Hey everyone!
Welcome to the first channel update on the new M4J Media website. This post is specifically to state which series will be running on the channel from now on, as well as explaining which series are ending and why. I’ll also be very quickly chatting about upcoming series that will be starting in the near future.
Finished Series
So let’s start with series that will be ending. It’s always sad for me to bring a series to a close, but recently I’ve realised that in order for the channel to grow I need to be more strict on bringing things to a close when they are no longer attracting views. The first series to be axed is the M4J Factory. As much as I have loved playing Factorio, the viewing figures have been very disappointing and therefore the series will be ending once the last couple of episodes have been uploaded. The truth is this series was planned to be a secondary series behind the M4J Network, but that just hasn’t been the case.
Next up is the Gardcity Project. ‘Whats that?’ I hear you ask. Well the Gardcity Project was to build a functioning community using modded Minecraft. The city was to be named Gardcity after the M4J Network, but wasn’t necessarily to have the same layout. Instead, the focus was to be on building functional transport, economic, judicial and employment systems. In hindsight, this project was always going to be difficult to do alone, and that’s why it’s now come to an end.
The final series to end is the Somerset Hills Railway on Train Simulator. This one was a really hard decision as it’s a project I’ve tried to bring to life on many occasions over multiple games. As it stands, I just don’t have the motivation to continue working with a game that is unreliable at best, as each time I make good progress something very quickly goes wrong. The most recent example of that was last week, when I loaded up the game to find track pieces missing. I just don’t want to spend each episode fixing things that keep breaking, so in this case it’s easier to just cut the series from the channel.
Continuing Series
As you can see from above, there are three series that will be continuing on the channel. These are The M4J Network, M4J Logistics and Global Ventures. The M4J Network is by far the most popular series on the channel, and to me the most fun I’ve had as a content creator. Each week it’s awesome to be able to stream OpenTTD live with direct feedback from my audience, and this is something I hope to continue for a long time to come.
M4J Logistics is me playing Euro Truck Simulator 2 (with mixed results!) It’s a game I’ve owned for a long time but never really considered putting on the channel until recently. So far, it’s had a muted response, but I’m willing to give it a chance to grow, as it’s a very fun game to play and means I can be less creative whilst still having fun.
Global Ventures is the trickiest to keep going. I love Planet Coaster and am really happy with the park so far, but I’m just not very good at building anything other than coasters! If it were up to me, I’d just fill the park with coasters and move on. But this is a project that I’ve wanted to do for over 10 years now, and because of that I want to do it right. Therefore the series will continue, but will be more sporadic. Uploads will be approximately once a fortnight (2 weeks) but may be longer if inspiration is lacking. I have got plans for the next few episodes and will be recording as and when I can so that I have a few episodes sitting waiting to be uploaded. I’m also thinking about streaming the series on YouTube like I do with OpenTTD, but this is still up-in-the-air right now.
Future Series
For those thinking that three series is a little low, you’d be right! In the very near future, there will be new series starting on the channel. The first will probably be a surprise to many as it was also a surprise to me. The Outer Worlds will be coming to the channel starting from next week. It’s not often that I can play a story-driven game, and this is the first time in a couple of years that a game like this has been on the channel. Personally, I’m really hoping this series does well as the game has been a refreshing change so far and I’m really looking forward to playing more as the weeks go by. An exact schedule hasn’t been decided yet, but I’m toying with the idea of 3 episodes a week each between 30-60 minutes long.
The next new series is a callback to the channel’s origins. The first proper series on the channel was ‘You Don’t Win Anything With Kids’, a series built around the idea of rising through the leagues on Football Manager with a team made up of mostly players under 18. This year, the idea will be returning but with a big twist. Instead of making my own squad, I will start as a modified Hatfield Town with an improved youth development program. The idea will be to keep transfers in to an absolute minimum, instead relying on the club’s own youth system to achieve success. This series will start as soon as the extended database for Football Manager 2020 is released, which currently I’m not sure of but will post an update as and when it is released.
The final new series will be the return of the M4J Racing Series. This series, now on Season 2, takes place on GTA Online, and consists of 10 weeks of racing, with each week having 10 races. Points are awarded based on race times, with bonuses and penalties applied. At the end of the 10 weeks, the highest scoring racer wins. The current champion is ahem me, so I’ll be looking for my fellow competitors to try and take my crown off me. Season 2 raises the stakes as more people are now taking part and there’s an actual prize on offer, so be sure to tune in each week to see how we all get on!
That’s it from me. I wanted to post this update as I know uploads have been a little sparse recently so I wanted to clarify what’s going on with the channel. As always, I’m hard at work with XVI as well as M4J so updates will be posted each time something changes or an upload is getting missed. The best places to stay updated are here and Reddit so be sure to check both.
Thanks for reading, and until next time I will see you soon!