Blind and Visually Impaired Community
↑
24
↓
For all you sci-fi nerds out there, I'm a hobbyist video game describer (because nobody else wants to do it) and I'm currently describing a full playthrough of Mass Effect Legendary Edition. On insanity difficulty. I hope you enjoy it AND GIVE ME INPUT SO I CAN DESCRIBE BETTER! (youtube.com)
submitted by BlindRyan1
Remy_C 5 points 2y ago
I think it's real cool that you're doing this. That's an ambitious project, but an absolutely fantastic series. Playing through it myself, there's certainly a few times where I wish I had someone describing the finer details. I did find the live nature of it a little distracting -- all the extra commentary and conversational nature of doing a live stream, not to mention the description itself being on the fly meant sometimes you were talking over dialogue. It was hard to hear you at times. I hate it when audio description ducks out the sound of what's actually happening, but a little bit of sound separation can go a long way.
Have you ever considered doing something like this not live? You've got some great taste in games from the little I've interacted with your channel, and it would be awesome to see you give it a little polish. Just the two cents from a visually impaired audio designer and life-long gamer. Definitely keep it up, however you choose to do it, and think of this as a friendly suggestion from someone who's worked on a described playthrough channel before. I'd love to see more of this type of thing.
Have you ever considered doing something like this not live? You've got some great taste in games from the little I've interacted with your channel, and it would be awesome to see you give it a little polish. Just the two cents from a visually impaired audio designer and life-long gamer. Definitely keep it up, however you choose to do it, and think of this as a friendly suggestion from someone who's worked on a described playthrough channel before. I'd love to see more of this type of thing.
BlindRyan1 [OP] 1 points 2y ago
I actually was going to do recording only since OBS was being an ass with my bitrate but it ended up fixing itself. As it is now, I'm recording and streaming at the same time and can pause the recording when I need to take my dog out or take a break longer than a quick bio run.
As for audio channels, I have zero idea how to set anything like that up. If I can pipe it through OBS, I certainly would be willing to do that.
As for on the fly... I mean that's my style. I do try my damn hardest to not talk over the dialogue but the mixing in ME's always been awful as it pertains to volumes. Even turning down the music doesn't help and those cutscenes are absurdly loud regardless of what I do.
It's a hard balance, streaming vs. recording. I want the input of my fans but none of them ever show up and when they do, they never offer input so, in all honesty, I might just record them from now on and upload them to youtube and cut twitch out completely. But they end up taking so long that I feel an obligation to stream something (even though nobody shows up.)
I could honestly use some guidance here, lol.
As for audio channels, I have zero idea how to set anything like that up. If I can pipe it through OBS, I certainly would be willing to do that.
As for on the fly... I mean that's my style. I do try my damn hardest to not talk over the dialogue but the mixing in ME's always been awful as it pertains to volumes. Even turning down the music doesn't help and those cutscenes are absurdly loud regardless of what I do.
It's a hard balance, streaming vs. recording. I want the input of my fans but none of them ever show up and when they do, they never offer input so, in all honesty, I might just record them from now on and upload them to youtube and cut twitch out completely. But they end up taking so long that I feel an obligation to stream something (even though nobody shows up.)
I could honestly use some guidance here, lol.
Remy_C 2 points 2y ago
I honestly feel Streaming may be good for a game like this since there's so many dialogue choices. On the other hand, there's a lot to be said for a well done audio description where you can take time to pick out the details, like how conventional audio description does it. Doing it that way gives you more control too. Literally the only reason I'm not doing this myself is because I can't pick out the finer details. I have the audio side down though. The video capturing, not so much. What are you using to capture the game audio/video?
If you're interested in connecting with someone who's also doing something similar, it might be worth reaching out to Gorilla's Playthrough's channel. I've been working with him for quite a while, and I think he's got a great way of doing things. Might be worth connecting with him. BY no means am I saying you need to emulate him outrite — being your own unique self is great — but the pool of people like you and him who are doing this — and doing it well — is quite slim. I'd be happy to help with audio aspects of this if you're looking for help. Regarding video, while I can edit video, I'm much less experienced with that side. But I would love to see you go places, because there's enough great games out there that if the majority of the visually impaired community can't play them, they can at least watch and listen to someone describe them.
If you're interested in connecting with someone who's also doing something similar, it might be worth reaching out to Gorilla's Playthrough's channel. I've been working with him for quite a while, and I think he's got a great way of doing things. Might be worth connecting with him. BY no means am I saying you need to emulate him outrite — being your own unique self is great — but the pool of people like you and him who are doing this — and doing it well — is quite slim. I'd be happy to help with audio aspects of this if you're looking for help. Regarding video, while I can edit video, I'm much less experienced with that side. But I would love to see you go places, because there's enough great games out there that if the majority of the visually impaired community can't play them, they can at least watch and listen to someone describe them.
BlindRyan1 [OP] 1 points 2y ago
I wish I had fans on twitch. Letting the fans decide where Shepard goes would be so goddamn awesome. That was the original idea actually. Helen Shepard. Fans decide everything.
But nobody showed up.
I use OBS to capture everything. You may be right as it pertains to voiced games. Those might do better as recorded as opposed to streamed like I did with Disco Elysium (which started it all.) I noticed the same issues in my Persona 4 descriptives too sometimes.
I'll reach out to Gorilla's Playthrough but I don't exactly know what I'd be reaching out for. Advice I suppose. Video 3 will be up tonight and 4 and 5 will be up tomorrow evening.
Edit: tapped him on facebook. He has good taste in games. Samsho is the shit. Love that series. Especially the Neogeo ones.
But nobody showed up.
I use OBS to capture everything. You may be right as it pertains to voiced games. Those might do better as recorded as opposed to streamed like I did with Disco Elysium (which started it all.) I noticed the same issues in my Persona 4 descriptives too sometimes.
I'll reach out to Gorilla's Playthrough but I don't exactly know what I'd be reaching out for. Advice I suppose. Video 3 will be up tonight and 4 and 5 will be up tomorrow evening.
Edit: tapped him on facebook. He has good taste in games. Samsho is the shit. Love that series. Especially the Neogeo ones.
Remy_C 1 points 2y ago
Awesome. I hope he reaches out back. Hopefully he has the time. He seems to be a pretty good guy though. I think it’s just a matter of getting a little bit of knowledge and the proper set up and there’s probably a lot you could do.
So_Motarded 3 points 2y ago
Hey this is great! I'll have to give this a full watch-through but I also love doing AD for games. I created a guide for scripted AD for gaming cutscenes, which has some general pointers if you're interested. Improvising live AD on the spot is challenging, though!
Have you considered reaching out to Blind/VI streamers to partner up for a joint run through a game? Or are you planning on making this a youtube video series alone?
Have you considered reaching out to Blind/VI streamers to partner up for a joint run through a game? Or are you planning on making this a youtube video series alone?
BlindRyan1 [OP] 2 points 2y ago
If anyone wants to help or tag along, I'm not exactly hard to find. I'm just some guy, y'know? I just want the blind nerds to experience something that has meant a lot to me over the years and ME's journey certainly qualifies.
sebb_7 2 points 2y ago
Hey there, a new fan here. This is the first time I see a game audiodescribed and it was awesome. I just finished watching your first video... I decided to give it a try and couldn't stop. Thanks for taking the time to play/read all the codex. I didn't know this game and I'm loving it so far. Looking forward to the next videos ahaha. Please keep up the good work. I'd be glad to show up when you decide to go live btw. Just let us know.
BlindRyan1 [OP] 1 points 2y ago
I go live daily. What else do I have to do with my life? Gotta kill time somehow, right? http://www.twitch.tv/blind_ryan_and_chip
Up to video 3 on the playlist and 4, 5, and 6 are coming tonight (I got about 8 hours done yesterday.
Today's going to be one loooong video because I'm doing all the sidequests. Tedious, boring, I'll-probably-cut-most-of-the-driving-around sidequests.
Up to video 3 on the playlist and 4, 5, and 6 are coming tonight (I got about 8 hours done yesterday.
Today's going to be one loooong video because I'm doing all the sidequests. Tedious, boring, I'll-probably-cut-most-of-the-driving-around sidequests.
WhatWouldVaderDo 2 points 2y ago
Love what you're doing, keep it up!
JMMSpartan91 2 points 2y ago
Playing it as well. Everyone probably thinks Shephard is a lunatic humping dark walls for several minutes in some missions in ME1.
Feros was rough.
Feros was rough.
BlindRyan1 [OP] 2 points 2y ago
I had already gotten the insanity achievement on a prior playthrough that got eaten so I actually had to drop the difficulty to get it done in a timely fashion. Those creepers tank for days.
This nonprofit website is run by volunteers.
Please contribute if you can. Thank you!
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large-
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
©2023 HumbleCat Inc • HumbleCat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Michigan, USA.