Wow, August is down already. This has been the quickest month so far this year. A bit has happened. I had a bit of a health scare early August. That sounds dramatic so I'll explain.
I passed out one night, whacking my forehead on a doorframe which left a neat little cut (now a small scar). What worried us most is that I don't have a history of passing out. Scared the shit out of me if I'm perfectly honest. Really made me think of my family, and then my mind started wandering through the worst possible outcomes which was hard to pull back from. It also left a lingering vertigo which has taken weeks to right, and still isn't completely gone. The event became the catalyst for some lifestyle changes.
I have cut back on processed foods. I've had poor sleep for a long time and so got serious about a proper night's sleep, and this required multiple changes. First, I've dropped stodgy carbs at dinner (think rice, pasta, breads etc) and have cut my dinner portion size back. I now have a strict 10pm bedtime to aid the circadian rhythm, I drink little water at/after dinner to minimise the need to get up during the night, and I have night filters on all electronic devices (including my PC). Yeah, I got pretty serious about it. This is all self-imposed.
What does this mean for the videos? Not a huge amount, really. It does lock out late nights and recording footage after 9pm, but these are easily planned around. Still, I like to make sure you know what the general thrust looks like for transparency.
On the video front, the Abiotic Factor video is currently in production. It'll be a touch over 20 minutes. The reason it took so long to reach this point was over 80 hours of recorded footage while I finished the Early Access content (yep, the game took that long to 'complete'). The script is also twice as large as the regular preview scripts I do, and this was entirely unintentional. There was a lot to say and I wanted to ensure it was all said. Not long until the video drops now.
Blood West is next, and I'm beyond excited to play it! Hyperstrange are working on more balancing updates and I'm almost tempted to hold off until they're done. Almost.
After that I'd like to change things up a little, but we'll see how I feel.
Speak again soon, pardners.
Compared to the rollercoaster of last month, September was productive and far more chill. I went on a holiday and damn did I need it. I didn't realise how far down the hole I was until being away from home forced me to step back, slow down, and relax. I still did some research and writing for the next video, but when I got home I decided that - while the topic was good - I wasn't feeling it right now. I shelved that project and started a new one.
This next video - unlike previous videos - zooms out for an industry-level look. The target: AAA games, and how the AAA moniker means something different to me now. Unlike other videos which body-slam AAA using player data and sales as weapons, this video will be a personal review of what AAA means to ME. It's a deliberately deeper look into my mindset when I consider AAA games, development studios, and publishers, through the lens of a gamer and paying customer who has become disillusioned with the AAA industry and who explains, in detail, why.
The script for this ...
Hey Folks, the video is finally done. Apologies for the late release, a few things came up near the end of the month which delayed release. I hope you enjoy it!
G'day, chaps and chapettes. July down, progress made.
The Doom/Quake horror video is now at 1hr 36mins. I had hoped to be closer to the 2hr mark by now but stumbled across more supporting material, and viewing/cutting it has taken longer than expected. I'm also making an effort to use footage which supports talking points, and because the script is loaded with talking points (and because the Doom 3 playthrough spans 18 long video files), finding footage to support even a single paragraph of the script has sometimes taken 30mins or longer. There was also another body of work I needed to complete for the Blondefire channel which was delayed by last month's IRL work, so July was very much a catch-up month all around.
The good news is that July was free of IRL distractions so I've made big progress on the video. I normally add the backing track after the footage and voice over is laid, but this time I've added it as I go. This means that the next (and final) pass only requires QA checks and audio ...
