Topic: Let's Play, Live! (Read 4423 times)

Detonator · « **on:** May 19, 2009, 04:07:09 PM »

So for the past couple of weeks I've been doing the occasional stream on Mogulus (apparently called LiveStream now overnight), which lets me broadcast my emulator as a live feed with built-in text chat. So far I've mostly been doing it to broadcast my awesome Super Metroid speed runs, but Arc mentioned the idea of a communal let's play, and this seems like the easiest way to go about it.

A single channel can allow multiple people to access the feed and broadcast, so there's no need to have everyone get separate channels: it's unlikely that more than one of us will be wanting to broadcast simultaneously. Player voice commentary is optional, I personally don't because I think most people would be annoyed by it.

I'm not going to help people set up their streams as tech support, but I will recommend using Procaster if you don't have another video capture device. It works very well, and integrates directly into ~~Mogulus~~ LiveStream.

If anyone is interested in this, either as a broadcaster or a viewer, let me know here.

Arc · « **Reply #1 on:** May 19, 2009, 06:05:07 PM »

Signed up, watched someone play Tenchu: Shadow Assassins with, like, fifty other ~~people~~ channers.

Boners.

Just post a link & time you'll be broadcasting, and I'll ~~cum~~ cum.

Detonator · « **Reply #2 on:** May 19, 2009, 07:46:44 PM »

I'd like to gauge interest before committing to a time. I don't mind being the only streamer, but a bigger crowd is always more fun.

Misha · « **Reply #3 on:** May 19, 2009, 07:50:21 PM »

I'd probably watch, depending on game

Brentai · « **Reply #4 on:** May 19, 2009, 07:53:06 PM »

Is it text or voice riffing?

I think I actually suggested something like this for the pod fad.

Arc · « **Reply #5 on:** May 19, 2009, 07:56:17 PM »

Four months ago; NO U.

Brentai · « **Reply #6 on:** May 19, 2009, 08:00:00 PM »

Thanks for reminding me to go watch episodes that DVD came with.

Detonator · « **Reply #7 on:** May 19, 2009, 08:04:38 PM »

Quote from: Brentai on May 19, 2009, 07:53:06 PM

Is it text or voice riffing?

Quote from: Detonator on May 19, 2009, 04:07:09 PM

live feed with built-in text chat.

I don't think there would be an easy way to have other people using voice during the feed, unless the player wasn't hearing it, which kinda defeats the point. Text chat works well enough with a bigger crowd, anyway.

The idea isn't to make comedy gold, it's to have fun watching someone play like you would at your friend's house. I'm not too interested in "blind play riffing", but if someone else wants to stream that I'm willing to cooperate. My idea is more to have a constant crowd of regulars in the channel while people switch off playing whatever strikes their fancy.

Brentai · « **Reply #8 on:** May 19, 2009, 08:08:42 PM »

I find it kind of hard to play and read at the same time.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #9 on:** May 19, 2009, 08:10:16 PM »

Would it be difficult to run Skype alongside the stream?

Detonator · « **Reply #10 on:** May 19, 2009, 08:18:15 PM »

Quote from: Brentai on May 19, 2009, 08:08:42 PM

I find it kind of hard to play and read at the same time.

It's... doable. Obviously you can't type back unless there's a serious lull, but I've done a good job keeping the chat in my peripheral vision and glancing at it when there's a spare moment. I've found it doesn't affect my concentration as much as you'd think, but there is a definite effect.

Quote from: Constantine on May 19, 2009, 08:10:16 PM

Would it be difficult to run Skype alongside the stream?

I kinda touched on this... I personally don't know how to stream the game audio separately from the microphone input while keeping them both active. Even if you did, you would hear people reacting to what you did a few seconds after you did it. This is normal in text chat since people have to take time to type, but I could imagine it being very distracting to the player, and confusing to the people listening if the player is talking about things they haven't seen on the stream yet.

Anyway, I think if you want people audibly talking to you while you play video games, you should get real friends. I've watched AND performed live streams in front of many people, and the text communication isn't perfect, but is probably the best option if using this site.

Brentai · « **Reply #11 on:** May 19, 2009, 08:22:17 PM »

Hurr, I'm wondering if there are any emulators out there which have like a spectator mode or something. With Netplay-enabled emulators it's no thing at all to get other people to connect as other players and simply not play if you want them to just watch, but I don't know offhand if any of them allow you to join a game without taking up a player slot. Netplay is quite a lot easier to manage than streaming audio/video (well, for end users anyway).

Detonator · « **Reply #12 on:** May 19, 2009, 08:39:43 PM »

Quote from: Brentai on May 19, 2009, 08:22:17 PM

Netplay is quite a lot easier to manage than streaming audio/video (well, for end users anyway).

Really? I've had fucking awful experiences getting emulator netplay to work. And when it does work, somebody gets dropped or desynced and it's all over. Getting my stream set up wasn't simple, but I got it working and the site can take care of having people come and go as they will.

You know, fuck having to explain why this works, I'm just gonna stream something and you can watch if you'd like and see for yourself. I'll post a link when I've got things set up.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #13 on:** May 19, 2009, 08:45:48 PM »

Quote from: Detonator on May 19, 2009, 08:18:15 PM

Anyway, I think if you want people audibly talking to you while you play video games, you should get real friends. I've watched AND performed live streams in front of many people, and the text communication isn't perfect, but is probably the best option if using this site.

Voice chat is preferable to text chat when you're playing a full screen game. There's no way for me to communicate back to the audience while I'm playing. Could also make for a unique Podorgy, where a game is played while people discuss whatever.

Anyway, Royal Constantine Society. You can watch On-Demand video of me playing Far Cry 2 pretty terribly while I was testing the system. Works pretty well, in that I'm actually able to play the game without much slow down. A repeat performance is tentatively scheduled for this Thursday at 7:30 Central time if anyone wants to chat about how much of a rube I am while I play.

Detonator · « **Reply #14 on:** May 19, 2009, 08:56:27 PM »

Okay, well... I'll go ahead and post mine too. Streaming Yoshi's Island.

Fuse's Vidya Stream, come check it out and I'll say hi.

Mothra · « **Reply #15 on:** May 19, 2009, 09:05:15 PM »

If there's a way to get an open voice chat commentary that would sync up properly, that sounds like a pretty fantastic idea. Text is great and all, but there's something to be said for the real-time reaction of voice, the oooh and aahs, the excited energy of tone.

Detonator · « **Reply #16 on:** May 19, 2009, 11:15:28 PM »

Yeah, many people set it up so they can talk during the stream in the let's play fashion, I just choose not to because my mic isn't really set up for it and I think I wouldn't add anything.

So the stream itself went mostly without a hitch with about six or seven viewers. Ditched Yoshi's Island pretty quick and picked up Super Metroid and played about 75% of it. Some expressed interest in streaming in the future, so hopefully they can get that in order. For those people, let me know if you want to stream from my channel so I can give you permissions.

It would be nice if we could just post here whenever we start a stream and have a bunch of people join right away.

Stush · « **Reply #17 on:** May 20, 2009, 01:47:00 AM »

Hehe, this sounds like fun, it's too bad i'm in australia, so i'd get a terrible connection.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #18 on:** May 20, 2009, 06:33:05 AM »

Quote from: Detonator on May 19, 2009, 11:15:28 PM

It would be nice if we could just post here whenever we start a stream and have a bunch of people join right away.

We can also use twitter to do it, because LiveStream can automatically post to twitter when we start casting.

jsnlxndrlv · « **Reply #19 on:** May 20, 2009, 07:51:10 AM »

Do we have a central repository of twitter contact info? I can't find one.

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Author Topic: Let's Play, Live! (Read 4423 times)