RavenDark

My favorite to date is also the most recent for me: A couple years before I moved out West, this must be 5 years ago now, Strung Out did a "album retirement" tour, they played only songs from two albums, "Suburban Teenage Wasteland Blues" and "Twisted by Design" playing each album in full, which were, at the time, by far the most well known and requested from them. The were "retiring" them, as in not playing songs from them again at live shows, and focusing only on newer material. Being my favorites I couldn't miss it. So I bought like 4 extra tickets and took a couple friends whom I had went to many shows with, and a couple that I had never went to shows with. It was also one of the last full shows at Altar Bar in Pittsburgh. Sharing the show with friends new and old, and chatting with band members over drinks after, brought back the days in the mid and early 90's when we would have a wildly varying list of bands at my friends house for after parties on a regular basis. (Catch 22 - Real Big Fish - Strung Out - Propaghandi - Face to Face - Tilt - Medicine - Save Ferris, the list goes on) many nights were spent drinking and talking music with people from a wide swath of genre's. This show brought all that back for a few moments and a realization that I'll never see anything like it again.

yes it's worth the investment, as are a good webcam and a Mic. though the Mic quality may be slightly more important than the webcam quality, clear audio can overcome a low res video, as long as the video is still smooth.

People want engagement on Twitch. interaction is important. as are branding of your channel. while the built in systems on the consoles are fine to get started and get a feel for things, having a stream set up from a PC using a capture device, a good webcam, and a good Mic is a much more engaging setup, having it set up to show a popup when someone follows the channel during the stream goes a VERY long way in encouraging others to follow, and become a part of your community, having the currently playing song scrolling, it seems trivial, but if you have to stop what your doing to answer that question from chat, it takes away from the experience not only for you, but those watching.

the small things some people complain about, overlays, facecams, it all makes a difference to building out a brand and consistent user experience, sure I watch a couple streams that don't have a facecam setup, but not often, mostly because I don't feel as engaged with the caster.

And I'll head this off before it comes up, I don't have many followers, and I really am not out to make it rich on Twitch either, it's fun for me. If I can make a living out of it later on, all the better, but the things I mentioned go toward making it a better experience for the viewers I do have, and in that, for me as well.

If you're having fun doing it, take your time, you have the capture device, save up and pick up a decent webcam, get a good mic, fiddle around with a simple overlay (you can commision someone to create one if you don't have the photoshop skills later if you wish, or search google for premade ones to use) PC not up to streaming at 1080p, drop your broadcast rez down to say 540p, it'll be smoother (if lower quality).

*this is all my proverbial 2 cents* and your Milage (interest in casting) may vary wildly, but there you have it.

@halfashandy: you are quite welcome. as for what game/s I'm still planning a schedule. I will most likely break it up into chunks of about 3 or 4 hours per game mixing in some older games with newer releases. example. start out with Diablo 3 and grind that for a while ( don't have to think to much about it, and can make sure the stream is progressing well, chat with people, etc.) then later on move into, say, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel once some more people are awake, and online and come into the party, then move into another game, again something easy for single player, as the night moves on, and less people are online.

still working on that mind, so thats just an example.

@halfashandy: drink water...a lot of water...as for food, I'm going with protein shakes, inbetween normal meals, stay away from high carb stuff and junk food in general. this doesn't leave out a couple cups of coffee in the morning, or ordering a pizza or whatever, but don't have a bag of chips or candy in your hands the whole time, your body may never forgive you.

(I speak for myself and myself alone, YMMV)

Just joined the team. I'll be streaming over at http://www.twitch.tv/ravendarktv. If you would like to join me in playing Borderlands the Pre sequel, Diablo III or whatever else comes to mind from my steam list, hit me with a Steam friend request (skeeler1128). and a message you are a Duder from here.

you switch between the snapped and main windows by saying "Xbox - switch" or double tapping the guide button.

best of luck to you Dad, always be gaming.

Allow me to add MSFN.org to the list.

Unless Jeff captured a Comcast rep off the street, we could be waiting quite some time for it to upload. /sigh/