It’s rare that I feel like my brain is satisfied with what I’m doing and where I am, but I finally feel like that, thanks to RetroFizz, I’m getting to that point.
For those who only read this blog, which I’m sure is a very small number — since the number of people who consume my creations is pretty damn small anyways, RetroFizz is the 24-hour live streamed channel currently on Mixer and soon to be on other platforms that serves up gaming and geek culture content. I started this venture with my buddy Sean aka BoomLive, and we pulled in a fellow Tim, VerbatimT, to help us with the experience (he’s worked in broadcast before) and technology side of things. In addition to those two, we’ve got a stable of super-talented content creators involved who are contributing their own shows or ideas to the process.
We’ve been busting our asses on getting RetroFizz up and running and setting things in motion to execute a high-quality product for people to enjoy. We took inspirations from classic G4, TWiT, and Revision3 Games, among others, and wanted to create a channel that appealed to not only the lovers of specific games, but of game culture in general. There’s blocks of gameplay without commentary, blocks of gameplay with commentary, podcasts, full playthroughs, [bad] fanfiction reads, speed running, and so much more planned and being executed on. It’s a crazy ambitious idea, and I’m lucky enough to have fallen in with a pair of extremely skilled and talented people to help head this up, and to be honest we’ve really lucked out with the team we have behind the entire thing.
The only downside is that, naturally, the amount of work has ramped up. I’m now streaming on weekends and blogging throughout the week; recording two podcasts on Mondays and editing them the same night; and I’m putting together three separate shows on Wednesdays: Press Start to Watch, which is a gameplay block; Midnight Pixel Show, which is a variety show with game trailers, cutscenes, commercials, and gameplay blocks; and Fanfiction Theater, which is a fan fiction read of “poor” fan fictions read in a serious manner. For some people, these things on top of a full-time job would be too much. For me, it’s what keeps me focused and from falling into the trap of my lack of success in streaming.
I came into streaming at a bad time, if I’m being honest. I sort of missed the early boat that carried a lot of folks to early success. I made some good moves in getting involved with Mixer when I did, because had I been on Twitch I assume I’d still be languishing in the low viewership hell that is the majority of Twitch streamers. My viewership is steady, my community strong, and I genuinely love my content style that I’ve developed. However the low overall viewership and reduced support from the platform have really done a number on my enthusiasm for it. Not that I plan on giving up, but I’ve really been feeling that the platform has more issues than not. Weird hiccups in viewership, poor discoverability, odd bugs and glitches, and some back-end issues behind-the-scenes with Mixer have really shaken my faith and enthusiasm for the platform itself.
RetroFizz has really reinvigorated my love for content creation. We’re putting the focus on what we make and not the platform. We’re working collaboratively to create productions we are proud of and excited for overall. In addition to revitalizing the ICT Podcast and the blog here, I’ve been really making progress on producing as high of quality content as I can in as short a timeframe as I can. I’m so lucky I married Reki, as they’ve been instrumental in my ability to operate in this way. They are keeping a close eye on me to make sure I don’t burnout, but ultimately I’m super excited to do this. Even though right now I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off due to not having my schedule organized, I feel like I’ll have a rhythm within the next week or so that is repeatable and less overwhelming.
Keeping busy keeps my brain happy. I feel like I was meant for creating cool shit, not a day job of being a cog in a machine. I am so thrilled to have such great creative outlets. It’s been extremely good for my mood and my mental state, and I hope it keeps up. I know rest is important (we talk about this in our newest RetroFizz Podcast episode, episode 3), but having this huge glut of things I can execute on and satisfy my creative urges with does wonders for me.
I’m so excited about the future, and I’m glad you’re along on the ride with me. The support I’ve received around RetroFizz and my own stream, blog, and podcast is amazing and so very appreciated. None of this could be done without you. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I am so hopeful to be able to do this as a career one day, and I feel that it gets closer every day.
A live streamer, podcaster, and game lover hailing from the Tampa Bay area of Florida. Regardless of the game, Tim thoroughly enjoys what each game can bring to the table, whether it be visuals, audio, writing, or a combination of the three. He wants nothing more than to have a positive impact on gaming in some manner.
If you want to support Tim’s efforts in content creation, please consider becoming a Patron on Patreon.
