ArTorr Updates: Happy New Year 2023

Hello and WELCOME to the first post of the New Year (it's a big one)! Although 2022 flew by maddeningly fast, I still find myself excited and inspired by the prospect of a "new beginning" that every January brings. In this post, we're going to be reflecting on what we accomplished in 2022, what could've gone differently, the GOALS I have for ArTorr in 2023, and my strategy for achieving those goals. We'll talk about what's next in terms of videos, and tease some farther-off projects... so buckle up!

Growth and Statistics

• ArTorr gained approximately 25,000 subscribers in 2022 and 3.6 million views. The biggest month for growth was February, followed by July and May. 
• TWO videos, The Legacy of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Star Wars Rebels: A Prophecy of Hope crossed one million views this year (The Rebels video is currently the most watched video, stealing the Clone Wars video's crown sometime in December). 
• The Mandalorian: A Gunslinger's Odyssey became the fastest-viewed video in the channel's history, accruing 290,000 views in its first month.
• Since launching on Patreon in July, 29 of you decided to go the extra mile by supporting the channel here, with 26 currently active members.

Altogether, this has been the year for the channel's growth by far. As always, thank you thank you THANK YOU for your support. I try to stress often that views and subscribers will always be secondary to creating meaningful content for you guys, but it's because of the views and subs that I can do more and exciting things with each new video as the channel grows. Invariably, as we grow in 2023, that only means the content will get better and better with every upload.

A Year of Mandalorians and Mass Effect

2022 consisted of three massive videos: The Brilliance of Mass Effect 2 in February, The Mandalorian: A Gunslinger's Odyssey in July, and The Legacy of Mass Effect 3 in November. Without a doubt, these have been some of the three biggest creative projects I've ever tackled in my life. The Mandalorian video took over 450 hours to put together, while I recently calculated The Mass Effect 3 video took 500 hours. Yuuuup. 

Though this is the least number of uploads for a year on ArTorr so far, your patience and unwavering support along the way was unquestionably felt. Below are some comments I screenshotted from the first few weeks of The Mandalorian video, and needless to say, y'all are far too kind. Thank you.

As much as I enjoyed diving deep into the Mass Effect Trilogy, The Mandalorian video remains my favorite video to have worked on for the channel to date. Though there won't be a video quite as long as it in 2023, it is a very good representation of the attitude and caliber of production going into the videos I'll be doing this year.

Beyond ArTorr

This year, I was fortunate enough to be part of a lot of cool things outside of the channel that I wanted to highlight. Through a variety of interviews and podcasts, I was featured in content by All New Nerds, Gaming Sandbox, HunterPK, and The Star Wars Exchange. I appeared on The Star Wars Exchange Podcast 8 times in fact, and am grateful to say Ari & Mike, the two halves of that channel, have become good friends of mine. If you watch none of the shows I did with them, at least watch this clip. It's a lot of fun.

Most recently, I appeared in Gaming Sandbox's end of the year video, recapping the best indie titles of 2022 through a variety of creator's top picks. You can watch the video here, and hear what I thought the best indie game I played in 2022 was (even though I actually played very few games last year oops)!

Where Are We Going Next?

Though I am deeply proud of what I was able to do with just three videos last year, I can't deny I wish I made more. I set out to tackle several ambitious projects from the start of 2022, but only managed to finish a few. While YouTube is not technically a full-time job for me, and I can see many ways now in which I could've used my time more efficiently during certain stretches of the year, the blunt and simple truth is that there will always be only so much I alone can put out on YouTube in a single year. 

I know you'll always be patient with how long it takes for me to release a new video, and enjoy it to bits once it's out, but for me, creating nothing but back-to-back 1+ hour long videos for the last two years has unfortunately become quite grueling. The length of these videos have allowed me go deeper than ever before, and facilitate emotional multitudes you don't get with most YouTube videos, but seeing those projects all the way to the finish demands a high amount of focus, energy, and creativity over several months at a time. It's hard, even if the time always rewards itself in the end.

With all that said, 2023 will be about efficiency. Saying just as much-- if not even more-- with shorter videos of a greater quality. Spreading out the work on 1 hour+ videos over more months, with shorter, 30-45 minute videos released over that span. Making kickass videos about shows, moves, and games you've heavily requested. Reaching out to other creators and talent to assemble particular assets for future videos. All the while, 100% of the content will be written and edited by me. 

There will be 8 videos this year.

If you've read any of the ArTorr Updates posts from the last few months, then you already know my next video is about The Last of Us: Part I. 

The video after that, currently in the early research stage, will be my long, long-promised video about the Indiana Jones Sequels.

And after that, a video I am hesitant to announce-- but will because you've been so supportive-- a long-form deep dive into Andor. 

Shhhh. Don't tell anyone outside the Patreon I'm working on that one. 

The target schedule for these videos is as follows--

• February - The Last of Us
• March - Indiana Jones Sequels
• May - Andor
• June - ???
• July - ???
• September - ???
• October - ???
• December - ???

The release window for videos can, of course, always change, but through and through, releasing 8 videos is my unwavering goal for 2023.

It's Not The Destination; It's The Journey

Can it be done? Could you really see 8 videos from me this year? I think so. And here's why.

Over the last 12 months, I've been recording data from the making of my videos. How long it takes for me to research, to write, and to edit. The times of the day I do these tasks, and what days I get the most work done. This data has effectively given me an understanding of my time spent per hours of video created, and has helped me realistically build a production schedule for 2023. From that schedule, I wrote pitches for 8 distinct videos, curated based on my goals, approach to the topic of each video, and the hours of content I will be able to produce this year. Combined with the mountain of feedback and lessons I have from the last two year's videos about my process, I believe I will be able to hit every video without sacrificing an iota of quality.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not a factory, and it's not healthy to think of myself as one. That's why my schedule will have spare time built into it, accommodating for the variety of circumstances (or need for a break) that typically arise for me. Even still, I believe that doing less long-form videos will provide a significant boon to my motivation, momentum, and focus throughout the year, fostering more creativity and greater quality.

And if all 8 videos don't happen, or something goes wrong along the way, then I'll have still walked away from the year with feedback and data to make the next year even better.

All the while, you can expect me to continue touching base with you guys here on Patreon. There will be update posts just like this one, but also more writing features, behind-the-scenes commentaries, and hopefully, some editorials about editing, and unscripted reviews for media I don't get to cover on YouTube.

I hope you're excited as I am for what's to come, and willing to support the channel through 2023. It's because of your support that I work as hard as I do, and even more so now. For nothing manages to be quite as inspiring as a new beginning.