JasonParadise

End of an Era // GHL Project ends and Fortnite Festival launches

For the last month I've been slowly working through editing raw footage from every song in the base game of Guitar Hero Live. This project was to preserve the work FreeStyleGames did without gameplay over top of it, which is usually incredibly hard to find.

The upload date for this video marks the end of a huge chapter in rhythm gaming and the start of a new one. The latest mode from Guitar Hero and Rock Band developers, Festival, launches in Fortnite tomorrow. I'll be joining my cohosts from the Lore Hero podcast, 760, Acai, and AWiseMoose, to try taking over the leaderboards first thing in the morning at launch.

Looking forward to sharing this game together! As a Patron, make sure to come by the streams and I'll make sure we squad up in the near future! As always, thanks has been given to every active patron in this video. Rock on! 

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

...THAT'S PRECISION, BABY! [Level UP!]

One issue I have with Clone Hero is how playing a bit sloppier can still get you full credit for hitting notes. By default, YARG has a much tighter timing window with no infinite front end to hit notes early. This tighter timing feels like the classic games and it's a huge nostalgia rush for me.

YARG inspired me to nail some rough solos and remind myself how much I can slay. Here's to inspiring folks to check this out and pushing them as well. Credit to active patrons included at the end of the video as always. Thanks for supporting me as I've been pushing myself boundary wise! More to come, stay tuned \m/

Flexing time... I ain't afraid of NO GHOSTS

Why have I been spending time on YARG instead of Clone Hero? Hopefully this video help explain just that! The "Anti-Ghost" mode in YARG returns plastic guitar to the feeling of the old console games. Got some great clips in this one and would love to see other folks hop on board to try this feature out. Your feedback is crucial! What songs or solos should I play on Anti-Ghost in the future? Lemme know!

As always active patrons have been thanked in the credits at the end of this video. Another should be coming out in the next few days. This SHOULD have been out on Friday, but an internet outage kept me offline for a few days. Thanks as always and stay tuned for more! HYPE!

Welcome to the Black (Metal) Parade

Matt Heafy of Trivium created a side project called Ibariki which I recently got to check out for the first time. The thing that caught me off guard was seeing Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance on this track. To my surprise, Gerard performs all of the harsh vocals on this track! This knocked me on my ass.  More to come starting next week. Huge thanks to all recent patrons! As always I've included the names of all active patrons at the end of this video. Check it out! 🤘

Memories? PULVERISED.

New mashup album playthrough! Mashups made by supathechest.

Enjoy your memories being demolished with these eight mashups. New project in the works that should hopefully be announced soon™

All active Patrons are credited in the end of this video as always! Thank you so much for your support as I've been getting back in the swing of regular video releases \m/

BOOMTUBE by Ferrolad

The sixth mashup album by Ferrolad... but the first one charted for plastic guitar! These mashups are insanely smooth and they were made entirely in a web browser based DAW. Mind blowing stuff. Enjoy these incredible vibes! All active patrons have been thanked at the end of the video as always.

The Quality of SiIvagunner 2

~*quality rips only*~

Sequel to the original chart played back in July of 2022. While these two sequels came out about six months ago, I never got to upload it to YouTube. This gave me an opportunity to play them on YARG instead of Clone Hero. Hurrah for small Ws!

Thanks as always to all Patrons at the end of the video. Got a new idea to share with you all hopefully next week. Stay tuned! 👀

BUTT

The debut mashup album from LK Corvus features memes, bops, and everything in between. This is a heavy handed and girthy debut. Standout tracks I'd recommend include both Zed Durst and Synco Mode but the whole album is a wild listen. Enjoy! \m/

As always all patrons have been credited at the end of the video!

Harder than your Husband [Wait... HUH?]

This song was made by the same folks who created Cotton Eye Joe. In fact, this song is from the same album, Sex & Violins. Suddenly I have so many questions.

Quite a few videos cooking in the kitchen at the moment. All active Patrons will continue to be credited at the end of each new video. While I'm currently putting out about a video a week, I'm hoping to kick that up a notch here in the coming weeks.

Also! I'd like to find a way to give back a bit more to Patrons as I continue to get back into the groove of uploading more YouTube content. I'm considering a regular feature doing first play reactions of songs suggested by Patrons. Would this be something that sounds interesting? Looking for your feedback here or also in Discord at https://discord.gg/jasonparadise

Appreciate the support as always! Rock on, Paradise City \m/

ADHD Mashup by VreyIsGrey

This mashup by VreyIsGrey was directly inspired by Ph0ton's Confusion series and is a 12 minute romp through an ADHD mind. Enjoy some memes, goofy transitions, and usual mashup chaos. As usual since the Patreon launched all active patrons have been credited at the end of the video.

I'd like to start adding some behind the scenes pictures and extras here for Patrons as well. If you have something in particular you'd like to see here as I'm building this side of Paradise City then please feel free to leave some feedback here as a comment.

Also, make sure you've joined the Paradise City Discord server for your Patreon Supporter role! (Make sure your Patreon account is connected to Discord!) https://discord.gg/jasonparadise

Vixoria Drift's "VIVID" playthrough

This mashup album by Vixoria Drift features over 100+ samples without any pitch shifting.

Intense, emotional, and amazingly well produced. Here's my first reaction to my original play through these tunes on YARG.

All current Patrons have been included in credits at the end of this video. More vids on the way! Thanks for the support during the launch of this Patreon. Still very new to me. Make sure you've joined our Discord server to unlock your Patreon exclusive supporter role: https://discord.gg/jasonparadise