Have Three Weeks Ready

Last time I mentioned I did not have videos ready for the start of next week, which is just a week away, but I got three weeks worth, nine videos ready. Just need to upload and schedule them. These videos are the first six in Dark Souls and the first three in Dust: An Elysian Tail. In both cases I am using these videos as an excuse the play the games, though in the case of Dust it is replay. It is a good game and I am happy I had the thought I could do it with gaze tracking.
Dark Souls is... not my game. Basically, if you watch them, expect a lot of me bitching about the game. It does not help that I accidentally ended up going to the latter half of the game in the first hour, but there are still things that are pissing me off. I've found a 'solution' though. It is not ideal, but sometimes you just want to play the game and not get exceedingly angry at it. Really hoping Dark Souls 2 and 3 are more approachable/accessible.
The last video is still processing but I'll have them uploaded and scheduled in the next day or so. One change I think I may do going forward this year is to drop the highlights. When there is something cool/funny, I'll still cut it out and share it, but that does not happen every video, so I'm going to stop forcing it.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Year is Almost Over!

The end of the year has been creeping up on me faster than I would have liked, which could become a problem. I know exactly the next game I want to record in, but between finishing a couple higher-priority projects first, and a vacation, I am not completely sure if I will be able to play and record the game in time. It is supposed to take about 60 hours to do, but I think I can do it if I can focus well enough.
Oh, also I have some Dead by Daylight videos I recorded but haven't done anything with yet. My plan is to schedule them for the end of the year, which means 2018 will start with the next set of videos that I will hopefully find the time to record. I also need/want to record an eye-tracked game for the Tuesday release, but I am not sure if I will find the time. I feel less commitment to that schedule, but I still want to try for it.
Anyway, just a quick update on that and hopefully I will not miss a week. Even if no one watches the videos, I still want to keep to the schedule.

Big Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow is the day of the Extra Life charity stream and I can only hope I will be able to stay awake for all of it, because I am in fact going to be streaming from 10 AM Saturday to 10 AM Sunday (assuming I stay awake). I think it will be fun and hopefully it will also be productive.
While I do not have a firm schedule in mind, the games I have ready to stream are:

• Dead Space
• Dead Space 2
• Killing Floor 2
• Left 4 Dead 2
• Super Meat Boy
• Dead by Daylight
• Dead Rising 2

My plan for both Dead Space games is to do a New Game+ playthrough, assuming I do in fact play them. Haven't played Dead Rising 2 yet, but I think it will be fun, and Dead by Daylight I have only been playing this week. I actually recorded those games too, with the intent to play the recordings whenever I need a short break for one reason or another. (It seems like a good idea in my head.)
The stream will be here: The Body on Games YouTube live stream.
Extra Life donations can be made here: Extra Life - Jim Pitchford.

32 Threads of Awesome

Actually it was last week that I built my new computer, but I haven't started a new set of recordings until this week, and it is so nice. With an AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X overclocked to 4 GHz, I'm able to record gameplay, the heart rate overlay, and the gaze tracker overlay all in real-time and all on the CPU. Oh, it is wonderful to be able to do that, as it means I can produce higher quality recordings, and I am not dependent on the h.264 ASIC on whatever GPU I'm running.
One unfortunate thing is that the FFmpeg filters I use are only single-threaded, so they present a bottleneck to the processing at the end while x264 can use all of the threads I can throw at it. In a way though, this is still a positive because I can use the veryslow preset, giving the most efficient compression x264 offers without a loss in speed (the bottle neck is that severe). Think I want to play around with voltages to hopefully drop temperatures, but regardless, I now have what, for me, is practically a dream computer (higher single-threaded performance would be nice for those filters, but this is still a rocking setup).
Now, if only I could get a capture card so I can work with some console games too...

Oh, also (I should probably make a separate post, and I will later) I'm planning on taking part in the Extra Life charity stream on November 4. I've wanted to participate before, and now that I have a better computer, I figure the time is as good as any.

Small Update and Maintenance

One disadvantage to being able to build up a schedule of videos to come out is you forget about the maintenance the comes along with them releasing. So, now, finally, the playlists for Dead Space 3 and Portal 2 are public.
Actually the main reason why I am posting this is because I have updated the channel logo. What spurred me to do this was some people looking at it and reading it heart I had as an A, making the logo read TBAG, which is rather contrary to my desire. So I found myself a new heart that is less triangular and, after a some hours of editing it and adding color, I thought of another change to make to the logo.
You see, something I had thought of when I first made the logo was to update it as I found ways to add more biometrics to the videos. Even though I have had the gaze tracker for quite some time now, I hadn't added it to the logo, partly because I was not thinking about it. Last night I was thinking about it and what dawned on me was to add the green circle to the logo, as though I were looking at it with the gaze overlay activated. I think it does a good job of representing the tracker.
No other news than that, but that I will hopefully have a new computer built by the end of the month, and after that I will start making some new videos. (Actually I could start making videos now, but I want that faster processor first, though I could change my mind.)

Well, I made it through

Actually I should have posted this last week, but I was able to record and upload Antichamber already, so if you look at the release schedule you will find it covers me through October, which is pretty nice to say.
Now, yes I did have to look some solutions up and I have little issue admitting it. The puzzles are not the easiest to solve, though some at the end I really should have figured out without help. Sometimes things just will not click.
Anyway, those are ready and up and I am going to be taking another break before recording more. I've a good, technical reason why but as I cannot give a date for anything, I'll keep it under my hat for now. In any case, hope you enjoy my embarrassing myself in Antichamber, when that starts coming out.

Now October is Covered

Took some experimentation at the beginning, but I finished recording in Layers of Fear and with those videos, I am scheduled through October. That experimentation was because I was having serious difficulties recording at first, but eventually I found the problem came from using the Tobii tracker. Might only have been one feature, since it offers two in this game (gaze tracking and head tracking), but once I found it was the source of my troubles in general, I didn't care to test it, but instead turn it off and get to actually recording.
Not sure what I will do next, but I will say I enjoyed the game (as much as I can enjoy horror games) and it made me so often think of Antichamber, with how it bent the world around me, that I might just try to do a gaze-tracking series in that game. It will almost certainly result in embarrassing myself as I fail to solve many of its puzzles, but we shall see. Have a busy week in store, so I will probably not start for a while yet, but then, I do have a deep enough schedule of videos that I will not need it for a while anyway. That is why I release the videos the way I do; to give me time for other aspects of my life.

Full Schedule Through September

Huh, I didn't realize I hadn't posted anything here for so long. Anyway, if you look at the release schedule you will see I have videos uploaded and scheduled all the way through September! I also finally finished playing the six games I have been working on for a while; the Dead Space series, the Amnesia games, and SOMA. While I am glad I finally played the five games I hadn't (I played Dead Space some years ago) it is nice to know I can get back to playing the horror games I just feel like playing.
Some other things have come up since the last post as well, including (finally) getting a job, which has had an interesting impact on these videos. One is obviously the loss in time to make these recordings, but the other is that the increase in activity from the job (a lot of walking) has lowered my resting heart rate significantly. Thanks to the 100+ hours of heart rate data I have from the thirteen months prior, I know my resting heart rate was around 75-77, but now it is around 67-70! I first noticed this just two weeks into work, so that was a quick, unexpected, and welcome impact. Due to this I have changed up the R script for generating the histograms so they will show the lower heart rates. You will see this impact in the Dead Space 3 videos, which are the recordings I started after starting at work.
Also, because of how much the length of the Dead Space 3 videos varied I have further tweaked the R script to add the length of the video to the graph (but I have done this after making these graphs, so they will show up on the next set).
I am not sure exactly when I will start the next set of recordings, but I am leaning towards Layers of Fear because it has gained support for Tobii Eye Tracking!

Busy Week

Had a busy week recently as I have been putting together a few things for The Body on Games, and other projects. First I put together scripts to make scripts to make things to run another script on to give me something to run two more scripts on and get something cool out of in the end. I might use scripts too much. What it all translates to is a way to take the heart-rate data and rebuild the overlay!
Why does this matter? Well the last Outlast: Whistleblower video sadly lacked its overlay because it just wasn't recorded at the time. I kept the archives though, so right now my computer is (still) working on making the frames to produce a new overlay. It is going at about one frame per second though, and I need 60 frames per second, and there are some 177,000 frames I need... this will be done in a couple more days, and then I can start the video work.
So I'm not sure if I'm going to do it quite like this again, as it seems the blood flow graph is taking the longest time, and it is also the only part that needs to be at 60 FPS. I may recreate the overlay in the future though, because it would be a way to have both the heart-rate and gaze-tracking overlay on the same video, while getting around the two-encoder limit NVIDIA arbitrarily set for GeForce owners. (The NVENC encoder is able to handle many more video streams, but the drivers only unlock it for the professional cards that are in the thousands of dollars.)
I also have the ability to render histograms of the heart rate data, showing the distribution. Not sure exactly what I will do with these, but I will do something.

In addition to that, I also added a couple links to the YouTube channel's main page.I doubt either will see much use, but hey, if they do not exist, they cannot see any. Both are just for ways for people to support the channel, with one being PayPal and the other being Patreon. Would be really awesome to get some support like this, but it isn't like I'm going to stop making the videos. Okay, I am still on a break as I do other projects, but I am coming back, soon I hope.
So, if anyone reads this post and would like to support the channels, me, or just want to clean out their wallet a little, the Patreon link is above and around, and the PayPal donation link is on the channel. (I'd oddly prefer Patreon, just because I feel like it is more incentive to keep making videos than a one-time donation, but whatever works for you.)
Update: Decided to have the histograms posted on Patreon. They are/will be public, but that is where they will reside.

A Break and Braid

So after finishing recording Dead Space 2 I decided to take a break from horror games. Maybe it is because the recent horror games I have been playing haven't been very horrifying or I am actually getting used to them. My hope is that if it is the latter that this break will allow my fear to reset. If it is the former though, I think SOMA, the next horror game I intent to record, will take of it. On the bright side, I have until June for this break since Dead Space 2 covers that month.
This break in horror games is not a break in recordings though. I have plenty of games to record in using the Gaze Tracker and the first one I have completed, uploaded, and scheduled for next week is Braid. Those videos will be coming out on Tuesdays, like other gaze-tracking videos have. I also intend to try recording The Witness, another game from the same developer, and one of the games in the next Humble Monthly bundle. (This is also how I got Alien: Isolation and SOMA.)
Unfortunately with Braid I could not track down any statement concerning the video/YouTube policy for it. I think I am covered under fair use though, as I am pretty sure my recordings would be considered transformative works, but I also muted the music in the game to avoid issues. Hopefully if there are any copyright issues it will not take the videos down, but I really doubt there will be.
That is all for this update. Braid will be out soon so you can see me solve some puzzles with ease, struggle with others, and even just look some up because I could not see it.

Welcoming Isaac

This week my Dead Space recordings will start going live, as Amnesia: The Dark Descent finished releasing last week. Last week also saw my second Audiosurf 2 video come out, so there is now a playlist for that game. I do have what I need to do more Audiosurf 2 videos but I have not done more yet, not needing them.
Sadly I had some technical difficulties with Dead Space and it was not until near the end that I found a solution. Basically all of the videos are going to be stuttery until the end. The solution I found is to not record using NVENC's lossless setting, but instead setting a bitrate (constant or variable, it does not matter). My best guess for the cause of the stuttering is some unfortunate interaction with the high framerate the game will play at (often over 100 FPS) and this either choking my computer somewhere, or the frames colliding with each other while being bounced around the system. Turns out this also happens with Dead Space 2, so I have been using a variable bitrate of 50 Mbps to great success (though I did accidentally select the wrong profile for one video, but it does not look to bad).
Anyway, after Dead Space will be Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, which is already uploaded and scheduled. I am currently working on Dead Space 2 and after that, I am planning on taking a break from the pulse recordings. I don't know for how long, but I just feel like getting a reset to my fear. Fortunately I will have plenty of videos ready for such a break and I can always do some of the gaze tracking videos, but I am not sure. Taking a break just sounds like a nice idea now, so I am seriously considering it.
By the way, Outlast 2 releases April 25. I'm not sure how or when but I will get a copy (it would be awesome to have some luck with Red Barrels' PR, but I have learned not to keep my hopes up). I feel I need it because Outlast was the first game I started putting up, and that release date is just shy of the channel's first year. Sounds like perfect timing to me.

Another Down and the Next Installed

Earlier today I finished recording in Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs and the last video is being processed right now! So, the plan is to have all of those videos uploaded and scheduled tomorrow, but I'll also be a little busy tomorrow, so it might be Tuesday. Hardly an issue, one day or the next, since these will not be going public until April. I really should consider change my schedule, but I also really do not want to be without videos in a week.
Okay, here's an idea: I have the next three games planned and if they stretch far enough, say to the end of the year, maybe I will start putting newer videos out as well. This would mean, if it happens and I have the time to do the recordings (one advantage to being so far ahead is plenty of time) that I could have four videos (two pairs) coming out in a week. It's an idea and I hope I can do it, because I like doing this!
Not too long ago I was asked what games I play for fun, and the truth is, I play them all for fun. I'm a gamer, so I enjoy playing games and have fun. I also enjoy sharing them, like these videos let me do. It's a near ideal combination, so what games do I play for fun? The ones I am playing.

The Memories

I can't remember a single episode from it, but I do remember watching, and looking forward to watching the DuckTales cartoon when I was growing up. It took a while, but I finally got myself a copy of DuckTales: Remastered and I decided to capture and combine it with the gaze tracker overlay I've used in Super Meat Boy and Audiosurf 2.
Never played DuckTales before, so while I remember hearing it was difficult, I did not know what I was in for on just the Medium difficulty. My mother made fun of me when I shared I popped the game down to easy, which has unlimited lives, but when you just want to play and have fun, sometimes that's what you need to do. Didn't keep the game from frustrating me at times, which was captured for my embarrassment, but I got it all done and on Tuesday it will start coming out.
Don't know what will be the next game I play with the graze tracker, but I have some in mind.

Something Different and Not Necessarily Returning

So the other day I had an idea and decided to do it. I do not have a copy of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, so I cannot play that currently. The people at Achievement Hunter do though, so they put one of their more reactionary people in front of the game and a face cam, surrounded by people who really just want to make it worse for him. Now, they do not have a pulse graph setup like I do, and I kind of doubt they ever will, so my idea was why not watch their video with the oximeter connected, and record that?
I didn't say I thought it was a good idea. It was just something I figured I could do, so I did, and this meta-video should have gone live about twenty minutes ago.
Now I cannot say I intend to ever do one of these again. It just isn't as much fun to do, compared to actually playing a game, but maybe I will. Only time will tell. In any case, here's a link to the original video:
Let's Watch - Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
Also, to be clear, there is no endorsement in either direction concerning this video. I say that a couple times in the video, include Rooster Teeth's statement in my video's description, and here it is once more:

This is not endorsed by Rooster Teeth in any way.  Views, opinions, thoughts are all my own.  Rooster Teeth and [Achievement Hunter, Let's Watch - Resident Evil 7: Biohazard] are trade names or registered trademarks of Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC.  © Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC.

(I really do not want to be contacted by RT Legal. I'll take the video down if asked, but I hope I will not be asked.)

For Future Reference

A while back I started using the Lossless preset for all the of the recordings, so that I have the best masters to work from, and it has been working well ever since. That is until Dead Space, which I am almost done with. My guess is that the problem comes from how NVENC interacts with a high-framerate game. Dead Space is going at over 100 FPS quite a bit because of its age relative to my hardware. That many frames might be chocking the Lossless preset, causing stuttering in game, in the videos, and even causing serious stuttering in the recording of the overlay. Only today, after making nine of the 12 Dead Space recordings (one per chapter) did it dawn on me to try setting a constant bit rate. Fifty Mb/s might be much lower than the 150 Mb/s Lossless produced, but it is certainly enough and without that stuttering, it is many times better. I do intend to go back to Lossless for future recordings, unless this issue comes up again, but I do wish I had thought of this before playing 75% of the game.