen or computer monitor to record your video. The quality of your video will most likely be poor, especially if you’re doing a LP with a handheld console.

And that’s all there is to it! It may seem complicated, but at the end of the day the video may just turn out brilliantly, and you’ll be satisfied that you’ve had fun and your viewers probably have as well. And who knows, maybe Sam and I will churn a Let’s Play out sometime soon as well!

Some Let’s Play Examples:

1. Slambrother’s Website: Moonbase Alpha Highlights
2. Dumonia Media: Let’s Play Pokemon Nuzlocke Challenge
3. The Escapist: Unskippable Let’s Play Legaia

Isaac