What Makes a Good Game Development Stream on Twitch.tv

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This tutorial is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Please refer to the license text if you wish to reuse, share or remix the content contained within this tutorial.

Published on 25 Nov, 2014. Last updated 19 Feb, 2019

Introduction

Twitch.tv has added a Game Development category for game creators to stream their process. Indie games are increasingly being promoted during development to create hype and raise awareness and streaming on Twitch is a great way to do this. Streaming also has the added benefit of raising awareness about Construct 2 and further building our community.

In this tutorial I will go over what makes an entertaining stream that has Zazz and viewers will want to come back to. I will not be covering how to sign up for Twitch or configure your streaming client, there are plenty of tutorials for that online already. This is my first tutorial so please let me know if you have any suggestions for improvements

To get started streaming create an account on twitch.tv and follow this guide - http://www.twitch.tv/broadcast.

What Makes a Good Stream

Most importantly : have a plan.

Decide what you’ll be streaming for each session. What will you be focusing on? Level design? Graphics? What part of your development will be the most interesting for others to watch? A video of you adding nosave to all of your static objects might not be very interesting for the viewer.

Talk and Interact with your viewers

The best streamers keep viewers engaged by talking or chatting with them and/or talking through their process. Be accessible to your audience and even taking their suggestions, this will keep them coming back and make them invested in your game. Ask for feedback or even create a poll for decisions you aren’t sure about. Including your fan base in the game making process is one of the best ways to give people a personal connection with your game.

Get a web cam and a good mic

The web cam doesn’t have to be good but the mic does. Viewers want to put a voice and a face to the game developer and there’s nothing more frustrating than not being able to hear what the streamer is saying in their webcam’s built in mic. Purchase a headset or condenser mic. I personally user the Blue Microphone's Yeti, it’s a USB condenser mic for only $120 and has a great sound.

Music?

Music on Twitch is a little tricky, not everybody has the same taste and it can be jarring to come to a stream with loud music you don’t like. Some quiet background music can zazz up your stream but then your archive video may be muted for copyright violation. If having an archived video isn’t important to you then play whatever music you’d like, but if you’d like an unmuted video don’t play music or play music that won’t get flagged for copyright violation.

Fill out those boxes

See those boxes below the video player? Fill them out! Put some FAQs, information about you, your social media links, the times you stream, the game your working on and if you are feeling really bold- some links to collect donations.

Good internet

If your internet connection isn’t good (upload speed is important in this case) your stream will cut out and disconnect frequently. I recommend doing a test run and if it doesn’t work out only stream in places with better internet like a friends house or the office.

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