New video tomorrow & Channel Update (Blog)

Hello everyone!
Been a while since I've posted anything so I thought I'd let you know about a few things that have been going on. Some good, some bad... some in-between.

NEW VIDEO!

First of all... my next video is done, and it's about Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc!

While this is my first video of 2022, I've been internally referring to it as the last video of 2021 in a way... as had things gone another way, this would have likely been released in December after the Pumpkin Jack video.

I've been working on this one on-and-off since the new year began and is just over 35 minutes in length. I've thankfully managed to finish it all this week, in the last week I'll have as much time to even make these videos anymore (more on that in a moment)

Now... the plan is to release the video tomorrow, and I'll likely slap an early link to it up for any of you via a the usual "charged per creation" Patreon post.

I'm not really sure how else to go about it really.

But yeah, I hope it does well. For what it's worth the previous two Rayman videos were some of my better performing videos of last year, and I've had comments asking about where my thoughts on Rayman 3 are... so yeah, hopefully those people tune in!

WHERE HAVE I BEEN?

So... this is where I may sound a little vague to begin with but... Life just happens sometimes.

Like the last few years, I had to put up with Black Friday and Christmas making my work life a nightmare, which generally makes me too tired to want to do any of this video stuff after each shift.

I've also had to go through a third surgery on one of my feet because of this ongoing issue I've had, which has been worsened by the fact I've been on my feet so much from October to December...

And to top it all off, without going into it too much... I'll just say our family has had some significant losses in the time I've been away from YouTube.

WHAT NEXT?

Well, after the Rayman 3 video... I honestly don't know.

That job I mentioned above is no longer an issue as I've found a new one.

I'm literally just about to start that job in a few days time and once I do it'll be a Monday to Friday thing, full-time.

There's a big part of me that hates the idea of losing so much time, as I'm more of a creative person at heart and the things I'll be doing for work are still the polar opposite of what I'd ideally be doing... but I've no choice really. I need to go where the money is.

I could have stayed where I was but the hours and wage were both really bad, nont to mention the stress and literal pain each Christmas could cause me so... yeah, I can't not try this out.

It'll be a big shake up for me, as I've never had a singular full-time job before now. It's always been singular or multiple part-time ones, and juggling my hobby of making videos to upload to YouTube in and around them.

So until I figure out a way to make the idea of making videos work with this new schedule... I guess that's... it? I'm not sure.

I like making videos enough to say I doubt it will literally be the end of it all, because I still have a lot of games I'd like to cover as videos on my own channel but... I suppose it's just one of those things where I'm looking at it realistically.

The analogy I've had in my head is this...

If my channel were a snowball being pushed up a hill, and if were to JUST about reach the peak and it looked like the snowball would roll down the other side and end up growing a LOT bigger then... yeah I could probably justify keeping the lesser day-job and trying harder but, that's just not the case really.

I think my videos have gradually gotten better in quality over time... and I much MUCH happier with them now I've took the emphasis away from "trying to be funny" and just writing whatever I'm thinking instead.

But, my channel hasn't had any significant growth for maybe two years now?

I mean I'm glad I've managed to grow it to the size that it is currently, and I'm also glad the change in style didn't affect it negatively. It's just stayed the same really.

I am super grateful for anyone that has pledged via Patreon, though, given how inconsistent I've been able to upload.

If anything I just feel bad that I've still got at least 3 games sat here I actually bought with Patreon money that I can't do any videos on just yet, until I figure out my new day-to-day schedule.

Once again, I want to stress that while this page will still be up... it will remain "per creation" to save charging any of you for nothing.

On a more positive note...

When I am able to, I'd like to buy myself a much better camera and some fixed lighting, as I like filming things up close and doing macro shots of things like game controllers, cartridges and figurines which my current one doesn't do so well...

So my videos might end up looking a little better, even if they end up taking longer to make.

I've also had the idea of doing a sort of "how to" video, going over my own personal workflow, and the programs and techniques I use to make one of my videos as a sort of Behind The Scenes type thing.

I've always found those videos really interesting (I remember James Rolfe did one many years ago which was neat) and considering I have a fairly consistent way of doing things now, I think it could potentially be insightful...? I dunno.

If that sounds good, and there's a specific aspect of my videos you'd like to know about... let me know!

RAYMAN 3:

But yeah... like I say, I'll post a link to the video tomorrow afternoon UK time, which will be maybe late morning over on the USA side of the world....?

And I hope it gets seen, I suppose!

Thanks!

- Pete