E-Vac Blog Update #1 - Plans Going into 2015

Alright. So it’s been a while since this has been discussed, but let’s get to the question I’ve actually been asked a few times. What’s going on with E-Vac Station (the channel, blog, site, etc)? 

Currently, we’re in between a few things due to a few lingering problems. The first, and biggest, is a piss-poor internet connection. Download and upload speeds here are terrible, resulting in an average 20-minute video taking about half-a-day to be available (and that’s if the YouTube Processing… process is quick). Our hour long podcasts (or longer) take, quite literally, an entire 24 hours. And since I do everything from the one computer, this CPU usage and bandwidth usage keeps me from being able to watch other videos or play certain games during the rendering and upload process (the latter one now more of a problem than it was before).

Another issue is a lack of people to work with. For the most part, I’m alone on E-Vac Station stuff now. The two people I have tried recording with here locally are difficult to meet up with on an even semi-regular basis to get a series of videos up on a consistent basis. And other friends from the area who I’d love to work with either won’t or aren’t in the area anymore. This is something I plan on working on as soon as I have a work-situation figured out but one thing at a time.

In the meantime, I’ve been doing my best to at least keep the blog alive with 2-5 posts per week on whatever I can manage to post up. I think I get by alright for the most part, but I will admit that I’d like to be able to do more as soon as that’s reasonably possible. But between technical and “staff” problems, it really isn’t feasible to try and record video content and expect to get it online on a regular basis. And I’d like to maintain a level of consistency if possible. Once a new job is in place with more consistent hours and/or better pay I can then move into a new place and at least handle the technical side of things. And perhaps, through that, meet more people who would be interested in working on the videos or other content.

That being said, I suppose I should bullet point my ideal plans moving forward with E-Vac Station. Because, yes, I want to continue doing it. Even if I don’t anywhere with it in terms of earning a living or getting a large following, it’s still fun to do but I want to at least make an attempt at something bigger AND, at the very least, something better for the people who are following us at this time.

For starters I want to transition some of the blog-posts into short videos. I think Majestic Twelve would fit that nicely as well as the Bulletpoints reviews. I do like the idea of Reloading remaining a text-only format as more of an addendum to the videos (and it’d be one less thing I’d have to edit/render/upload on a regular basis). If that happens, then Bulletpoints is something I’d want to do more regularly and Majestic Twelve would likely be knocked back to once a week so I could actually keep up with it.

I’d love to resume Let’s Plays again (both the competitive ones, the longer-podcast-like ones, and the on-going Dokapon Kingdom LP). This is what requires the most people. Not only do I need other people to play with (you’d get tired of me faster than you’d expect if you haven’t already), but I’d like at least one other person to help edit this content. Let’s Plays are simple to do. But if we have multiple Let’s Plays in addition to the previous content I mentioned IN ADDITION to podcasts or other projects, I won’t have time for anything other than work, sleep, food, and an occasional wank in-between editing videos. And I would like to do creative writing at some point… oh, and maybe go out on dates and meet people. You know, a social life and shit. At least one other person to divide the work with would be swell.

This brings me to the podcast. At this point I can’t promise anything about this, but it is something I enjoyed doing and would love to bring back. But this too requires more people. But I’d also like better equipment for recording (multiple audio-tracks would be lovely). It would also be nice to have them archived like most professional podcasts on iTunes or that Libsyn network. But both require money. Of which, I have limited amounts (soon to be more limited if I have to start paying for my own location, internet connection, and the in-coming student loan payments).

All this is why I’m considering starting a Patreon (like you’re seeing a lot of these days). Any money made from it would just go straight to E-Vac Station projects and services. If we have fans (and I assume there’s at least a couple) they’d pay for what they want and we’d make that as much as possible. The problem becomes we have a small fanbase (at the moment). So while I’m still figuring things out, I’d love it if people could share the blog and our older videos with as many people as possible. Start subscribing to both this blog (which may be moved again in the foreseeable future) and the YouTube Channel. Start talking on our Steam Group Forums (which may be supplemented by non-Steam Forums if that is more convenient).

Once the technical issues are dealt with, my first objective will be to build up a simple site through which you can find all our stuff in one convenient place (blogs, videos, forums, pics, etc). After that, get a Patreon going to then expand what we’d be able to do along with trying to get more people involved (or figure a way to get people who have been involved more involved). Maybe once we get enough followers and have gotten some more experience under our belt we can then go out for sponsors an eliminate the NEED for Patreon (though I think I’d still keep it as a way to give certain fans a bonus if they wanted to just give us money directly instead of buying crap they don’t want to support us for their entertainment).

But that’s likely a few months down the road (at best). So, once again, I apologize for the MASSIVE delay in getting videos out there. If it wasn’t a technical issue beyond my control, I’d at least be uploading SOMETHING on a semi-regular basis. This pisses me off more than anyone because something I enjoy doing is being hamstringed simply by the place I live and my inability to do anything about it.

So if anyone out there has suggestions and where to go from here during this transitional period, let me know. If you want to help and have a way to do so, let me know. If someone wants to be a part of the E-Vac Team once we’re up and going, definitely let me know. If you’re just going to be completely negative and offer no constructive criticism, I can’t really stop you from saying anything, but don’t be a jerk about it. Sorry I don’t have a more positive note to end on, but that’s the news of what’s going on with E-Vac right now. I’ll try to update you as soon as I can on any major changes we’re able to make. 

Please like, share, and subscribe if you enjoy the content. The bigger an audience we can get, the more content (and at a better level of quality) I can produce. Until then, see ya next time.