Interview by Ninichi | Contact | Follow
If you're interested in games and are a gamer or a game developer, you really need to check out NeedtoKnow Gaming! So, let's get to know the couple behind this amazing YouTube gaming channel...
Who are you and what is NeedtoKnow Gaming all about?
We’re NeedtoKnow Gaming, a 2 woman gamer couple consisting of Dawn and Niko. Dawn is the hardcore player while Niko is pretty casual. We’ll play anything except horror.
NeedtoKnow is a channel where we have fun together and we hope you do, too! After all, the couple that games together, stays together (heart).
Dawn is from Florida and is currently in University working towards her first Bachelor’s. She loves cute things like plushies, her PlayStation Vita, Monster energy drinks, Steam Sales, music with bass, and creating content with Niko. Niko is from Georgia, has a Bachelor’s in Business Communications and currently works as a technical support engineer. She likes sleeping, playing MMOs, taking care of her fur babies Lilith (cat) and Ebi (pup), tattoos, and playing games with Dawn.
What made you decide to start your channels?
Dawn came up with the idea of sharing what we play—the weird, awesome, obscure games that other might not know about—with the gaming community. Indies became our primary focus because there are hidden gems in the rough and we wanted to showcase the titles that slipped through the cracks, therefore helping indie developers gain exposure.
When did you start doing this and how long do you hope to do this?
We started streaming late April of 2016. We had some bumps along the way with equipment and quality but as of right now, everything is good to go. We hope to do this for a long time as we both have a passion for gaming and showcasing indie games from smaller developers, helping them to reach as many gamers as possible.
How often do you share videos? What kind of videos and games do you cover?
We like to share videos ranging from first impressions to reviews and let’s plays 2-3 times a week to keep the content cycling. We cover games in all states of development from alphas and betas to demos of games that have not yet been released or are being crowdfunded. We like to give feedback based on our experience and provide constructive criticism while simultaneously providing our viewers with an outlet to share their feedback as well. We feel that this will help with development and give the developers a clear idea of their game’s strengths, weaknesses, and untapped potential.
What kind of music does your channel have for videos?
When we started, we didn’t have much by way of music of our own. The first person we spoke to was Niko’s nephew, Shai Neon. He is in University for Music Production and offered to help us create the beat that serves as the Intro/Outro music for all our videos at the moment.
We recently reached out to Ninichi about creating a sound for our soon-to-be-released YouTube introduction trailer. We were looking for a specific sound, a bubbly mix of pop and chiptune, and Ninichi was able to capture it after a few spins. With our channel focus being indie, we wanted to be able to give back to the community that helped us get this far so we chose a composer who was a musical voice for the indie community and had her own unique sound. (Thanks, hon!)
Fun Facts about Dawn & Niko:
- Dawn and Niko do not live together as of yet. They work on everything for their channels separately.
- Dawn and Niko are engaged (as of January 2016)
- Dawn does not like Horror games at all. Niko will play them even though she’s chicken much to Dawn’s enjoyment.
- Dawn and Niko are night owls and do a lot of their work late into the wee hours of the night. -Niko was born in the UK. No, she does not have the accent. :P
- Dawn has over 3,000 PlayStation Trophies with 34 of them being Platinum.
To see Niko & Dawn in action take a look at their Youtube Channel NeedtoKnow Gaming. Also catch them live on Twitch and follow them on twitter @needtoknowgaming.
Also - check out their short trailer now to get a better sense of what they're about (& see if you can spot my bubblechiptune track in there!):
From the author Ninichi: Would you like custom music for your YouTube channel, game or project? If so, I'd be happy to help. contact me to explore this further or feel free to learn more about me (Ninichi) and listen to some of my game music.
Discover more articles on Ninichi's music blog & follow me @ninichimusic
