Hey guys, it’s
Mark here, and welcome to my latest blog!
It feels
like an eternity since I last wrote a social blog. University requires me to
write a lot of development blogs, some of which I may make public in the near
future, and so my time to write for this blog has been limited. But it’s good
news, I passed my first year back at university! For those of you who have read
my first ‘Diary of a Student’ entry, you’ll understand the whole story with me
and university. It’s not always been my friend, so to pass this year is a huge
step in the right direction for me, and I am immensely proud of myself for
deciding to go back as well as for sticking with it until the end of the year.
My grades aren’t too bad (three third class and a 2:1) but of course there’s
room for improvement, as I shall be doing over the next 2/3 years.
But this
post isn’t about university; that was just a quick update on what’s been happening.
As the title suggests, this post is actually all about this coming summer.
Going back to university was all about enhancing my skills to improve both
myself and my work. That is what I plan on implementing over the next few
months, devoting as much time as possible towards improving the channel, as
well as introducing all new and exciting projects and features. This process
has already started, fans of my M4J3FFR135 Network series have already given
really positive feedback on the new thumbnails, and as new and existing series
are uploaded they will be accompanied by their own custom thumbnails. That
takes the highest priority in my plans, making my videos look as professional
as possible when found on YouTube. Just by adding those thumbnails, my
viewership soared, and I don’t believe that’s just a coincidence. Along with
thumbnails, I am also debating the idea of intros for each series. This is just
a speculation right now, as many YouTubers I watch don’t actually use intros,
so it might be a bad idea for me to create some. However I am wanting to create
some themed outros, to go alongside my existing (but overused!) outro.
Those ideas
are to polish up existing videos, and to help reintroduce old series back to
the M4J3FFR135 schedule. The next item on my improvements is a new logo. My
current logo I am still very proud of. It was made in less than 15 minutes on
MS Paint, just before my first uploads went live. It has had very subtle tweaks
since then, but on the whole has remained the same for nearly three years now.
I think it could do with an update, don’t you? The plan is to use Photoshop to
create a newer version, sticking to the original design but making it look
nicer. The colours of course will remain, they are my colours after all! The reason
I am telling you this is because I haven’t yet 100% decided if I should be the
one making my logos, or even my thumbnails. I am asking you guys, my audience,
if you would be interested in creating logos and thumbnails for the M4J3FFR135
channel. All designs will be fully credited, and the ones chosen will appear on
my channel from the first upload onwards. I look to you guys as I know my
design skills can be limiting at times, so this gives me the perfect opportunity
to be amazed by real artists at work.
So that’s
thumbnails and logos out of the way, let’s talk trailers. My channel trailer is
nearly as old as the channel, and pretty much all of the series shown on there
are no longer being created. I think it’s time for an update. The plan is to
show the current uploads – which will be OpenTTD, Cities Skylines and Fallout 4
– as well as tease upcoming ideas and projects without giving too much away.
The trailer will be constantly updated as ideas are added and removed so that
you guys will always know what to look out for. After reviewing my channel for
a long time, the only real stand out problem that urgently needs addressing is
the trailer, so expect that to be changing in the next few days.
Lastly, I just
want to throw around some ideas for upcoming projects, mostly to gain feedback
and possibly even recruit people to help make them become a reality. The first
is Minecraft. Viewers of ‘The City’ might be wondering where the videos are,
sadly my PC began to experience problems with recording Minecraft. The
framerate dropped alarmingly, basically turning the videos into a slideshow.
The entire world needs to be moved to a server in the near future to avoid this
happening in the long term, but for now the series is on hold. Progress is
still being made off camera, with many exciting new additions to the world and
even more planned. One area where I am looking to recruit people is in
Minecraft, any technical builders, or even architectural builders are urged to
apply to join the server and help create the world. Creativity is openly
encouraged on the server and so any ideas you have will most certainly be
accepted and added to the areas of the map. In the future, I will also be
looking for moderators to help control the server, so feel free to apply for
those positions too. I feel very strongly that this Minecraft can become huge
if taken in the right direction, and I firmly believe that with the right
people on board that is exactly what will happen. So anyone who is interested, send
me an email at m4j3ffr135@gmail.com
so we can discuss ideas and get you on the server as soon as possible.
So then guys,
that just about does it for this post. I realise it’s very wordy again, I might
add some images in in later edits just to make it look less daunting to read,
but I wanted to update everyone on what’s going on and where the future lies. I
welcome any feedback on anything I have created, even if it is negative (so
long as there’s a constructive element to it). Once again I really do appreciate
the support from everyone; all those who watch, subscribe and comment on the
channel. You are the reason I keep doing what I do, and you’re the reason I want
to keep improving as well. Together, we can create something really special
here, and I look forward to keeping you all updated with progress as it
happens.
So thank you
very much for reading, and until next time, I will see you soon!
