Blog: Writing the script (01/31/22 - 02/04/22)

Monday, January 31st - Starting the script and Footnotes launches!

Today, I officially launched "Footnotes," 1-minute video game history videos! You can view these videos just about everywhere (including Facebook and Twitter, which I forgot to mention in this image). Hope you check it out! Let me know what you think. My goal is release a new video every week. 

By the way, I'd like to rant about TikTok for a second. I absolutely hate the way TikTok works. My biggest problem is the differences between the website and their app. You can't do everything on the website that you can do in the app. So to upload my videos with all the features (such as auto-captions), I have to do the following:

- Upload the video to Google Drive
- Download the video to my phone
- Upload to TikTok via the app
- Enable auto captions
- Review the captions and make corrections - ON MY PHONE

I really wish I could just do everything from my computer.

Besides launching Footnotes, I also started the Super Mario World script today! I wrote about 5 pages today, which is pretty exceptional. I haven't even started talking about the development yet. That just gives you the scope of this video.

Tuesday, February 1st - When it rains, it pours

This morning, as I was finishing my shower, I turned the knob and....it didn't turn off. That's weird. I turned it all over the place and it didn't do anything. I hopped out and had to shut off the water to the whole house.

After some Googlin', I discovered that the shower cartridge was probably bad. This is a little device inside your shower piping that controls how much hot and cold water comes out. Should be an easy fix!

I hopped in my truck to head to the hardware store and...my truck won't start. Dead battery. Crap.

So I borrowed Kristin's car and went to the hardware store. I found the aisle where my part would be and...they don't have it. 

So I drive 30 minutes across town and finally get the part at another hardware store. Sweet, let's fix this!

I try to remove my old cartridge and...it doesn't budge. I can rotate it left and right, but can't pull it out. So I learn there is a special tool made specifically for this. So I go *back* to the hardware store and get that tool. 

I finally get the cartridge out and put the new one in. I test it and...hot & cold are now reversed. Whoops. Suddenly, Kristin yells from downstairs. There is water leaking down to the 1st floor!

So I shut the water off again. I re-install the cartridge the correct way. Test everything and I think I finally got it. No leaks anymore, but I'm keeping my eye on it.

After that, I went out and bought a new battery for my truck and swapped it out. All fixed.

And that was basically my day. It was made even more stressful because I knew I had to fix everything before Wednesday. We have a huge winter storm moving in and we are expected to get at least 8 inches of snow. 

I didn't even touch the script today. But with snow coming, I'll be bunkered in the house for a few days. I'm hoping to make good progress. 

Wednesday, February 2nd - Keep on writing

Since yesterday was a lost cause, I wanted to make sure I got some good writing in today. I finished Part 1 of the script! I also tackled one of the hardest parts of this script - making sense of the timeline of how Mario World changed during development.

The Nintendo leaks from a few years ago really shed light on how much Super Mario World changed over time. But it also made telling the story a bit more complex. From context clues and early sprites, we can gather that Super Mario World originally looked much more like Mario 3. But after some internal feedback, was soon changed to the game we know of today.  

Tomorrow, I dive into Part 2!

Thursday, February 3rd - Part 2 is done!

Whew, what a day of writing. I somehow got through part 2 of the script! Going back and taking my time on that outline is paying off. I've written about 20 pages so far, and I just finished talking about the Japanese side of things. Next is North America. I think I have about 10 more pages to go. 

I also got another Super Mario World toy in the mail. This boat blows bubbles when it's in water. Neat-o!

Friday, February 4th - Upcoming "Footnotes" episode

Today I finished another "Footnotes" video on Super Mario Bros. 3. It goes live next week on February 12th - the 32nd birthday of the game's North American release! Here are the upcoming episodes of Footnotes through March:

- Super Mario Bros. 3 Regional Differences
- When a 9-year-old Sued Nintendo
- February 1991 Best Selling Console Games
- Contra III 30th Anniversary
- Bleem!
- Weird Games: Mister Mosquito
- March 1991 Best Selling Console Games
- Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary

I'll be working on the script a little bit this weekend. Hoping to have a rough draft done in a few days.

Until next time!

- Norm