So I'm deciding if I should stop doing let's plays of custom stories and...

[Koopa Rs07]

...do a review on custom stories instead. It would be something no one on Youtube has done before. After all, it's nearly impossible to get noticed when you do just let's plays nowadays. The video would be me talking about my experience with the custom story and would have gameplay of it in the background. At the end of the video I would give it a rating of x/10. Then I would ask you to tell me in the comments how good the custom story was to you.


Here's the big idea of all the things I could cover and how the videos will be made:

Spoiler below!

How I will create the video:

• Give a short introduction that sums up the game and don't spoil it too much, especially the first 10 minutes of the game and catch the viewer's attention!
  
  
• Take notes about the detail, immersion, story and gameplay during the game.. After playing the game, add to the notes.
  
  
• Tell things you really liked or really hated.
  
  
• Give a rating (x/10) for all 4 of the important things.
  
  
• Give examples of why something is good or bad to back up your argument.
  
  
• Sum it up with an ending paragraph. Write a sentence about the game, list the pros and cons, and give a score for every single thing and then give a final score for the whole custom story.
  

Remember:

• Be sure to avoid giving out obvious information about the mod or game (Year, developer) as this is a review of the game, not a summary of the game's statistics.
  
  
• When giving the mod a score, be sure to rate it based on its detail, immersion, gameplay and story and opinion by adding them up and dividing it for an average.
  
  
• Write it in third person to make it sound like it wasn't written by a video game fanboy to sound more professional.
  
  

Things I will cover:

Immersion:

• How much the character talks or is involved during the gameplay
  
  
• Several choices (several ending or branches of the custom story)
  
  
• Creative and/or well-made level design
  
  
• Professional sounding voice acting
  
  
• Continuous visual events
  
  
• Custom models is a plus
  
  
• No lack of "activity" or "life" to the game
  

Detail:


• Usage of decals
  
  
• Particles
  
  
• Lighting
  
  
• Fog
  

• Atmosphere:
  • Background sounds
    
    
  • Custom sounds and music is always a plus
    

Gameplay:

• Is there hints?
  
  
• Are the puzzles way too difficult? Or too easy?
  
  
• Creative puzzles
  
  
• Creative scares
  
  
• Are areas boring?
  
  Story:
  
• Who's the antagonist?
  
  
• The conclusion of the story.
  
  
• Does the gameplay fit the story well?
  
  
  

It would be a great way to talk more about a custom story. More than just in the comment section of Mod db or steam. So tell me what you think.

[Mudbill]

Sounds good. Be sure to point out if the story is worth paying attention to without spoiling anything past the first 10 minutes.

[Koopa Rs07]

No offense, as I do think it's a good idea, and I like the fact more people are turning to the avenue of reviews, but this is something that has been done before in the past. Either way, I'd say go for it - it'd be good to have that kind of channel out there for any modding scene.

Of course this wont be the only thing on my channel. I will have lore videos about the games from Frictional Games and I'm coming up with more ideas.

I want my channel to be mostly about indie horror games similar to Penumbra, Amnesia and SOMA.

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Sounds good. Be sure to point out if the story is worth paying attention to without spoiling anything past the first 10 minutes.

I'll take that into consideration!

[WALP]

given effort, the author will at the very least love or appreciate your review. you could probably also get a few more people watching by linking the review in the thread of the mod, given the authors permission.

It depends quite a lot on the quality of your videos(of which I have watched none), but I think that if you can keep it up with the released and have them be relatively close to the mod releases you might be a able to build up a decent audience of people using your channel as a way to find mods and see if they are something they would like to play.

You could probably also gain interest from people who have played mods you have reviewed, and wish to share their thoughts on it as well as see what others(you) thought about the mod.

[Koopa Rs07]

It depends quite a lot on the quality of your videos(of which I have watched none), but I think that if you can keep it up with the released and have them be relatively close to the mod releases you might be a able to build up a decent audience of people using your channel as a way to find mods and see if they are something they would like to play.

Well, I do have a Rode NT USB microphone. It's not an XLR, but it does sound very good.
I already have a "professional" editing software, I guess you could say. It allows me to do an endless number of things. However, I'm not really the most experienced editor.. I mean I know how to slowly zoom in on things and add text that I can animate myself, etc. Also my videos will be 1080p and 60fps. So quality as far as gameplay footage and audio seem to be in check.

[Slanderous]

Don't do let's plays, there's a ton of other let's players on the internet so why would anyone watch your particular series? Try to come up with something fresh, new and original that will attract people to your channel. Sure, it's a very difficult thing to do, but no one said that the path of becoming a YouTuber is easy. You gotta work hard, learn new things, study the tricks YouTubers use (tags, appropiate thumbnails, catchy names) and in my opinion you as well need a lot of patience, one of the most lacked traits that people struggle with.

I'd say start with asking yourself "Why would people watch my channel?", and then try to come up with an answer to the question.

Good luck on that!

[Nice]

well to be fair, doing let's plays is really nothing wrong - I do them occasionally, and asides from one or two vids who have 400+ views for some specific reasons my average count is like 4 per vid

I do it just because I find it fun to record stuff and clutter the internet with it, plus a few friends said they'd really want to watch me play X

[Koopa Rs07]

Don't do let's plays, there's a ton of other let's players on the internet so why would anyone watch your particular series?

I do agree with you and I plan on stopping them altogether, but it was really just for fun.
However, doing reviews for SOMA and the mods for it seem a lot more fun and a lot more original. Reviews are not original obviously, but a person dedicated to reviewing only indie horror games and SOMA mods hasn't happened yet.. As far as the SOMA mod part goes at least. Also I may do something different besides reviews like Lore videos on Penumbra, Amnesia and SOMA perhaps? Or I could write a creepypasta about a game and then make a video. I did that with Runescape and it's my most popular video on my channel (600 views and 12 likes, but that's a lot to me) people seemed to like it.

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I do it just because I find it fun to record stuff and clutter the internet with it

That's pretty much why I do it, but it's getting old for me..

[GrAVit]

Why not do both?
Record yourself playing through it and then make a video where you review it.
SOMA would be a great place to start once all the mods start popping up!

[Koopa Rs07]

Why not do both?
Record yourself playing through it and then make a video where you review it.
SOMA would be a great place to start once all the mods start popping up!

I imagined this question being asked many times.

I plan on doing more than just reviews and I wouldn't want to waste time on a let's play. I'm thinking of doing a lore series for Penumbra, Amnesia and SOMA, writing creepypastas for games, maybe even a series where I attempt to create my own custom story. Not to mention I need to write down notes while playing the game and that would be a boring let's play. My let's plays would also be spam worthy in any person's sub feed sense I would have to play a bunch of mods and other indie horror games while at the same time uploading videos about lore, creepypastas and reviews.

And it's not just that... I would enjoy to play the game myself, by myself, to immerse myself, without spoiling anything for the viewer and instead tell about my experience through a review without again spoiling anything.