Hello everyone! Ok so I missed July, and technically August too, but I’m counting this post for August as it should have gone up a week ago. It’s time I changed up the channel a little, so here we go!
So we’re heading towards autumn now, and I think it’s time things changed a little on the channel. I’ve been looking over the viewing figures, and some decisions need to be made. By far the most popular series on the channel are Transport Fever 2 and the M4J Network Overview series, but even these aren’t safe! Transport Fever 2 is getting to the point where I’m not happy with the map at all and basically want to start again, whereas the M4J Network Overview videos still take far too long to produce and so I want to make things simple again. As a result I have 2 more episodes, possibly 3, left to go before the series goes on ice.
The train rides are fun but it might be time for them to go :(
For those who like the trains though, I do have good news. Watching the network do its thing has given me a tonne of ideas for new episodes of the main series, plus I may have made some promises in the fictional history that I now have to deliver on, therefore there is a small chance that the main series will make a return! Whether this is as streams or videos I don’t yet know, but I think of all the games I play, OpenTTD is the one I’m most known for and so I guess I should get back into it at some point. Oh and to cap things off the game may even be going online too, maybe!
Possibly the greatest screenshot I have ever taken!
As for the remainder of the series on the channel, this is where things get tricky. I’m always walking the line between what’s successful and what I enjoy, but I seem to have fallen more towards the latter side in recent times. Wild Realms does bring in the views, but sadly F1 22 hasn’t worked out how I wanted, and Stagz to Riches is very hit and miss even at the best of times, so let’s talk about maybe changing things up. It was always my plan to bring my Hatfield Town series of saves to an end after this year, but with the views being so low I’m going to bring that forward and start wrapping things up now. That’s not to say Stagz to Riches is gone for good, as I still plan on streaming the series every so often, but I want to cut down on the amount of viewless content on the channel, and this is a series that struggles the most.
It’s time for the Stagz to leave the virtual world
Now for F1 22. Here’s my plan, I think the series doesn’t get the attention it deserves to be honest. Tom does a great job editing my awful racing into a decent length video, and it’s just missing the right push. I want to give the series one last chance, as considering what my day job is it’s a bit weird that I can’t get traction on an F1 video on my channel and yet the RacingGames channel has an F1 video I produced with over 250k views! I know, right!? So for me it’s about getting the series noticed, and then hopefully the views will come. Hopefully! So the new plan is to script the commentary, make it more coherent, then match it to the onscreen footage. It’s a technique I’ve used with RacingGames before, and will be using again soon, and so I think it should work well. I’ve also toyed with the idea of streaming the races before passing the footage to Tom, but I don’t think you want to hear me swearing at the screen for an hour or so!
I mean who doesn’t want more of this!?
Speaking of F1, I really want to bring F1 Manager 22 to the channel too. Anyone who’s watched my content for a while will know I love Frontier games, so the fact they now have an F1 game makes me so excited! Luckily for me the day job meant I got early early access to the game, and I’ve loved my Williams save on the RG channel so much I want to do something similar for M4J. This will be a streamed series, possibly once a week or maybe even every other week. I’ll be live developing the team as well as executing the perfect pit stop strategies during each race. If the series goes fortnightly, it will alternate with F1 22, meaning double the F1 action!
So with everything said, here’s a look at the new M4J schedule moving forward!
| Day | Time (UTC) | Series | Game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 18:00 | M4JR/Motorsport Monday | F1 22/F1 Manager 22 |
| Tuesday | 18:00 | TBC | TBC |
| Wednesday | 18:00 | Wild Realms (stream or video) | Planet Zoo |
| Thursday | 18:00 | M4J Plays Transport Fever 2 | Transport Fever 2 |
| Friday | 18:00 | TBC | TBC |
This may be subject to change still, and Tuesdays and Fridays may still end up with something in the slot, but I think it’s a good balance between creating fun content and taking time to relax after a hard day’s work. As usual if there are any games people want to see on the channel, do let me know and I’ll see what I can do. But for now, thanks everyone for reading. Be sure to check out all the content on the channel, drop a like if you enjoyed it and get involved in the comments too. Interaction can make or break a channel, and considering the views I do get it’s sad to see no one wants to comment under each video, so please do let YouTube know you’re enjoying the videos as it helps the channel grow!
Besides all that, enjoy your weekends everyone and until next time, I will see you soon!