Here we go again...?

[boreal fractal]

Hey guys! This video is an experiment!

ISSUES IM AWARE OF

• Audio 😄 (it's quiet and being difficult)
• Flow issues with maze (I didnt keep my location well in the maze)
• This game high key wasnt very scary
• the ending 💀
• This isnt the actual upload, and this video is more a proof of concept
• Thumbnail 😄

QUESTIONS I HAD

• Do you find this video entertaining?
• If this isnt you kind of video (understandible lol) do you think it would be entertaining to someone who this is their type of video?
• If not, what can I improve on?
• This is a very not-scary game. Did I make up for it well?

NOTES

• I'm not looking for feedback on my personality 😄
• It's ok if this isnt your kind of video! No stress! Please judge the video from the perspective of someone who watched indie horror letsplays or on its technical aspects! My videos are not for everyone

Thank you guys so much again!!

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdliMEGm624

[proven thistle]

It's not really the type of videos I watch (I watched all of it to not ruin your AVD), here are some small things:

1- in the coming up section, only have your camera video, have some dramatic music (search copyright free horror buildup sound effect) and then at the peak (maybe when you are scared) cut to black to set up... When the coming up is the same format as the rest of the video, it doesn't create that contrast people look for in a hook

2- it's hard to make non interesting games entertaining, a trick I remember let's play channels used to do is to derive the focus away from the game and make it something more personal, like making jokes that are not intended by the creator, or role playing.

Over all I think you did well for what you've been given 🙂 but generally the let's play genre is VERY difficult to get into as a lot of channels are doing it, maybe for the future try to spice it up with some challenges or more focused on you yourself? These are my opinions, but again I'm not the target audience 😅

[undone quail]

Truth be told I did not enjoy the video, but not to do with anything with you, I just found the game itself to be very dull and not scary. Your commentary on the game did breathe some life into the game, but overall the game was not capturing my attention, but you somewhat did. However, there were some times where i did find the commentary to be stale but i think thats a product of the game itself, and you were repeating or simply just saying what you were seeing on the screen. i would like to see you maybe ask more inquisitive questions to the audience, or maybe crack a few jokes. But all of the is mainly down to the game, but I did like the short and sweet, simplicity of the video.

[dreamy rune]

Helloooo! I don't specifically watch horror game content but I do enjoy lets plays quite often. So that's my perspective. I also watched this on my TV and imo that's a different experience than watching on PC and mobile.

Speaking to the audio, the volume balance was pretty good between the mic and game tracks and as the video went on either I got used to the faults in the mic track or it improved somehow. I wouldn't say it was too quiet unless you wanted the freak out bits to be more bombastic.

The maze flow was a non issue from my perspective. The way I watch videos like this is like... the visuals get partial attention and from there because you have a face cam so the actual game visuals get like 1/4 attention. So half my attention is on my phone/brushing my cat and the other half is divided between the face cam and then the actual game visuals.

Was it entertaining? Yes 🥰 I especially loved the cat bomb part way through. If possible if that happens in the future if you had a way to capture kitty in the moment that would be even more endearing.

The biggest things holding the video back are probably the room bouncing your voice around and the game itself. The visuals were mostly hedges which were pretty repetitive. Idk if you have the facecam independent from the gameplay but if you do you might try messing around with the game perspective more. Pull in tighter on any points of interest, slide the video around a bit, shake it when crazy stuff happens. This could also be my "too much gene" kicking in and maybe people don't like that stuff as much as I do 😅 all this being said the facecam does a lot of the hard work in these videos because it's naturally a point of dynamic interest.

I know you are not looking for personality feedback but I will say you entertain very well which imo is the biggest part of lets plays. They are less about the game and more about... would I want to sit next to this person and game with them.

Good luck with the experiment!

Bonus!? Feedback: the header image you chose for your channel looks BEAUTIFUL on TV. My picture doesn't do it justice but it literally is the only time I've seen one of these used to such nice effect and has made me want to try and make one for my own channel.

[boreal fractal]

OK for starters oh my gosh so much for you to go through yay!! This is amazing!! I’ll be back to respond to everything, but first I’m going to take notes and think through things

[simple current]

Honestly like I loved that video. You made it really energetic (which I cannot do in my videos lmao I feel like I'm talking like a zombie) so it makes it fun to watch. I think you could gather a massive young community with your style of videos. Your narration of the game makes it really fun to watch and everything. Mic, camera, and video quality is pretty good! Also the editing is really good because it cuts out all the downtime! Overall I really think you could go somewhere with these if you keep at it! good luck!!!!!!!!!

[hollow depot]

hey hey, I thought it was cool! For me I'm just focusing on 4 things:

• Thumbnail

• Title

• Intro

• Content

• Thumbnail - I feel it's hard to create excitement from a pixelated monster, but I don't know, it just looks a bit too basic. Like even a screenshot from a Slenderman game would look scarier. That thing kinda just looks like a burnt cheese curl

• Title - Needs more emotion, this is more of just a statement, and the title won't matter if the game is so indie (just my opinion). Maybe something like, "This indie game RUINED my love for Christmas presents!"

• Intro - I'm not a fan of screaming so early on, was kind of a shock to my system, but that's just me, but other than that I enjoyed how quick and to the point it was

• Content - So for me, the biggest issue here is the game itself, it just looks bad and would never be something I'd be interested in. However, your personality definitely carries and it was an enjoyable watch.

Overall, you've got a lot of things done well, but I feel like the thumb/title and maybe the game itself might hold you back here.

[boreal fractal]

Aww thanks! It's ok, you dont have to watch all the way through! In the long term, you not liking the video wont affect my AVD so please dont worry!! I appreciate how much consideration youre giving me though!!

1. I could do that and I definitely something I could try! It's a good idea! I'll think about it and test it out maybe on a couple videos to see how it feels. In Indy horror games is really common to have it in the way that I have it set up but I could definitely try something new!! So I will try it out and let's see how it goes!! Thanks for the suggestion!

2. That's kind of what I usually do when I'm enjoying a game. I'm glad you think that's a good thing we could work towards though. This video in particular was a tester video to see if I could make a boring raw and entertaining video. There are so many subtle edits that are happening behind the scenes to make this video a lot more entertaining than the role was!! Next time I do a video like this I will definitely try that!!

Thanks for the suggestions!

[boreal fractal]

That's okay Razza you don't have to enjoy it but thank you for reviewing anyway!!

I picked this game in particular because it wasn't scary and would be a very dull game, so I'm glad you agree there. I'm also glad you thought that my commentary brought some life into the game, because High key that was one of the things I wanted to test!! Unfortunately there wasn't really much to go off of, and I naturally didn't feel any inclinations towards the game.

The good news is future games are way scarier or have a much more thrilling plot! It's great that you could give me the perspective of someone who prefers a much scarier game!! I appreciate your input here and hopefully future videos will actually be entertaining to watch 😅 ❤️

[boreal fractal]

It's okay that you don't actually watch horror games that's fine! It's a niche inside of a niche inside of a niche so honestly just being interested in Let's Plays is enough for me to have a good gauge from your review!

You are the fifth person to tell me that the audio was good which is telling me that perhaps my judgment on audio is too strict!! If there's any flaw or any clarity or any leveling and balances I do not like it and I spend a lot of time trying to fix it, but it seems I was too zealous and maybe over editing in the past? Thank you for clearing this up and helping me realize that I'm putting way too much stock into audio!!

I'm glad that the maze flow was good for you or rather it wasn't really an issue. I've gone this comment a lot of times that I can lose people in my flow because I can easily jump from thought to thought concept of concept or location and location without a clear objective, so location flow is a really big thing I'm working on right now! But it seems people don't mind it in the Maze because the maze is supposed to be confusing? Or you're not supposed to actually track yourself in a maze? Looking back in the game I was actually insanely lost for like 80% of the game! It's funny how it doesn't look like that now! I'm glad you didn't think this was an issue!

Oh my God I am so happy that you found it entertaining!! I have a few kittens (we foster animals) and often one of them will bomb the video at some point, it's practically a given at this point! Next time I get a kitten attack I will try to get it captured on camera in the moment, perhaps I could set up a secondary kitten cam or maybe lower my camera angle a bit more?

[boreal fractal]

Okay let's break down your problem issue by section separately in this paragraph:

Audio Bouncing: oh my God is it? That would explain a lot of my audio issues. I actually have my entire room paneled or covered in cloth to avoid bouncing (windows covered, doors covered, etc). That is of course except the floor! So if it's still bouncing this is probably an issue with my furniture/layout (I have a big shelving system infront of me, maybe thats bouncing it?). I'll have to take a look into this thank you for letting me know!!

Game Itself: oh yeah definitely and don't worry this game was specifically because it sucks!! I like testing myself sometimes and I absolutely hate that I keep recording videos that I need to throw away because the game sucked (which is a very common issue in my niche, bad games get popular fast and you need to sink 20ish in to findout a game sucks sometimes). So basically I decided to pick a game that I knew would lack horror/scares/general quality/etc, to see if I could edit it to be a little bit more entertaining, enough to publish, or at least enough to work with! So the mere fact that you think this video is entertaining is telling me I'm on to something and eventually I can get to the point where I don't even need to throw out my videos I can just edit them to Quality!

Keying/Creative Edits: oh I love this I love this I love this!! I see you're one of those people that love Creative edits and honestly I just can't get the vibe for them half the time. Sometime it's really obvious to me where I could put a creative edit (like the "vibe" is expressive, and the expression is creative edit, if that makes any sense) but on a mechanical level I struggle going exactly when I should do one. I love your suggestions and I will consider them for the next video!! Thank you so much!!

[boreal fractal]

Thank you so much for the sweet words about my personality! The reason I said I didn't want personality feedback is because I actually tend to get a lot of really negative feedback in regards to how I present myself in my videos. The hard truth is a lot of people actually do not like my personality and think I have fake YouTuber vibes, and it's okay they don't have to but because this is my genuine 100% IRL personality? It's not exactly very helpful to tell me "hey your personality sucks" when I've already received the feedback theyre probably trying to give me but expressing off (something on the lines of " your personality is not for everyone and it's not for me" which is fine but I already know this and I don't need any more feedback on it). I'm happy to hear that you actually enjoy my personality!! Thank you so much!!

The more and more you give me feedback the more I view you as the exact type of person I would love to entertain as a viewer, so I am absolutely thrilled to receive your feedback!! Thank you so much for writing this out for me!!

Bonus?! Thank you!! I'm glad you like my header image!! I really wanted to get those night sky vibes down so I'm so glad that you love it!! Definitely do it yourself! It's so worth it!! The trick I did was make sure that the overall image is huge (Tv scale) but it narrows into smaller and smaller frames that I wanted to focus on (down to banner size)

[boreal fractal]

Oh my God thank you so much I'm glad that you liked this!! It's okay if you're struggling with energy in fact honestly I think most people struggle with that when they first started out too (it's a natural thing, since energy doesnt really come across right on cam/mic). Dont worry! With time, I think you can def get it down!! Thank you so much again!!

[boreal fractal]

Hey Marco thanks for the review!! Since you broke it down, I'll reply in break downs back! (So much simplier this way, i like it!)

Thumbnail: Yeah for the thumbnail I will definitely agree it was such a stress to make and did not come across the way that I really wanted it to. It's definitely hitting the requirements of my Niche but at the same time it is so basic and because it's a pixelmonster it is not scary in the slightest. Now that you say it... it DOES look like a burnt cheese curl! Omg, yes def a burnt cheese curl!!

Title: I could probably put way more energy into there! I've always been really bad with titles so I'm testing out a method that another friend recommended for me but High key I don't know if it's going to work. I could definitely add some more emotion to it though if the video starts having issues!! Thanks for the suggestion!!

Intro: Ah yes screaming early on is a thing in Indy horror games. It's like the standard precursor and it tells the viewer that there will definitely be scary-stuff somewhere in this game of some sense (which is needed especially with a game like this because it literally doesn't come across as scary at all in the slightest D:) That said I could definitely look into making the screams a little less shocking!! My goal is to make sure it comes across as a scary game from the get-go, not Shock everyone's systems!! So if it's too intense I can definitely look into finding way to make the Fear Factor maybe a little less shocking!

Content: Oh yes the game sucks!! That's why I picked it!! It was perfect for this experiment because it lacked everything that I needed from a horror game to make an Incredible video based off the game alone! I really wanted this video to be me making a bad game somewhat entertaining, so it's absolutely okay that you thought this game was lacking. In general I tried to avoid games that lack horror or scariness or thrilling story but at the same time I hate throwing out recordings only to find out that people actually really loved that game it's just I didn't package it right!

Thank you so much for reviewing and I will definitely look into the thumbnail entitled to see what I can do about that! Thanks again!!