Can't believe September is behind us already, the month has flown by.
As you probably saw, the Marathon 2 video dropped a few days ago. Not my highest performing video by any stretch, but it signals the end of the longer-form videos and a new focused and considered approach.
The indie previews will still be a part of the channel, and the next video will cover a cool Western-inspired shooter called Wanted 3D Dead or Alive. Beyond that is a tough choice. I'd really like to cover a specific topic, but I also don't want it to send a false impression about the changes happening to the channel. It's 100% related to gaming, but I can see some thinking the channel has become rage-bait, which is not the case. It's a topic I feel frustrated by, have felt frustrated by for some time, but it may have to wait while I set the channel trajectory with a video more in line with future videos. And that video I'll keep as a surprise!
After the Marathon 2 video released, I watched a course on my post production software - Davinci Resolve - to get a better handle on the tools of the trade so that I can produce higher quality videos. Learned a lot of useful stuff (thanks, Casey Faris!). I also plan to do a course on Affinity Photo, my image editing software, to improve thumbnails and images used in my videos. I'll likely do more courses in future, as needed, and add this knowledge to my repository. All this useful stuff is going into my notes so that I don't forget them between videos (which is what usually happens...).
There's some admin stuff to get through this month, stuff I've been delaying for far too long. It'll probably take a week or 2 to sort through it, but it'll leave the channel and my mental health in a better place :P
What's Blondie playin'?
Lots and lots of Abiotic Factor. There's a huge amount of content packed into this game, and the gameplay loop is ridiculously fun. So much to discover.
Ambitions
This list is getting addressed this month, no more delays.
Create a playlist for the videos my Youtube buddies create so that I can catch up on their work.
Fix Patreon alerts so that I get notified when other people I follow post something.
Add recommendations to my Patreon. I'll eventually set aside a chunk of time to do all of this in one hit.
Personal ambitions
Running - took last week off because of a build-up of neuromuscular fatigue which made every run feel like 100% effort, even the baseline runs. Perfectly normal and healthy, just my body letting me know that rest was a good idea. My watch may be losing the plot too because it doesn't seem to be tracking heart rate properly now, at least not when measured against perceived effort. HR is well above where my effort is telling me it should be, and there are sudden spikes and drops which make no sense.
Food portions - while I'm cognisant of how much goes into my body, I don't track it meticulously. That said, I'm leaner and now see abs, and that's thanks to the extra km's I put in each week. If anything, calorie requirements have increased as each run burns around 600 calories. I'm prioritising protein and carbs to stay on top of muscle repair and glycogen replacement, and stopping before I feel full. That, and trying to avoid overly processed foods, is suitable enough for now.
That's it for this month. Hell of a storm in the world these days. Stay safe out there.
Folks, the Marathon 2 video has dropped for early-bird supporters. It'll be private for at least 24 hours, after which it goes public.
Hot damn, another month bites the dust. Straight into it.
There's 1/4 of the Marathon 2 script left to record voice for, and I've already begun composing the video. We're close to done.
I've been brainstorming ideas for the shorter length videos and already have a sizeable list to work through. The different projects I mentioned some time ago have been transferred to this list. I'll likely still preview early access indie games because there are many great projects out there, but I haven't decided what the next one will be. I also haven't decided what the next mainline video will be on; it'll be a surprise for all, me included.
What's Blondie playin'?
I've been smashing Abiotic Factor pretty hard this month since I'm now longplaying it on my Blondefire channel. Can't get enough, such a well-designed and fun game to work through. The Half-Life theme is the icing on the cake.
Ambitions
Completion of the Marathon 2 video is going to act as kind of a reset; I'll do all the stuff in this list to clear it away and ...
There's no sugar-coating this one. July was a rough month. Between a bunch of personal stuff and a busy IRL work schedule all coming at me at once, July has been a frustrating month, a month to forget. There were times I felt like throwing my hands up and giving up the Youtube gig, it felt that hopeless. Only in the last week have I wiped the plate clean and gotten back on track. They say the victories are won a step at a time, but they never tell you how to feel about the times your feet are moving yet the scenery isn't. This isn't a sob piece, but I need to get it off my chest. I have disabled Patreon payments, temporarily at least, until the Marathon 2 video is out. I swear there was an option to charge per video which is feeling a lot more fair than monthly payments at the moment, but I couldn't find it in the settings. I'll have another look soon.
Amidst the chaos of life, I had to face a hard truth: long form videos aren't as fulfilling as they once were. Am I saying anything new in them? Do they still mean ...