Episode 10

I just released my 10th episode of my Longplay series! This is a big milestone. I haven’t hit 10 consecutive episodes before. And especially in this short of time-frame. I have been doing a new episode each week.

I am absolutely loving this series! I took all the things I loved about filming and kept those, and removed the things I didn’t love.

Keeping: small cute builds, playing at my own pace, focus on building, not advancing, relaxed, quiet videos
Removing: massive builds that take a long time, complex filming and editing, recording with voice, trying to be in ‘performing mode’ on a group server

The result is a series that is fun and easy for me to film, which means no burnout and a sustainable effort. I can do an episode each week because of the smaller, simplified process. And I’m starting to find my new audience. I’ve seen a few unsubscribes, and then around an equal number of new subscribes, but my views and viewed-minutes is going up! People who are looking for relaxed Minecraft videos are finding me, so it’s great to see.

Now, I am still working on my big castle on Arcadia. It’s coming along really well now that I am not trying to record my voice. It’s just going to be a timelapse with music. So that’s still happening. And I do enjoy everyone on the Arcadia server. But it’s funny how most of the creators on small SMPs are constantly trying to do big builds to compete with the full-time YouTubers, and then continuously get burnt out.

I saw a video with Mogswamp and fWhip where they were talking about how each one of their videos takes a full-time 40+ hour per week effort because ‘that’s what the audience requires’. Massive builds with amazing details requiring hours of effort in materials collection and building. And they are correct that there’s a level of competition there that requires that level of effort. BUT, why not try to change that? Why not try to make smaller builds with more lore and design story behind it?

So, I guess that’s what I’m trying to do with this series. A quieter, simpler way to do Minecraft videos with smaller builds. And I’m having so much fun doing it!

One thing I want to bring back into my videos is my art. But I’m not sure how or where. I like the simple filming process that I have. It’s not easy to film traditional drawing and painting. At least it’s not easy for me. I would need better, more consistent lighting and I don’t want a big setup for that. That’s why I was thinking of digital art, but I don’t like my style there yet. So, I haven’t been doing art for my videos, which is fine for now. I might do some paintings and post them here. It’s something I can get back to eventually. For now, I’m just enjoying my simple Minecraft time! 🙂