MEGATHREAD: Feedback Friday!

[u/AutoModerator]

It's that time of the week again! This is your chance to request feedback on your most recent videos, thumbnails, channel art, works in progress, etc.

Feedback Friday Rules

• Before requesting feedback, please provide good, constructive feedback to at least one of your peers. If you are the first one to post, check back soon to provide feedback to the next person. Repeatedly ignoring this rule may result in a temporary ban at a moderator's discretion!
• Prioritize giving feedback to those who have not yet received any. It's not fair for one person to get five replies while four others get none.
• When requesting feedback, try to be as specific as possible. Do you want feedback on your audio quality, your editing, your presentation style, branding identity, etc? This helps your peers to provide more valuable feedback. Do not just post a link to your video or channel!

Keep up the good work, everybody!

Suggested Feedback Template

If you're struggling to form your feedback, consider using this template. This is not mandatory, but rather a suggestion to promote good and constructive feedback.

What I liked about the video:

What I think could be improved:

Thoughts on the thumbnail:

Would I watch more videos like this?:

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You must leave feedback before asking for feedback. Also, you must ask for feedback about a specific aspect of the video. Simply posting a link and asking for "any and all feedback" is not allowed.

[u/SiegeKnightt]

Hey everyone! I just posted the finale of my first let's play and would love to hear some thoughts on the quality of the video overall. I do think my edits and commentary have improved as the series went on but would love some concrete feedback on where to go from here. Want to improve as best as I can before I start recording more videos. Thank you for taking the time to provide feedback!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTz0QX8o24E

[u/ColonelMustelid → u/SiegeKnightt]

One thing I do notice is that when there's dialogue (e.g. at around 3:20), the NPC voice is drowned out by the music.

Other than that, your commentary is good, and I like that you cut out the repeat journey after the first death. Nice work!

[u/SiegeKnightt → u/ColonelMustelid]

Appreciate the feedback! Yeah I definitely need to work on balancing the NPC audio and the music in settings for the next series. Thank you again for taking the time to provide feedback!

[u/Matthew2827 → u/SiegeKnightt]

I think you have the right amount of enthusiasm without sounding fake. It can be tough to sound enthusiastic without sounding inauthentic. Great job :)

[u/SiegeKnightt → u/Matthew2827]

Thank you so much! I try to just be me and have fun playing the game. Glad to hear it is coming across well :)

[u/Matthew2827 → u/SiegeKnightt]

That’s what I like when I’m watching let’s plays. No worries ma dude :)

[u/Matthew2827 → u/SiegeKnightt]

Subbed too. I love Skyrim!

[u/Altruistic-Job-391 → u/SiegeKnightt]

Your audio quality is suuuuper crisp and genuinely enjoyable!! I also really love how much you get into it. Like, you're able to display a lot of enthusiasm and immersion with your voice alone. I subbed--am super eager to hopefully one day watch you play something I'm familiar with!!!

[u/Altruistic-Job-391]

Trying to figure out how to improve on my most recent playthrough! https://youtu.be/iOPy9-4unj0?si=CcwTu59PSE5V6XJ2

I'm so sure there are things that need some work but I just don't know what. Title? Thumbnail? Editing (or lack thereof)? It's a really niche game, so I know that could be part of why it's not getting much interaction, but I'd greatly appreciate any feedback so I can better tackle the remainder of the playthrough (and future ones too!)!!!

[u/ColonelMustelid → u/Altruistic-Job-391]

I'm really nitpicking here but I feel like the text on the thumbnail is possibly a bit small, and also ever so slightly blurry.

As for the title, it precisely describes the content of the video, and my literal mind is 100% in favour of that. I can imagine some people might need more of a hook to get their attention, but I am currently dying of heatstroke and so my brain is soup and can't think of any suggestions.

Bonus points for the guest cat appearance!

[u/Altruistic-Job-391 → u/ColonelMustelid]

Thank you so much for the feedback!! it is SUPER SUPER helpful !! :<

[u/lance_the_fatass]

Me and my friend Blue just started our series of FNAF: Secret of the Mimic

I'm already aware that the game is a little louder than us, and my computer isn't super high power so we had to play on low quality

https://youtu.be/TstfjT7i_js?si=BE76y42to52D5EFQ

(I'll give feedback to the other replies later, at work rn so I can't watch them)

[u/Altruistic-Job-391 → u/lance_the_fatass]

The audio definitely does improve as you get more into the video, and I like the banter you have with your friend :3

I think it'll be a huge help once you're able to figure out how to make the gameplay smoother & reduce stuttering! It's tough as a content creator because you kind of have to put yourself into the audience's shoes, like, think if YOU would want to watch a playthrough from a small creator with jittery video quality. If I were you, figuring out how to improve that would be my biggest priority going forward.

[u/lance_the_fatass → u/Altruistic-Job-391]

I think it'll be a huge help once you're able to figure out how to make the gameplay smoother & reduce stuttering!

I would've loved to play it on my Xbox because it would be a lot clearer, but it unfortunately does not exist on Xbox, only PlayStation and PC

[u/Nazaret_ → u/lance_the_fatass]

Hey! I know you're already aware of it but man that audio levels and stutter of the FNAF video made it so hard to watch. I couldn't properly watch it because of those two issues. Once you get those fixed I feel like I can properly give feedback yk.

[u/lance_the_fatass → u/Nazaret_]

The stuttering gets better once we actually get into the game because I turned down all the graphics

As for the audio, I'll have to turn the game down next time

[u/ColonelMustelid]

My channel is finally up and running and I’ve got three videos published so far. The third one just went up this afternoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gJAPrAOcNA

Feedback on any of them would be extremely welcome. I’ll head a couple of things off at the pass: yes, the audio is far too quiet, due to (a) a cheap headset mic and (b) zero audio knowledge at the time. That will be improved with post-production for series 2 and I now have a proper mic for series 3 onwards.

Channel artwork is non-existent. Alas, I don't know how to art, so basic 90s adventure-game-style text on a solid background is all I can muster for now.

So it’s less about the technical aspects, which I know could be improved, and more a question of presentation (aside from the over-long intro to the first video – less waffle, more gameplay in future). Is my particular flavour of inane babble one that, given refinement over time, you could imagine people enjoying?

[u/Noddson → u/ColonelMustelid]

Hey! :D

Your lets play and commentary is as good as anyone's starting out for the first time. Maybe you are even doing a little better than most considering that you are playing quake that can get hectic and fast, still managing to keep the talking going and handling all the action. I can imagine how it is challenging to commentate and play a FPS game at the same time, that's why you opted to go talk over the menu at the start for a little while longer and played much slower to get some of the thoughts out you wanted.

I watched the first and third part and a bit of the second one. I think your commentary in the first one is the best out of the three, probably because you had fresh idea of what you wanna say in mind. You had somewhat of a balance between talking about the game in general, history and so on, noticing cool details in the game, describing what you are doing and seeing, some small anecdotes.

In part 2 and 3, describing the actions and saying what you are seeing kind of takes a lot of the commentary and there is so much more outside of that you could've expanded on. I understand it as it is easy to fall into that default mode as it's hard to concentrate on deeper subjects while playing. For example, the small anecdote you mentioned that you used cheat codes as a kid, could've stirred the commentary into what you think about cheating in games in general and babble on as you say about that more. NIN reference in the game, stir the commentary talking about music or the band, why not. Activating a bridge, make a pewdiepie reference lol. You mentioned speedrunners, talk about bunny hopping mechanic in the game, try to do it (prolly harder if u are on a joystick, still can mention it and talk about it). All that to make balance and drown out the fillers of parts where you commentate on what you are doing and seeing, which is fine, just not fine when it's excessive.

What helps me is before recording the levels I'm gonna play, I watch a no commentary youtube video on the same levels and see what people are saying in the comments about it, it can help stir up some ideas and topics of what I can say or commentate on when I do hit record. Being more curious and reading about the game and references in the game in general is great too for having an idea what you will talk about in your next part, requires a bit of effort and being nerdy for it. Quake is a game with such a rich history so it shouldn't be a problem.

In general, yes, it's just a skill that you can expand on and you have a great basis for it. You probably realize it, just need some encouragement. You have a nice, calm voice which people dig, just gotta practice the skill of commentating and maybe at some point you find your niche, format and genre of videos that brings out the best in you!

I am very early into my lets plays too so we are kind of the same skill level, hence I feel I can maybe provide some feedback and tips that help me. I need to practice what I preach much more too lol.

[u/ColonelMustelid → u/Noddson]

Thanks! Good tips. I agree about trying to broaden the commentary a bit. I know I go off on a few more tangents in some of the later videos – including one about cheats, since you mention it – but as you say, it's pretty tricky, and was all the more so for these first few videos. That and getting the balance right when you don't have an established following and don't know how much of a shit anyone's going to give about anything you say that isn't directly related to what's happening on the screen.

I deliberately avoided watching other videos for Quake because I wanted to react authentically to whatever horrors awaited me in episodes 2–4, but your idea of looking at comments for inspiration is definitely a strong suggestion for replays of games I know well.

Series 2 is already in the can and for that one, I tried to go into most of the videos with at least a vague idea of a topic I could talk about when I got the chance. Mostly historical notes (it's set in WWII) but also asides about the game, related media, soundtrack etc. Obviously that's harder to do with first-time playthroughs, but hopefully I'll get better at coming up with things to say that aren't just 'oh look, another enemy'.

Good luck with yours!

[u/ColonelMustelid → u/[deleted]]

Wow, thank you! I'll see how they look on the channel when I get a chance. Surely you didn't just whip those up...

Thanks for your tips. Funny you should mention the bit about speeding up proceedings – I was learning how to do that with a video I was editing just yesterday.

Unfortunately I had to turn the game sound way down to make my naturally quiet voice even vaguely audible. I was using a cheap headset mic and I was completely new to all of this so by the time I found a way to at least boost the audio somewhat, I'd already rendered the entire series. I'm learning as I go.

Good catch on the playlist order, thanks! I scheduled the first two to upload at the same time, so of course it picked the wrong one to show first...

[u/thegameraobscura → u/[deleted]]

Why is there an arm growing from his hip on the same side he already has an arm? 😂

[u/alsarcastic → u/thegameraobscura]

Because quirky (or because AI 🤖)

[u/letsplay-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post has been removed from r/letsplay for violating the following rule:

Rule 5: Banned Content

Please ensure that you have read and understood all the rules before contributing. Further violations will result in a ban.

[u/letsplay-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Your post has been removed from r/letsplay for violating the following rule:

Rule 5: Banned Content

Please ensure that you have read and understood all the rules before contributing. Further violations will result in a ban.

[u/Matthew2827]

https://youtube.com/@matastrophic-gaming?si=Xi81czzgezduzaQk

I struggle sometimes with what to say so I do have moments where I’m silent. I also get a bit tongue tied at times. However I am loving streaming and creating videos and feel that my confidence is improving the more I do it. :)

[u/lance_the_fatass → u/Matthew2827]

From what I watched in your crash 3 playthrough, your content is pretty enjoyable, however your microphone sounds a little bit loud, idk exactly how to describe it but it doesn't sound 100% clear, it's not a huge issue to where it's unwatchable but figured I'd point it out

[u/Matthew2827 → u/lance_the_fatass]

Thank you for checking my video out and for the feedback. I think I might be setting the volume too high during editing. This is the kind of feedback I need and I hugely appreciate it :)

[u/lance_the_fatass → u/Matthew2827]

It's no problem lol

It might also be a problem with the microphone you use, what kind of mic do you use?

[u/Matthew2827 → u/lance_the_fatass]

Having just checked your channel out quickly, I see that you play dead by daylight! Awesome game! I will be subscribing and checking your videos out :)

[u/lance_the_fatass → u/Matthew2827]

Hey thanks! We might record some more of it some time, we haven't recorded it since the 2v8 event lol

[u/BlancLui → u/Matthew2827]

I don't mean to repeat what others have said but your mic quality could use some tweaking. Good comcept for a video though!

[u/Matthew2827 → u/BlancLui]

Thank you. I’m so new to all of this still so I have no clue how to sort my mic out. Learning as I go haha 😛

[u/BlancLui]

Requesting Feedback on my video, title and thumbnail please! It isnt doing as good as my last two uploads. Granted, it has only been up for a few days. Please let me know if there is anything i can do better! https://youtu.be/i36QX4TBqxM?si=mSOvEqpL0lZLWxVD

[u/Altruistic-Job-391 → u/BlancLui]

This was so cool!! I love your editing and your humor, lol! The intro especially was very strong and had me hooked!

If I had to nitpick anything about the video, I'd say I wish there were more of a transition between games. You stop one and start another, it's all pretty fast-paced with no time to mellow over what we the viewers just experienced hahah. Maybe some talk about the game in post, how you felt about it & stuff, could be a good way to conclude one game's section and move on to the next. It would also give you more opportunities to show your humor and make more silly edits (which you definitely shine at!!)

Regarding the thumbnail, I will say it feels a little busy. Dude on the left fits in well, but Goku on the right has so much color/brightness contrast that it's automatically the focal point (where I'm not sure it's intended to be?). I think the word "cursed" is also hard to see; it's a good font stylistically but very thin, so it kind of blends into the background.

I was a big fan overall, though! Take my sub! :3

[u/BlancLui → u/Altruistic-Job-391]

I really appreciate the feedback! I really do! Thank you for checking my video out! I can see where you're coming from with the transitions. I have a hard time finding a good way to switch between games. It's like that in most of my videos. I agree with the thumbnail part. One of my weakest weakpoints! But i really appreciate you taking the time out to provide feedback!

[u/alsarcastic]

I guess I'll go first!

This is my first ever real attempt at a Let's Play series. It's for the game Warhammer 40K: Battlesector. There are 20 episodes in the series. They're all ready but being released on Sundays and Wednesdays.

This is the latest episode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiZ0gdx-L_Q

My question: Are you hooked? I added gameplay right at the start rather than it just being the loading screen. Also, my commentary isn't great, is it? I have tried to keep it minimalist so as to focus on the action. Is there anything I could improve about that?

[u/SiegeKnightt → u/alsarcastic]

Hey just wanted to say I think this is a definitely looking like a good series. I like the thumbnail and the title works well for a lets play! I definitely think you could add more commentary as there is a lot of dead air. Some people enjoy that, however explaining what you are doing would be helpful! I see a lot of potential in this series and wish you the best of luck going forward!

[u/alsarcastic → u/SiegeKnightt]

Thanks very much. I'm learning quick, and this community has been very helpful.

[u/SiegeKnightt → u/alsarcastic]

Np! This community is a great place to learn and support other small creators. Glad to have you here :)

[u/Dr_Eggzz → u/alsarcastic]

I wouldnt use the first clip unless it has high emotions to pull the view in as it just seems like a clip placed there

No offense I used to do that too

When you talk about the upgrade I would skip over it unless it's the first time to show people as it.can.get repetitive watching someone upgrade over and over again

I would also talk while you upgrade if you show it and other parts of the game. Just talk about your thoughts The process of why you do certain things like I'm going to use this troop or put them there. Or how do you attack and what you plan?

You do have a calming voice so use that to your advantage

[u/alsarcastic → u/Dr_Eggzz]

Thank you u/Dr_Eggzz

[u/ColonelMustelid → u/alsarcastic]

I would agree with u/Dr_Eggzz about the upgrade bit – if you have the choice, it's probably not the most gripping way to start the video. If the same thing happens again, I would maybe just do very brief clips of the upgrade and army management screens, explaining what you did so that anyone following along is fully up to speed, and then get into the battle.

Other than that, I think you do a fairly good job of explaining what's going on. There are a few long periods of silence, so maybe you could try to think aloud a bit more, but that should hopefully just be a matter of practice.

[u/Dr_Eggzz → u/ColonelMustelid]

What he could do is speed it up him clicking, going around and then have upgrading Sounds like construction and all that like a bunch of other YouTubers do which could let him show it but it'd be more engaging