I’m toying with the idea of a more edited, stylised type of playthrough video format. I usually write reviews and do interviews and I always enjoy the story telling aspect of it the most. I want to take that to videos and especially playthroughs. So I’m wondering if there is a way to do boardgame playthroughs almost more like a documentary film than a “4 funny people playing with the same two static camera angles”. Or perhaps a bit more like the old Table Top with Will Wheaton but with less conversation and more strategising. Or what no clip did for video games (although that is mostly an interview format)
I’m still in the learning phase, but I filmed a solo playthrough of Roads & Boats and was already able to cut it down to less than an hour, which would be one of the goals. I also think I found a nice condense way of doing a rolling teach that’s not too boring for people that already know the game and doesn’t have to front load too much. It’s basically a “what you need to know” in 2-3 min and then going immediately into the game with the initial strategising when seeing the map. Right now I’m diving into info graphics, like doing animated arrows to show possible movements, labels, highlights, etc.
For me, the colours might look weird (but maybe that’s just Roads & Boats for ye 😀 Having a clear plastic sheet over everything sure doesn’t help to make a game pop), I need to train my recording voice more, the voice over and music don’t blend as well as I’d like, etc … and of course that’s the teaser/intro part, the main portion would have less noticeable music and be a bit more static. But I think you can see what I’m going for. Would love to get some feedback: what do you think about the quality right now? What needs to be improved? Already enjoyable/watchable? Do you know any YouTuber that is doing this type of playthrough (i.e. not an almost unedited stream)? What’s your favourite YouTuber for playthroughs? Me: Heavy Cardboard for multiplayer and Slickerdrips for solo.
I just discovered your reviews and I love them. I too started down the Splotter Spellen rabbit hole in 2024 exploring Bus, Roads & Boats, The Great Zimbabwe, and Indonesia. My goal was to come up with teaching materials so that I would be able to easily bring the game to the table. My teaches were pretty long which I’d like to fix. I really like your approach of teaching a minimum amount of rules at the beginning and then continuing the teach throughout the gameplay. Love your stuff – it’s so great to find another Splotter fan!
Thank you so much for your kind words! I liked the idea of the “what you need to know” as well when I got it. But I’m still in the writing process, so let’s see if it will work out or not 😀 I kind of have the hope that I might be able to use the intro and what you need to know sections of the playthrough format as teasers that I could upload as YouTube shorts or on instagram for people to quickly browse which game they might be interested in.
In regard to Splotter, I really can recommend checking out Antiquity if you have a chance. Took me a while to find a copy that was somehow affordable (in my case 150€ for a mint third edition) but it’s one of those games I wished I would have known about 20 years ago when it came out. It’s THAT good!