Request: More YouTube Videos!

[TheLotusEater]

I think if players would take some time and make some more gameplay videos/ AARs that it would not only make available more footage for potentially new players to watch, it would also be a fun thing to see and comment on for everyone that likes to watch them (like me).

I was hooked by combat mission YouTube AARs and gameplay videos and bought the whole CMx2 series. I was also surprised I didn't know that these combat mission games existed.

Anyway, make more please, Thanks!

My favorite YouTube contributer of combat mission AARs is a user named Tanit

http://m.youtube.com/user/tanit

He made several walkthroughs of the different campaigns in CMSF. Very fun to watch.

[JMDECC]

I have to agree, I think this is a great idea. I actually have been planning on using Fraps to record a few battles and post them up onto youtube and link them here, I just haven't gotten a chance to do it yet.

One of the main reasons I'm so into the idea is because I, as a new player, really would like to have people (especially long time players) critique how I go about playing - things I'm doing right, things I'm doing wrong, things I could improve upon, etc. It would be great to be able to watch others play styles as well for the same reason.

I know there are a few videos out there, but not a whole lot from what I recall. Shortly before I first started playing CM last February I tried looking up gameplay videos and didn't find too many. It left me on the fence over whether to buy or not until I found the demo which I had somehow overlooked. I'm sure that I'm not the only person who has found themselves in a similar position.

[JMDECC]

Would anyone care to share how they go about filming missions? I just filmed my first video but I feel like it is very jerky - I'm all over the place trying to keep up with the battle. Maybe there's nothing wrong with that, I don't know. It would be nice to hear other peoples tips or opinions.

[ASL Veteran]

I have found three AARs on YouTube

A short but very well done one for Surrender Invites Death

A very long one with no commentary for Ramparts of the Palikoi

Another very long one with no commentary for Hot Mustard (by the same guy who did the Ramparts one)

[TheLotusEater]

Well, I try to follow the style Tanit always did and just record myself playing the battle then afterwards commentating the whole battle. That way you can explain what your doing in the battle to the viewers as they watch. It makes the presentation a lot more effective and the movie much more fun to watch. You can commentate with text in the video or with your own voice if you have a mic.

In order to achieve this though you need video editing software, like Sony Movie Studio (what I use)

http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/download/trials/moviestudio

or Windows movie maker

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=34

These are free to download and there are a lot of other ones too.

You can really touch up your videos with this software. It might be hard to get used to using at first, but they do come with helpfull tutorials.

You also could just upload some gameplay videos showing some tense action or pivitol moments in a battle without commentating which is pretty easy to do.

Here is my youtube channel with the videos I've made so far:

http://m.youtube.com/user/1TTMR?feature=guide

[John Kettler]

JMDECC,

I may not be as new as you are, but I'm still very much in CMBN training wheels, have played only a few games and am not exactly walloping the AI at normal settings. Have yet to play a single QB, either.

I took a gander at YT, and I found there are far more AARs and tutorials there than you think. For example, there's the excellent series a former colonel did (don't recall his name) for Armchair General

and the work of the team called modeldads (dads who build models).

Playing with the keywords will also help, in that "CMBN, aar" gets you one set and "Combat Mission:Battle for Normandy" many more, often, without overlap. I'm starting to think that many vids require subscribing before you can watch them, given all the blank black boxes I keep getting. Suggest you also specifically look for CMBN tutorials.

Regards,

John Kettler

[TheLotusEater]

Here are some youtube AAR highlights:

At all Costs

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zyDCDRxeKAg

Darkest before the Dawn part 1

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DtC14hNjrBc

Darkest Before the Dawn part 2

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=relmfu&v=i6n1bdhKxJU

Darkest Before the Dawn part 3

http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=relmfu&v=oUS9JPgVr64

Town Sweep AAR

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ptO3B9Dp4c4

Claiming Caramelle a video AAR

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EVfNcfrCt4Q

Barkmann's Bungalow AAR Head to Head

Here's a huge tutorial:

Monster Combat Mission Normandy Tutorial

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SbE8795rt2s

[Ithikial_AU]

Shameless self plug. I do AAR's and also little short funny or amazing moments I have in my battles. Currently designing a new PC with a lot more grunt to make video recording and editing easier.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Ithikial/videos?flow=grid&view=0

[TheLotusEater]

Shameless self plug. I do AAR's and also little short funny or amazing moments I have in my battles. Currently designing a new PC with a lot more grunt to make video recording and editing easier.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Ithikial/videos?flow=grid&view=0

You got a nice bunch of videos there. I've seen every one of them and I'm subscribed to your channel:D

[Javaslinger]

Many of these youtube video's are worthless from a perspective of learning the game. The brief ones and the ones with no recorded audio specifically.

What CM needs is a good let's Play style video AAR. Where someone has recorded not only the game turn replays but the setup of each turn. In addition, discussing strategy, reasoning, etc as it is done. There are thousands if not millions of excellent examples of this with other games on youtube. Some of my favorites being exhaustively done for Europa Universalis III, Hearts of Iron, and Crusader Kinds II.

These are excellent ways to learn the game, get strategy insight, and marketing tools. I think BFC should consider commissioning some of the grognards here to do a small series. Hugely informative when done well.

However, they are time consuming to do, require video editing skills to be done well, and are really a labor of love...

[JMDECC]

JMDECC,

I may not be as new as you are, but I'm still very much in CMBN training wheels, have played only a few games and am not exactly walloping the AI at normal settings. Have yet to play a single QB, either.

I took a gander at YT, and I found there are far more AARs and tutorials there than you think. For example, there's the excellent series a former colonel did (don't recall his name) for Armchair General

and the work of the team called modeldads (dads who build models).

Playing with the keywords will also help, in that "CMBN, aar" gets you one set and "Combat Mission:Battle for Normandy" many more, often, without overlap. I'm starting to think that many vids require subscribing before you can watch them, given all the blank black boxes I keep getting. Suggest you also specifically look for CMBN tutorials.

Regards,

John Kettler

Thanks for the links and advice John, I will make a point to get a little more creative with my searches from now on. It is nice to get more of a glimpse into how other people play. I'm seeing some operations where the detail that goes into planning is something I would've never thought of in a million years.

Hopefully sometime this evening (but more likely tomorrow) if I get some free time I will film myself playing a QB in turn based mode and afterwards use something to narrate my decisions throughout. Hopefully I can get some feedback from other players on what they see.

I have played very little of the campaign so far, mostly due to lack of time and commitment, therefore I find myself playing a lot of quick battles. I play on Iron and in most cases I find myself winning against the AI, but sometimes I wonder if I'm a little too reckless with my men.

[Mastiff]

http://youtu.be/Cj5C3mI0-KI

here ya go

[TheLotusEater]

http://youtu.be/Cj5C3mI0-KI

here ya go

Hey Wolfseven, I watched your video and noticed when you gave your squads the "pop smoke" command that you were dragging the purple line in the direction were you wanted them to throw it. I thought the only way to control the direction they throw the smoke was with the "face" command lol. I just learned something new from that thanks, although I'm still not sure how exactly you did it, (still learning the ropes after 1 1/2 years lol) it looks convenient.

You should rename your video and put "CMBN" in the front of the name, that way it will show up when people search "CMBN" in youtube. I tried searching for your video but couldn't find it.

[TheLotusEater]

There are thousands if not millions of excellent examples of this with other games on youtube. Some of my favorites being exhaustively done for Europa Universalis III, Hearts of Iron, and Crusader Kinds II.

These are excellent ways to learn the game, get strategy insight, and marketing tools.

Couldn't agree with you more. I would never have gotten into any of those Paradox Entertainment games you listed without those great "Let's Play" videos. They give you so much insight into the game and how you can play it. I sometimes end up watching the beginning of a EU3 game to the very end (sometimes a hundred videos put together) because it's so engrossing to watch.

[Mastiff]

Hey Wolfseven, I watched your video and noticed when you gave your squads the "pop smoke" command that you were dragging the purple line in the direction were you wanted them to throw it. I thought the only way to control the direction they throw the smoke was with the "face" command lol. I just learned something new from that thanks, although I'm still not sure how exactly you did it, (still learning the ropes after 1 1/2 years lol) it looks convenient.

You should rename your video and put "CMBN" in the front of the name, that way it will show up when people search "CMBN" in youtube. I tried searching for your video but couldn't find it.

rgr thanks done did it. and all I did was just use face button to move the smoke placement. and noticed that when you do a arc fire area they tend to throw the smoke in the area of which way the wind is blowing, how AI advanced is that?

[TheLotusEater]

Wow, I'm surprised I never knew that either. I never use smoke much at all but really should more often in my battles.

[Ithikial_AU]

Many of these youtube video's are worthless from a perspective of learning the game. The brief ones and the ones with no recorded audio specifically.

What CM needs is a good let's Play style video AAR. Where someone has recorded not only the game turn replays but the setup of each turn. In addition, discussing strategy, reasoning, etc as it is done.

I do that sparingly in some of my videos but usually cut out every single mouse click as it makes the video bloated and boring for the viewer. If it's an important moment before I hit the 'Big Red Button' I will explain it first but I aim to use it sparingly. Remember the joy of playing games is learning things for yourself. Saying that if BF ever tapped me on the shoulder to make AAR videos for them...

A few of things I've learned doing CM AAR's:

- It is very time consuming to do CM videos compared to other games. The one Total War video that is on my channel took less than a quarter of the time a CM video of the same length would take. The lack of a battle replay feature with CM is the problem here, so anyone doing a video AAR is making a big commitment.

- I tried a full non-stop game of CM with commentary with one of the first ones I recorded. I didn't release it as it became very boring after about 10 mins. The gaps between the action were simply to long for a video. This means...

- You need to edit CM videos heavily to make it interesting. Sometimes go back and re-record the action phase from a different angle to get a better view of the action is also required.

- You need a beefy rig to do it right (in 1080p) with lots of Hard drive space for the raw footage, ideally on a separate drive to where the game is installed. Not every CM gamer has a powerful enough rig that can play Crysis let alone HD video editing without going nuts or burning hardware so that limits who can do it as well.

Saying that if regular Combat Mission YouTubers wanted to form a group and share secrets please count me in.

[Javaslinger]

The lack of a battle replay feature with CM is the problem here, so anyone doing a video AAR is making a big commitment.

Might I suggest doing the Let's Play in turn based mode rather than real time. Problem solved and much more suited to doing a Let's Play... I hadn't even considered trying to do it in realtime....

[Ithikial_AU]

Might I suggest doing the Let's Play in turn based mode rather than real time. Problem solved and much more suited to doing a Let's Play... I hadn't even considered trying to do it in realtime....

I play all my WW2 era CM games in WeGo / Turn Based mode. Found it easier playing Shock force in real time. Playing WeGo doesn't make editing any easier as you need to chop up your videos between command and action phases and smooth transitions are generally impossible unless you don't ever move the camera. This is where the Replay Battle feature would be great so you can focus on camera work not playing the game.

Given the comments above I'm having another shot of doing my next AAR with no editing what so ever. A classic "Lets Play."

Results so far... it's going to be a very long process.

Part 1

Part 2

[Wodin]

STrange why you played SF realtime but the WW2 one WEGO..I played both WEGO and had no problems with either..except the odd issue that they both suffer from in WEGO at times.

I play all my WW2 era CM games in WeGo / Turn Based mode. Found it easier playing Shock force in real time. Playing WeGo doesn't make editing any easier as you need to chop up your videos between command and action phases and smooth transitions are generally impossible unless you don't ever move the camera. This is where the Replay Battle feature would be great so you can focus on camera work not playing the game.

Given the comments above I'm having another shot of doing my next AAR with no editing what so ever. A classic "Lets Play."

Results so far... it's going to be a very long process.

Part 1

Part 2

[Macisle]

"Big Red Button Warfare."

Love the channel name, Ithikial!

[Ithikial_AU]

STrange why you played SF realtime but the WW2 one WEGO..I played both WEGO and had no problems with either..except the odd issue that they both suffer from in WEGO at times.

Just found the quicker nature of modern combat meant I wanted to pause and read adjust orders every 30 seconds or so. Don't hit that often in the 1940's. (No guided weaponry )

"Big Red Button Warfare."

Love the channel name, Ithikial!

Thanks Macisle. Just need to personalise the webpage now.

[War RaVeN]

Given the comments above I'm having another shot of doing my next AAR with no editing what so ever. A classic "Lets Play."

Results so far... it's going to be a very long process.

Part 1

Hi Ithikial_AU,

What is the name of this battle or map?

Thx

[baron Jacquinot]

Small battle gameplay -

[TheLotusEater]

baron Jacquinot, nice video. Very cinematic. Also cool channel, I'm subscribing

Ithikial_AU, great videos looking forward to the next ones.

I'm going to contribute to this with a CMFI video AAR of a scenario vs AI. I'm almost done.