Why I Stream Development & You Should Too!

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#1

Introduction
Hey there, I’m CheekyVisuals, a development streamer. Over the past year I’ve been doing programming streams almost every single day on Twitch. Before this, I was developing but was not really known for my work. Twitch transformed that and has blessed me with an incredible community. I’m here to talk about why I believe more people should embark on this incredible journey and stream their development. I don’t just mean developing with music during your streams, I mean using a face cam and a microphone and building meaningful interaction with a community.

This could be you!

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Benefits
Streaming development provides a plethora of incredibly useful benefits.

  1. Job Opportunities
    While you stream development, you will get tons of people asking you to “make their game”. I don’t mean these people. While streaming development, teams have an opportunity to see your thought process and workflow first hand. I actually found my two current jobs that make up the majority of my income through streaming! Streaming allows for incredible networking and really helps you know other developers on a more meaningful level than Twitter follows.

  2. Learn from Others
    Development streams attract a lot of developers (obviously). Some of these developers may know more than you! I’ve learned far more than I would have without streaming thanks to viewers providing incredibly useful tips and sticking around as I program a system. Conversely, you can spread your knowledge to others!

  3. Building Hype
    If you are working on a game, streaming development of it and interacting with your community is a great way to build hype. As you build a fanbase, you will have a group of people willing to play anything you release, helping your current and future projects!

  4. Motivation
    It can be hard to work hours on end without people noticing your effort. Streaming provides a motivation boost as viewers cheer you on and you’ll naturally want to impress them! It also keeps you on task, since development is what viewers came to see!

  5. Revenue
    The Twitch Affiliate program allows you to make money off of your streams. This should not be your motivation, but it can help with income while you work on a project! Twitch makes up a large percentage of my monthly revenue.

Sacrifices…?
Streaming is still a lot of work. Some cannot handle both having to entertain a chat and getting work done. If you wish to stream development in a way that allows for growth, you must be willing to sacrifice a small bit of productivity to focus on communicating with your chat. Make sure they know what you are doing, answer any questions, and be funny! (I’m pretty bad at the last part…)

This sounds great! How do I get started?
So, I’ve convinced you. You want to start showing the world your development skills! Here is a basic guide on how you can get started broadcasting development.

Some items you should have:

  • Microphone - Required to talk to chat, not having one will not grow your streams.
  • Facecam - Not required, but helps to build personal interaction and grow streams!
  • Open Broadcaster Software - The program used to stream your development!

OBS Tutorial - Use this to set up Open Broadcaster Software

Conclusion
I really hope I was able to convince more people to stream development. It’s an incredible community that people have hardly tapped into. I’ve built my entire community through streaming and I have no regrets about doing it that way. There are incredibly talented individuals in this forum who deserve to have the world see their creativity in action. Growth won’t come instantly, but with effort, time, and patience, you will reap the benefits of development streams.

Edit
I’m seeing a lot of people worried about people stealing/exploiting their code and I want to debunk this. In my personal experience, none of my 40,000 unique viewers over a 1-year span have ever done such a thing. Secondly, if you code securely and use the server (don’t invoke client!!) then you do not have to worry about this. People overestimate the lack of effort these exploiters will put into watching your stream. If someone exploits your game, you patch it! Program securely and you will be safe.

Questions?
Respond below or send me a message!

Contact me:
Cheeky#8706
Twitter

If you currently stream development, let us know in the responses!

74 Likes
#2

I frequently stream development as well. All these points are accurate. I think more developers should start live streaming. Live streaming is an excellent way to improve your skills, connect with other developers and built a community.

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#3

This is a great post! At the beggining of quarantine I did some game streaming but I eventually lost motivation and was constantly half an hour late of my scheduled stream time :joy: . This is well organized and thought out and I’m glad you decided to share this with us!

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#4

Staying on schedule is something I struggle with too! Thank you for the kind words. Consistency is the hardest part about streaming, but once you get it down, it’s a great experience.

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#5

Exactly, the connections and friendships made along the way are very beneficial.

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#6

Main questions that concern me:
How would I grow my audience? Starting off could be really tough, especially from experience.
Would I need a really good wifi connection for my stream?
Are there usually toxic individuals who could be rude in chat?

#7

How would I grow my audience?
Starting off is definitely a challenge. Development streams are a niche right now, which is useful for growth. I would first start off streaming development and getting a few friends to watch. Since there is a small pool to choose from for people looking to watch development streams, you need to make sure you captivate someone who clicks onto the stream. I’d try starting out by just streaming. If you find growth to plateau, use platforms such as Youtube, Twitter, and Discord to migrate viewers to your Twitch.

Would I need a really good wifi connection for my stream?
Streams have bitrates, the amount of data you can send for the stream. Better internet equals a higher bitrate, meaning a clearer stream. Upload speed > 10Mbps is likely viable.

Are there usually toxic individuals who could be rude in chat?
Occasionally, but that’s what the ban button is for :wink:

2 Likes
#8

i have tried streaming my development a while back. although i didnt turn on my mic/camera for the whole time, i was still anxious with a live audience watching me work ._.

now with a sluggish computer, i dont think i will have an oppurtunity to stream again for some time. i have thought about coming back to it, it sounded fun again. i think streaming really can give you a little boost at your projects.

i do wonder why most streamers use Twitch instead of YouTube, since YouTube is a more well-known platform (i did my first livestream on YouTube).

1 Like
#9

I prefer Twitch because, although you reach a smaller audience, viewers tend to be a lot more engaged and active. I also enjoy Twitch culture. My chat is fluent in pog’s and monka’s.

If you want to grow on Twitch, a mic is necessary and a face cam is recommended. It’s ok to stream without either, but just know you won’t be gaining the community boost that streaming has to offer.

1 Like
#10

I make youtube videos on Studio. It is amazing seeing a community get built around you and to see other developers.

I have been earning a lot of income out of this which I put directly back into my own projects.

I find Twtich a bit more aimed for gaming rather than development where as Youtube has it all.

Maybe try streaming on Youtube? I might start streaming when my wifi gets better!

#11

I’ve been streaming for too long and have been hitting up to 60 viewers some days. It’s too late to try and switch up. I love Twitch and the culture around it!

Glad to see your making content around studio and good luck :slight_smile:

1 Like
#12

I think the main two things that have stopped me from streaming development have been fear of code being exposed, and personally I can’t see the appeal of watching someone else code. Do you stream building, coding, or both?

#13

I stream programming. The action of me programming is boring for some. The reason I am able to attract viewers is because I focus on entertaining while I program.

The clips below are some examples of what I mean.
Content like this draws in even non-developers because it’s more than programming:
#1
#2
#3

To be a development streamer, you have to go beyond development. Sometimes you lose productivity!

Also, I rarely worry about exposing code because it’s useless without the models and various classes.

2 Likes
#14

Interesting, well good luck with your channel! Maybe one day I’ll take the dive into it, not in a quiet enough environment right now to stream :sweat_smile:.

#15

Haha I understand. Streaming requires some specific circumstances. Best of luck with your endeavors!

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#16

Thanks so much, mate for the incredible useful resources! I do appreciate it.
Good luck with your channel and you earned a follower. I do really like how brave you are to show up to the community even people call Roblox a child game.

Good luck mate!

1 Like
#17

If someone makes fun of Roblox for being a “childrens’ game”, they still have a childish view of peoples’ hobbies and interests.

I appreciate the kind words and I’m happy to help! Let me know if you have more questions.

2 Likes
#18

I stream from time to time but in discord. When i am scripting for a game especially the server code since i dont want to leak how it works to prevent potential to reverse engineer it.

Also its embarassing when your scripting to hit a roadblock as I often do, and just freeze up doing nothing.

But blender I usually stream with no second guessing.

#19

My first 4 months of streaming I wrote maybe one line of code a stream. I was so bad at the time. But my viewers helped me and got to watch me improve to the point I’m at now! It’s a really cool experience.

I believe leaking code is never a risk as long as it doesn’t contain auth keys. People overestimate who wants to steal their code. As long as you write with secure paradigms, you don’t have to worry.

I’ve programmed entire games during streams and never faced that.

#20

I personally think this is a great idea to put in your portfolio, and have some proof that you actually developed or programmed it. I watched CheekyVisuals for over a month now, and I think his content is amazing and that could be you right now. I think is this a issue with commissions, and long-terms projects, alot of people faking and grabbing free models and not checking that they made the build and ending up selling a free model or leaked model.

You do not need a perfect streaming schedule, but you do need to notify your viewers/community members on whenever you go live. That is the one thing I am facing whenever watching other developers, they don’t have a set schedule and so the viewers do not know what time to watch or anything on that nature. I think it’s very important for this task.

Lastly, You do not have to impress your viewers at the end of the day, whatever you want to do, do it. You will grow and you will have people that enjoy what you do for content, you do not need to change anything about yourself on what to do. I do not care if you get hate, because of streaming platforms, you will get hate eventually and you need to overcome that fear and move on with the rest of the day and that’s what catching a lot of people, and make them stop streaming. It is worth everything you do at the end.

I’m stoked to see your streams at the end. My name is Bulldo344, I am a software engineer for Verve Productions, and we sell technology there. I own it with StitchDreamz, he is my other founder.

2 Likes