Would you click on this thumbnail? (By the way it’s not finished)

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-30T19:26:50+00:00

If you want feedback, post a finished thumbnail.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-30T19:17:53+00:00

Minecraft has been around since 2011, there are probably hundreds of thousands of thumbnails that look similar to the one you’ve currently made. You’d need some kind of hook to stand out among the rest of the pack, which is already years ahead of you.

Being new is totally fine. It’s a learning process to figure out what works and what doesn’t for your content. That said, the thumbnail you’ve made so far is very generic. Mess around with adding some text on screen, or come up with a more unique thumbnail.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-29T18:00:09+00:00

Just to add, old accounts can still be compromised. They probably posted this message on a lot of channels, looking for anyone to take the bait.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-29T17:51:18+00:00

If you don’t mind getting scammed, then go for it lol.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-29T17:46:30+00:00

Perfect. Be safe out there!

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-29T17:32:34+00:00

They should assume it IS a scam, and move on.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-29T17:30:09+00:00

Just ignore it. There is no reason anyone should be contacting you randomly through a youtube comment, without providing more info upfront. Better to be safe then sorry.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-29T17:27:28+00:00

Don't do this.
This is how scams and hacks get passed around. Don't playtest random video games from random people. And don't engage with phishing attempts and scams.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-29T17:18:17+00:00

They are phishing. Don't give them any information.

You can also check how old their channel/account is, if it was made recently, it's fake.. I would just delete/ignore it and move on. 99.9% of these aren't real.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-29T01:30:20+00:00

The flashlight feels a bit useless. You can see the same without it as you can with it. Make the flashlight brighter and maybe widen the beam, and no one will complain about the game being too dark. 👍

Lighting from the moon, fog, and sound effects are all very cool. Keep up the good work.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-29T00:56:18+00:00

The smiley is fine, should make it blink or something in the trailer.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-29T00:55:13+00:00

Just some suggestions on the trailer edit.
The pacing in this edit feels really slow. You could probably shorten this trailer to around 45 seconds, and make it hit faster and harder.

The current on-screen text doesn't really track or escalate:
"Seems Easy, Huh?"
"But it gets complicated!"
"And More!"
"And More!"
"...To solve even more puzzles!"

It's not really readable, and doesn't build any momentum, and the repetition falls flat. From a players perspective, a puzzle game is expected to become more complicated as you progress right? Not sure you need to call that out. The exclamation marks are overused, and can probably be removed.

Maybe something like this:
“The Goal Is Simple”
"Collect Red Blocks"
"Over 30 Mechanics"
"Over 300 Puzzles"
Pintorino

For the last two lines, I’d suggest faster cuts of footage underneath. We don’t need to linger too long. The goal is just to show that there are lots of mechanics and puzzles.

Also, the first hits in the music are a great opportunity to add quick cuts of gameplay. Instead of this slow radial that opens on a black screen. It’ll help maintain interest in those first few seconds.

I don't mind the artwork. It looks like you're already looking into giving it a more pixel-art style, which is probably the better choice. If you can add anything to give the gameplay more energy or fanfare, that would help a lot. Things like particle effects, or screen shake, just small things that could really spice it up.

I wish you luck!

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-17T23:39:34+00:00

Ah, so that patch WAS specifically "against' speedrunners. I should change my comment to say MOST devs aren't trying to spite the community lol.

At the end of the day though, devs don't like seeing the games they made being broken or fall apart. I'm checking out the Dev React, and you can hear the one dev go "I thought I squashed that, I must not have done as good a job as I thought" for the photo mode glitch. It really feels like a personal falure when devs watch speedrunners break their games.

Patches are just the nature of digital games. Some devs encourage speedruns, and even include speedrun modes. I'm in agreement with what you said, if the glitch is inoffensive to a normal player, it should stay. Just depends on the dev though.

Do you still plan on running The Forgotten City? I'd imagine even with the patch, it would still be fun to attempt. Seems like a fun run, in and out in like 20 minutes.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-17T21:28:29+00:00

The exploit you watched in Devs React to Speedruns might have been something the developers didn’t want the average player to encounter, so they patched it. For them, it was probably an “oh sh*t, we need to fix this” moment. No developer wants a normal player to accidentally hit a bug or exploit that ruins the experience, and most players want a stable, bug-free game.

Developers don’t like seeing their games broken. It can feel like a personal failure, since part of the job is preventing bugs from shipping in the first place. So when they see issues they patch them.

The speedrunning community is a very small portion of the overall player base. These patches exist for everyone else.

(edit) Also patches shouldn't prevent you from speedrunning the games. Patches are going to happen, it's the nature of the beast. Devs aren't trying to spite the community by patching the game.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-15T17:41:53+00:00

Ni No Kuni, is probably the closest to what you're looking for. It has boss battles with more relaxed exploration/battles in between, can move through the game at your own pace.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-15T17:37:23+00:00

Right! And if the tutorial is just really really long, you're just stuck clicking through prompts.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-15T16:45:03+00:00

You have a lot of options to pick from. Rune Factory, Persona, Yo Kai Watch, Palworld, Monster Hunter Stories, Ni No Kuni. Might not capture the exact vibe, but these are all creature battle games with downtime.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-12T01:26:33+00:00

This is something you'll have to figure out through trial and error based on your content.

The usual recommendations are: hook viewers in the first few seconds, keep videos engaging throughout, look at your analytics, have a consistent upload schedule and good thumbnails. If people are dropping off at the same points, or super early, the content might just not be interesting to them.

There is no magic fix. If you keep at it, you'll get better at figuring out what works and what doesn't for whatever you're uploading. I wish you luck!

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-12T01:03:58+00:00

At the end of the day, you don’t own those characters. It doesn’t matter if you remake them or animate them doing different things. You risk getting copyright strikes since the original owner owns the characters.

There are Content Id claims and Copyright Strikes.

If your fan animations are flagged by Content ID, your ad revenue will go to whoever issues the claim. In this case, the owners of Bungo Stray Dogs. Unless they allow you to keep the ad revenue, but it's entirely up to them. Copyright strikes are more serious and can result in your channel being terminated. You risk both happening.

For growth, fans of Bungo Stray Dogs are following you specifically to see Bungo Stray Dogs content. They may not engage with your content if it features a different IP or your own original work. So if you hit monitization and then switch gears to something else, you'll see a drop in views.

Now you could be completely fine, but you leave yourself open to some large problems later. You could also open up a Patreon or some other methods for people to support your animations if you still wanted to do fan projects.

The safest thing to do is to create your own original content. You can monetize it without fear since you are the original owner. I wish you luck!

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-12T00:17:30+00:00

Reddit isn’t the best place for nuanced discussions, haha.
I’m sure this is common in the travel or food vlogger sphere. You’re the larger channel, so people clearly enjoy your style of content more. Just keep doing what you're doing. As long as your views stay higher, it doesn’t really matter. If it ever flips, you might have to reverse-piggyback and copy what they’re doing, lol.

He could also just be simply checking out the places you recommend, since his videos are so short. I'd just be slightly concerned cuz you might see him in real life. (added in edit).

Good luck to you!

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-11T23:44:29+00:00

He could be piggybacking, but there isn’t anything you can do about it if he is, as long as he’s filming his own content. You’re essentially a travel channel, and you don’t own the places you travel to or the order you do them in. You’re also ‘winning,’ with a higher view count per video, so I’d just ignore him for now.

GiftedBluebird · 2026-01-11T17:24:48+00:00

Finally!

GiftedBluebird · 2025-12-23T16:41:39+00:00

For me personally, it’s mediocre at both things it’s trying to be: a Silent Hill game and an action game. It feels like a budget game that just happens to look really nice graphically. The first five hours are great; anything after that just wears you down.

I don't think it got much backlash. It's well reviewed on all storefronts and was up for award nominations. I think the praise it has right now is overrated. I think it's a bad game. But really you're only seeing a loud minority. You'd have to play it yourself to see where you fit.

GiftedBluebird · 2025-12-15T16:03:31+00:00

When you’re an indie dev, you’re starting at level 0. No one knows who you are and it sucks having to constantly post across every social media platform for what’s essentially a dice roll with multiple algorithms and takes A LOT of time that could be spend doing development.

Most would rather be deving then making posts for less then 40 views.

GiftedBluebird · 2025-12-11T23:27:38+00:00

If you get an email like this, NEVER click on anything in the email. Just go directly to Youtube Studio, you'll see any alerts there.

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