Gamers often like to immortalize their gameplay conquests by capturing video of
it, but capturing great looking video can be challenging for location-based
games. If you're aware of the problems that your end users are likely to
encounter when capturing video, then you can design your game to mitigate these
problems. Beyond that, you could enhance your game with features that support
the complete video workflow—from creation to publication. The following table
contains a set of guidelines that you can use to make your game more
YouTube-friendly.
Degree of Support | Recommendation |
Good: Don't make your game
video-unfriendly
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- Ensure that your core game mechanics don't involve physically
moving the smartphone around much or else the portions of the video
will look shaky (which could induce nausea).
- Ensure that you don't inadvertently reveal the end user's location.
You can do this by disabling game features that can be used to
identify the end user's location (street names for example). This is
especially important when live streaming.
- Leave some space in your game interface for an image of the end
user's face.
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Good: Make it easy for your end
users to create video
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- Include a basic editing feature that allows end users to directly
upload their video content to their YouTube channel.
- Include a feature that allows end users to livestream directly
to their YouTube channel.
- Include a feature for recording Video On Demand (VOD), to allow
end users to edit and upload their video content later.
- Provide end users with the ability to manipulate the camera. Ensure
that the default camera angle provides a flattering view of the end
user when they perform key game actions (to guard against those pesky
up-the-nose and mega-double-chin shots).
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Better: Help your end users create
compelling video
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- Generate metadata for your end user's videos. This could include the
name of your game, the current game level, the character's name, a
list of their weapons inventory, and a list of their completed levels.
- Include the ability to automatically create video clips for
interesting game sequences. Examples of interesting game sequences
might include things like unboxing, boss fights, and new unlocks.
- Include a feature for capturing an image of the end user's face
during these sequences.
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Best: Incentivize video creation
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- Allow your end users to provide viewing incentives to their audience.
- Include support for account-linking.
- Include support for loot drops.
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