Ross Scott

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » Just a quick update, I've finally set up a twitter channel at twitter.com/accursedfarms. I was able to get the Accursed Farms name due to a fan squatting it since 2009. I don't have many plans for this, and still don't completely understand all the dynamics with Twitter. Frankly, I think spending a lot of time on twitter would make me feel like I'm wasting my life. However, it is useful for quick announcements, like letting people know when there's a new videochat, play session, a short status update, that sort of thing. So that will be a good place to check if you just want condensed versions of anything new that's happening with regards to the videos or events, but I don't plan to use it for much else. COMMENTS

It's in the video, I have a industry insider whom I have to keep anonymous, but the system is in place primarily to ensure that they have plausible deniability of taking concept ideas from anyone else. It's a legal protection thing for the most part. My understanding is HEVC makes a bigger difference at low bitrates and high resolutions compared to h.264, with it not being as substantial for the bitrate range I'm working at. I might switch to it eventually, but I'd rather let it become a highly standardized thing first.

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » Here's the November chat with fans. A few highlights of this one are that I hope to have a Zombie Panic playsession with fans in the future, although the sheer player limit will unfortunately limit how many can join up. I also discuss an update on the situation with EA killing games. Unfortunately it seems letters will have absolutely no impact as there a sophisticated system in place to ensure that executives never see these letters. I'm still working on other approaches to get this practice to end, but it's going to take some time to implement. Work continues on more videos in the meantime! COMMENTS

Yeah, I think CBU did a really fantastic job in a lot of areas, but it was mostly the ending and narrative that could have been reworked some more. After seeing ROTH, I think I have more of an appreciation for how many things that got right. Well in their defense, I think the developers were high.

I was very tired when I wrote it (I've since slept) and was watching Premiere hold my video hostage until it could process some stuff prior to rendering, meanwhile the clock was ticking. So I was already tense from how much it was delaying the video and that post really wasn't what I wanted to see. In general I try to keep more perspective on things.

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » Welcome to another 11th hour Halloween episode! The irony is thick on this one for me, since I intentionally tried to scale down things so I could be done early for once, so naturally a mildew infection hit my apartment which took a big bite out of my time, hence this barely making it in time for Halloween! This was an interesting game to cover. I never tried the game prior to this month, nor did I know much about it, I just suspected it would be a good pick for the game dungeon, and it certainly qualified. Regardless of what else I say in the video, this game definitely has some heart to it, which can be refreshing to see. This also puts Clive Barker's Undying in a new light for me, since some of the influences are really apparent from this game. Anyway, have a good just-barely Halloween for those farther west of me! COMMENTS

Well first off, yes, you are being rude. You're accusing me of being a liar about working hard on the videos essentially. The fact that you're saying this to me when I HAVEN'T slept recently makes your timing impressively bad also. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt that this is a comment made out of wanton ignorance about everything involved with what I do, rather than intended malice. I hope you at least understand how insulting what you're saying is to me. If that's your intent, then congratulations. As a play on words from Metallica: "If you hate me, I don't want you as my fan." The smart thing for me to do is probably to ban you, because you're showing a complete lack of respect with a comment like that, but just in case, I'll try to deconstruct what you're saying: -I've never intentionally held a video back from the public for even 24 hours unless it was for a contest that didn't allow for public release until after it was over. The most I'll do is if I see it's going to be VERY late before I'm done, I sometimes push release to the next day during more optimal hours. -I'm not even aware what days are good or bad to release on, I just get them out when they're done. Obviously for a holiday release, I try my damndest to have it done on or before the holiday. This doesn't mean I'm good always good at that. -Carnevil was released very late Friday on Halloween and I believe was the longest Game Dungeon I made at the time. The Secret World was released on late Saturday because it was Halloween also a long episode on top of 3 others I did that month. I was also very late on the 4th of July releasing Arcade America. I was also running late releasing Polaris Snocross on Christmas, and even finishing Freeman's Mind before New Year's Day. I almost didn't finish my birthday video in time last year. Many projects unfortunately take more time than I was able to anticipate, so sometimes the only way to make a deadline under those circumstances is to work around the clock. Even recently, I was hoping to have all 3 Deus Ex videos done before the new game released, but wasn't even close to making that. -Releasing very late in the day is NOT good for views, it means I'm desperately trying to make a deadline. Moreover, releasing a video a WEEK late, is much worse for views than a DAY or hours late. -I would LOVE to have videos out early. That was even my plan this year, I cancelled 3 videos I was planning on going so I could have a sane amount of time to work. I did not forsee having to clean out a portion of my entire apartment due to the air quality being so bad I was choking on it. This set me back severely. -I have never lied once about being low on sleep when I say I am or working around the clock on something. It's a source of shame for me when I can't meet a deadline, especially one that's holiday themed. I fucking hate having to lose sleep on a project. Working while you don't have enough sleep is a horrible feeling and means things are not working. I really hope to transition to something that's a little more sustainable in the future. I push myself because I know people want more videos, but I can only deliver something of a minimum quality level so fast. I honestly don't know how some Youtubers are able to crank out quality videos as fast as they do. -To the best of my knowledge, I haven't lied to anyone online when it's not April Fool's Day. Even if you don't believe anything I'm saying, I'm sure you can look up the times and releases of my many other videos to see it doesn't especially follow a pattern of optimized release dates, or times, when it comes to holiday ones. Afterall, I can't fabricate when the damn videos were released. All I can figure is if it's "way too obvious" to you that I'm somehow holding back videos to be released on Saturdays, then lying about working on the videos and losing sleep trying to make deadlines, that you have no experience whatsoever making videos with a similar level of effort as what I try to put into mine. I try to be as tolerant as I can, but people who think I just clap my hands together and a video is made can be frustrating to deal with. I share the frustration I haven't produced more than I have, but at the same time, I have an understanding of everything involved with it. In the same way a cartoon is easy to watch, it involves tens of thousands of frames of animation. Anyway, you can post a defense if you want, but if you make more comments with a similar tone as that, you're going to get banned. People don't have to agree with anything I say, but civil discourse is a requirement for these forums. Accusing someone of lying (especially me, because I KNOW I'm telling the truth about myself) without evidence is not civil behavior. If I ever say something that I'm misinformed on, I encourage people to fact check me, but this is not one of those cases.

The episode is edited, but Premiere is giving me a hell of a time about processing peak files before I can even render anything. I discovered a bug I wish I had discovered years ago, but it means this will definitely be late European time, maybe not USA time though.

Best I can tell, yes. I found a small patch of light discoloration on that wall that seemed to be the source of the problem that I've treated pretty thoroughly. I'll mention it more when I do the next videochat.

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » As a follow-up to the last update, I'm afraid I'm going to have to cancel (or at least postpone) the Zombie Panic session I was hoping to have. The reason is simply that I think I'm going to need all the time I can get in order to finish the next Game Dungeon and I'm concerned that will cut into things too much. This is a disappointment I know, but I would be more disappointed if I didn't have the next video out in time for Halloween. I'm still interested in having a session of it in the future, so maybe that can happen in November. While it of course fits the Halloween season the best, for me, any day is a good zombie invasion day. Anyway, the next update should be the Halloween episode! COMMENTS

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » I have some developments stacking up to the point where I thought I should maybe make an update: -I recently had a small crisis where the air quality became so bad in my apartment I had trouble breathing. It happened practically overnight, it seems to be the result of some sort of mildew growth. I cleaned the ENTIRE room, disassembled and moved out all the furniture, pulled up the carpet, pretty much went in full assault mode to sanitize everything. Currently, it seems to be solved, however it's possible it occurred due to some growth coming in from the outside of the walls of the apartment, I don't know yet. Either way, I can currently at least breathe well enough to complete the next video. -The problem above set me back quite a bit time-wise on the videos. Because of this, I'm afraid I'm only going to have one Game Dungeon out this year for Halloween, but it will be a longer one. I was hoping to have one additional one, but I figured better to have one good one than two unfinished ones and nothing to show for it. -I'm still making up for lost time, but I'm hoping to still have some sort of live event in Zombie Panic Source with fans for either this weekend or Halloween. Right now I don't want to commit to anything until I have a better sense of how far along I am on the next video, but check back on Friday or Saturday and I'll have an update on what's going on with that. COMMENTS

Did you email me also? I just sent a reply to that. Also, anyone who wants to investigate how to mod the game in order to support more players is welcome. If we could have even more than 32 players, it could get quite interesting.

Ugh, link fixed. The erroneous post was brought to you by the Windows function of copy / paste ONLY WORKING WHEN IT WANTS TO.

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » Here's the footage from the latest Planetside 2 session. Nothing too notable happened this time, I spent half the time discussing the possibility of playing Zombie Panic Source with people close to Halloween. I'll make a new post here when / if that gets underway. In the future, I may stop posting these Planetside sessions on the site itself since it's really just footage of me screwing around in a game, rather than an actual edited video meant to be more watchable, or answering questions people have from the videochat. I see this stuff as a way to do something with fans, but mostly throwaway material otherwise. I'll still keep posting all the sessions to the Accursed Farms Junk Youtube channel, but not make further announcements here unless something more major is going on (like we end up switching to Zombie Panic!). Anyway, work is continuing on the next Game Dungeon, more updates before Halloween! COMMENTS