Series Changes and the Colonel Reduced (Patreon)

July! 

I was thinking, back at the start of the month, that I was ahead of the curve and would get the next episode of Reduced done in good time. Yeah, so much for that. Anyway,  it is on the way and this month's topic is "GAMES". Nice and broad. Might need to ration my rambling time.

Meanwhile I'm making a few changes to the channel in terms of the games covered in order to seek out a few new viewers. Right now the schedule (usually) is:

Monday: Train Fever

Wednesday: Banished

Friday: Shoppe Keep

Saturday: Factorio or A-Train

Sunday: American Truck Simulator

I've struggled to keep all these going for the past couple of weeks, but the goal is 5 per week. There are problems with this format however. 

First, long-term series like Banished and Train Fever take ages to get anywhere. I'd really like to go two episodes a week with both, but that would leave only one video to try and attract new people. The principle being that with TF I have most of the people still interested in watching gameplay series' on the game (and who like my style), and while with Banished there's some way to go to "catch em all" it's an old game now, and as such the potential viewing numbers aren't what they once were. Given that I expect both series to exceed 50 episodes in length, it'll be 2017 before they're done - that's not ideal.

Second, self contained videos like American Truck and Shoppe Keep are a lot of fun to put together - but they're not bringing in viewers (right now). These are tending to appeal to those who're happy watching me play almost anything (seek help!) rather than people who are interested in the game. That I like doing them, and people enjoy them is great but they're not progressing things massively.

Third, secondary series like Factorio and A-Train do bring in the views but are actually pretty difficult to comment over given the formula for success below. Also, given their two week rotation, series progression is painfully slow.

For reference, here is the formula for where my videos are at their best:

1. AI entities that I can talk to - "Where are you going?" "What's this idiot up to?" "Did I tell you to do that?"

2. The opportunity for me to come up with a cunning plan or two that can be explained... and then inevitably deviated from.

3. Unexpected events. 

Train Fever is heavy on item 1 and 2.

Banished is 1, 2 and 3.

A-Train is mainly 2 with a dash of 1.

Factorio is mainly 2 with a dash of 3.

Shoppe Keep is 1 and 3 with a small amount of 2, as is American Truck Sim.

At this point I invite your feedback on this formula - do you think it's a reasonable assessment of what makes a good video? As mentioned before, viewers fall into 2 camps primarily - those interested in the game, and those who are interested in my approach to presenting (almost) any game. The majority of views come from the first group, but by building the second group you actually create greater long term success.

Preamble aside, here are my intended changes in the short term:

1. Increase the number of Train Fever (particularly, as I want to transition to Transport Fever as soon as I can) and Banished videos to hustle those series along.

2. Finish Shoppe Keep at around episode 10.

3. Run American Truck Simulator episodes when I have time.

4. Complete the Factorio and A-Train projects "live" on stream, but cease running the series (the A-Train guys aren't going to be thrilled, I'm the only person covering the game).

5. Introduce 1-2 new games. The first will be Rimworld, the second will be chosen for me by the Big Backer.

I'll also be doing more "preview" videos a la the Transport Fever trailer review but only for games I'm likely to play. Another Transport Fever video is in the works already, and I'm also looking at Astroneer. 

There you go. A plan.

Any thoughts,

-CF