A Retrospective on March

This post was going to be mostly a summary of the activity on my YouTube channel in March but I thought I really should address the COVID-19 coronavirus situation and, umm,  got a bit carried away!  You can avoid my ranting about what has happened by scrolling down to the next headline. 😉 

The 'Situation'

It took a while for us here in the UK to realise but March was the month that everything changed!

After two weeks of 'lockdown' we're becoming accustomed to a new way of life, isolated in our own homes, either alone or with immediate family we are effectively confined within our homes. Unable to physically meet anyone we don't live with, unable to enjoy of the pleasures that come with socialising with our various communities. And then there is the 'knock-on' impact that has on the economy, the businesses, the organisations and institutions that have become an integral part of our way of life. Our governments may try to protect the bedrock components of our society and those individuals most at risk and hopefully that will work but, when we come out of this immediate crisis, so much will be different.

On the negative side, many, many, good people will have lost their lives; too many families and communities will know the pain of unexpected and premature loss. Likewise, a significant number of businesses, organisations and beloved institutions are likely to have gone or been irrevocably damaged. Our governments will have huge debts to pay off and that will require us, as taxpayers, to endure yet more enforced austerity.

On the positive side, we have seen communities come together to help and protect each other, to provide essential support and services that had previously been taken for granted. The importance of our health workers, carers, support staff, retail workers, service providers of all types, is no longer just being tacitly accepted but actively acknowledged for the invaluable work that they do Is it too much to hope that, for a while at least, after this crisis passes that the disgusting equation of "low pay = low skill = low value" is recognised for the lie that it always has been.

Perhaps we might also regain some recognition of the value of actual experts? Over the last decade too many communities have derided the 'expert' and placed the vocal sound-bite populist at the heart of their politics and value systems. The fact that these 'populists' are, almost without exception, either simple mouthpieces for entrenched elites or wholly self-interested egocentrics with no actual understanding of how governments, economies, or countries actually work is so starkly self-evident now that, hopefully, we will be able to put people with knowledge and expertise in charge of restoring of communities.

Anyway, I hope everyone is staying safe, keeping well and doing all they can to support and protect their family, friends, and community.

March on Ajaxpost Plays

A 'steady' month on the channel, not being diverted by my usual social practices of going to the theatre, visiting beer festivals, and meeting up with friends meant I have been able to record, edit and upload videos on a more regular basis. But, fear not, there is still no schedule! 😎

Good to see the number of views and subscribers continue to increase and on 21st March 700 lovely people had subcribed to the channel. If you are one of that number ... THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

In terms of the series I've been playing, two came to an end and three new(ish) ones were added.

Academia: School Simulator

After ten episodes, I wrapped this one up with a review of the game. For my first attempt at the game I reckon I did quite well and learnt a lot about it. The game is still in Early Access and has developed quite nicely since I started playing. I look forward to playing this one again.

Check out the March episodes:

Computer Tycoon

March saw the eleventh, and final, episode of my second series of Computer Tycoon. Another Early Access game that is showing loads of potential, especially when you consider that it is the work of a single developer. Relying on intricate connections between the player's decisions and the complex AI world has meant that updates need to be very carefully balanced and so have been relatively infrequent.
Nonetheless a very entertaining and potentially very challenging strategy title that will undoubtedly be back on the channel.

Check out the final episode:

Transport Fever 2

What can I say? I love this game, just as I did the early releases. I'm finally get my head around how to create routes that people and freight will use so money is rolling in and I'm able to start work on some more complex and/or lengthy lines. This series will be going for quite some time! 😊

Check out the March episodes:

Another Brick In The Mall

Having spent a lot of episodes slowly expanding my Mall, I finally decide to get a big loan and embark on more ambitious expansion. All at the same time as the game is updated to include more challenging events! To be fair, there have also been quite few good improvements to several of game mechanics and information systems.
Not sure how much longer this series will continue once all the research has been done and it becomes more a logistics challenge as the number of customers escalates. When I do draw this one to a close, the game's sandbox flexibility as well as several scenarios already available mean that it could well be worth a second series.
Anyway, while we're still in series one, why not check out the March episodes:

SimAirport

I had been planning to bring back SimAirport for several months but never found the time to fit it into the 'schedule'. Then on 29th February the game was announced as complete and released out of Early Access. Seemed like an ideal opportunity to spin it up again.
As promise at the end of the first series I wanted to attempt a recreation of a real airport and I chose my nearest major airport, Bristol.
Even after just a few months away I had clearly forgotten some of the game's basics but three episodes in, the airport itself seems to be working OK ... so far!

Check out the March episodes:

Stellaris: Federations

It never rains, it pours! Quite happily running four series at the same time I was offered two game keys in March and where one was a brand new colony builder just released into Early Access the other was a new expansion pack for an old favourite that I've never previously recorded for this channel, and wasn't sure if it would work with my Lets Play style. This latter was the Federations expansion for Stellaris, the first full-blown grand strategy title I've tried to record. It's going to be interesting to see (a) how well I am able to play the game and (b) considering there are already many well established YouTubers playing it, if my videos will get enough views to sustain a full series.

Check out these first episodes and see what you make of it:

Bastide

The accepted wisdom is that getting in first, or at least very early, with a new game is the best way to achieve significant growth for a YouTube channel. So, when the developers of Bastide offered me a key to the very first publicly available build of the game, I jumped at the chance! It's a little diffrent to the tycoon/builder games that are at the core of my output but I reckon it is close enough to be of interest to many of many subscribers and casual viewers.
The game is clearly still very early in it's development but there seems to be enough there to be worth a look and the developer is releasing updates very frequently at the moment so although this is unlikely to become a long-running series there will be a quite a few episodes worth over the coming months.

Check out what I've discovered about it so far:

And On Into April!

And that's it for March, thank you so much for reading this far and for taking the time to watch any of my videos.

If you have any thoughts on this post, or any of the videos or games I'm uploading please don't hesitate to comment below, on the videos or any of my 'socials' (links on the right).

Most importantly, however ...

Stay Safe, Look After Yourself and All Those Around You