8BitGuy1
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February update - a new chapter
🕑 Added 2017-02-14 17:02:33 +0000 UTC So I'm two weeks into my full-time career as a content creator. Things haven't worked exactly as I had planned. For example, I thought life would be relaxing and I'd have all of the time in the world. But instead I've found myself working 10 hours a day. However, much of that time has been dealing with my website, working out the kinks in the shopping cart system and shipping orders. Initial demand for the soundtrack CD was really strong and I must have shipped out 100 in the first few days alone. Demand has slowed and now I'm just shipping out 2 or 3 a day, which I what I originally suspected demand would be like.I have several more ideas for neat merchandise to sell, which I won't be ready to reveal for a few months, unfortunately. Anders Jensen (one of the musicians I rely on heavily) is getting a full album made of his music, and I will be the distributor for it in the USA, selling it on my website.
So I've typically spent the first hour or two each morning shipping orders and answering emails and messages on facebook and youtube. I feel it is important to respond to every message I receive, even if it is just a few sentences. After all, I am "fan-funded" now.
Then I spend the rest of the day writing scripts, shooting video, editing video, etc. I have 4 different projects going on right now in various stages of development. I'm nearly done with the collaboritive effort between me and Ben Heck, which I hope to show you in a day or two.
One of the projects I've started is about old school BASIC. This is a HUGE project. It will probably be the longest I've ever made before (possibly 30 minutes?). It will feature several guest stars, most of which you've seen before on my show, plus maybe a new face or two. I was originally hoping to have Steve Wozniak, but he backed out, saying he didn't have enough time.
In the meantime, I'll also be showing off some more interesting computer peripherals from the 80s. And I will be showing off the Fisher Price Pixelvision camera, which I'm excited about. For those that don't know, it was a video camera from the 80s that recorded video to standard audio cassettes.
Another project I'm considering undertaking this year is the creation of a game on the Commodore 64. Sure, I've made several such games before. But this one would be a commercial relase, sold on a cartridge. This would basically be a greatly improved version of my Planet X1 game that I made for the VIC-20 a few years back. I would likely complete the game engine so I could do a few mock-ups showing how the game would play, which is probably 10% of the actual work of creating the game. Then I would do a kickstarter to judge if there is enough interest to complete the game and get a run of cartridges made. It's always been on my bucket list to author a real game on a physical cartridge that more than 10 people would actually end up playing. :-) I would probably be looking for a group of advisors and beta-testers for this project. Also somebody good with pixel art to maybe help me draw better looking sprites, etc. So anyone interested, let me know.
I've been amazed at the generousity of my fans. Patreon now accounts for about 30% of my income. In fact, between adsense and Patreon I am now making slightly more than I made at my old job. (although not as much as I made doing both together) I have also received numerous donations of vintage gear from all over the world, which will eventually make their way into my videos. So I'm also grateful for that.
I think that about wraps it up. A big thanks to everyone!
Comments
Luke Chang
Love your channel and work! Really looking forward to the big BASIC episode but please do remember take good care of yourself!
Lorin Millsap
I took a look at your software last night. I have to say I am quite impressed.
Alexander Schrøder
Please don't work yourself to death (or to the point of becoming burnt out) for us. We're happy to support you for what you can do, not for what you think you have to do. :)
Anders Enger Jensen
I'm with Alley, pace it out so that you can live a life too. After all, what good is it if you (and all the other full time Youtubers) were to work yourselves to a halt? I for one think 1 really good video a week or so, is better than many rushed ones just to cater for the ones that scream loudest in the comments. :)
The 8-Bit Guy
yeah, I haven't decided how to approach this.. eventually I will make a video about it. But I'm not far enough along for that. I may setup a page on my website about the project or something for people to follow.
Thank you for doing this. We are patient. We can wait. Just don't burn out!
The 8-Bit Guy
I've actually written a custom program just for drawing the artwork. Contact me at dfwgreencars@gmail.com and I'll send it to you.
It all sounds very exciting! You've had quite an impact on my life recently, since I became a subscriber my household has gained 4 Commodore 64s (2 of them even work) and I've dug my old Commodore Amiga 500 out of the loft. Now I just need a keyboard or 20... I think the idea of you creating a game is really interesting, and if you decide to go for it I'd love to hear about the process you go through in creating it - I don't know if that's something a bit too niche for videos, but via blog posts or something would be great, whatever suits. All the best :-)
Mark Petocz
Great update, I'm very excited for everything you mentioned! Can't wait for the collaboration videos and the kickstarter!
Thanks for the update.Sounds like things are coming along fine.
Totally understand, I'll get it from your website. Thanks for the heads up.
The 8-Bit Guy
I can ship to Denmark if you buy from my website. But I can't do it as a $10 Patreon reward because it costs $13 to ship it, not to mention the cost of the CD.
Love your work David, upped my support. Do no if you ship to Denmark, but if not I can pick up the CD at my company's Austin or OC office. I'm traveling back and forth time to time.
BTW, you can check out some of my artwork at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/pfontaine23/videos?shelf_id=0&view=0&sort=dd" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/user/pfontaine23/videos?shelf_id=0&view=0&sort=dd</a> or at my website at <a href="http://pierrefontaine.webs.com" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://pierrefontaine.webs.com</a> or my now dormant blog at <a href="http://pierreportfolio.blogspot.com." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://pierreportfolio.blogspot.com.</a> I hope this helps a bit!
I'd certainly be interested in helping out with pixel art and animation if you need it. My only official game is a Playstation called "Monkey Magic" but I've had a long career producing animations on a Commodore Amiga and Autodesk Animator (an old MS-DOS program). I'm not certain what kind of software would be needed to produce pixel art graphics that could be used for a Commodore 64 game but I'd be happy to help in any way if you need it.
