Randy's Changelog v0.12

G'DAY!

Happy Sunda-

-alright well, it ain’t exactlllly Sunday, but I’m late for a good reason :)

That reason being the man, the myth, the legend - Ryan Fleury. I’ve just finished editing this lovely little conversation. If you’re into programming and want to hear about the future of Telescope, it’s definitely worth the listen.

You can tune in over here on your platform of choice.

I’ve been really enjoying recording these podcasts recently and it’s something I’m definitely keen to keep up occasionally.

I’ve be hard at work this week writing out the script for this next video, tapping out around 8000 words so far (it’s just one big mess of ideas lol).

Something has been bothering me though, a nagging thought in the back of my mind that just won’t go away.

uhhhhhh, because I haven’t edited a devlog myself in years and it’s fun?

uhhhhhh, because it’s been ages since I posted a devlog and I want to?

uhhhhhhhhhhh

I’m gonna be real with you here.

It’s money.

If I don’t make this video, I don’t get any views, if I don’t get any views, I don’t get any money.

After spending all week trying to wrestle with this script, only now do I realise just how fucked this entire thing was from the get-go.

The only reason this video exists, is so I could earn a quick and easy buck, and not have to worry about my bank account drying up in 4 months.

The game itself started out innocent enough - small scope, small project, quick release - but it quickly morphed into a means to an end for this video.

The reason I booted up Unity, used premade assets from the asset store, and went with the flat vector art style (instead of pixel art) - was all so I could get this game done quickly within 2 weeks and create a video.

This entire project has basically just been one big ploy for keeping the lights on. This is not the place I want to develop games from, it’s all kinds of fucced up.

For all the recent talk going on in my mind about how “I should just do the things I want to do, without doing them for the sake of money” - this has been one big, fat, glaring contradiction rattling around in my subconscious.

My justification for this minor contradiction which has allowed me to continue working on this project for the last couple of months has been “I’ll just do it this one last time, and then I can do whatever I want.”

I’ve had one too many “one last times” in my life, and I can smell the bullshit radiating outta this one as well.

To top that off, the more words I put into this video script, the more I realise that the video itself isn’t even that great.

Aside from the beautifully chaotic memes and green screened goodness, the message behind the video is completely flawed.

Since I couldn’t finish the game, the video ends on me talking about how I couldn’t finish it because I prioritised this video. I don’t want that to happen again, so I’m not going to prioritise YouTube anymore.

Yet here I am, still making this video, prioritising YouTube without a finished game in sight.

There are no actions here to back up my words, there’s no finished game, just vague promises for future action.

It’s all talk.

With allll of that in mind, there’s no way I can finish making this video.

But if I don’t finish making this video, I can wave goodbye to that “easy” road to financial security…

…

Screw the YouTube algorithm.

Instead of forcing myself to make this YouTube video, I’m going to build myself a new career from the ground up.

Over the next 4 months, I’m going to find a way to earn a living doing exactly what I want to be doing…

Game Development.

I’m going to create a routine that prioritises depth, passion, and craftsmanship above all else.

Last week a lovely lad wrote me an email, asking me an amazing question:

Well, this is it.

I’m not going to make use of my existing YouTube audience for this.

I have no existing support aside from all you legends who are already following along. (there’s ~600 of you)

I’ve got to find a way of slowly growing over the next few months so I reach financial stability. While also being careful not to make that the main priority. I want to put the majority of my effort into getting shit done.

99% craftsmanship, 1% marketing - the polar opposite of what I’ve been doing these last couple of years.

Chances are you’re probably in a similar boat as me - you want to create and do the things you really want to do without ending up like the stereotypical starving artist.

If that’s the case and you’re up for the challenge, feel free to follow along with me on this new journey - chuck us a reply if you’re keen on it.

I don’t have all the answers for how I’m going to make this work, but you’ll see it all unravel as the weeks roll by.

I do have a hunch for where to start however…

You might already be familiar with my first new strat for keeping the bills paid but here’s a quick refresher:

It’s like busking, but for the modern age.

I’m already fortunate enough to have $176 AUD coming in from a handful of you extremely generous chaps on a monthly basis. Like I said, not exactly zero, but if I want to make this sustainable over the long-term I’m going to need some growth.

In order to do that, I’ve got to do two things:

I want to put 99% of my effort into that first outcome.

Buuut, I think it goes without saying, you can’t just “make cool shit” and expect peeps to rock up on your digital doorstep and throw money at you.

There has to be some kind of extremely low cost, almost passive marketing strategy running in the background to find people who are interested in the first place.

Since I’m not going to be relying on my existing YouTube audience, I’ve got to find a way of bringing in new peeps without it taking up more than 1% of my time and attention.

I need to integrate a very simple, low effort, wax on wax off marketing manoeuvre into my life so I can slowly build up financial stability in the background.

Social media is great for discoverability and there’s many different platforms that are each suited to different types of media.

For me, this whole strategy will look something like:

The options for this are practically endless, but I think this should be a good place to start.

Just as long as I keep it low-cost. If I can’t wax on wax off with my eyes closed there’s no chance it’ll stick as a long-term solution.

It’ll take a bit of elbow grease to get the ball rolling on this, but slow and steady is key.

Wow, yet another changelog with another massive life decision and change of plan. I’d say this would be the last time, but we both know I’d be lying.

The clock is ticking. I’ve got about ~4 months worth of runway here, so let’s get this road on the show ;)

For what feels like the first time in years, I’m off to go make some cool shit, for no reason other than - that’s just what I want to do.

It’s time to go cook some rice.

I’ll cya next Sunday,