BPLTEX
patreon
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Legion...
🕑 Added 2020-02-12 00:23:34 +0000 UTC I posted this wall of Text earlier on my youtube community page after catching some shit. I will do the same HERE but I will make additions...
Just as an FYI as some people have expressed "concern" regarding the workflow of Tex talks battletech. Some have complained, and I think that's valid so I'm going to shed light on the process here and now.
1. Research and Writing. This can take a long goddamn time as I may have to read 10-15 sourcebooks, consult Sarna, and even the writers of the series itself in order to gain the insight I need. I could easily just glance at Sarna and text to speech somebody else's work but I think that'd result in you guys rioting. This stuff can take time.
2. The Editing: Mike works wonders, but still we have to find sources for images and high-quality ones at that. In many cases, we cannot actually find images for events so we have to make them. Or photoshop/tweak things to suit our purposes. We've done this quite frequently and most people haven't noticed, or asked: "Where's that from". Chances are if you don't recognize it, we made it. The process of finding images, animating, and laying a sound-track complete with sound-effects can take a few hundred hours of work. Sitting there with mike and punching things together, choosing this song over that song, or working through hard sections without good images or information can be a mighty chore. But we take pride in what we do.
3. Final passes - This is where we add in the projector effects, intro/outro animations, and then the commercials. This can take a week by itself as the project gets so damn big that adobe HQ bursts into flames. We need a render farm at this point, but that's far beyond our budgetary allowances.
4. The Actual goddamn millennia that youtube takes to accept files I send them and render them to appropriate HD. Sometimes this can take days on days. Sometimes this can take an hour. I have no goddamn idea how that black magic works.
At any rate - From here on out, I'll update you as best possible as we work on the projects we do. To give you a better understanding of what's coming up and what we're doing. Right now we're almost an Hour into the episode, and uncut audio suggests we'll be a hair under two hours before we're finished with just the meat of the episode. That's without commercials, gags, and an intermission. Believe me, we won't forget those. At all.
I do apologize for the setbacks. Initially, we thought we'd be done by the end of January but there were some things I had to do. I will go over those here and now. Firstly, the initial scope of this episode was going to be just clanner elementals. Nothing else. It would have been a tiny, short episode and there would be a lot of jokes about how they're just muscle brained fools with jump-jets. But then people wanted to know more.
The "Desire to know more intensified".
People wanted to know what happened after the Amaris Civil War. What happened to the SLDF. How the fuck they became the clans. People asked and asked and asked.
SO! rather than say fuck off I do what I want... I expanded the scope.
This is a big one. It's at least a 2 parter. Some have joked it'll be a 3 or 4 parter. Who knows?
I only know what I've written so far and it's a lot. We're going to cover a lot. Not everything, but a lot.
The second thing that set me back was a far overdue visit to my family. I had not seen them in 3 years. I'm a workaholic. I had put off a lot of things but this seemed very important. So working my ass off in meat-space, plus taking an actual amount of time off to see family plus a hectic schedule and wanting to expand the size of the episode are the reasons for the delay. Mike as well has his job, his work, and his studies. We're both truly working very hard but for people who feel "offended" that the timeline as projected was not met - I do apologize. Accept the above information and reasoning for this delay.
Further:
To answer Questions that have been posed to me:
Query: "What's the patreon money used for anyhow? You seem to want people to stop giving you money, and regularly point out its a waste of money"
Response: Of the patreon money (which is decent) I take 1/4th for myself to pay taxes, As I have a day job, the tax burden is enormous with what patreon makes. 1/2 goes to Mike to pay for his editing time. The last quarter goes to people I'm trying to help out, people who do need money that I know, who are trying to get by or better themselves. I don't just throw money at them (I have in the past), but I get them to do little things for me, to build their ego and give them meaning
Query: "You respond to a hell of a lot of comments, even ones where people bitch about what you're doing. Why is that?"
Response: I respond because I want to know what people thought and I'm a weird Autistic guy who sometimes can't read peoples intent over the internet. Also, I get riled sometimes when people bitch re: the Battletech stuff and its because I care about Battletech. I simmer in rage at the bullshit Battletech has been through. From shitball companies to shitball game designers to shitball money grabs. Battletech is fucking Battletech because of the fanbase. It is alive because of the fanbase. Nobody in their right mind would pick this game up and play it if the world wasn't so amazingly beautiful and amazingly crafted with absolute god-tier writing (excluding large parts of the Jihad and Dark age - though those may mature IN TIME)
Query: You'd get a lot more views if you did stuff like top 10s and 10 minute videos on quick stuff like history.
Response: I do not like 'top tens' nor 'here's a million years of history in 5 minutes' or minute-history anything. I don't think history or lore should be simplified. I'm a historian by education, degree, and practice. I'm a storyteller by habit. Distilling a war, a decision, or an event to 5 minutes of goofy bullshit is demeaning to it. Ask a man who knows lord of the rings to "Go ahead and sum it up but like, in a paragraph" and watch them change colors. That's how I am with Battletech, and military history. Some shit has layers. Some shit don't. I really don't want to compromise what I want to do, because at that point I'm pandering to the algorithm and what youtube finds profitable. The moment I change that, I change myself, and I will have undermined everything I believe in and work toward. I want to be me in all I do. This ain't about fame or fortune. I've met great people and made fantastic friends and memories through doing things my way. If I'd pandered or changed that, I'm sure as hell I'd be more famous or wealthy for it - but at what loss? I shudder to think.
Query: You mentioned on twitter you quit drinking, are you okay?
Answer: No. I'm not. I'm a workaholic who has too many things to do, a demanding boss, and a very difficult job that has zero room for fucking up. But, as of today it's now 22 days without a drop of alcohol. Decided to quit. Don't know for how long. Working a 60+ hour work week on top of everything else was getting to me and I had been drinking far too regularly for my happiness. Sleep deprivation is a motherfucker.
Query: I applied through the 'secret method' to get into the BPL But I didn't get accepted to the discord, I'm a patreon, why can't I?
Answer: Because I don't run the discord. Understand my reasoning - When I started my discord I was coming over from the age of Skype and similar bullshit. Discord was new to me. It started off as small, my friends, my long time gaming companions, and that was it. People asked to join based on what shenanigans they saw and the community I occasionally showed slices of. Many people have joined over the years, and we have a damn impressive engagement/stay rate there. Namely because its a community, not a "WORSHIP TEX FAN CLUB WITH GILDED SEATS FOR THE PEOPLE WITH MONEY" like a lot of discords are. I actually game there, hang out there, play there. I've made friends there. But, to protect it - I've had to turn the day to day running of it over to my modstaff. They're volunteers, able, and damn impressive. Getting in isn't a guarantee and I don't tell them who gets in, nor do I often even offer much in terms of opinion as to that matter. They self regulate, and they've kept the community safe, and alive. To open the gates would kill it. To let anyone in would kill it. Open discords for a youtube channel are a bad idea. My reasoning on that is that I do not see myself as above people, nor separate from them. I do not want to be seen as a god among men, a glorious leader, nor a great man. Merely, a man. No more. No less. I am another voice in the choir. I prefer to see it that way. Ego is the death of all good, I am convinced...
-- Tex --
Comments
Mike
I just starting watching and caught up today. Your stuff is super-well put together. Too bad the type of content you put out is far and away the minimum. Stuff takes as long as it takes. The people who appreciate this the most don't expect you to work on a schedule.
My monetary contributions to these glorious shenanigans are extremely modest, but every TTBT is a special treat and I'd never want y'all to rush them, nor burn yourselves out making them, for that matter... I don't really think the complaints are valid, frankly. You don't charge people for the content, we contribute because we appreciate what you guys do and want to help in some small way.
Dark Azial
I am not going to offer you support. A lot of people do that already. I want to offer advice. You look upon your art (yes I am calling it art) with little value. While proud of it you don't think it means much, after all it's just videos SS13, TTBT etc etc. You are making, especially with SS13 and TTBT, movie length documentaries on a fandom we love. You should be incredibly proud of your art, so much so that you should never apologize that your ART is taking longer than you thought... You should never belatedly explain why it's taking so long. A simple "Hey fuckos update.. next TTBT is in January... or late february. Until then enjoy the fuckton of content I make." would suffice for many of us. Those that want to pick apart your process have NO BUSINESS in it. Finally, the money.. What is this bail money? Child Support? I give my paultry sum each month to you to help support the CONTENT. If this means that supporting you comfortably to get editors, voice actors, peanut butter, Astroglide Lube or a Dragon Dildo... What do I care? It's my contribution to make things easier for you, make life more comfortable and if I get content out of it.. fuck it great. To sum up, quit apologizing, quit explaining. If people are demanding it, don't. We do this voluntarily against your wishes. And as for the explaining, just give us a note here and there. We understand. Also.. Steiner is next.... right?
Matthew_Steiner
Definitely can relate to the long hours and stress, social isolation. Had made the decision a long time ago to forgo drinking (alone). These days it's purely social which means it's very unusual. Unfortunately it's "the internet " so there are going to be jerks (ie. Capellans). The rest of the Inner Sphere more than understands and when the BPL releases a Tex Talkd Battletechs it's a joy. Hang tough, stay frosty, we've got your team's back.
Sons of Lorgar
Sounds to me as if you are trying to be the best friendly neighbourhood bastard you can be, and just cope with a world built for normies. While it's tough, you seem to have the essential priorities mostly right, despite societys attempts to fuck it up by the old: work yourself to death or die starving routine... as for your videos, passion and creativity can't survive for long if it is rushed and preassured into becoming an obligation and a chore.
Sons of Lorgar
I second this!
PPC's4Life!
60 days without touching the drink? Good on ya. Alcohol is best used for praising Zorg.
Mate ... You do you.... The rest will sort itself out... Plus... Good on you I've been on the wagon for almost 20 years now.... Keep one eye on the ball....
I have no idea what, being a workaholic would be like but I would encourage professional help if you haven't already. Trying to please people on YouTube on the other hand where everyone is assumed to be a fulltime YouTuber is impossible. As for people trying to buy there way into the BPL fuck then if they think they can buy there way in then they have no understanding of the point for it existence in the first place. I wish to apply but time will tell in that front being in a discord server is a privilege and not something that should be taken lightly because in some but not all aspects you are letting a large number of people into your personal life and they are all doing the same with you. So there is that Don't work to hard man, you are fully aware that burn out is a thing I am sure and its not there show it's yours run its time frame when and in what way you want to hell push it back two more months if you want fuck it. No one else is going to make it and the more people bitch the longer you should take to make itπππππππππππ
hay God Speed dropping the alcohol. Thanks for your hard work Tex, With your 60h work week, i am suprised you make as much content as you do, i have done the 60h work week, that can be Stressfull, 0.o Thank you for your Quality content, and for engaging with the BPL Community. :) Your the best Mr. Tex
I view it the same way as old forums and chat rooms operated - "it's the owner's house, don't make a mess or you'll be thrown out." This goes for both the youtube and the discord.
Ooof. Good luck with drying out. It's rough, but absolutely worth it down the road. Re: "Speed of the Workflow" it's a gorram youtube video, not a company project. Take your time and for the love of an urbie don't sacrifice your health or well-being to hustle something out for us internet goblins.
James Underwood
I just wanted to say thanks for all of your hard work. The videos are great and informative, and I hope you always take all the time you need with them. I know I'll be here eagerly awaiting the next installment. Between the Vice Gaming podcast and your videos, I've learned a lot about Battletech and the universe, and I can't wait to learn more.
The Real Hoopties of Genesee County
I don't know what you're going through, but I can relate. Sleep deprivation really starts getting to you after a while. Thank you for being forthcoming. The whiners and complainers can go piss up a rope.
SirKingCorny
Don't worry about speed Tex. You put out enough content as is
Koschei
I wish you the best on quitting alcohol, and would like to express my gratitude for having my love of Battletech rekindled after many years. Your content is par-excellence; the best there is for Battletech in my humble opinion. As someone who's had creative projects in the past (I was crazy enough to make a ConLanguage, even), I understand that sometimes we don't meet the schedule we set for ourselves. So, as far as I'm concerned, that's okay. I know the finished product will be worth it. -Vocar
Thank you for the in-depth update and look behind the curtain. I wish more people understood how F***ing hard it is to create rock solid quality content. Scripts do not pop out of aether. Editing is not magic. And time in the day is not infinite. Thank you sir for being a man of honor and makin shit the best it can be. Good luck on your step-away from booze and I hope your buddies are doing well.
Tyrazial Angelis
Huzzah and well spoken sir. Congrats on the alcohol free!! Hope the job situation gets better! People on YouTube and really the internet in general get pretty fucking entitled when it comes to expectations of others. As a proud Patreon subber of you I am glad to see any content at whatever the frequency. What you do produce is quality content and worth the wait. Cheers and jeers sir! No guts, no galaxy!!!
