Strike Gold, then Strike Again

Figure out what works, and then keep striking until it doesn't

Author

Johnathon Eva
August 04, 2025

Creator of the week

I normally put this section at the end- but it couldn’t wait, you have to see this

Pixelbrolee figured out what worked, and didn’t just double down.

He tripled, quadrupled, whatever comes after quadrupled down.

But here’s the thing - he’s been at it for 6 years. And he didn’t stumble onto this format until about a year ago

When I say brand consistency, this is what I mean. A style language unique to you. Got questions on how to find yours? Let’s connect - reply to this email, and we’ll figure it out together

Thumbnail Fix

Why it doesn’t work:

A): Look at how close/similar the two pictures of the main character are. That’s a little too much replication altogether, especially since this doesn’t look like a game, that, and the contrast from the picture to the background is not profound enough
B): The word retrospective doesn’t need to be in the thumbnail, because it’s already in the title, or vice versa.
C): The title itself… the first sentence looks like it should have a question mark. A little too much on the !! game as well.
D): There is such a thing as too much outer glow. This is one such example

Creator - Makaisaiyan

Why it works:

A): Now this looks like official game art because you’ve put it in the box - gamebody advance, you’re now hitting at nostalgia, a key factor in any retrospective video
B): This is the right way to create some dimension, look how the elbow is overshadowing the box a little bit, this adds depth, and the contrast of the weapon and sin go well against the darker blue background
C.) It’s a simple enough title that tells the viewer what the video is going to be about. Additionally, there’s no distracting text in the thumbnail.

YouTube News:

You can curse now, but think about it first:

YouTube launched new monetization policy basically saying that you can swear in the first 7 seconds and still get paid (This is only for if you’re already monetized)

But here’s why you might not want to:

1) You do limit your potential audience - anyone that is under a certain age may still have parental controls on their account, so you’re automatically missing those. Additionally many people around the world, don’t love cursing. The people that genuinely don’t care if someone uses an F bomb, also don’t care if you DON’T use it. But the opposite is not true of people that care if you use it. It’s a net negative on the total amount of people you can reach

2) YouTube won’t pay you any less for cursing in the first 7 seconds. But you might be losing out on potential sponsorships. Many brands won’t work with creators that are excessively foul mouthed - that’s not true for every brand, and maybe you’ll find a few, but it could be worth it to try the clean style.

HOWEVER: If you don’t care about those two things, then curse away my friend, you can now get paid

What Questions do you have?

I’ve got an itch, and the only way to scratch it is to build something that I know ya’ll will love. But I can’t do that without your input. What is something that you genuinely struggle with as a small gaming creator?

Let me know in a reply to this email: Subject Line: Question

A Final Note

“The size of the poop has no bearing on the amount of toilet paper you’ll require.”

Me

Until next time,

TubeForge