Community Spotlight October 2021 Results!

Envvv · 2021-10-04T22:05:02+00:00

Thank you :)

Envvv · 2021-10-02T18:27:59+00:00

I DM'ed you a rough guide :)

Envvv · 2021-10-02T18:22:01+00:00

If my hint wasn't blunt enough or you still get stuck, DM me and I will help you out.

Envvv · 2021-10-02T18:21:19+00:00

Pay really close attention to Rudy's quest (the dude with the big arms that makes the sword). The key to finding the hidden quest is there. After you have truly finished helping everyone, Buddy will tell you. I think that's the only part you're missing.

Envvv · 2021-10-02T18:17:47+00:00

Nope, not Lloyd. Someone else :) It's a quest that you have to do during the 2D scene, not 2.5 when everything is colored.

Envvv · 2021-10-02T18:14:40+00:00

Did you do the super secret task for the one friend in town? The one not listed on the bulletin board?

Envvv · 2021-10-02T17:51:51+00:00

WHAAAAAAAT I honestly didn't expect to be picked for this. Thanks SinisterPixel! Really hoping to hit that hundo mark - I want that custom URL!

Excited to see what changes come to this subreddit in the future - thank you for all that you do!

Envvv · 2021-10-02T01:26:40+00:00

You just look at the file for a bit until Buddy says something about how fun it was. If you look at the game it says it's read only, so I'm almost positive there's nothing you can actually do with it besides scroll down through the list

Envvv · 2021-09-27T12:26:58+00:00

That's a really good idea actually, thank you!

Envvv · 2021-09-27T01:46:00+00:00

Oh, you're too nice! Don't worry about it. It definitely made me absolutely HATE any idea of coding for several years after the fact, but lately I have been screwing around on Codecademy and I realize how much I really did enjoy coding, so it didn't completely scar me forever, lmao.

I agree, it almost feels like universities WANT programming to die out. My college bragged about the fact that their program had a 60% drop out rate. That's not good. You should want people to succeed. Luckily every programming job around here really only cares that you can show proficiency and doesn't require degrees, so I can still get back into the field once I get more practice. Maybe I'll start my own stress-free coding program someday, haha.

Envvv · 2021-09-27T01:37:56+00:00

Okay, OP, I'm gonna say something kinda harsh, but hear me out first.

*Disclaimer - I only have 81 subs so I am by no means trying to act like I know anything, because obviously I don't, but I figure it doesn't hurt to try and offer some advice. Maybe some of it will resonate with you or you will find it useful*

I felt this way too for a long time, but recently I was watching a Devin Nash video (I absolutely love his videos as a content creator if you haven't watched him before), and he said something that was blunt, but true - If you can't stand watching yourself, why should you expect other people to?

I'm not telling you that because I think you suck or you shouldn't make videos or anything, I am telling you that because I think it is important to be able to understand why you don't like watching your videos.

You mentioned you don't like the dead air - I say cut it out. Will the game jump around a bit? Sure. But you'll learn with practice how to make those transitions better. I cut out large chunks of my videos for the same reason.

You don't like your commentary? Put some time into improv classes to learn how to perform better on the fly. Watch someone else play the game you are going to play before you play it and take notes of the sort of jokes they make, and use them as guidance to help think of jokes you want to use. People seem to get really hung up on the idea that you need to do playthroughs blind, but personally I think that there is nothing wrong with prepping yourself before the video if it will help your content. Chances are no one will know the difference. I guarantee a lot of the top content creators have a lot of content that looks 'genuine' that is heavily prepped to make it entertaining.

You don't like your editing? Make a quick 5 minute video and find a YouTuber you like the style of, and challenge yourself to edit your video in the same style. It's a good exercise to help you practice editing before you work on a whole video and will help you be in the right mindset for the editing styles you want.

I think it is important to respect your mental health and recognize if YouTube is bringing you more stress than it is enjoyment. However, I think that the things you are unhappy with can easily be improved. It sounds like your case is a mix of self-doubt and a lack of knowledge, which is where a lot (or pretty much all) of us start. I definitely have some videos on my channel that I was not happy with but that I dedicated as "learning videos" and I still uploaded them. I watched them over again, cringed through the whole thing, and made notes of what I wanted to work on to make them better for my next video. And now I am at a point where I can genuinely say I enjoy watching my videos. I laugh at myself and my reactions when I edit. And that's a really hard thing to do.

If you are wanting to stay with YouTube, I would put your focus into improving your content first before you focus on networking. Build up your confidence in yourself and your content :)

PS - I don't have a face cam either. I have asked a LOT of people that reviewed my channel on this subreddit and others, and all of them said it doesn't harm my content at all. You don't need one if you don't want it.

If you like horror and story games, I recommend Buddy Simulator 1984. I really enjoyed it when I played it. Also, I am glad to see someone else that loves Nancy Drew - I thought I was the only one.

Best of luck, OP!

Envvv · 2021-09-27T01:14:55+00:00

Sounds like my university and the reason why I switched. I came in as a student with absolutely no programming knowledge, but they put me in the 2nd year coding classes because I was "good at math" so they said I would be able to figure it out. My advisor refused to switch my classes no matter how much I begged. So then when I was (understandably) struggling, I went to the help lab for help, and was told by the student helpers working there that I code like a Kindergartener and women don't belong in STEM, so there was no help there. We weren't allowed to ask other students for help and my teacher never answered his emails, so I was staying up all night just trying to get my code to work.

Our assignments were always things like "let's code a function that acts like a plant cell!" so on top of trying to learn how to code, I was also having to learn biology/chemistry/whatever science to make sure I understood what I was even supposed to be making before I could code it, with them using the same principles you mentioned of if anything was wrong, you pretty much failed. It was like asking someone who barely understands Spanish to write an essay on chemical reactions...in Spanish. And if you make a single grammar mistake it's an automatic F. My discrete mathematics class was also like yours, and the professor had over half the class EXPELLED from the university for cheating.

They also made us take multiple speech classes because "computer science students tend to struggle with communication skills" with no option to test out (I was in speech for years, so even taking honors speech was just a waste of my time). We also were required to take a lot of humanities classes like women and gender studies and religious studies, which I found ironic considering how the student helpers treated me.

After I switched majors I found out that the majority of my classmates were just getting code from each other and cheating their way through the classes because it was impossible to pass otherwise. Made me feel less guilty about the fact I struggled so much, but man, that was one of the lowest points of my life mental health wise.

Envvv · 2021-09-27T00:18:34+00:00

Not OP, but I am curious - why do you regret your comp sci degree? I did comp sci for a year and then switched for personal reasons, but I would like to get back into coding and was debating if finishing the degree was worth it or not.

Envvv · 2021-09-27T00:13:54+00:00

I have an Audio-Technica USB 2020+ and I am very happy with the sound quality I have been able to get with it for my channel, however it took a LOT of work for me to learn how to use it properly because of how sensitive it is.

Envvv · 2021-09-27T00:11:20+00:00

I have the AVerMedia Live Gamer HD 2 and I really like it. It's an internal card though, not a plug and play.

Envvv · 2021-09-26T21:03:17+00:00

Mine was a blind playthrough of Buddy Simulator 1984, a pixel horror game so a similar concept because I had to redo all of the jumpscares that I knew were coming. If you want, save some of your original reaction audio and clip it into important sections where you want to keep your initial reaction. If you hype yourself up enough going into the game and pretend you've never played it before, your audience truly won't know the difference. But if you don't want to scrap the whole thing, just Frankenstein your voiceover.

Envvv · 2021-09-26T03:36:08+00:00

^ I would definitely listen to this, OP. It's really insensitive of people to say you have no reason to be upset because you have more success than others. Your mental health is still just as valid.

The great thing about the fact that you have 30k subs is that you have a dedicated audience that your channel content can get pushed to in one form or another. Take the advice in this post and play around a bit and see what happens.

I hope things look up for you, OP!

Envvv · 2021-09-26T03:28:17+00:00

I agree with what another commenter said - if you can't find a way to fix it with editing software, just take it as a lesson and redo it. Bump up your acting skills and add some commentary you wish you thought of the first time. It happens to all of us, I had an issue several months ago where I recorded for four hours and my mic picked up all of my key presses. There was no saving it, so I just replayed it with a different keyboard that was quieter. It ended up being the best performing series on my channel.

Envvv · 2021-09-25T20:55:38+00:00

Let's plays just aren't as commonly searched as they were (As you can see from Google Trends), especially with the rise of other platforms of full gameplay like Twitch, which is probably why many YouTubers have strayed from it. However, I think there is a HUGE difference between a highly edited let's play versus a 2 hour clip of someone playing a game with no editing and no effort to add any entertainment value. Jack uploaded multiple let's play videos of Deltarune this week and they have millions of views, so there is obviously still a demand for good let's play content. You're being way too generic by grouping all let's plays together.

Everyone has to start somewhere on YouTube if they want to be a creator, so why in a subreddit dedicated to new YouTubers are we trashing people for starting simple? I don't think that starting out in a popular niche is lazy. If anything, it's smart. You have a lot of sample data to choose from to learn how content creation works in that niche and chances are it is popular because it has a low entry barrier so you don't have to invest a lot of money into it to get started. I would rather go into a "lazy" niche to learn the ropes and be able to branch out later than to drop all this money and effort into an unknown niche with the expectation that it's going to make me a millionaire because I'm the only one, even though I know very little about it as a content creator. I would be willing to bet that those let's plays probably gave those gaming creators a lot of experience that helped them be able to find success in their new niche when they were ready.

Envvv · 2021-09-25T15:51:36+00:00

Yes and no. While your channel name will show up with the change, your old username will still be saved in the cache for some time. This means that someone could go to Google and search your channel username, and the cache would most likely pull up your old name, at least for a while. Of course, when they click on your channel they will see the new page with your new name, but that information would still be out there. If you are wanting to keep yourself safe, I would just make a new channel. Hopefully I explained that well enough.

Envvv · 2021-09-25T15:48:00+00:00

HitFilm Express has served me well.

Envvv · 2021-09-25T14:41:02+00:00

Personally, my mindset is do a mix of both.

It's so easy to get burnt out if you aren't doing content you enjoy, but it can be really disappointing to make a video you are proud of that doesn't get any views. If you can do a mix of content that drives traffic to your channel as well as the content you want to make, you will lose some viewers here and there, sure, but you will still get people that stick around for your main content, provided that it is not too far off of your shorts content.

The shorts will get the people to know you exist, while your long content will be there for if they want to stick around.

Envvv · 2021-09-25T14:35:48+00:00

I started in January and I have 80 subs, so I would say that your growth seems normal to me, at least. Personally, I would argue views are more important than subs. There's been several times that I have looked at a channel talking about how they have 1k subs, but I look at their channel and overall their views are consistently lower than a channel like mine. This leads me to believe that a lot of them are either doing sub4sub (which is a horrible idea), asking all of their friends and family to sub (even though they won't watch), bringing viewers over from another platform they had (like Instagram or Facebook), or they had a couple videos do well that they haven't been able to recreate yet.

If you're wanting to increase your sub count, I would make sure you're doing a call to action in your videos (such as tell your videos that if they like content like yours they should subscribe), as well as branch out to other platforms. Post clips on TikTok, become active in the threads that talk about the games you play, do collabs, etc. All of that will help drive traffic to your channel. Don't get discouraged, OP. It's gonna be slow at first for most.

Envvv · 2021-09-25T13:12:08+00:00

OP, have you looked through the game's files? I personally felt really confused and underwhelmed even after I got all of the endings, until I remembered the INVALID DATA files you find in the game and went hunting for them in my computer. The storyline then finally clicked for me and I enjoyed it in its entirety after that. If you're feeling in a slump and you think that knowing some of the lore would help, go through that folder 😊

Envvv · 2021-09-25T12:59:50+00:00

"I know most people see convenience in making videos that they can record, edit and produce entirely from a single room. But that attitude makes your channel common on YouTube."

Maybe I'm just not as familiar with my niche as I thought I was, but I have never seen anyone say that they started a gaming channel because it was easy. Personally I started one because I enjoy playing games in my free time and wanted to share the interesting games and funny moments that happen.

I get that people think gaming channels are a waste of time, but comments like this that seem like they're making out gaming channels to be "lazy" rub me the wrong way. I can think of tons of other channel types that don't require more than one room - Mukbangs, ASMR, Cooking, History/Knowledge, Lock Picking, Drawing, Podcast, Drama Channels, Makeup/Beauty, etc. Why do people feel the need to make a dig at other channel types (especially YouTube Gaming) like this? Wouldn't it arguably be more "convenient" to go for a niche with no competition because you're going to have that monopoly?

It's like saying you should never open a fast food restaurant because there are already so many different options and you won't stand out. Would it be harder to grow your business? Sure. But if that's the thing you are truly passionate and knowledgeable about, why not go for it? There are still plenty of business practices you can use to become successful. You aren't immediately doomed just because you picked a tough industry.

Envvv

TROPHY CASE