So you want to be internet famous? Make a ‘Let’s Play’ video or five, do ya?
Well you’ve come to the right place. In an upcoming series of blogs, I’ll walk you through a behind-the-scenes peek of how we make the videos currently releasing on our YouTube channel in our series ‘INDIEcent Exposure‘.
For a quick overview, INDIEcent Exposure is a series where we highlight the gameplay of ‘Indie’ developers from Toronto and the world by playing them (occasionally really poorly). You can check out an example of us playing Ballistic Tanks by Kirklight Games on our YouTube Channel!
Alright, now to the good part.
What is our set up?
Right now we’re running a pretty basic set up. We use the ASUS gaming laptop ROG GL552VW to play/record the game audio/video. It’s nothing fancy but it does everything we need it to do.
SPECS: Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.6GHz Memory: 16384MB RAM. DirectX Version: DirectX 12
We’ve hooked it up to an extra monitor (yet again, nothing fancy). Any HD monitor will do, in reality. As for our Facecam, we’re cycling through a few different options (webcams, our own phones etc) but we’ve settled in on using the same Macbook we use to record our sound (Just so happens it’s the latest and oft hated Macbook, but that’s negligible. As long as it can run ‘Audacity’ software as well as its own webcam at the same time, it’s good in our books).
When it comes to microphones, we’re using the ‘Blue Snowball’, a classic choice among early streamers/podcast enthusiasts. You can find it here.
All of our recorded video is kept on an 500 GB SSD (which will undoubtedly need an upgrade once it gets full.)
Our next video will feature a lighting and set up using this green screen kit (provided it ever gets here).
When it comes to the software on the Macbook, we’re running the built-in webcam programs, as well as Audacity in the background to keep things going simultaneously. While my personal experience would request the use of an ElGato capture device, the Windows 10 laptop we have uses the DVR built into the XBOX app. The footage taken from the XBOX app can be in varying qualities, so it’s important to note your settings before hitting the record button.
Anyways, that about wraps up the prerequisites for our set up, tune in next week for the next step of making a ‘Let’s Play’ styled video montage!
Until next time, don’t forget to follow us on social media and watch our videos!
-Charlie Ze Newbie
