Script Unscripted · YouTube · retrospective

Retrospective: The YouTube Experiment

At the beginning of the month I announced I'd be doing a web series on YouTube called Script Unscripted.

It was planned to be a sort of experiment in content production, as over the past year I've really dived into the whole YouTube thing, to a point where we've cancelled cable in lieu of Internet TV, and I thought: "You know, I could probably do that".

So far, it's consisted of four episode, and roughly four hours of time.

I wanted to take a moment to review some of the things I've learned so far.

Livestreaming Still Needs Planning

When I watch a livestream on Twitch, or a coding video on YouTube, a lot of the time it seems unscripted and done in the moment.

I think I'm right about the unscripted part, I don't believe it was done in the moment. There is plenty of planning, setup, and familiarity with your tools that needs to happen to produce quality content.

Over the four livestreams, I have managed to make errors in production on pretty much all of them in one way or another. Sometimes it's the background music being too loud. Sometimes, I forget to push "Start Stream", other times I forget that different platforms have different hardware configuration, which results in audio and video being out of sync.

I still need practice with my configuration. Ideally, I'll be setting up a more consistent environment in which I can keep things setup and ready, but there is a lot more I still need to learn.

Editing is Time Consuming

The experiment was supposed to yield both a livestream full-length YouTube video, and a shortended or "Minified" version. Though the series, I managed to make one minified version, and write a second that I never got around to finishing.

Why? Well, I recorded the amount of time it took me to get the first video ready.

For 2-3 minutes of video, it was about 5 hours, plus time to create the assets like the intro animation, and end card.

I realize it's not that bad for most streamers and video people, but being that I've very new to the whole thing, it takes time to pickup a whole new set of tools and learn how to use them.

Ultimately, editing, sound production, animation, and all the polish to make it appear clean is time consuming.

That Being Said...

I'll be continuing to do more videos as I've got the tools and skills to keep it going, and in all it's a lot of fun. I just need to practice more and start leaving my confort zone to try and explore new techniques.

Celebrate Small Victories

YouTube is very saturated, if not over saturated with content producers being that that only bar to entry is that you need a recording device on a computer.

With that, if you're expecting to become the next big thing on YouTube, you should probably get your ego in check as you'll be greatly disapointed.

If you want the success, there are people who make YouTube their full time job, and in all fairness, it's not a great paying one for the most part. It takes a lot of time, energy, and possibly most importantly consistency.

That Being Said...

I have a very low subscriber count, and not at many views as some. But I have subscribers, and I have views, which is awesome!

I had low to no expectations walking into this, but having a live chat aobut code with Cecil Phillip in episode three, and ultimaely having tons of different things happening all at once, all while coding, has been a lot of fun. Plus, now I'm building up a new network, and who knows where it will go.

The Point

I think the point is that I like dong the "Vlog" or YouTube thing. It's definitely different, and much more time consuming, but it forces me to practice skills that would be otherwise getting rusty, like public speaking, live demoing, and writing concise and ideally non-technical content.

I plan on continuing this YouTube experiment, but I want to change it up to be a little more versatile with the content.

In any case, you can be sure I'll be announcing it on the blog and maybe even with a commercial you YouTube.

Thanks for Playing. ~ DW


twitch · javascript · html · overwolf

Make an HTML Gaming App for Twitch and Overwolf

Do you know HTML and JavaScript? Do you like video games? Well, here's a way to blend those worlds together.

Last week Overwolf announced the Twitch App Challenge, that throws the gauntlet at HTML and JavaScript developers to create an Overwolf app to win cash and prizes for one of the many categories.

Uh...What's an Overwolf?

Great question!

Turns out that Overwolf is an HTML/JS app platform for apps geared towards gamers. The idea is that gamers need to be able to interact with the real world through their computer while gaming, but tabbing out to check out your Twitch stream chat, or to view a YouTube video, breaks up the action.

Overwolf stops that by hosting HTML/JS apps in a window that overlays in the game so that you don't have to tab out of the game.

Their platform can even be integrated directly in game, but for this contest you'll probably be looking at the HTML/JS app side of things.

Cool! What are the App Categories?

Yet another great question! Good work on that. :)

They are all listed on the contest page, but here's a quick breakdown straight from the page.

  • Interaction -- Apps that enhance the interaction between broadcasters and viewers
  • Information -- Apps that display data about the viewers to the broadcasters, or vice-versa
  • Customization -- Apps for customizing game or broadcast layouts
  • Freestyle - Make anything you want - look Ma, no rules
  • Gamification - Reinvent great ideas like Twitch-plays or that one with the fishbowl

As you can see, they are all Twitch related, but there are a lot of options. They even setup an idea site for non-developers to submit ideas.

Conditions

Other than the legal ones that you should look into yourself before submitting, basically you need to create an Overwolf app that uses the Twitch API.

Looking through the Overwolf developer documentation, if you're used to debugging HTML and JavaScript with Chrome Developer Tools, you are good to go.

The Point

No point, other than this is a really cool content and a way to tinker around with games and app dev. Take a look, and I hope to see your app appear on the list.

Thanks for playing. ~ DW


games · NetFront

NetFront-- the Unknown Browser Everyone Owns

Image Source: Wikimedia

NetFront is a web browser that I hadn't heard of before, but I have installed on six of my devices.

It is a WebKit-based proprietary web browser that apparently is installed on nearly every non-Microsoft video game console since 2011. Go further back, Sony Playstation 3 and Playstation Portable (PSP) had a version of NetFront running on it back in 2005.

So doing some crude estimation for an install base:

That gives us a rough total of 209.5 Million NetFront users out there that are playing games and could possibly be looking to surf the web with their devices. In all likely hood, likely for video game information being that video game media is generally distributed through the web in some way or another.

It should be noted, that the 200M major video game consoles with NetFront running on it. That doesn't include all the other devices that include "digital TVs, set-top boxes, game consoles, car navigation systems and In-vehicle Infotainment (IVI) devices" (REFERENCE).

The Frustration

When I use one of my game consoles to browse the web, I'm generally looking up video game content and heading to IGN, GameTrailers, or Giant Bomb, or Twitch.

But, their sites don't appear to work.

On the PS4, I get "Not Enough Memory" errors when I login to Twitch. I can watch it, but only if I'm not logged in.

That makes sense.

Or Giant Bomb or GameTrailers, where their videos just won't load on the Wii U or PS4.

Video game websites not running on video game consoles. I realize it's not everyone's web platform of choice, but doesn't seem kinda obvious that this should work?

At first I blamed the sites, thinking that they were all going for the app approach like IGN. But, that seems like a very difficult road to go down considering the number of app platforms there are already.

But, in looking to figure out how to develop for these platforms, I found a lack of resources available. Sure there are ways of detecting, but there aren't any developer guides for the platforms like IE for Xbox One and Xbox 360

The Point

Honestly, I'm not sure. I just wanted to share it because it blew me back when I found out that there was another browser out there that was really relevant in my world.

I just find that web browsing through an appliance like a Playstation or an Xbox makes sense. Sure there is always the idea of putting a PC right on your TV, but maybe that isn't the answer.

Thanks for playing. ~ DW


games

Video Games Preventing Cancer with AGDQ

I wanted to share something I find freaking cool. It's called Awesome Games Done Quickly, or AGDQ.

It's a fund raising marathon, where for an entire week a group of gamers, known as speed runners, play a series of video games as fast as humanly possible. Sometimes is just someone on their own, sometimes it's a race, or sometimes, it's a blindfold challenge (i.e. the person plays the game blindfolded).

Throughout the marathon they accept donations that go towards a charity. This year, they chose the Prevent Cancer Foundation, and 100% of the donations go towards the charity. There isn't anything cut off for administration fees or anything.

As of this writing, they have collected over $530K in donations from people watching on Twitch.

Plus, that doesn't ever include the Humble Bundle package that people can buy and donate other ways.

Huh?

Don't ask questions. It's an amazing event and I am just blown away by the generosity of the gamer community along with insane skill demonstrated on these games. I mean, beating Mike Tyson's Punch out in 22 minutes?

Complete insanity. I have yet to even get to Mike Tyson on my own.

The Point

I just wanted to share this as I find it cool and video games are a real passion of mine. I suggest you check it out on Twitch, or even donate if you're so inclined.

Thanks for playing. ~ DW


Spartan · Testing

Make New Habits with New IE VMs in the New Year

Happy New Year! Time to start working on self improvement and developing new habits.

Not sure what habits to work on? Well, I'll give you one: Test your application in IE.

And what do you know, the IE team has updated all their free VMs at modern.ie just in time for you to start testing.

Isn't Spartan Replacing IE?

Who knows. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. The important thing to note though that whatever fate IE has, it's not just going to disappear overnight.

Check out NetMarketShare

As you can see, IE8+ has quite the presence. Sure, you can argue and throw other stats sites back at me, but all of the major players say IE represents a big chunk of the internet.

Spartan or no Spartan, IE has a presence that will stick around one way or another. So you should probably test it to make sure it works.

Couple of Improvements

With the new VMs out, there have been a few changes for the good. More specifically:

  • They use ZIP files rather than RAR
  • New download options (single download or multiple)
  • Upgrades to new versions of IE are turned off by default

Plus, all the OS updates through until November are installed, so you'll pretty much good to go as soon as they are downloaded.

The Point

There are new VMs out and this is your chance to start testing your application properly, which needs to include IE whether or like it or not.

Thanks for Playing. ~ DW


javascript · cordova · Prairie Dev Con · Script Unscripted · YouTube · phonegap · bonus level

Script Unscripted Starts January 8th

Last week I launched my first YouTube video with Get to the Point.

This week, I'm taking a step further.

Starting January 8th at 8pm CST, I will be kicking off my new YouTube livestream: Script Unscripted.

Pilot Series: Playing with Cordova

Each Thursday for the month of January, I'll be getting familiar with Apache Cordova, in preparation for my presentation at Prarie Dev Con in March.

The goal for the series will be to build a project that allows me a single set of source code, with multiple builds for web, Windows Phone, and Windows 8 applications.

Oh, and I'm going to try and only use a command prompt and enhanced text editor. As in, no Eclipse or Visual Studio if I can help it.

Schedule

Here is the planned schedule, but being that this is a bit of an experiment, it may change:

Or, just subscribe by clicking the YouTube button below.

The Point

As I continue to figure out how to best integrate video and streaming into my work, I hope to produce some cool content in the process to share with everyone.

I hope to see one of these Thursdays if not all of them.

Bonus Level

Interested in learning Mobile Developmentm, but not so much with Cordova? Or is Cordova CLI a bit too deep in the water? Not a problem! Check out these free courses at the Microsoft Virtual Academy that can help you get some foundational knowledge about Mobile and HTML Development outside of my YouTube series.

  • HTML5 Development courses teach you about Universal Apps along with HTML5 Game Development, which is a much friendlier way to warm up to HTML5 applications.
  • Mobile Development courses cover all topics ranging from the basics of mobile development to using Cordova in Visual Studio.

Check out the courses at the links above and start your adventure in HTML and Mobile development!

Thanks for playing. ~ DW