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@swillits
Created December 23, 2014 05:48
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[9:21pm] swillits: ThemsAllTook: here's my impression
[9:21pm] swillits: And you may have data to support some of this
[9:23pm] swillits: For a long time you didn't do anything but minecraft videos. I for one was surprised by the number of subscribers you got from those, just based on the fact that there were 50,000 other people doing the same thing at the time.
[9:23pm] swillits: After you did MC you did some other games, mostly serially in bulk.
[9:24pm] swillits: So the vast majority of your videos are about a relatively small number of games
[9:25pm] swillits: 34 terraria, easily over 150 are minecraft, 12 NecroDancer, 44 spelunky, etc
[9:26pm] swillits: That's a huge amount of content about very few things. The number of people who are going to watch *all* of those, is probably really really really really small. Most are only going to care about one of those games, and maybe watch several o f those videos.
[9:26pm] swillits: Compared to, like you said, doing one video each on 300 different games.
[9:27pm] swillits: That will get the same people coming back over and over far more than 50 videos on A, 50 videos on B, 50 videos on C, etc.
[9:27pm] swillits: (I don't know how detailed YouTube's data is that they give you, but I would hope by now they have very detailed metrics on this.)
[9:28pm] swillits: Separate from that....... promoting your games.
[9:30pm] stevejohnson left the chat room. (Quit: stevejohnson)
[9:30pm] swillits: I think that promoting your own games naturally falls into the 1-video-per-game kind of thing much more easily.
[9:30pm] TheMonkey joined the chat room.
[9:30pm] TheMonkey was granted voice by ChanServ.
[9:30pm] swillits: It'd feel less out of place.
[9:32pm] swillits: But the critical thing is to actually have something to promote. If you're going to try show everything from the ground up, you need to absolutely commit to doing that. 3 month gaps isn't going to cut it. I'd also suggest keeping them focused and purposeful.
[9:32pm] swillits: And show new things.
[9:33pm] swillits: As an example, I don't care about Overgrowth at all. I didn't like Lugaru beyond it being an interesting thing to play for 15-30 minutes, and I don't see how Overgrowth is going to be any different
[9:33pm] Zorg: you inhuman being
[9:33pm] swillits: but I've watched *a lot* of those alpha videos because they're short and interesting.
[9:34pm] ElMonkey_ left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 255 seconds)
[9:34pm] swillits: Even if 3/10 are about procedural animation refinements, and 6/10 are blood spatter optimizations, and 1/10 is about jumping mechanics.
[9:34pm] swillits:
[9:34pm] Zorg: lugaru has depth to it
[9:35pm] swillits: I could go on, but you're afk, so I'll stop
[9:38pm] swillits: No I won't.
[9:38pm] swillits: Whenever I go and look for gameplay videos for games I might be interested in, they're generally pretty terrible.
[9:38pm] swillits: Most of that comes down to the fact that the player hasn't a care or clue in the world who I am and why I am there.
[9:39pm] swillits: They're playing the game for themselves and recording it and putting it on YouTube to get views and be famous or something. ZZZzzzz....
[9:40pm] ThemsAllTook left the chat room. (Ping timeout: 272 seconds)
[9:40pm] swillits: The ones I have seen that are better quality are usually between two players, and one is explaining the game to the other as they, or one of them, plays it.
[9:40pm] swillits: Ok.......
[9:40pm] swillits: I guess now I really should stop
[9:40pm] swillits: But I won't, because I have to get this thought out.
[9:42pm] swillits: I think what makes you unique ThemsAllTook is that you're a game developer. I can watch any 15yo kid play any game, or there are some really "funny" people out there playing these games, and there are even some which do a decent job at explaining and demo'ing the game rather than just playing by themselves rather than *with* the audience.
[9:43pm] Zorg: he left btw
[9:43pm] swillits: (I know that)
[9:43pm] swillits: (going to copy & paste later for him)
[9:43pm] swillits: (link)
[9:44pm] Zorg: I guess I don't watch gameplay about games that I *might* be interested in unless they're official trailers or something \=
[9:44pm] Zorg: speed runs, let's play videos, on the other hand..
[9:46pm] Zorg: or competitive play..
[9:46pm] swillits: But what I haven't seen is game demos of a variety of games from a designer / developer's perspective. What makes this game? What's the neat mechanic? Why is it a good game? Tell me about the balance between these various elements and how that can be fun. How might this game have been developed?
[9:46pm] Zorg: mm..
[9:46pm] swillits: Maybe dissect what we as players are seeing and hearing and having to interact with and how another developer (even the viewer) might learn from it to apply to their own games
[9:46pm] swillits: Analyze versus simply play. Make it unique from your perspective.
[9:46pm] swillits: done
[9:48pm] swillits: Well, besides saying that doing that you'll learn from doing those exercises, establish yourself as an expert, and people will actually care more about your upcoming game because they can expect the same thought to be put into your game as you can put into analyzing someone else's
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