December 1st ~ Big Update, YT, TikTok, YARG, Fortnite??

Been a while since I've posted on Patreon, so I've got a TON to share.

Incoming wall of text. Here's a giant sized, transparent, overdue update!

First off, if you're reading this, you're an active member of the Paradise City Patreon. Thank you SO much for supporting me and my content.

The fact anyone is supporting me while I've been less active than planned is wild. I appreciate each one of you. Your names, as always, have been added into the latest YouTube releases. (another to come later tonight, more on that at the bottom of this wall)

Real talk: I haven't shared nearly as much as I originally wanted to since first launching this Patreon a few months back. That's completely on me not managing my time appropriately while juggling new YouTube content, recent TikTok releases, streaming on Twitch, and managing life. Getting into the perfect rhythm hasn't gone the smoothest. What kind of rhythm game streamer am I?

I'll take that entirely on the chin.

This post is my first step towards being more open with YOU for supporting me here.

(Side note: Would a specific channel in the Paradise City Discord for Patreon members be worthwhile? Let me know!)

Ok, back to the meat of the update!

My latest longform YouTube videos haven't been doing gangbusters traffic. My focus the last few months over there has mainly been on YARG content, which is definitely a smaller niche than my usual Clone Hero focus from years prior. That's to be expected. As something I legitimately believe in though, I've been sticking to it.

But hey... this is where all the good news starts.

I've been having WAY more fun streaming YARG and creating content around the game. I think it genuinely comes through to anyone who has come by on streams. YARG reminds me of exactly why I fell in love with plastic guitar games in the first place. The dev team has been responsive and takes our community's feedback seriously. Been great to see the game develop with our community helping. Can't say enough good things about the game. If you haven't tried it and enjoyed classic plastic guitar games, you'll love it: https://yarg.in/

Since my longform content hasn't been doing the best for me, I've put all of my effort into shortform content on TikTok. This has been far more successful. Not only has traffic from the videos themselves been great, they're also bringing new folks into the greater community on Twitch. While some comments on YouTube have been so rough my filters are catching them, the overwhelming majority of interactions on TikTok have been positive. It's been night and day difference.

Finding ways to create new shortform content has also been incredibly rewarding. A meme made together with 760 Creations ended up bringing in 1.2 million views in the last three days. Huge difference compared to the few thousand most YT posts have been getting. While views aren't everything, the fact folks are clicking through and following on Twitch is beyond huge.

https://www.tiktok.com/@jparalove/video/7306595328323587359

I've been putting a lot of time into learning to edit videos faster and at a higher quality. Recently I switched from using VEGAS Pro 18 to CapCut and the difference is staggering. Faster rendering times, easier editing, and frankly far more user friendly. With the switch, I'm hoping to continue putting out more clips as time goes on. Never considered myself a decent editor, but now I think I was using the wrong tools. Switching editing programs made the whole process more enjoyable. Not having to worry about hour long render times only to realize I made a small mistake and have to re-render? So much less stress!

Feels like I've been slowly finding things I've been missing for a long time. One step at a time, but heading in the right direction by following my passions. Speaking of which, myself and three other creators (Acai, GuitarHeroROXS, and 760 Creations) have started a podcast about the lore behind Guitar Hero and Rock Band games. Check out Lore Hero:

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LoreHeroPodcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5E8pYaeUnmTO8SjUu7L2Bq?si=1cb364fe13a84a14

Saving the best for last. My largest focus the last few weeks is trying to prepare in case rhythm gaming sees another big boom in the next month. If you haven't seen, there's a chance a new Rock Band mode is launching in, of all things, Fortnite.

Here's a TikTok I made about the subject: https://www.tiktok.com/@jparalove/video/7302974692078472479

With Fortnite's Big Bang event happening tomorrow (as of this post) we may be finding out more information soon. Long story short, they purchased Harmonix over two years ago and they've been working on some kind of rhythm gaming mode. Tons of speculation, but here's what is known for sure:

-Files mentioning if a song has Vocals, Guitar, Bass, Drums, and Keyboard.
-Lines of code mentioning "4 Lane" and "5 Lane" gameplay.
-The ability to change difficulty and emote during "gem breaks"
-Options in the mode include adjusting music volume, change track speed, the ability to "darken the background during performance" and adjust audio/video calibration.

What does any of this mean? Will we see a full Rock Band style game inside of Fortnite? That's to be determined, but there's a chance we'll see a ton more rhythm gaming content in the wild soon. Exciting times. Looking forward to sharing whatever this might be with you all in the future after it is announced.

*WHEW*

Since I have no idea what is coming with Fortnite Band, I'm not sure on what my first longform content around it will be. I'm open to suggestions.

One last thing before I wrap this up. Since I've been trying following my passions regardless of overall traffic potential, the latest longform YouTube content is a three part series backing up the negative crowd reactions from Guitar Hero Live. GHL was the game that helped me break in as a content creator. I'll always have a spot in my heart for it.

This footage, for some reason, hasn't been uploaded by anyone else in it's entirety. Probably because of how much of a pain it was to get off the disc. Considering how over the top the footage is, and how much work went into it from FreeStyleGames, I wanted to make sure the footage was preserved online. I've taken the time and figured out how to rip the files from the disc myself. This was the only way to get the raw files without Guitar Hero gameplay covering them up.

The first part to this series was uploaded last week and can be found here: https://youtu.be/RuqiWo5TwGc

Second part (will be going live shortly after this post) will be here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcv7C47A5sw

Third part will be up in a few days!

Thanks again for your support and be on the lookout for more posts to come... hopefully not all giant walls of text like this. If you have feedback for me or suggestions, I'm all ears for them and will be on the lookout for comments.

Rock on!

-Jason