Welcome to another affiliate snapshot! This week we meet Crit Camp Gaming:

Screenname: Crit Camp Gaming

Twitch URL: http://www.twitch.tv/critcamp

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/critcamp

Country of residence: USA

Primary game you stream? Why do you stream this game in particular? 

Chris - Our primary games over the last 5 years have been the Zombicide series & most recently Keyforge. Zombicide is what launched Crit Camp and really fit our format as a cooperative style miniatures game that really lent itself to almost episodic content. The adventures, challenges, visual elements, and flexibility to just have fun with the game really helped bring people to Crit Camp. Most recently, Keyforge has been a blast getting in before the official release and doing our best to show the fun one can have with a unique competitive card game. Discovery within gaming has always been something we enjoy sharing with our audience and Keyforge has been scratching that itch a lot lately!

Lyle - Cooperative style, miniatures board games, particularly the Zombicide series Chris mentioned, are our bread-and-butter games. Since we’re never in the same room when we play (PA and TN), we’ve found that open information, cooperative games work the best for our format. The story/campaign aspect of games like Zombicide let us go on a journey with our viewers, where we learn the game, develop strategies, share laughs, and work together to move forward. Echoing Chris, our recent obsession has been KeyForge. This game bit me like Magic did in ‘95 and Hearthstone did in ‘14! We’ve had a ton of fun discovering decks and getting our community hyped for the game.

If you’re looking to take a break from your primary game, what are some fun secondary games you enjoy? 

Chris - We love to explore various other tabletop experiences both physically and digitally from One Deck Dungeon to Massive Darkness, Codenames to Medium, Ascension to Pathfinder. There are so many genres of tabletop games and are always down to try new titles.

Lyle - Digital tabletop and card games are fun go-to’s for us when we need a break from heavier games. Games like Aeon’s End, One Deck Dungeon, and Slay the Spire are always a good time and are especially great since they’re easier to setup for streaming. And there are way too many other games that we’d love to get to the table!

Why do you stream? The love, the money, the fame? 

Chris - We started streaming because we wanted to discover what gaming had to offer us through those that are bigger fans than us in the community. Putting our game nights up on Twitch basically opened the door for people to step in, share the experience with us, then recommend where we should go next with the hobby. 

Lyle - Streaming scratches a couple different itches for me. First, I get to prioritize and have on my schedule a time to hang out and play games with my best friend. Second, I spent a good portion of my life performing -- whether it was music, bands, or theater, so streaming has become an outlet for that part of me. Streaming has also connected us with a community of awesomely kind folks.

As a successful Twitch Partner, what are your goals now with streaming on Twitch? 

Chris - Keep growing the camp community which in turn grows the Crit Camp brand, therefore allowing us to keep creating content. The people make the camp what it is for us and others. If we can get big enough to bring folks together more often and support the gaming hobby, that’d be pretty awesome!

Lyle - Continue to grow and make better and better content going forward. It would be a dream to be able to do it full-time.

What are some hobbies you like to do when you’re not live on Twitch? 

Chris - Video gaming, music/audio recording/writing/engineering, travelling, attending events, climbing, brewing, being a gamer dad with my boys!

Lyle - Travel, host game nights, work on my motorcycle, and work in my buddy’s woodshop.

What is the biggest piece of advice you would give to someone who is looking to get into content creation? 

Chris - If you have fun making the content, then folks will have fun watching it. Don’t let content creation dappen your enjoyment of something you love doing just to make content.

Lyle - Completely agree with Chris’s statement here. I’d also add that you shouldn’t get too discouraged in the beginning if your numbers are low or your production quality isn’t the best. Just like in anything else, the more you do it, the better you get at it, the more you can invest back into it, and people will find you.

Is there anything you would have done differently when you were first starting streaming? What was the big, “lightbulb” moment for you? 

Chris - Just make sure your streaming schedule fits your life. Don’t burn yourself out by grinding out streams too late or sacrificing things you’d rather be doing just to stream.

Lyle - Since Chris mentioned the big one, I’ll say that I wish I invested in a better microphone and camera earlier. 

 Any parting words of advice, shout outs, projects that people should be aware of, or anything else you would like to talk about? 

Chris - We look forward to seeing and playing games with as many folks as possible at PAX Unplugged this year!

Oh, one more thing. If you could shrink down any animal and carry it around in your pocket, which one would you choose? 

Lyle - Oh geez, this is a tough one. To be honest, I’d probably just want to shrink my cat, Mosley. BUT, I’m assuming I also have the ability to bring him back to normal size. Otherwise, no deal.

Chris - Bernese Mountain Dog - Imagine pulling one of this little guys out of your pocket all cuddly and poofy to run around on a table...DOGGO!

 

We hope you enjoyed getting to know Crit Camp a little bit more!

Stay as you are,

The Inked Gaming Team