PJ's 2016/2017 reflections

I know these are really overdone and cliche, but 2016 was an extremely important year for me, and I'm incredibly thankful for all of you that made it possible.  At the very least, I owe it to you all to reflect a bit on how things went and where I plan to take the stream in 2017.


tl;dr:
2016 was awesome, streaming is amazing, and you guys are far more supportive than I deserve.  Here's hoping 2017 is much more of the same!  Thanks for everything!  <3



2016 recap:

At the end of 2015 I decided to take the leap to full-time streaming, which was super scary.  I officially began in 2016, after AGDQ ended.  I had no idea what to expect, or what my plans would be for schedule or content.  My only plans really were to stream a lot more frequently, do a lot of speedruns, and have a good time.  And then just hope that somehow things would fall into place.

For some reason, my stream has continuously grown since then, and my viewers (longtime and new!) have been incredibly supportive of this venture!  I cannot thank all of you enough.  You have truly made a dream come true, and I am overwhelmed by your generosity every day.

I am incredibly proud of the community we have developed this year; I honestly was not expecting things to grow in this way.  When I made the subscriber Discord, I was expecting it to basically just stagnate and not do anything.  Now, the sub Discord is a super lively chat where we can talk freely about anything, watch shows together, organize co-op games, discuss plans for future stream events/emotes, etc.  I am blown away every day by how amazing this community is, and how proud I am to be involved.

As far as speedrun progress is concerned, this has been a really impressive year:
-I FINALLY got a sub-42 in ActRaiser 2 hard mode, after 6 years of grinding.  I also worked on easy mode and dropped Hotarubi's WR by over a minute.
-I began work towards speedrunning the entire Bionic Commando series, and while the enthusiasm fizzled out after learning more about Game Boy BioCom, I accomplished a LOT on these games this year, including setting new WRs on every category of the NES version.
-Thanks to Super Baseball Simulator, I also finally went back and improved some of my older runs that were in desperate need of improvement.  I am really proud of the work I did on these titles (Metal Morph, Mohawk & Headphone Jack warpless, Arcade's Revenge).
-I finally got around to learning Equinox, and am thrilled with how great of a speedgame it actually is.  WR has dropped over 10 minutes since I started, and can still drop further!
-I learned to run Brandish, and got a deathless run!  Holy shit.  What a game.
-I went to AGDQ and SGDQ again this year, and RPG Limit Break and Arcade Superplay Expo for the first time.  It is always really rewarding to be able to contribute my talents for a much greater cause.  Also, traveling to events is fun, and seeing friends is even more fun.  :D


2017 plans:

-Build a new PC so I can actually record HD games, and play PC stuff without issues.
-Move back to Rochester so I have to take less time off when I visit family.
-Website™
-Finish work on the BioCom series so I can finally do the full series RTA.  Hoping to get under 4:30:00 for all 7 games.
-Work on ActRaiser 2 again.
-More collaborations with SireAlligator.  Needs moar Soviet Saturday.
-More travel!  Won't be going to SGDQ this year, so there's more time to go elsewhere.  I want to go to Iowa to hang out with Team PLC (and hopefully work on 3P arcade Battletoads).
-Run easier games so my New Year's Eve special in 2017 doesn't kill me.


Thanks again for everything, guys!  Your support means the world to me and I couldn't be doing this without you.  <3