Update 08/02 - T H A N K Y O U (Patreon)

AY
Okay.
Update incoming.
Oh boy.
I will split this up depending on what you're more interested in.
Here goes.

SENTIMENTAL CRAP GOES HERE

The VICIOUS positivitiy, the STARTLING amounts of support and the STAGGERING acts of solidarity from across the board from YouTube to Reddit to Tumblr to Instagram has flayed me off my nihilistic hide with a knife rusted with assurance and confidence.

Your stories sent to me here and beyond of how TTS affected you is something so overwhelming I cannot properly internalize it.
The love you have shown is something I can understand in the abstract, through my own love for a lot of different youtube content...

Jerma, LGR, TeamFourStar, Ross Scott/Accursed Farms, Ashens, HirumaredX/TheDuelLogs, JRose11, BrutalMoose-- all of these channels are ones I have a sentimental connection to through watching them a lot for years, content I immerse myself in to calm my nerves and feel at home.
I am fully aware of how much I treasure these channels & personalities and how they have made me feel good, even during this the time of FuckEarth HellWeek.

The idea that TTS is that thing to people is honestly such a powerful notion to me that it summons a pit in my stomach and makes my tearducts vibrate.

Fuck, man. Fuck.

AND NOT ONLY THIS OF COURSE, RRRRRRRH, this very Patreon has fucking EXPLODED in my FACE like a WHALE CORPSE and has left me and my family covered with the        rot of serenity.

Seriously. For real. I cannot say thank you enough times.

THE REAL UPDATE STARTS HERE

In regards to this massive deluge of Patreon support...

This was not expected, at all.
I didn't even link the Patreon in the description or anything like that.
I really did think Patreon would drop due to a lack of general interest and I had made my peace with that.
But this mindsmashing, humongous boost is going to help the channel vastly in the coming months and I just want you to know how much I appreciate it.

However, some pessimism still lingers.
I cannot see this peak ever being reached again.
As far as I can see, this summit was reached due to something stronger than any content I could produce, which is you acting on your principles.
The Patreon will drop from here in the coming months without doubt.
But, I now have enough confidence to assume it will not drop beneath the amount of pledges I had prior to this for a long time.
So, yknow, I am beyond happy with the situation!!

Despite this, though, I am going to say that another thing I had already made peace with was getting a part time job. I am still going to do that.
My family has been living on a median swedish wage of about 28% of the channel's income (this includes taxes). The rest has always been spent on the project.
And so, even now, I am not planning on increasing my salary.

In fact, the current idea is that if I can work 150% for a while (50% part time, 100% this), I will both be mitigating risks in case the Patreon sinks or straight up gets removed somehow by improving prospects for myself outside of the video creation sphere, and I will be able to get a good procent of my personal paycheck for the family from outside the project so my wage will not affect the financial stability of the project.
It'll also feel good to do something that isn't just youtube for the first time in 7 years to be completely honest with you.

With that, I also want to inform you that I am going to start hiring people full-time to help with our future projects.
So far, I have only hired people as either working with me by the hour or as freelancers paid by commission, but with this, I want to start up the process of properly hiring people.
I have already pestered a fuckre who I will pay good money to both do art and help animate for hours and hours while I stand behind him and tell him he is doing thing wrong. Exciting.
We will be running a demo week with him at some point in the future to see how things go, and then our hope is that he can come work with me in-person.
Like in a real job thing. Wow.


Now, in regards to future projects...

We're still mulling over our options as to settings we want to explore.
We are having a lot of fun doing it honestly, it's really livening up the Production Chat and creativity is running high.
I would absolutely bet on us telling you what we'll be moving onto in the near future. The one thing we have without doubt decided is that we are going for several settings and not just one, so as to avoid digging ourselves too deep into another niche within a niche.
Even when we return to TTS, we want to make sure we have our feet firmly planted in several other licenses so we know we can stand firm no matter what.

What's also worth mentioning is that I have always been the Creative Lead for TTS. For some of the future projects I will be relinquishing that role and allowing the other lead writers, SpeakerD and Earndil, to take the reins on some projects.
I will still be very much involved in the creative process, of course, I just won't be the one writing the plot-bible basically.

FINAL THOUGHTS...

This weekend has honestly been supremely horrible all in all and I have not been doing well whatsoever.
I hate being in the spotlight, I hate being 'the current controversy', I hate complaining about my troubles on youtube.com and I hate how my shitty primate body has responded to internet things like it would've responded to the ever-prevailing anxiety of predators outside my immediate field of view out in the deep forest.

But now I feel a lot better, in no small part thanks to you.

I am excited to delve into work again in new light.
It will take some time to get everything into order again.
This is us starting from scratch as far as story goes, and as I have said in the past, this is going to be an experimental phase for us.
But if you've established anything this past weekend, it is your patience and your understanding.

I will keep working, I will keep you updated and I will confer with you along the way.

Next update, I am hoping to potentially show you some proof of concept stuff for future projects, whatever form they may take.

But that will be that for this time.

Until next time, have a good one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!