Starting a Longplay Channel. Could use some help.

[Steel Sparkle]

Hay i could use some help. I have been wanting to start a side channel where i make Longplays but i have no idea how they work or what exactly should be done. I have scoured the internet to no avail.
Could someone give me some advice please?

[PonchGaming]

Easy. Record yourself playing through the whole game. Then either upload all of it or upload it in like 1 or 2 parts. Not sure if your supposed to use microphone though.

[Steel Sparkle]

thanks that helps. What im not 100% sure on is if it has to be a 100% run or just a playthrough. If it needs to be 100% playthroughs then it's not for me as im not ready to master every game there is xD

[PonchGaming]

You don't have to. As long as u finish the game, hopefully without major glitches.

[Steel Sparkle]

Alrighty. Thanks for the help. I appreciate it.

[MetroidMst]

I believe most use the term longplay to designate that the entire game is played from start to finish in the video. (Hence long play/no break)

[Lunaria]

A longplay generally have no commentary at all, and is a single video from start to finish. Optimal play isn't expected, but it's also expected that you don't fail a lot either.

[Zero One]

I wouldn't say it's unusual to have a longplay broken up across multiple videos, but people would probably expect all the videos to be uploaded at the same time. Of course, if your YouTube account supports being able to upload more than 15 minutes, go nuts.


I would say, if you have any kind of introduction, keep it to 5 seconds or under. Long intros suck. And make sure your capture is good quality; learn to upscale if you're looking at older games. For example, you can upscale a Gameboy capture at 144p all the way up to 720p, because 144 goes into 720 exactly 5 times. So, if somebody fullscreens your Gameboy longplay, instead of getting a bunch of blurry, stretched pixels, they'll get 5 times the pixels and it won't look hideous.

[Quietus]

I'd recommend that you inform viewers of what your longplay will include. Are you just going to complete the main quest? Side quests? All powerups? All collectibles? That way you can avoid some of the possible backlash from viewers expecting to see something you've no intention of displaying.

I'd recommend commentary, but only if it's something you're knowledgable about or are willing to research. Often viewers watching a game's longplay won't want to sit through it if you're showcasing the game, but talking about unrelated / random stuff (certainly not all the time anyway) or just rambling.

Also, I'm with Zero One about the intros. I don't care how many videos I watch on youtube, or how big youtubers may think they are, intros are always annoying, and anything over about three seconds to display your name is particularly obnoxious. :stern:

[Steel Sparkle]

Thanks Lunaria, Quietus and Zero. The information will be handy. Im gonna try to not commentate since that usually hurts my overall skill and may degrade the quality of my play through but if i really need to i will and like you said only if i know my stuff or do the research.


@Zero One
Could you teach me about upscaling? i would appreciate it since it would probably help in the long run. I plan on doing retro games or retro style games for the most part. Also if it helps i use OBS for recording since it's free and has no time limits.

@Quietus
I can agree. Long intro's can be annoying. I probably won't use them. As for informing them what would you suggest. Should i just put it in the description of have some text at the start of the video? Something like "blah Blah game Any % longplay"?

One last question. what is the recommended upload speed. Should i upload on a weekly or daily basis?

[Zero One]

I don't know if you planned on using something like Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere or whatever to edit your videos, but to upscale, you just set your output resolution to be larger than the source material and then render it. Of course, if you're going straight from OBS capture to YouTube, you may not have that option.


For uploads, I would suggest weekly. That way, you can get ahead of yourself and queue up some videos; might allow you to take a break or afford a burnout or two.

[Quietus]

My experience with video descriptions is that they are best left where their name implies - in the text below the video. When I want to watch gaming videos, I want straight into the action, usually from the start menu.

As for uploads, I'd say weekly or possibly even less. To sustain daily uploads is a mammoth task, and unless you do nothing but your videos, you'll set yourself an impossible schedule.

[Dark-SA-X]

Depends on your schedule, if your going to long play and you know the game will take more than a day to beat.
Record in segments, use a save state, when the game fades to black, pause the game, save the state it is in and pick up where you left off.

A program like aiseesoft or handbrake can merge the videos into one file, I think youtube has a limit on the length of the video if its pass 6 hours.
Also don't feel pressed to play how other viewers want you to play, when I play I go from start to finish if the item isn't needed to save bob from the dungeon.
I skipped it and keep on going, doesn't hurt to show you getting owned once and awhile during games or getting a  game over.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAhA053-JUo

Here is an example of a long play I did last week, took 2 days with zsnes because I was constantly coming and going all day.

[Steel Sparkle]

Thanks for the info everyone. I plan on doing it for fun not for fans and crap. It's just what i believe. You should make a video because you enjoy it and want to. Not because you have to. Anyways I will try to meet a weekly quota. I really appreciate the help  :^_^:

[Kazuto]

Just to throw in another opinion, "longplay," as far as I'm aware, usually just means playing the game from start to finish.  It doesn't dictate that you 100% it.  I'm also gonna go against what's mostly been mentioned and say I've seen numerous longplays with running commentary, so it can go either way.  Obviously, you don't want to talk the entire time.  But if you have something to comment now and again (like explicitly doing something, or forgetting about something and then mentioning you had forgotten it earlier), then I'd say that's okay.