Why WouldntI Be Making Super Mario Maker Levels With All My Spare Time?

Why wouldn’t I be making Super Mario Maker levels with all my spare time?

A couple of these were already posted here, but I included them anyway just to keep everything in one place. If you want to catch these levels as they’re posted, check out my Twitter.

2015 Year in Review

For some reason my brain keeps telling me that 2015 sucked. There were some not-so-great things about it, sure, but it wasn’t totally awful. Thus, I’m writing this list to focus on the positive aspects of the past year. If it sounds like I’m bragging, I’m really not - I’m trying to feel better about what I’ve accomplished. A lot’s been happening!

Got my first job! Because of it, I enjoyed a lovely summer of working in the morning, then getting home and chilling for the rest of the day.

Super Mario Maker came out and I made a bunch of levels for it. Some were even promoted by big names like GameXplain and Nintendo UK!

At college, I’m now senior-level by hours, even though I’m in my third year.

Learned my way around Photoshop - enough to make a new avatar! I’m not 100% done with it yet, but this is pretty close at least.

Speaking of Photoshop, I digitized a bunch of mazes. Wait, actually, that was Illustrator.

Broke 50 followers on Twitter, and 200 followers on Tumblr (most of the latter is just bots, though). Also, 1000 video views on Youtube?? But why???

Got a new phone that I absolutely love. It’s been a big help in keeping me up to speed with everything.

I’m realizing as I go back through my social feeds that I posted a LOT more than I thought I did this year. Like, wow.

Worked up the courage to start drawing again after about five years. It’s been a slow start, but I've drawn more complex stuff than ever (like humans).

In any case, I’m looking forward to 2016! New year, fresh start, lots of big plans and opportunities. Can’t wait to get started!

Video content is go! Here’s a highlights reel from my recent streams of the Splatoon 2 Global Testfire! If you’ve never seen my streams or haven’t been able to make it to them, here’s a quick taste of what they’re like.

This is the first of (hopefully) many more, so I hope you enjoy!

Here’s a digital art thing I made recently! It’s my first real attempt with it so it’s nothing fancy yet, but I’m glad I’m starting to get back into drawing more - it’s something I’ve missed a lot.

Speaking of missing a lot, I actually posted this a whole month back on Twitter... haven’t been on Tumblr in a long time, I really need to fix that. How many memes have I been missing out on???

Hyper-update 2017

For a while now on Twitter, I’ve been hinting at some life changes happening that are affecting my ability to do some things like stream or work on projects. Now that the dust is beginning to settle and plans are being made, I’d like to spill the beans:

As of November 2016, I am no longer in college.

The official reason on paper is that I couldn’t continue paying for classes. I ran out of scholarships, and student loans were not paying enough (as silly as that may sound). But if I’m going to be honest... I was already looking for a way to take a break, or something of the sort. I still had options to continue if I really wanted to, but I decided against them.

The stress of college was becoming unbearable. My last quarter was one of my weakest in terms of grades, and that wasn’t just because of the course load. Every day was a struggle to do just what I absolutely needed to do, so that I could collapse on my bed and rest as much as possible. And that doesn’t just describe this last quarter, either - my life has felt like it’s been draining from me as the years have gone by.

Am I exaggerating here? Probably a little. But that’s what it felt like going through it, and it’s what I remember upon looking back.

The day after the quarter ended, I perked up tremendously. I'm not spending all day in bed anymore. I’ve started streaming again, I’ve started working on projects again, I’ve started being more social. Energy levels have been so high that I frequently distract myself from one project with another one.

Surely I’m exaggerating here, too? ...Surprisingly, no. I’m still recovering from the stress, but it’s been a very quick process.

The only thing that’s been keeping me from going full tilt on any project lately is figuring out what to do now that college is, er, “out of the way.” After talking with a lot of people about my options (and praying a lot), I think I’ve decided that it’s time to go back home for a while.

My parents are very open to this, so it should be a smooth transition. I’ll be able to recover much more quickly at home, and take care of things that I couldn’t before - or just didn’t. I’ve even been presented with some unique opportunities that I don’t have here. The biggest problem with this will be finding a job at home; this was a huge factor in my decision (since I already have a job here), but I think that things will work out.

As far as what you guys will see from me: In between packing, I hope to continue working on projects (one of them is almost ready for showtime!) and do some one-off streams. Then, when I get home and things stabilize a bit - expect to see a lot from me. Streams, sketches, videos, levels, writing, and as much energy as I can feasibly wring out of this human body of mine.

2017 is looking up.

More, more, more Mario! Because level design is my life, or something.

4-2 Remix (SMBS) - A level from the little-known Super Mario Bros. Special, complete with hidden secrets! 471A-0000-0086-00B9

Grape Garden 3 Remix - The blimp level from Kirby’s Adventure, adapted for Super Mario Maker! 69C1-0000-0086-2050

Stonefall - No enemies, just rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. A9DE-0000-006A-8FB9

The Time Machine - An autoscrolling level that you “rewind” with doors to solve puzzles. 5CC1-0000-0088-4A13