Gatorbox in 2025 / Year in Review: 2024

It genuinely feels like I just wrote this post; 2024 went by in what feels like an instant. A lot of things happened these past 12 months, some good and some bad, and they all shaped the direction this channel took. The biggest change was me leaving the part-time job I had in order to work a full-time schedule for not just more hours per week but also a substantial bump in pay. It was a decision I didn't take lightly as I knew that the main reason why I've been able to devote so much time to Gatorbox and editing videos/content is because at maximum I only worked 20-24 hours a week and usually had two entire days off during the week to focus on projects. The simple truth is I was "getting by" at my old job but not able to really save anything or plan for the future and deep down I knew this was a very risky way of going through life. Taking up a full-time gig would take that chunk of free time away from me and I know the channel overall has suffered because of it; the YouTube upload schedule slowly deteriorated as the backlog of videos edited ahead of time dwindled and ultimately the uploads became "whenever I have the time to post a new one". Usually the Extra Life marathon videos start going up before Thanksgiving but this year the uploads did not start until December. I've been handling things as best as I can and I am very appreciative that you all continue to be so supportive.

Another facet that's been holding up my ability to devote time to Gatorbox stuff is health-related. I've been a little aloof about the details because I feel like talking about health matters is kind of personal but it's been a gradual progression over the year. Around the time autumn rolled around people started noticing that I'd been losing weight, which is correct. This year I've lost 32 pounds since I started a combination of a diet, light exercise, and a prescription medication. All of that has affected my metabolism and I've felt a very serious lack of energy, which is a side effect of the medication I am on. Additionally, I've sought help sorting out a hormonal disorder that is likely part of the reason why I struggled with weight and energy in general for so long. (Also, just to be clear, "hormonal disorder" is not a euphemistic way of me telling you I'm trans because I know that's a phrase that people do actually use for that purpose. I'm just not comfortable being any more open about it than stating I have problems with my endocrine system that have been left unaddressed for years and I'm only just now getting that handled.)

THAT SAID, I do still think 2024 was a good year for Gatorbox. Before I itemize out what I hope to achieve in 2025 let's double back and see how I did on the goals I set for this year at the end of 2023:

--- The 100 Best Games of All Time (still no)
--- "That's Not Lego!" (48 episodes produced, premiered in Q3 2024)
--- Gatorbox merch store (mostly set-up, awaiting launch in February 2025)
--- Gator Love physical release (decided against this for now)
--- Fanfiction Factory season 2 (did not get produced)
--- 30/50 sub marathons (also still no)
--- "Eraser" album release (released over Extra Life weekend in November 2024)
--- Website game reviews (did not get written)
--- Pokemon "Cock Version" (filmed over Memorial Day weekend)

The 100 Games thing has been languishing for years and I had every intention of working on it until I started working full-time. I still want to do it but I don't know the best way to go about achieving this. The majority of it has been planned out for a while now, it just needs to be fully written beyond its current outline state and I need to do the graphic design for it. That's been the case for a while now. It's a massive undertaking, perhaps the largest one in the channel's history, because I also want to put together a written companion guide to go along with the show that provides further insight on each of the 100 games beyond what I'm able to do in the videos (each game gets about 2:30-3:00 of screen time). The Twitch sub marathons also didn't happen just because I didn't have the energy to do that after running a full week of work at my new job. Hopefully the "lack of energy" situation is in the process of being dealt with though, so we will see going in to next year how things shake out.

Here's what I want to get done in 2025:

--- The 100 Best Games of All Time: Yeah, just put it on the list again. The show and companion book might happen separately, so this entry is just for the video series itself, not the book.
--- Your Level SUCKS' 10th Anniversary: It's been 10 years, can you believe it? I definitely want to do something on September 13th as that's the anniversary of the very first episode, however we can't exactly play Super Mario Maker 1 anymore because the servers were shut down. I will figure something cool out though. The anniversary event, which I've named YLS10, is something I want to really capitalize on this year. I am getting some official merch made of things from the show including a replica of the Kickstarter Pen and an official physical release of the theme song as a CD single ("Bob-Omb Battlefield Rock" performed by Rockyowitz). More info to come on the anniversary stuff though.
--- Radio F complete discography + demo tracks: I wanted to remaster all four of the Radio F techno albums released between 2001-2004 and make one last "definitive edition" reissue, but sadly I lost the master recordings due to deterioration of the storage media. I still want to go through with reissuing all four albums however so I will be releasing a 2-disc anthology release, "You Can't Go Home Again", that contains all four albums using the "remastered" recordings done in 2006 when the discography was digitally rereleased through RFSHQ. While digging through old tapes and whatnot I did happen to find the original demo tape that we used in 2001/2002 to make early transfers of our tracks to my computer. These are earlier versions and takes of many of the tracks on our first two albums and they also have a sort of "lo-fi" sound to them given the rudimentary way they were recorded 23 years ago. I am planning on digitizing the contents of the demo tape and rereleasing that as a separate EP/compilation, "Blue Spheres". I hope to have both of them on Spotify by spring along with physical versions you can also buy.
--- Articles of Conflagration: This is an offline series where I present classic articles from the Twilight Foundry media archive as if they were extended comedy monologues. I personally have penned hundreds of articles for all the places I've written for and some of the people I've worked with, namely Roastmaster, have also contributed some amazingly hilarious content. This stuff is all still out there but the problem is it's articles that you have to read, and nobody likes to do that anymore. This is great comedy though, so to reinvigorate it and present it to a new generation I want to present the articles in video format. I am working on building a set for this show, I have most of the things like lights and such. I just need to either assemble a set or build some of the things I don't have. The 100 Games series is taking priority over this in a general sense, but if have an opportunity to work on set design or something like that I won't pass that up. My goal is to at least film a pilot episode or two of this series at some point in 2025. In preparation for this and the 100 Games series I've retrofitted my previous phone with a lavalier microphone and motorized gimbal to record in full HD, plus also picked up a standard tripod to hold the phone like a camera and a couple of ring lights for the set.
--- Dinopunk music singles: Look, I know I can't really sing all that well anymore. I used to be passable at it but time has eroded that away as I was never able to stay with a musical act that lasted longer than 6 months. "Eraser", my collection of covers from Twitch Sings, was released last year and a lot of the recordings sound kind of rough in hindsight. I was specifically trying to hit certain pitches and cadences though since those recordings are from a video game, I have confidence that me being able to just hit the notes I want to hit might sound better. We will see. I am on deck to record covers and music videos for the songs "Against the Wind" (Bob Seger) and "The End of an Act" (Trey Parker & Matt Stone) at some point in 2025. Depending on how well those go over maybe I'll continue working on music. I have an entire album of songs I've written over the past 20 years and nobody has recorded any of them with me because they're all stupid ass songs about dragons and spirituality and people give that shit a very wide berth when you bring it up.
--- "14% More" stand-up album: Before I took up hosting Gatorbox every week I spent several years touring anime and special interest conventions in Texas doing stand-up shows. In 2012 I released "Live and in Person, Too!", a comedy album made from that year's tour. At the end of 2012 I started hosting Gatorbox and that sort of supplanted my desire to perform stand-up. To be honest, I miss doing it. Performative comedy is how I got my start in this line of work all the way back in 1995, it's part of who I am. All that improvisational humor and whatnot that I put into Gatorbox, it came from my beginnings as a sketch comic writer and actor. I've started working on new material on and off this year and I hope to start performing locally around Corpus Christi, TX next year. My goal is to use these miniature features and shows to piece together a larger "show" and release it as a new stand-up album which I can then show to various venues and conventions and whatnot again just like I used to do before Gatorbox. (PS: The album is called "14% More" after one of the bits I've been working on for the show, "Live and in Person Too" was also named after one of the bits.)
--- Overhaul the Gatorbox Wiki: I installed the wiki software on the Gatorbox website server because I wanted to have a comprehensive repository of everything stream-related like our inside jokes, emotes, shows, mascots, etc. It's a big undertaking and I've just sorta been selectively chipping away at it here and there not really feeling like I'm making a dent in it. I want to devote some time to nothing more than writing pages for this wiki and fleshing out the ones we do have that aren't very long. Ideally, I'd like for our most notable jokes and references to have entries that way they can be easily referenced for those who might not be in the know. If there are pages missing from the wiki that you think are higher priority (i.e. "Oh No Me Homo") I'd love to hear your feedback so I know which ones to knock out first.
--- Simulcasting: I'm ready to admit that despite an uptick in viewer activity on Twitch this year that the platform is something of a sinking ship (I personally attribute our increased viewership to the simple fact that Twitch is shedding so many streamers who are giving up on the platform that our channel is winning by simply continuing to exist). Gatorbox has been on Twitch since 2013 after we left Livestream but I think after 12 years it's time to perhaps start looking for another home. I'm not going to abandon Twitch, we have too much of a presence there with all of the emotes and other fun stuff, but I feel that I'm hurting the community by not also broadcasting to YouTube at the same time. As far as I know I'm not beholden to any exclusivity contracts or whatever as I am not a major content creator (or at least, nothing I am obligated to really matters in the grand scheme of things and is easily circumvented by not making VODs public). I am going to look into getting a simulcast set up so the 2025 season starts with Gatorbox being streamed to at least Twitch and YouTube. Kick and Rumble aren't really being considered due to the reputation of the platforms, and while Facebook supports streaming I know literally nothing about it. TikTok also supports streaming but I'm guessing it only supports the "holding my phone vertically like a Neanderthal" video style. Simulcasting will require me to find some way to view all chats at the same time, and I will also need to set up Streamlabs connectivity with the other platforms so that if we get follows or subs on YouTube for example there will be a little pop-up just like there is for Twitch.

And that's really it as far as my main goals as a content creator go for the year ahead. Two miniseries (100 Games & Articles), 3 albums (Radio F, stand-up, and my personal stuff), an event (YLS10), and two web-related tasks (wiki & simulcasting). It seems deceptively do-able and I know I'll likely falter on a couple of these things but hopefully the wins outpace the setbacks. Your continued support on sites like Patreon and Twitch have been a great help in securing things for this show, and yeah now that I am making a little more money at work I've also been setting aside a little bit from each paycheck to go into the Gator Company business account too. We are entering our fourteenth season next year and against all odds no, I am not running out of ideas or things I want to do with the channel.

Thank you for continuing this journey with me. Whether you've been here just this past year or all 13 of them I deeply appreciate your support and encouragement.❤️

- Draco