Twitch game dev stream

edited in General
Hi guys,

I've been quite inactive on the forums but want to change that a bit, so expect a few threads from me where I post some prototypes soon(ish). I may have put this in the wrong category, as it's not a game but it is a project... and it is very much related to game development, so here goes:

I recently started streaming the development of my prototypes on twitch (http://www.twitch.tv/ramperkash); most of the development of the two prototypes I'll post soon was done during streaming. If anyone is interested I'd really appreciate if you can join when I stream. Shameless self-promotion aside, I do want to hear everyone's thoughts on my ideas as well as get feedback on my streaming itself. I'm currently planning to take the streaming in one of two directions:
  • Make multiplayer games/prototypes, host a server with the latest build of whatever I'm working on, and playtest the games with the viewers themselves. The idea here is that I'd get testers and feedback, as well as build excitement for what I'm working on as the start of a marketing strategy for when a prototype does seem promising.
  • Make any game, post some document somewhere where viewers can edit it and suggest ideas. This plan is more about making viewers buy into the game by giving them some sense of ownership in it.
I guess I could do either of these things to a lesser extent without focusing on it.

Please nitpick the hell out of these ideas, and note that I don't know how I'm going to get to those points in the first place as I think I'll need at least a small consistent audience for these to really work. If anyone has done any streaming in general I'd love to hear your advice too. Streaming gameplay is probably completely different, but there may still be valuable lessons to learn.

Also, do you guys think streaming development is worth the trouble? Keep in mind that productivity is probably quite a bit lower as you may want explain what you're doing if your goal is to teach people, you may distract yourself with chatting if your goal is entertainment, and you may want to do less operational things (like planning or committing often) as I'm not sure how engaged people would be when doing that.

Finally, I would appreciate any other comments or ideas as well, so feel free to ignore my specific questions here.

Absolutely truly finally, but not least, thanks a lot to the folks who saw my stream via twitter and popped in to watch, chat, or even just sitting there AFK making it look like I have one more viewer. Looking at you @pieter, @raxter, @francoisvn, and others I may have forgotten now...

(Edit: In retrospect, I changed the category to General...)
Thanked by 1pieter

Comments

  • In the art community, streaming is pretty awesome. Even if there are no viewers, the feeling that there's someone watching you work kind of forces you to be focused and productive with the time you're spending. Some of the ones that need to be focused (i.e. not answering questions every minute or so) take breaks every 30-60 minutes to just read through all of the comments and answer questions in a batch, rather than being interrupted regularly.
  • I enjoy your streams. Just like seeing how other people go through code is fascinating to me. Keep it up. I try watch when it pops up on my feed.
    Thanked by 1Ramperkash
  • I think one of the biggest things with streaming or any sort of viewership/audience building is always making sure you stick to a schedule. Pick your times and stick to them. By all means, experiment with when your audience wants to watch and when you can afford to stream, etc. But once you've decided when you're going to be online that week, stick to those times. It makes a huge difference to viewership! And then keep telling everyone those times! And when you're live, etc. Don't stop announcing, ever.
    Thanked by 1Ramperkash
  • Thanks for the responses so far. I kind of neglected streaming last week, as I forgot to announce it early enough and also lost internet for half of the week...

    That said, if anyone wants to give me feedback, I'm planning to stream Thursday at 9. I still need to announce on Twitter, but need to get something to buffer tweets so I can easily mention it a few times.

    @dislekcia do you think it's fine to just announce each time I'm streaming well beforehand, or that you pretty much need fixed schedule and always stream the same times each week? I suspect that the fixed schedule would be much better, but it can be difficult to stick to it 100%.
    Thanked by 1pieter
  • @dislekcia do you think it's fine to just announce each time I'm streaming well beforehand, or that you pretty much need fixed schedule and always stream the same times each week? I suspect that the fixed schedule would be much better, but it can be difficult to stick to it 100%.
    Fixed schedule. No question. With rebroadcasts.

    Yes, it's difficult. But it's what makes things grow. It's difficult for people to commit to a single time to watch you as well, you only want 1 source of that difficulty in your way.
  • Thursday went great (sarcasm). Streaming software decided not to work, and I also learnt that I decided to stream at the same time that the Northways stream Fantastic Contraption. Fortunately I've downloaded a different version of the streaming software which seems to work again, and changed my schedule to stream on Tuesdays at 9 instead. Please join if you'd like to give me feedback.

    Unless I get some feedback/questions here I won't bump the thread further though as it's starting to feel like I'm just advertising here, and I don't want to abuse the forums ;)

    Thanks
    Thanked by 1Karuji
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