If you love something, you won’t shut up about it. I believe this is how most casters are born. The utter admiration we have for a specific topic, and words start flowing out of our mouths. Sometimes beautiful. Other times, unorganized and butchered.
The job of the esports shoutcaster is to sound like the former rather than the latter 99% of the time. The other 1% is for when you finish a show, and your mouth can’t mouth no more. Until then, do you want to join the ever-growing world of gaming behind a mic? This is how you start.
Beyond equipment, computer, microphone, headset, notepad, third or fourth monitor, here’s what you need to know to start your casting career from an RLCS Analyst perspective.
1. Pick a game and watch the esport
If you’re reading this, it most likely means you already have one or a few titles in mind, to no surprise. If this really is your first time casting or behind a mic, you’re going to need to pick one and only one for now, so you can learn how to cast in general, then learn how to cast your game of choice.
In sports and esports, there are color commentators and play-by-play commentators. Play-by-play commentators is self-explanatory. “You are reading this sentence. You stopped for a moment. You keep going, now a little bit faster because you don’t see a period anytime soon, and you soar all the way to the end of the example.” Cool, right?
Color, on the other hand, gets trickier. Color is opinion, and I can’t tell you what to think, but if it’s nutritious to you, it sure should be nutritious to others. If play-by-play talks about how you read that sentence, color might talk about how you could’ve felt reading it, how your reading made the audience feel, how your opponent reacted to your reading skills, what the words-per-minute world record is, and how close or far you were. PBP tells, color shows.
Now, once you pick your game, you need to watch that game's esports and find out if there are play-by-play commentators, color commentators, or hybrid commentators. In my field, we all do both because of the pace of the game, excelling at one or the other. If your game allows for more time between actions, you might find both roles separate, and that means you need to choose. This is a perfect moment to learn casting by listening and writing down expressions and terminology you appreciate for our next exercise.
2. Practice with your replays or muted streams
If you are comfortable behind the mic, great. If you’re not, you need to do this behind closed doors to get good, therefore get comfortable, so this is your perfect scenario. With your notes in hand, find gameplay of your esport and solo cast for 5-10 minutes. If it’s as competitive as the real thing, great. If you can record it, even better.
You will need to push through the awkwardness of talking at a computer screen to no one around you because this exercise is what got me through my first 10 streams ever. You need the gameplay to be high-level to keep up verbally with the action, and you need to record it so you can hear yourself and dissect.
You want to become a caster because you are already a part of the audience. So separate yourself from the recording, and as an audience member, dissect. Why did you say that? What words are you repeating too often? Do you sound confident? Whatever your takeaways are, make sure you notice them and practice one thing at a time. It’s a cliché because it works. There is no timetable for these kinds of things, but whenever you feel more confident than just comfortable with your indoor casting, you then knock on doors.
3. Show your work – even if it’s for free
Last, and most certainly not least, you need experience. There are basically two ways to go about this, but you won’t like either of them. You can knock on doors offering your services free of charge to a starting, ongoing, or standalone competition that lacks production. Or you can put together a small showcase match that you will essentially be the caster of because you organized it.
I started with the latter because it gave me more control over the When and How. I called a couple of friends and streamed Showmatches with little in-game incentives. Neither the stream nor the incentives are necessary; what is of the utmost importance is to keep your notes close during the recording so you can have quality footage of your work that you can edit into your first caster reel. This will be your presentation letter for future projects, paid or unpaid, so make sure you do your best in the recording and feel satisfied with your reel.
Up until this point, you are officially a caster! You will know your game, your craft, and have a video to show for it. Make sure that any and all work that comes your way is recorded, clipped, or at least written down for future reference. Experience in mind and on paper is the biggest way to walk through unimaginable doors as an esports commentator. Whatever your journey has in store for you, I wish you a wholehearted GLHF.
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