Streaming on Twitch

[Leafbaron]

Hello all!

I have started streaming on twitch and will be streaming KSP and other various games I play from time to time. So if you'd like to see me play KSP and get into some shenanigans please stop by. My twitch user name is the same as here (Leafbaron). Since I am new to this, any constructive feedback is always appreciated. Thank you for your time and consideration!

Leafy. 

[Kerbart]

Nothing is more fun than being a Monday morning coach! Without having seen your stream, I've seen a lot of other ones and here's some general advice I can give about it:

• Twitch is a brutal environment. If you're not good, you will not have viewers. If you're good, you will still not have viewers... at first. So don't give up; it takes time to build an audience. At the same time, be honest with yourself... and critical. Because if there's anything bad about your stream you might think it's acceptable, your viewers likely won't and will simply switch channels.
• Add value to your stream. Maybe it's humor. Maybe it's educational. Maybe it's something thematic. But there should be a reason (other than "it's 5 AM and no one else is on") that people will return to your stream
• Talk, talk, talk.  “Well, of course streamer X talks all the time, he 1200 viewers and his chat panel is busy all the time.” Maybe, but the reason she has 1200 viewers in the first place was because there was an engaging stream. Talk about what you're doing. Talk about why you're doing it. Talk about what happens next. Talk about why it fails. But talk. No one will watch a stream where you just watch in silence as someone is playing KSP. I can do that watching myself play KSP!
  Maybe buddy up with someone, so you stream together (in one room). The second person can ask questions, have a conversation with you. “Cross feed boosters, Leafbarron? I prefer SRB's myself. What makes you choose that?”  “Well, Kerbart, one of the advantages of liquid fuel boosters is...” etc, etc. There's a reason most early morning radio shows have two hosts!
• You have to have a pleasant voice. This one sucks, because if you don't, there's very little that can be done about it. People will just not listen if they don't like your voice. People with deep, booming Barry White voices tend to do better in this segment than youngsters whose voice hasn't settled yet, so to say. Not that pitch is the primary qualifier, but just to give you an idea of what I mean with "pleasant voice."
• However, if you do have a pleasant voice... use it well. Speak s-l-o-w-l-y, it makes it easier to understand what you're saying. Don't mumble; project your voice. Don't use filler words like ehm and ah, pause instead if you can't think of the word you're looking for (this is incredibly hard but it gets easy over time. Join Toastmasters International to improve your speaking skills). A decent microphone (you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars) or at least an environment where your voice sounds "dry" and not muffled, popping, hissing, echoing and weak. As I tell my colleagues: the key to professional looking video... is audio.

[Vanamonde]

Works of fans, such as videos and game-related streaming, belong in the Fan Works subforum. And so, moved. 

[Leafbaron]

Thanks for the tips @Kerbart you'll have to watch my broadcast and tell me what you think. I know for sure I need to work on my speaking. Fortunately my voice settled years ago, the bad part is that I was not blessed with a booming baritone Barry White voice haha.   

[Kerbart]

Your voice isn't too bad, no worries there. But yes, you'll need to get comfortable talking in front of just a monitor. It's incredibly hard, and I don't know if I could do it. You go on and off, sometimes you do a good job in chatting up the empty void, but then it falls silent.

Looking at your Rescue Mission from Munar South Pole (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/126930349) I'll take a little clip for some pointers (starting at 17:30)

• Instead of saying "let's turn those all the way up", say "Let's turn the engines all the way up again" and then set them to max values.
• Same when closing the cargo bay and activating the airbrakes. Why? (don't answer me here. I mean in your stream!)
• Explain what the fiddling with the autopilot does
• When you start rolling yell something like "Awwww man! Doesn't that look awesome!"
• "Well we passed the seam in the runway without problems. That's good"
• For the remainder of the runway, pray/yell "rotate! rotate!"
• After a failed take-off, don't just reverse to the SPH. Crash first! Your audience loves crashes (because who doesn't). Then revert back to the SPH

When you're back in the SPH you're doing much better. But when you're placing the canards, just express your thoughts out loud. "Over here? Nah, too far backwards. Let's see if I add them directly to the front"

My takeaways:

• Consider having an extra light pointed at your face (oh yes!) Don't point it directly at your face, that's just painful, but instead shoot for the wall behind the monitor and have your face lit up indirectly. Less shadows and friendlier for your eyeballs.
• Explain more what you are going to do, instead of what you are doing. This has the advantage that you automatically end up explaining why, which can fill in the silence when you're actually doing something. When launching a space plane you can explain that you want to build up speed in the lower atmosphere where the oxygen is available for free, so you're not climbing yet.
• have the resources panel open so your viewers can see how much fuel, EC and monoprop you have (and glee over upcoming disasters)

Good luck!

 

 

 

[Leafbaron]

once again, Thanks you for the valuable pointers @Kerbart! I will definitely take these to heart! 

[Kerbart]

I just looked at your March 7th recording (I seem to miss your live streams). Amazing progress! You're doing a good job talking, and I like that you've fixed the light. Looking forward to more!

[Leafbaron]

Thanks again for stopping by tonight @Kerbart  Hopefully the progress continues! haha.