ZoomZike
YTtalk Sonic
1. Introduction: Heya! To start off, these two things are specifically for gaming channels. I've seen many versus on games; and there are many problems that I seem to find in them. If you aren't thinking of making one, then you should. Since they're very fun things to do once you get the hang of it, they're also a very good way of collaboration; since versus can be very entertaining and can earn you more subscribers from the person you're doing it with.
2. What is a Versus?
A versus, also known as a Let's Race, is when two or more gaming channels decide to both LP a game together. But, they are not doing co-op, they are instead racing to the end of the game first, or having requirements to achieve inside the game in which they would win.
Example: Josh and Ryan want to do a versus on Super Mario 64. Josh would record his footage of the game, and so would Ryan. They will be doing this while interacting over some kind of call feature, like Skype. Once their episode is done, they'll put both of their footage onto one screen so viewers can see both of each persons' screens. They decided that they would have to get all 120 stars in order to "win" the versus.
If it still doesn't make much sense, then go onto YouTube and look up, "Super Mario Sunshine Versus - Episode 1". I'm sure everything will be clear if you don't understand.
Got that? Awesome, onto the quality part.
3. Starting a Versus
Now, the first step in starting a versus is obviously who is going to do it with you? It could be a friend, a random person you met online, anyone.
At the time Josh met Ryan, Ryan didn't have too good of a recording software or microphone at the time. Josh ignores this and they both thought doing a versus would be pretty awesome. Josh wanted to do a versus on Super Mario 64, since he has played through it many times. Ryan notices he also has the game and mindlessly agrees even though he has yet to finish it once.
There are a couple problems with this.
- You should make sure the person you're doing the versus with has near or around the same video/audio quality as you. If you look on Ryan's screen to see horrible video quality that's blurry and hurts your eyes, and terrible audio quality in which his microphone has constant buzzing and puffing. In comparison to Josh's screen, viewers will see very nice crisp quality on both audio and video. This obviously makes it so most of the viewers will ignore Ryan's screen and only watch Josh's. But they can't escape from Ryan's terrible microphone, which might ultimately drive them away. Now I'm not telling you to just decline someone if their quality is terrible, maybe try choosing a game that can be played on an emulator so both of your qualities are the same, or tell your partner to get a better microphone or at least improve.
- Make absolute certainty that you and your partner are close to or equal in skill at the game you choose. Watching a versus isn't as fun if you see that Josh is completely destroying Ryan at the game since he has played it many times before. This makes the entire experience lack lots of the suspense of, "he's pulling ahead! But now the second guy is coming!
They're neck and neck to beating the game!" Now it's just, "Oh...the first guy is just gonna win since he's like hours ahead in the story than the second guy." That makes it absolutely too obvious. So be sure to chose a game in which you're both pretty good at, that, or tell your buddy to start practicing.
4: Editing the Episodes
Now editing this beast is critical. If you just get the footage from both people, and put it side by side without anything else added, not many people will enjoy watching.
Here's what definitely should be added to any versus:
- Borders: Don't just make the videos cover up the entire screen, it makes it look very unprofessional. Make the videos just a little bit smaller, and leave some space all around each video footage. Put a nice, easy to look at background wallpaper or color. For any game, try to get a wallpaper of that game as the border, but if you can't, then just use a color that might represent the game. Just don't use red or yellow, these colors are known to hurt viewers' eyes if it's large enough.
- Counters: This is only for games in which you have to collect specific objects in order to complete the game. Games like Halo 3 in which you have a story campaign to go through, you would still use these, like to show what chapter each person is on. Bringing back the Super Mario 64 example from before, since Josh and Ryan want the goal to be getting 120 stars and defeating the final boss. They would have a counter at the top of the screen, showing how many stars Josh has, and how many Ryan has. There would also be something showing how many stars one person is ahead of the other, this makes it easier on viewers to know who's winning.
- Audio: Now as you may have guessed, you can't have both in-game audios playing at the same time, that'll just sound terrible. There are many different options for in-game audio, these include:
A final word for editing, if you decide that you're going to be the one to do it, make sure you're willing to put in loads of work to make the high quality outcome you want to achieve.
5. Style
When it comes to a versus, you gotta have some style thrown in there to wrap everything up.
- Commentary: To start things off, any versus should almost never have a moment of awkward silence between the two people. This makes things awkward for the viewers as well, and making the viewers feel awkward isn't so good.
If you feel that you and your partner can't find many topics to talk about, then create a text document on your computer containing a couple topics to talk about and use it as a last resort just in case you both can't think of anything.
Now don't put a bunch of paragraphs of what you want to say, just put a sentence of something to get you both started on something.
The commentary otherwise should be fun and funny. Like playing 20 questions with your partner (or any other talking game) or teasing your friend that they died, these small interactions make all the difference in a versus, since it keeps the viewers laughing and interested.
- The no mercy rule: This is an invisible rule that is subconsciously decided by the one person person who's winning and gets very far ahead of his partner; so much that he's ahead for several episodes. This is when that person decides to do one of two things:
- Lifelines: These can be inserted into a versus to spice things up; however, they're not absolutely needed.
Lifelines are basically when both players have the ability to screw over the other person in one way or another. These can range from small things to large ones.
Small Lifeline Example: Kill yourself in the level you're in right now
Large Lifeline Example: Leave the entire level and start over from the beginning
Obviously lifelines range from different game styles, some lifelines can also be game specific. You just gotta be creative when thinking of your own lifelines for the game you're doing if you decide to insert them.
-Loser Challenge: This isn't done very often, but it's very entertaining. This is basically when the versus is over and someone has won. The loser has to do something, anything that can be considered humiliating, embarrassing, or anything else they may not want to do. Some people may be reluctant to include this, but it can really make the viewers crack up seeing the loser doing something ridiculous.
6. Final Words
Let's Playing is an awesome thing to do, where you get to play the games you love while commentating over the little or the big things you enjoy or dislike about the game. But, doing collaborations with your friends while playing games, such as doing a versus, is even funner since there's some friendly competition involved as well.
I hope I helped you guys out!
Cya!
2. What is a Versus?
A versus, also known as a Let's Race, is when two or more gaming channels decide to both LP a game together. But, they are not doing co-op, they are instead racing to the end of the game first, or having requirements to achieve inside the game in which they would win.
Example: Josh and Ryan want to do a versus on Super Mario 64. Josh would record his footage of the game, and so would Ryan. They will be doing this while interacting over some kind of call feature, like Skype. Once their episode is done, they'll put both of their footage onto one screen so viewers can see both of each persons' screens. They decided that they would have to get all 120 stars in order to "win" the versus.
If it still doesn't make much sense, then go onto YouTube and look up, "Super Mario Sunshine Versus - Episode 1". I'm sure everything will be clear if you don't understand.
Got that? Awesome, onto the quality part.
3. Starting a Versus
Now, the first step in starting a versus is obviously who is going to do it with you? It could be a friend, a random person you met online, anyone.
At the time Josh met Ryan, Ryan didn't have too good of a recording software or microphone at the time. Josh ignores this and they both thought doing a versus would be pretty awesome. Josh wanted to do a versus on Super Mario 64, since he has played through it many times. Ryan notices he also has the game and mindlessly agrees even though he has yet to finish it once.
There are a couple problems with this.
- You should make sure the person you're doing the versus with has near or around the same video/audio quality as you. If you look on Ryan's screen to see horrible video quality that's blurry and hurts your eyes, and terrible audio quality in which his microphone has constant buzzing and puffing. In comparison to Josh's screen, viewers will see very nice crisp quality on both audio and video. This obviously makes it so most of the viewers will ignore Ryan's screen and only watch Josh's. But they can't escape from Ryan's terrible microphone, which might ultimately drive them away. Now I'm not telling you to just decline someone if their quality is terrible, maybe try choosing a game that can be played on an emulator so both of your qualities are the same, or tell your partner to get a better microphone or at least improve.
- Make absolute certainty that you and your partner are close to or equal in skill at the game you choose. Watching a versus isn't as fun if you see that Josh is completely destroying Ryan at the game since he has played it many times before. This makes the entire experience lack lots of the suspense of, "he's pulling ahead! But now the second guy is coming!
They're neck and neck to beating the game!" Now it's just, "Oh...the first guy is just gonna win since he's like hours ahead in the story than the second guy." That makes it absolutely too obvious. So be sure to chose a game in which you're both pretty good at, that, or tell your buddy to start practicing.
4: Editing the Episodes
Now editing this beast is critical. If you just get the footage from both people, and put it side by side without anything else added, not many people will enjoy watching.
Here's what definitely should be added to any versus:
- Borders: Don't just make the videos cover up the entire screen, it makes it look very unprofessional. Make the videos just a little bit smaller, and leave some space all around each video footage. Put a nice, easy to look at background wallpaper or color. For any game, try to get a wallpaper of that game as the border, but if you can't, then just use a color that might represent the game. Just don't use red or yellow, these colors are known to hurt viewers' eyes if it's large enough.
- Counters: This is only for games in which you have to collect specific objects in order to complete the game. Games like Halo 3 in which you have a story campaign to go through, you would still use these, like to show what chapter each person is on. Bringing back the Super Mario 64 example from before, since Josh and Ryan want the goal to be getting 120 stars and defeating the final boss. They would have a counter at the top of the screen, showing how many stars Josh has, and how many Ryan has. There would also be something showing how many stars one person is ahead of the other, this makes it easier on viewers to know who's winning.
- Audio: Now as you may have guessed, you can't have both in-game audios playing at the same time, that'll just sound terrible. There are many different options for in-game audio, these include:
- Whoever is ahead in the game gets their audio played, this makes it so there's a small reward for being ahead
- The audio switches from one person to the other each episode, so there's no penalty if the person is currently losing
A final word for editing, if you decide that you're going to be the one to do it, make sure you're willing to put in loads of work to make the high quality outcome you want to achieve.
5. Style
When it comes to a versus, you gotta have some style thrown in there to wrap everything up.
- Commentary: To start things off, any versus should almost never have a moment of awkward silence between the two people. This makes things awkward for the viewers as well, and making the viewers feel awkward isn't so good.
If you feel that you and your partner can't find many topics to talk about, then create a text document on your computer containing a couple topics to talk about and use it as a last resort just in case you both can't think of anything.
Now don't put a bunch of paragraphs of what you want to say, just put a sentence of something to get you both started on something.
The commentary otherwise should be fun and funny. Like playing 20 questions with your partner (or any other talking game) or teasing your friend that they died, these small interactions make all the difference in a versus, since it keeps the viewers laughing and interested.
- The no mercy rule: This is an invisible rule that is subconsciously decided by the one person person who's winning and gets very far ahead of his partner; so much that he's ahead for several episodes. This is when that person decides to do one of two things:
- Ease up on your partner and pretend to do bad or do your objective very slowly in order to let your partner catch up to you, showing them mercy
- Or, keep going through your objectives as if there's no tomorrow, making it much harder for your partner to catch up and makes you have a huge advantage, showing them no mercy
- Lifelines: These can be inserted into a versus to spice things up; however, they're not absolutely needed.
Lifelines are basically when both players have the ability to screw over the other person in one way or another. These can range from small things to large ones.
Small Lifeline Example: Kill yourself in the level you're in right now
Large Lifeline Example: Leave the entire level and start over from the beginning
Obviously lifelines range from different game styles, some lifelines can also be game specific. You just gotta be creative when thinking of your own lifelines for the game you're doing if you decide to insert them.
-Loser Challenge: This isn't done very often, but it's very entertaining. This is basically when the versus is over and someone has won. The loser has to do something, anything that can be considered humiliating, embarrassing, or anything else they may not want to do. Some people may be reluctant to include this, but it can really make the viewers crack up seeing the loser doing something ridiculous.
6. Final Words
Let's Playing is an awesome thing to do, where you get to play the games you love while commentating over the little or the big things you enjoy or dislike about the game. But, doing collaborations with your friends while playing games, such as doing a versus, is even funner since there's some friendly competition involved as well.
I hope I helped you guys out!
Cya!
