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.