#indie youtube

[cyanomys]

Hey TTRPG nerds

Anybody got recommendations for indie ttrpg youtubers? I'm looking for content that is broadly not D&D-specific, and not actual plays. So, video essays/reviews of games, how-to-plays, GMing/playing advice, game design, etc.

[karakt]

I saw the new tadc episode and I am moved

[lackadaisycats]

Video essay by Jellybox about what's good and bad about indie animation!

Wanted to share this in case it's helpful to anyone wanting to pursue making animation independently. It's also for fans of indie animation who may want some insight into how an indie studio works, why indie cartoons are always selling merch, why release schedules are often erratic, etc.

I also wanted to clarify the video's context, because it seems to have been somewhat misconstrued in some circles. Not long ago, WGA and SAG strikes, followed by TAG negotiations were very much in the news, shining light on the struggles the artists, writers, and actors in the Hollywood studio system are facing. In response, the words 'just go indie' have been tossed around quite a bit lately.

Gene and Sean at Jellybox approached us a few months back explaining that they were planning to make a video about the realities of running an indie studio/producing indie animation, largely in response to that 'just go indie' attitude. They were curious if we'd be willing to share our experience, including information about actual costs and the various difficulties and complications we've encountered. We said yes! We'd like for people to know what it's like. As much as it might look appealing next to the currently very broken studio system, indie has its own set of problems, and we think it's a good idea to be transparent about that because talking about problems is how you begin to address them.

Of course, while you get creative freedom and you have no shareholders to appease with indie production, the primary struggle you're always going to face is funding…and funding avenues are limited. Banks aren't eager to hand out business loans to freelance artists making cartoons, for instance. Social media algorithms reward frequent updates you can't swing with hand-drawn animated content, so you can't rely much on things like AdSense. You can't really insert sponsored ads into your animated videos without being too obtrusive. You can take on client work, but that interferes with your ability to focus on own animated project. Crowdfunds can be great for seed money, but they're also a ton of work to fulfill, and fulfillment itself will tend to eat up a considerable amount of the funds you've raised. Once your animation is produced, there is no well established way to sell the animated episode itself like there is for, say indie games sold on Steam. So, while we consider ways to try to make the terrain a bit more hospitable to indie creations, if nothing else, let this explain why productions rely a lot on merch drops!

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And hey, if you're an animation fan, consider supporting the independent productions you enjoy, whether you're tossing a few dollars their way, buying their merch, or just mentioning them to friends:

The Far-Fetched team is launching a crowdfund very soon to help them complete their pilot!

The Monkey Wrench team is killing it lately, and they deserve so much more fanfare than they've gotten!

And of course, thank you to the excellent folks at Jellybox for starting an important conversation!

[spacebubblehomebase]

Crazy how the person you've been following for Team Rocket memes suddenly reached for the stars. But to celebrate another artist's success, I present to you another AU! Because we need more of those in this new fandom and I like the cliché trope of a traitor love interest. XD Though I admit this small doodle idea got way out of hand. Still, do you see the vision??? (🌕v🌕) -Bubbly💙

[alpha-beta-gamer]

MINDWAVE is a narrative-driven WarioWare inspired game where you play microgames inside your opponent's heads!

Read More & Play The Kickstarter Demo, Free (Steam)

Gameplay Video:

[monkey-wrench-series]

Monkey Wrench Ep 4 - Plague Walker

Shrike & Beebs are forced to take a break during their current mission

Voice Cast; Shrike Sanchez - Jacob Barrens Bulldog

'Beebs' Browns - Jean-francois Donaldson

Tyneen - Niko Vargas

Ricket - Zane Schacht

Campion Ajax - Eli Harris

Disco Head - JP Brown

'Agent K' - Lou Haroldson

News Caster / Waiter / Weevil Receptionist - Lacey Deline

Officer Armstrong - Vinny Vinesauce

Jaw Bone - Vargskelethor Joel

Weevil Engineers - Michael Kovach

Bar Tender Dave - Cadaver Dave

Stage Presenter - Alex Rochon

Additional Voices - Matthew Pantano

Music - Ockeroid

Sound - Matthew Pantano

Voice director - Ashley Palmer

Spanish Consultant - Bertha Trevino

Guest Animator - Doobus Goobus

Animators

Episode 4 OST

OH LORD what a monster this one was. Originally we were going to do the hybrid animatic style but after getting a good half of the ep done and watching back I personally didn't like how it ended up looking so I decided to knuckle down for an additional 3-4 months to get it fully animated.

It nearly killed me.

I hope you enjoy this cliff hanger episode.

Ash & I are already getting ep 5 set up. It's gonna take a while before we can start the ball rolling though, so I appreciate the patience from you folks!

KARA plush is live!

We have new shirts and various other goodies in our fourthwall store!

Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna go into a coma for the remainder of the year.

[avakkins-alter]

[beekeeperspicnic]

The Beekeeper's Picnic has launched!! 🐝

A cosy point and click adventure game lovingly inspired by the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle!

It is the 1920s, and in a sleepy Sussex village, beekeeper and former world's greatest detective Sherlock Holmes is trying to arrange a pleasant clifftop picnic for his lifelong companion Dr Watson. The only problem is that a series of mysteries keep getting in the way!

Full version now available on... Steam | Itch.io

With a little launch discount!

[horrorvale]

HorrorVale is a Spooky, Horror themed adventure available NOW! Join Alice the Skeleton Witch on her journey through undead towns, scary forests, dark swamps, and more as she hunts for her lost Dog!

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@HorrorVale

Discord: https://discord.gg/KZpYZcd8Fm

Twitter: https://x.com/HorrorVale

[welcometohellfilm]

Here it is, guys! Welcome to Hell 2 (Part One)! _____

TW: SUICIDE MENTION It's been about a week since Sock came into Jonathan's life to haunt him, and Jonathan's starting to get used to his antics. But does he really want to get comfortable with the guy who's job is to convince him to kill himself? Stay tuned for Part 2, and find out! ______

To all the fans/followers on tumblr, I just want to say thanks from the bottom of my heart. I know I haven't been around here much in the last few years... to be honest I've been social media-ing less and less pretty much everywhere. Maybe that was the cost of actually making W2H2? I'm not sure. But when I think back about interacting with everyone on tumblr in the years following W2H, it's really sweet and nostalgic for me. I was going thru some rough times, and knowing that there were people out there who saw my dumb little short and connected with it, and wanted to spend more time with the characters... that's really important for an artist. So I genuinely can't thank you guys enough. There would be no W2H2 without the W2H Fandom. I know it's been 10 years, but... thank you for everything. Enjoy!

(PS - you guys got the only heartfelt side-note. Twitter got a "eeehhhHHHHhhhhhHHHHhhhhh", and Youtube got a "please don't be mean to me, I worked really hard on this just to be broke for my entire adult life so far, you GHOULS". So you know I mean it!)

[tepkunset]

Check out this upcoming indie game - Kun'tewiktuk: A Mi'kmaw Adventure

A fantasy adventure game inspired by Mi’kmaw legend and folklore. It chronicles the adventures of siblings Wasuek ("Flower") and her brother U'n ("Fog"). They get separated one summer morning and they go on an adventure through the spirit world to reunite.

The game is produced by Green Robot Studios and Kji-Wikuom Studios (the later of which is located in Eskasoni First Nation).

The creation of the game primarily stemmed from a desire to preserve Mi'kmaw language and culture.

There will be a version that is all in Mi'kmaq.

The game's villains and adversaries are inspired by Mi'kmaw legend and folklore. They include ogres, ice creatures, giant spirit animals, and much more.

The game features art from Loretta Gould.

All voices are performed by Mi'kmaw speakers.

Upon release it will be available on Steam and Epic Games.

[chenayder]

chenayder - for one last time

hi tumblr 🥪 my name is chenayder and i'm a 17 year old artist. i made this song called "for one last time" and it comes out on friday with this cute little video that i made 🎀

[freegameplanet]

Nip For Speed is an absurd little adventure where a crazed cat takes you for a spin along a highway!

Read More & Play The Full Game, Free (Browser)

Full Gameplay Video:

[lackadaisycats]

Since it's Indie Animation Day...

I figured I'd repost that list of other animation creators on YouTube that I shared last week, separate from it's original, weird context. I've also included several more entries based on suggestions in the comments. Thanks for the feedback! General Content Warning: Some of the below is not for kids, or contains violence or other subject matter some viewers might find distressing. Please use your adult discretion. Also, this is not a list of moral endorsements. I know some of these creators personally, but many of them I do not. While I have tried to make sure I'm not listing anyone who is a criminal or otherwise objectively harmful person, I don't have encyclopedic knowledge of every little internet drama that has gone down (and chances are I'm not super interested in hearing about it all because it's really difficult to tell fact from fiction from hyperbole around here).

Anyway, check out some Indie Animation:

Far-Fetched Worthikids Satina | Scumhouse Noodle and Bun Punch Punch Forever Ramshackle Noodle Papajoolia | Pipi Angel Hare | The East Patch Jonni Peppers Salad Fingers Monkey Wrench Studio Heartbreak Felix Colgrave JelloApocalypse Odd1sout (started indie, got picked up by Netflix) Allie Mehner JaidenAnimations Lumi and the Great Big Galaxy Cloudrise | The Worlds Divide Telepurte RubberRoss James Lee ENA Godspeed | Olan Rogers Ollie and Scoops Meat Canyon Port by the Sea Kekeflipnote Boxtown Kevin Temmer Weebl Joel Haver CircleToons Long Gone Gulch Atlas and the Stars Animist Skibidi Toilet A Fox in Space Alex Henderson Talon Toniko Pantoja Sr. Pelo Hullabaloo Kane Pixels (started indie, picked up by A24) Homestar Runner Fennah Gods' School Alan Becker Dungeon Flippers JazLyte Psychicpebbles (started indie, Smiling Friends picked up by AS) Piemations vewn Metal Family Dead Sound chluaid Jacknjellify Betsy Lee | No Evil My Pride Cranbersher GeoExe | Gwain Saga Horatio the Vampire Mech West Playground | Rodrigo Sousa The Brave Locomotive Finchwing (+ check out other Warrior Cats animators) Quazies SamBakZa Kamikaze: Trial by Fire Parasomnia

[quazies]

Well, the past week has been frustrating.

I’ll do my best to explain what’s gone wrong, but I don’t blame anyone who can’t wrap their head around it, because it’s a confusing mess. 

Within the past couple weeks I’ve made a new Adsense account under my business info (new bank account, tax number, etc) and it’s been rejected. Without an Adsense account linked to your YouTube, you can’t make ANY money from your videos. Because of “policy” they can’t tell me the EXACT thing I’ve done wrong, so I get to play the guessing game and loose the majority of my livelihood in the meanwhile!! Yippie!!! Just what I needed while working on one of my longest most ambitious projects yet!!! 

I have savings so it’s not a complete emergency, I can penny pinch for the next 30 to 90 days, or however long they keep me from monetizing my animations again. Thanks to my amazing Patrons, I still have a safety net for when stupid stuff like this happens.

Please consider checking out my Patreon while this BS is happening. I have 50 pages of storyboards up for my newest Godzilla animation, Character sheets, and when storyboarding wraps up I’ll be posting animation sneak peeks as well. Any support is greatly appreciated, and overall I just wanted folks to be aware of the situation. YouTube seems to enjoy finding new ways to disappoint me! I hope to one day reach my Patreon goal so I don’t have to feel so reliant on them to do what I love: making cartoons for you guys. I’ve had multiple situations of YouTube being unhelpful and this is definitely the worst case yet.

If you’re still reading, thanks for hearing me out, and if you’d like to check out the Patreon, it’s linked in my bio. Thank you guys as always, and thanks for watching my cartoons!