OK, so there’s not much going on in ProjectLand… yet. This week is “get the basic framework set up and ready for development”, and I don’t think anyone really wants to read about Google Firestore vs. AWS whatever. So that leaves us at a crossroads – what DO we talk about?
Panic! of the Tech Bros?
Woo! More layoffs! Will I have a job at the end of this whole degree process? I don’t know. Theoretically I have an offer from one of those big companies, but my start date has been pushed out to October already, so…
OK, that’s a downer. Let’s try something else.
Read Any Good Books?
Uh, does Beej’s Guide to Network Programming count? No?
Well, that topic is no fun either. Let’s try something completely different.
Nerdy-*** Voice Actors
OK, so there IS big news in Critical Role land. (This pertains to me because I am A Fan.)
For those not in the know, Critical Role is a bunch of voice actors that play Dungeons & Dragons and stream their games on Twitch. They’re pretty popular. As in, one of Twitch’s highest revenue-generating channels.
So a while back they wanted to do a one-off animated special, so they put up a Kickstarter. Instead of a few thousand dollars they raised $11.3 million and broke some records in the process. So they decided to make an entire ten-episode animated series.
Then Amazon entered the chat, picked up the rights to stream the series, and paid for a full second season to the tune of many more millions of dollars.
This was all back in 2019. Season 2 of “The Legend of Vox Machina” hit Prime Video last week. Which brings us to yesterday, when Amazon announced Oops, we did it again – they’re developing another animated series based on Critical Role’s second campaign, and grabbed exclusive first-dibs rights to all of Critical Role’s IP for TV and film.
So this should be fun – I’ve been watching Critical Role’s ridiculous streams since 2015 or so, and in that time they have generated a mind-boggling 1,400 hours of content (eat your heart out, One Piece fans…)
I wonder if Prime Video is hiring?