puwexil Streamer Q&A

1. (Story behind your username) I was looking for a new online name in the late 90's (which would be unique enough to not already be taken on most websites), and have always been a huge fan of the Castlevania series (all the way back to the NES CV games).  The 2 bosses in Stage 4 of Super Castlevania IV have names that always amused me: Puwexil (a giant skull that attacks with its tongue) is 'licks you up' backwards, and Koronot (a stone golem) is 'ton of rock' backwards.  I decided to go with the former, and spell it lowercase as 'puwexil' to differentiate from the CV4 boss.

2. (Why did you start streaming) Since it's basically the same as my origin story with speedrunning, going to crosspost a previous writeup I did on that:

I first found out about Speed Demos Archive in probably 2005, from an FAQ for Metal Gear Solid 3 (which had a link to the author's run of the game on SDA). I'd been aware of speedrunning for quite a while before then - I entered a Nintendo Power contest in 1996 to get 102% in Donkey Kong Country 2 in under 5 hours game-time - was pretty exciting to get my name in the magazine, even if my time (3:36) was pretty low on the leaderboard. I also played Final Fantasy IX right after it came out, which has the Excalibur II quest (requires reaching a midpoint in the game's final dungeon in under 12 hours - it blew my mind that it was possible to beat FF9 that quickly). I never actually tried the quest until much later, but reading about it was my first exposure to the concept of speedrunning RPGs.
Being able to watch video recordings of completed speedruns got me more interested in the hobby, and I became a regular visitor to SDA to watch newly published runs and lurk the forum. It wasn't until live streaming of speedrunning started to become popular in 2010-2011 and SpeedRunsLive started that I felt inspired to do runs of my own. Seeing peoples' learning process and failed attempts that lead up to a successful run convinced me that it was something I could do too, and have a lot of fun along the way.  The Classic Games Done Quick marathon in January 2010 (the first GDQ event) was also a huge inspiration as it really showed the fun social/community side of speedrunning.

3. (Favorite game to stream) Don't really have a single favorite - basically every game I stream I enjoy for different reasons.

4. (Fondest memory) This is definitely a struggle due to how long I've been streaming (8 years), but just off the top of my head I'd say a tie between getting my 4:53 Final Fantasy VI Japanese version PB in 2014 and my 4:41 Chrono Trigger Glitched 100% PB in 2015 - both were (at the time) well-executed runs of very difficult categories (the FF6 run also beating a long-standing record by legendary Japanese speedrunner Hotarubi), and I still remember how great I felt after hitting that last split.

5. (Variety streamer) I don't stream non-speedrun content very often (usually just for streams after getting home from a GDQ/RPGLB, when I want to do a more chill stream primarily focused on chat Q&A); but when I do it's usually either a playthrough of a retro game I haven't played in a long time, or a 1st playthrough of a game I don't care about playing totally blind (which I'd do offline if I want to ensure no spoilers).  In 2019 I'd like to experiment with streaming some 1st playthroughs of well-regarded SNES/SFC RPGs I've never gotten around to playing (Live-A-Live, Treasure of Rudra, Front Mission: Gun Hazard, and Dragon View are a few ideas), though if it doesn't end up being fun for me and viewers I won't continue it.

6. (Biggest struggle you had in a game) Also a difficult question to answer across 8 years of streaming.  I'd maybe say several of the games I raced for the Kusogrande bad game tournaments.  Blind racing is quite different from how I normally play games (I like to take my time getting familiar with the controls, game mechanics, and game world before trying to make any real progress); and having to deal with poorly designed/obtuse/inconsistent mechanics on top of limited time to learn to play is quite challenging.

7. (Favorite thing about streaming) Meeting people from all over the world that share my interests, many of whom have become great friends outside gaming.

8. (Advice to new streamers) Don't force yourself to stream if you're not really feeling it.  I credit treating streaming as a hobby that I only do as often as I feel motivated for having streamed for 8 years without ever needing to take a significant (multiple month) break or burning out completely.  Obviously this isn't always an option for people that decide to stream full-time or otherwise make it an income source; but I definitely enjoy getting to have that flexibility.

9. (Favorite streamer to watch) I watch tons of different retro-game streamers, so doesn't feel fair to single anyone out, especially since who I watch is heavily dependent on how much I like the game/content they're streaming (aside: really not a fan of people listing their game as 'Retro' on Twitch instead of what they're actually playing, assuming they're not doing a stream with frequent game changes like a NES Big20 - the Chrome extension I use for Twitch notifications only lists stream and game names, and if I don't see the actual game name I usually won't click).  Will say that I especially like streamers that have mostly PG-13 commentary (I don't mind swearing as long as it's not super heavy) and mostly avoid sexually explicit/toilet humor and real-world politics.

10. (Do you clip yourself) I have a few times, but generally prefer short highlights, both to show full context and allow for Youtube exporting.

11. (Longest stream) Probably a session of Final Fantasy IX attempts back when I was running that game in 2012/2013 - I remember resetting a couple times for bad Disc 1 luck and then doing a full 9.5-10 hour run, which probably ended up totaling 13-14 hours.

12. (Game that you hated streaming) Final Fantasy VII PC.  Getting the game to run at a stable & good framerate was a huge ordeal - ended up having to give up on playing the game on my streaming PC (windowed mode dropped the FPS so much the battles looked like they were underwater), play it fullscreen on my laptop, and capture via HDMI cloning (the act of which also dropped FPS, but at a more manageable level).  FPS issues were especially painful due to the random encounter system in FF7 having a variable tied to the game's framerate, so I had to design my steproute around my laptop's specific FPS.

13. (Most frustrating thing about streaming) Audio settings - I don't think I've ever been truly happy with how my mic sounds (as far as pitch/peaking/balancing) since having to switch to USB headsets (after getting a new PC whose sound card didn't have enough inputs for both an analog headset and direct game audio).  I'm told that's just the way it is with USB headsets and desktop mics offer higher audio quality, but I've tried the latter a few times and been even less happy with the results (I don't have space on my desk to put a Yeti mic without blocking one of my monitors, and putting it on my TV or the floor sounds too echoey/distant and picks up background noise).

14. (Most popular game) Final Fantasy VII and/or IX.  My follower # has more than doubled since I last regularly streamed those games, but my viewer count has never really come close to back then.  I know another factor in that aside from game popularity is my streams of shorter games starting much later in the day, which is a pretty bad time for Europeans and North Americans with earlier bedtimes.

15. (Favorite person to stream with) I don't do a lot of races or otherwise non-solo streams; but I've definitely enjoyed the co-op runs I've done with Essentia for GDQ/RPGLB events, along with the couple of casual races we did in the lead-ups to those runs.

16. (How many people do you mod for) 104 channels according to a lookup tool - that's….a lot more than I expected.  Generally I only actively take care of obvious spam bots unless I know the streamer well enough to know what kinds of language they're comfortable with and what their policies on purges/timeouts/bans are.

17. (Goals) I set some PB goals last August (https://pastebin.com/8UCdeqf4) and still haven't accomplished any of them, but am hoping they'll happen this year.  Would really like to finish off at least some of those games before thinking about learning some new ones.
 Also want to finish a full-game RNG manip route for Chrono Trigger Glitchless 100% and do a few runs, and improve my PBs at FF6 JP Any% No Sketch/WW and FF4 Any% No Stairs Glitch.  Streaming twice a week on average as often as possible is another goal.

18. (Layout) I keep my layout intentionally very simple (just game capture, camera, and LiveSplit, chat viewer, tracker, and/or artwork), both to avoid having to put work into a more involved layout and because I prefer to give as much real estate as possible to the most important stream elements.  I prefer putting splits/cam on the left side of the layout so there's symmetry between that section and the chat box.

19. (Things you want to change) Start weekend streams earlier in the day (like 6-7PM CT instead of 8-9PM CT).  I know my current hours are bad for a lot of people's time zones; but starting earlier has been very difficult for me the past few years due to late evening being when I have the most energy for social stuff like streaming.

20. (Least favorite thing about streaming) Heavy pressure to accept subscriptions/bits/donations/etc, because most other streamers do.  Aside from pre-roll ad revenue (which is something that Twitch does anyway whether I get a tiny cut or not, and which doesn't come directly from my viewers' wallets), I prefer to keep my channel unmonetized, which over the years has gone from being very common to being super rare & countercultural.  Twitch forcibly putting a Bits button on my channel last year with no opt-out was frustrating, though I was able to sabotage it by setting a 10,000 bit cheering minimum.  I haven't ruled out ever using my Twitch channel for personal fundraising if my circumstances change; but as of right now I prefer to keep gaming/streaming a hobby I do just for fun.

21. (Dropped any games) There's a couple of games I've run in the past that I don't see myself ever returning to for serious PB grinds (Illusion of Gaia, Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VII, Parasite Eve, glitched Chrono Trigger), primarily because newer/faster strats that have been found for those games just don't look fun to me compared to the older ones.  Can and will do casual runs of them from time to time with the strats I prefer.

22. (Years streaming) Been streaming for close to 8 full years.

23. (How many mods) Quite a few (don't feel like counting the exact number) - I mod a lot of friends & stream regulars who I trust, especially since my chat doesn't generally need much active moderation.

24. (Channel theme) Don't have one visually (see #18)- content-wise my channel is mostly SNES-era games with bits of NES & PS1/2 here and there.

25. (Most viewed clip) https://clips.twitch.tv/EphemeralTardyWasabiANELE - Umm, ok?

26. (Favorite platform to stream) I started streaming on Ustream (the first free-to-use livestreaming platform that anyone really used for speedrunning content) and then switched to Twitch (JustinTV at the time) a few months later.  The main reason I switched was VOD storage - at the time Ustream only allowed up to 3 hour VODs, and each one had to be manually started from the stream dashboard (which was extremely awkward for >3 hour streams), whereas JustinTV let you just set all streams to have full VODs.

27. (Cam) I use a facecam for all streams unless they're micless.  I don't honestly think I'm that exciting to watch play games since I don't generally have strong reactions; but I think it's a great tool for making the stream more engaging/interactive to viewers.

28. (Most memorable ban) Don't need to issue many bans besides spambots, but those that have happened have mostly been due to harassing comments towards me or others, or swearing/lewdness/drama/politics/etc and not stopping when asked.

29. (Inspiration) Essentia and RaneOfSOTN were my inspirations to get into streaming RPG speedruns (they were the first people I saw streaming runs of FF6 and FF4 respectively), and JoshTheFunkdoc was my inspiration for the style of commentary I aim for.

30. (Message for audience) Thanks so much!  Retro gaming is a very niche hobby where I live, and it means the world to me to have so many great online friends to share it with!