Where the HELL Have I Been??? (Blog) (Patreon)

G'day legends, I hope everyone is doing well. Sorry it's been a month since I last updated you all on the happenings of life. May was a pure fucking disgrace of a month for me, my mental health hit a new time low and I pretty much spent the entire time trying to move past that while working on the Every Spyro Level RANKED episode. So allow me to fill you in!

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Severe Mental Anguish) After all the chaos trying to get the Crash on the Run episode completed (see here OR here for BTS Patrons) I went across the state to visit my partner which was a superb time. The day I got home, rental and housing shit completely overwhelmed me to the point of a really bad seizure/fit/whatever like I discussed in a channel update recently. So while it was incredibly difficult, my one goal and one thing that I had to focus on was getting the Spyro ELR completed. It was a very difficult job I thought wouldn't get finished in time but thankfully, we pulled through in the end and got it finished before I went on a BIG TRIP!

Darwin Holiday!) I have a lot of family in the Northern Territory of AUS, my cousin had her wedding cancelled due to Covid in 2020 so we finally managed to make it up there for that to finally happen. You can see a bunch of photos from my trip over on my Instagram if you'd like to know more about the holiday. Was an excellent time all round but getting home was tricky, as new hotspots opened up in Melbourne, causing significant delays, cancelations and headaches for all of the travelling family. Thankfully it was a blessing in disguise as I got an extra day to relax and got to fly over Sydney Harbor and see it with my own eyes for the very first time!

Plans Moving Forward) So I've only been home for less than a week and already, I will be going across the state again to visit my partner. Our living circumstances are completely fucked and it's been an incredible struggle due to the market demand right now. As much as I need to and really want to focus on content creation, priorities go to both of our mental health more than ever. So if that means more down time then that's just what needs to happen I'm afraid.

Having said that however... content production will still be a huge goal of mine for June. I want to get some Game Testing underway once again which I can smash out with ease now that the ELR isn't consuming all of my energy. Game reviews; I've got lots of ideas and I don't know where to begin so we'll just see where my mood goes. But I'm also beginning early pre-production on Hawktober 2021 this year! Once I get home, I'll begin playing through the games, taking notes and hopefully making a slow start on things like logo graphics etc. however with any luck, the housing situation will improve soon which will throw more of a spanner into the works if we're lucky enough to secure something! SO just keep in mind that while it may seem like not a whole lot of work is happening, I'm still keeping as busy as possible without overdoing it too much. I've used a chunk of Patreon money just this week to order all of the Hawktober stuff I need, as well as some other things to complete additional projects I've had on the back burner, finally ready to see the light of day.

Patreon Podcast NEWS!) With everything going on, I hope it's clear why I've been supremely shit at keeping up and delivering Patreon rewards in recent months. Early Access has been tricky but the blogs as well, life is depressing enough without openly expressing that so I've kept it to a minimum.

However the Podcast has been forgotten about for a few months now. I still have everyone's questions and I'll do my best to jump on that when I get back home again... but I've been doing some serious thinking about it and I've come to the conclusion that part of why I've been struggling to get them done, is also due to the fact that I feel like it's run it's course at this point. 😐 Starting the podcast off with Cal was a lot of fun and he helped me regularly to put everything together so that I'd have more time to focus on more important content for the channel. When we agreed that I'd go it alone, it was a change that kept things going and I enjoyed the greater emphasis on Q&A and getting detailed with my answers.

But at this point, it's become a tedious chore to get done I'll be honest. It takes time away from working on main channel content which should always be the focus and I've decided that after a few more episodes, I will be ending the Podcast reward. It's for the best I feel. If I'm not enjoying it then it shouldn't be in my way of creating what I actually want to work on. Will it be replaced with a new reward? I don't know right now. Currently the $1 Tip Jar tier will include just the credits at the end of each video and the weekly update blogs once I get back on track with life.

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Closing Thoughts) I know that was A LOT to take in so here is the tl;dr:

• Life has sucked but I'm still standing
• I feel much better after a big holiday
• Prep for Hawktober and other episodes is in play RIGHT NOW!
• Patreon Podcasts will be ending AFTER I fulfill the episodes I have missed!

That's the gist of it guys, I hope you all understand. Thank you all so much for your continued support through everything this year (and prior years) because it really warms my heart to know that we've built a strong community together. Some good news! The Spyro ELR is performing incredibly well so it's nice to see all of that effort pay off and hopefully, I'll have another one out by the end of this year! 

Anyway thank you all for reading and I hope you have a great fucking day, cheers! 😊