2023 Update

Hey guys! You may have seen that I uploaded the setup tour to the main channel, with a little intro mentioning that I'm working on bigger stuff, and that I'll be posting updates about them on Patreon. You may have even joined after seeing that, in which case thanks!

Long-time patrons will know that historically I haven't been very active on this page. That definitely wasn't my intention - I'd always planned to at least post some Patreon-exclusive update videos - but I found it was hard enough trying to get regular videos out at a decent pace, that I could never seem to find the time to produce regular Patreon content. Still, that's no excuse for neglecting this page, and I want to change that starting with this: a real update about where I am and what my plans are for the future.

As I mentioned in the setup tour intro, I've been wanting to start focusing on bigger projects again, and I felt I should elaborate more on that here. In all honesty, I've been feeling a little despondent about the channel lately. I started treating YouTube as a full time job (and relying on it to pay my living expenses) around June 2021, and while it's been amazing that I've been able to do that at all, I feel like the videos themselves have suffered from trying to maintain a consistent (and thus financially stable) schedule.

If I'm trying to make a LEGO Island mod, write a game that fits into a QR code, or track down parts for the ultimate Windows 98 PC, the truth is I have no idea how long those projects will take, or if they'll even work out at all. Often times they may take weeks or even months, especially if I have to learn something new or track down obscure parts online and wait for them to arrive. This makes them logistically very hard to plan ahead for, but the experimental nature of them made the end results much more interesting and exciting. A lot of people still cite videos like these (nearly all before June 2021) as their favorites of mine, and I would honestly agree myself.

That's not to say there weren't videos in late 2021/2022 that I didn't like making, however if I have to get a certain amount of videos out to pay rent, and the sponsors helping me out have given me specific deadlines to upload by, it would be irresponsible to choose projects where I can't predict how long they'll take. Instead, I'm naturally going to stick to ideas that I not only know I can do, but that I know I can do quickly (or at least in time for the deadline). And while in the face of looming deadlines and upcoming living expenses, this felt like the right move to make, in retrospect I feel like the end result was almost always a less interesting video. After all, if I can predict the ending, chances are you guys can too.

So I want to start taking my time with projects again. Not only will that make the process of making videos more enjoyable for me again, I think it'll also make the videos a lot more interesting for you guys again too. There are so many things I'm super excited to try, but I just haven't been able to because for the past year and a half I've always been rushing to get the next video out.

So how am I planning to make this work without doing that? Well, this Patreon is a huge part of it! By supporting me here, I can focus on making bigger and better stuff for you guys instead of having to come up with something - anything - to get a video out as quickly as possible (or take other contract jobs to make ends meet). So if you're here helping me out, I want to give you guys a massive thanks. If I can make this work, it'll be because of you.

I may also make a video update on the main channel talking about these plans to try and get people more interested, or perhaps I'll just include a bigger Patreon shoutout at the end of my next proper video. We'll see! And like I said in the beginning, I also want to make it worth your while to be here, so I plan to post a lot more photos and short updates on here so you can see what I'm doing as I'm doing it. I've already got some stuff that I'll be posting over the next few days that I think you guys will find super interesting.

Finally, you may have also noticed I've been streaming more regularly lately as another way to stay in touch with you guys, and "make content", while still having time to work on bigger stuff behind the scenes. If you're interested in seeing me work on stuff live, or just hanging out and talking about obscure retro tech, that's definitely the place to do it. But obviously I know streams aren't everyone's cup of tea, so like I said I'll make sure this page is up to date too with whatever I'm doing.

Thanks again for being here, and I hope you're as excited as I am for future videos!